Our Privacy Policy

The Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon) is committed to protecting the private information of those who interact with us online. Our policy is that no personal information will be collected about you other than what you supply to us on a voluntary basis.

Collection of Personal Information
If during your visit to our site you only browse, read pages, or download material, we cannot collect any information that will identify you personally or determine your e-mail address. Other areas of our site may request that you provide personal information such as your name, address, or e-mail address. Mass Audubon may use this information to provide information requested by users or to extend promotional offers or other invitations.

Cookies and Aggregate Information
Mass Audubon’s website uses a technology called a “cookie.” The cookie is a small text file that is temporarily stored on your hard drive. When you return to our site, your web browser passes the cookie from your computer back to our website, so we can recognize you as you move through our site. At no time will the cookie reveal to others any personal information about you, including your name, address, or e-mail address—even if you have submitted this information to other areas of the site.

Our website automatically logs information such as IP address and browser type of all visitors in order to measure the usage of our website. We use this information to analyze how visitors use our site, which helps us improve our visitors’ experience.

Data Security
We have appropriate, industry standard security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site. The information collected is only distributed to relevant staff members (e.g. membership staff, tech support) depending on the nature of the inquiry. When using a credit card to order services through our website, the credit card information is transmitted over the internet using industry standard SSL and/or PGP encryption. We use outside credit card processing companies to process online credit card transactions for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store, or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

Member Information
Member information is never sold or rented. However, Mass Audubon occasionally exchanges with other nonprofit organizations the names and mailing addresses of a limited number of members. Additionally, Mass Audubon periodically partners with organizations to send product offers and promotional mailings that we believe may be of interest to our members.

Members who wish to opt-out of these exchanges and product offers may choose a confidentiality option or contact Member Services.

You can help Mass Audubon maintain the accuracy of your information and facilitate the timely receipt of membership benefits by notifying Member Services of any changes to your name, address, phone number, or e-mail address. To help us update your record, please provide us with your street address and membership number, which appears on your membership card.

Contact Member Services:
by e-mail:
membership@massaudubon.org

by phone:
781-259-9500 or 800-283-8266

by mail:
Member Services
Massachusetts Audubon Society
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA 01773

E-mail Addresses
We do not sell, rent, exchange, or otherwise share e-mail addresses with anyone outside Mass Audubon. If this specific policy should ever change, we will first post the policy changes on this page and then notify you by e-mail about such changes, giving you the opportunity to opt-out of any e-mail address sharing programs.

Mass Audubon eBird
Mass Audubon eBird is designed to gather and disseminate information about bird distribution and abundance across Massachusetts, and across the United States and Canada.

Personal information is voluntarily supplied by you when you register and submit data to Mass Audubon eBird. By registering, you allow us to associate your bird observations with a unique identifier (login name), so that you can track your personal observations (e.g., life lists and backyard lists). If you submit an unusual observation, we may e-mail you to request more details. Profile information allows us to gain a better understanding of the Mass Audubon eBird participants and to determine how best to improve the web site for Mass Audubon eBird users.

Bird observations are some of the most important pieces of information that we collect. All details of an observation and its associated location (species, numbers, etc.) are available to all users registered with Mass Audubon eBird. However, only information pertaining to bird observations is available to Mass Audubon eBird users; no personal information is ever made public.

Mass Audubon eBirders are able to view their personal observations, observations of others, and observations made at various locations. Please be aware that your observations of sensitive species and their locations will be available to other Mass Audubon eBird users.

Other Information
We welcome your e-mail messages and suggestions of ways in which we can improve the site. We will use any personal information you send us only to respond to your message. Please note that any suggestions or ideas you submit to us will become the property of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and can be used by us for any purpose.

Our site contains links to other sites. Please remember that our Privacy Policy does not apply to other sites and that we cannot be responsible for their privacy policies.

Changes in Information Practices
From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our Privacy Policy. If our information practices change in the future, we will post the policy changes to our website to notify users of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information may be used, you should check our website periodically. A revised Privacy Policy will apply only to data collected subsequent to its effective date.

Questions
Mass Audubon welcomes comments and questions on this policy. We are dedicated to protecting your personal information and will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure. If you have any questions, please contact us at webmaster@massaudubon.org or 781-259-9500.

Last Update: March 12, 2004