Open Museum Privacy Policy

Revised January 29, 2009

Welcome to Open Museum. Open Museum is a joint venture of Heritance Corporation, a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization and Zirgoflex L3C, a Vermont social venture with designated low-profit aims. Open Museum is a not-for-profit website and associated service that permits the creation and presentation of non-commercial, participatory exhibits. Open Museum values the privacy of the website’s members and others who visit and use the website. By using Open Museum, you expressly consent to the information handling practices described in this notice.

This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and is subject to the Open Museum Terms of Use. Your use of Open Museum and any personal information you provide through Open Museum are subject at all time to this Privacy Notice and the Terms of Use.

Information Open Museum Collects and How it is Used

Registration

You may provide to Open Museum what is generally called “personally identifiable” information (such as your name and email address) if you register an account on the Open Museum website (openmuseum.org).

To create your account as a registered Open Museum member, we require you to choose a password, and provide your email address. This information is used to provide a unique account with which you can access Open Museum. We require prospective members to confirm the email address provided at registration, preventing someone from registering with another person's email address. We will use your email address to enable you to log into the website and for administrative communications such as notifying you of Open Museum updates, for customer service purposes, to address copyright infringement or defamation issues, or to contact you regarding any content that you have posted to or downloaded from OpenMuseum.org.

Your email address is not viewable by other Open Museum members. Open Museum will never share your email address with any user of our site or third party company or person without your explicit consent.

You are also asked to proved a name or nickname to identify you to other users of the site. This name will be visible to other users of the site. Although you are free to use your own real name, if you desire, you are not required to do so. You may choose an anonymous or non-personally-identifiable name as long as you do not appropriate the name, likeness, email address, or other personally identifiable information of another individual.

Your Profile Page

Your profile page includes information about yourself to other Open Museum users and permits them to view your profile and to view your public or shared Open Museum artifacts and objects. Your name is viewable by all Open Museum users. If you choose to upload a headshot image, it will also be viewable by all Open Museum users. You choose which other information appears on your Profile page. Profile information may include a bio which contains any information you wish to share with Open Museum users.

Cookies and Log Files

Like most web sites, Open Museum uses cookies and web log files to track site usage. A cookie is a small text file that resides on your computer and allows Open Museum to recognize you as a member when you return to our site using the same computer and web browser. If your browser settings do not allow cookies, you will not be able to use our website. Cookies also help us understand how members use Open Museum, which allows us to continually improve the service. Like the information you enter at registration or in your Profile, cookie and log file data is used to customize your experience on the web site.

One type of cookie, known as a "persistent" cookie, is set when you log in to your Open Museum account if you check the "remember me on this computer" box. The next time you visit the Open Museum website (openmuseum.org), the persistent cookie will allow us to recognize you as an existing member so you will not need to log in before using the service. In order to change your email address or password, however, you will need to re-enter your password even if your computer contains your persistent cookie. Additionally, if you log out of the Open Museum site you will need to re-enter your password the next time you visit in order to log in to your account. Another type of cookie, called a "session" cookie, is used to identify a particular visit to the Open Museum site. Session cookies expire after a short time or when you close your web browser.

Due to Internet communications standards, when you visit the Open Museum website we automatically receive the URL of the site from which you came and the site to which you are going when you leave Open Museum. We also receive the Internet protocol (IP) address of your computer (or the proxy server you use to access the World Wide Web), your computer operating system and type of web browser you are using, as well as the name of your ISP. This information may be used to analyze overall trends to help us improve the Open Museum service, but is not linked to personally identifiable information in any way.

Children

In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we will not knowingly provide access to Open Museum to persons under the age of 13. If Open Museum later learns that a member is under the age of 13 we will take appropriate steps to remove the member's information from the database and restrict the individual from future access to the Open Museum service.

If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child under 13 who has become a Open Museum member, please contact Open Museum at admin@openmuseum.org to have that child’s account terminated and information deleted.

When Information May be Disclosed

Third Parties

Open Museum does not share your personally identifiable information with other organizations for marketing or promotional uses without your prior express consent. Please be aware, however, that any personally identifiable information that you voluntarily choose to display on the Service – such as when you publish attribution credits for documents or profile information – becomes publicly available and may be collected and used by others without restriction.

We may disclose your information to affiliated companies or other businesses or persons to: provide web site hosting, maintenance, and security services; fulfill orders; conduct data analysis and create reports; offer certain functionality; and assist Open Museum in improving the Service and creating new services features. We require that these parties process such information in compliance with this Privacy Notice, we authorize only a limited use of such information, and we require these parties to use reasonable confidentiality measures.

We may share your information with third parties if sharing your information is necessary to execute a specific request by you (e.g., purchasing a paid subscription, in which case it would be necessary to share your information with a credit card processing company.). In these specific cases third parties will not retain, share or store any personally identifiable information except to provide the specific services requested by you, and are bound by strict confidentiality agreements which limit their use of such information.

Open Museum may disclose User information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright law) or respond to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena, or warrant in the manner required by the requesting entity.

Open Museum also reserves the right to disclose User information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary: to take precautions against liability; to protect Open Museum from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; to investigate and defend ourselves against third-party claims or allegations; to assist government enforcement agencies; to protect the security or integrity of Open Museum; or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Open Museum, its providers, our Users, or others.

Links to Other Web Sites

You may see links to other web sites on Open Museum, via links posted by other Open Museum members. Open Museum is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites you may visit through a link you found on Open Museum. If you provide information directly to a party other than Open Museum (or its providers, Heritance and Zirgoflex), different privacy policies may cover those parties' use of your information. Please review any company's privacy policy before disclosing your personal information.

Security

Open Museum uses commercially reasonable physical, managerial, and technical safeguards to preserve the integrity and security of your personal information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to Open Museum, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission of information, Open Museum makes commercially reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems. However, please note that this is not a guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

If Open Museum learns of a security systems breach, then we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. Open Museum may post a notice on the OpenMuseum.org website if a security breach occurs. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive a free written notice of a security breach you should notify us at admin@openmuseum.org.

Control Over Your Personal Information

You can change any of your profile information stored on the Open Museum site at any time. You do this by using the profile editing tools under Your Account.

Comments you make on a member’s post are editable for a limited amount of time, and may not necessarily be edited or deleted after that time. Personal messages you send to another member are generally not editable and cannot be removed.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your control over information, please send us an email at openmuseum.org.

International Visitors

For Users visiting Open Museum from the European Economic Area or other non-U.S. territories, please note that any data you enter into Open Museum will be transferred outside the European Economic Area or such other non-U.S. territory for use by Open Museum and its affiliates for any of the purposes described herein. In addition, because Open Museum operates globally, we may make information we gather available to worldwide business units and affiliates. By providing any data on Open Museum, you hereby expressly consent to such transfers of your data to the United States or other countries.

In the Event of Merger or Sale

In the event that Open Museum is acquired by or merged with a third-party entity, we reserve the right, in any of these circumstances, to transfer or assign the information that we have collected from our members as part of that merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice may be revised periodically without further notice to you. Please revisit this page to stay aware of any changes. Your continued use of Open Museum constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Notice and any future revisions.

For revisions to this Privacy Notice that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of personal information you have provided to us, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you and obtain your consent before implementing revisions with respect to such information.

Open Museum Contact Information

Please contact Open Museum with any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice, your personal information, our third-party disclosure practices, or your consent choices.

By mail:
Open Museum
PO Box 1564
Norwich, VF 05055

By email:
admin@openmuseum.org

We will respond to your inquiry within 30 days of its receipt.