USESO Privacy and Data Use Policy

USESO PRIVACY AND DATA USE POLICY

Updated Feb 1, 2022

The United States Earth Science Organization (USESO), Inc.’s website, www.useso.org (the “Website”), is intended primarily for prospective campers, but also for parents, alumni, teachers, and others interested in learning about our programs and/or Earth science. We strongly believe in the importance of your privacy. This Privacy Policy describes how USESO treats the personal information we collect. By using and accessing our Website, or by providing your personal information (defined below) when you use, register, or sign up for our programs, you are accepting the practices, terms and conditions described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected online through our Website or registration forms; it does not describe the ways in which we may collect or use information obtained offline. USESO operates a variety of programs and services, including the Training Camp, Leadership in Earth and Environmental Sciences (LEES) Program, and the International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) USA team. These activities, and any other activities of USESO, will be referred to as “USESO Programs” in this policy.

USESO limits the collection of personal information. We do not collect personal information from children from our Website. Children participating in our various activities, and in our online programs, however, may upload photos or videos to our Camp/Online spaces, and these could contain personal information of your child (e.g., their image or voice.) Additionally, these photos or videos could be shared with other children, parents/guardians of other children, staff members, or volunteers who may receive your child’s information as they collaborate on, participate in, or were included in projects with your child. Because of this, prior to participation in any of our programs, we ask for parental consent in order for your child to participate in the Camp/Online activities. We also ask that you agree to indemnify USESO, together with all their affiliates, employees, volunteers, and directors, from and against any claims or losses arising from or related to any action by you in sharing any child’s information to any third party. If you decline to agree to the terms mentioned above, then your child will not be able to participate in any USESO Programs or register for USESO Training Camp or the USESO LEES Program.

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Information You Give Us When Registering for Exams or Camps

If you or your child(ren) register for a USESO Program, we collect your‎ name,‎ postal address,‎ email address,‎ and phone number. We also collect billing information (e.g., credit card number, expiration date, etc.), information regarding your child(ren)’s birth date, school, and other information, such as your child’s gender and ethnicity.

When registering, we add your email address to the email list for updates about future USESO programs. If you do not wish to receive such emails, we will not send further communications to you but may store your personal information in an “Unsubscribe” list.

USES OF INFORMATION

We will never distribute or sell identifying personal data outside of our organization without your permission, except in two cases: 1) selected students from our annual open exam will have their first initial, last name, school, and state published on our website and/or 2) violations of the academic integrity policy may be made public.

We use personal information internally as follows:

to aid in selecting participants for USESO programs.
to operate, maintain, and improve our Website and USESO programs.
to respond to comments and questions.
to send information including confirmations, invoices, technical notices, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages.
to communicate about future USESO Programs and other USESO news.
to link or combine user information with other personal information.
to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorized, illegal activity, or suspected violation of a USESO policy.

Information Automatically Collected About You or Your Child(ren)

To improve usability and assess participation, when children participate in our programs, we automatically log some information about your child(ren)’s actions while using our online spaces.

We or our third-party service providers (Google Analytics) may log information using “cookies.” Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive by a website. Cookies help us make our Website and your visit better. We may also use cookies to see which parts of our Website people use and like and to count visits to our Website.

UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to make updates and changes to this policy at any time, so please make sure to check it frequently. We will post the date of change to the top of the policy and on our website.