Privacy Policy - New England Aquarium

New England Aquarium Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy for The New England Aquarium (“We,” “us,” “the aquarium” or “our“) describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (“process“) your information when you engage with us or use our services, such as when you:

Visit our website at http://www.neaq.org, or any websites owned or operated by the New England Aquarium or any sites that are connected by application program interfaces.
Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events either in person, online, via email, over the phone or through mobile platforms.

As part of our commitment to transparency we created this Privacy Policy so as you visit, join, donate, or use our services and offerings in any way you can be confident knowing that we value fair information practices and the protection of privacy. As part of that commitment the New England Aquarium does adhere to The Donor Bill of Rights.If you have questions or concerns when reading this privacy notice or if you do not agree with our policies and practices please contact us at webmaster@neaq.org.

Information we may collect

Collecting information allows us to personalize and improve your experience when engaging with us and using our services. In many cases, the information we collect is non-personal and cannot be tied back to the individual. In other cases, personal information is only collected when it is explicitly shared it with us. Like most businesses we also utilize technologies such as cookies to save user preferences and collect data.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us. What information we collect depends the context of your interactions with us and the services you use, the choices you make, features and experiences you use when engaging with us. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you purchase tickets, register for programs or events, become a member, donate, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services otherwise when you contact us. The personal information we collect may potentially include names, phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, occupation, family information and billing addresses

We may collect data necessary to process your payment(s) if you make online purchases, such as your payment instrument number, and the security code associated with your payment instrument. Online ticket purchases are processed by Worldline, you may find their privacy notice by visiting https://www.bambora.com/en/ca/privacy-policy/.Online donations and membership renewals are processed by Blackbaud you view their privacy policy by visiting https://www.blackbaud.com/company/privacy-policy/north-america.

Some information, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics is collected automatically when you visit our website. We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our website, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. We collect information through cookies in order to deliver web content specific to individual users’ interests or to keep track of online purchasing transactions. Sensitive personal information is not stored within cookies. You may disable cookies by changing settings in the browser you are using.

We also collect log and usage data. Log and usage data are service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports(sometimes called “crash dumps”), and hardware settings).

We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.

We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the services. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the services.

In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers, and services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, and from other third parties. This information includes mailing addresses, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, intent data (or user behavior data), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs, and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion.

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage there is no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If there are laws or compliance obligations we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

Legal basis for processing of personal information

We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e., legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfill our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfill our legitimate business interests.

We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved. We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

If you are located in the EU or UK, this section applies to you.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information:

We may process your information if you have given us permission (i.e., consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing webmaster@neaq.org.
We may process your personal information when we believe it is necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations to you, including providing our services or at your request prior to entering into a contract with you.
We may process your information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests and do not outweigh your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms. For example, we may process your personal information for some of the purposes described in order to:
Send users information about special offers and discounts on our products and services
Develop and display personalized and relevant advertising content for our users
Analyze how our services are used so we can improve them to engage and retain users
Support our marketing activities
Diagnose problems and/or prevent fraudulent activities
Understand how our users use our products and services so we can improve user experience

If you are located in Canada, this section applies to you.

We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (i.e., express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (i.e., implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time.

In some exceptional cases, we may be legally permitted under applicable law to process your information without your consent, including, for example:

If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way
For investigations and fraud detection and prevention
For business transactions provided certain conditions are met
If it is contained in a witness statement and the collection is necessary to assess, process, or settle an insurance claim
For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with next of kin
If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be victim of financial abuse
If it is reasonable to expect collection and use with consent would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province
If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or rules of the court relating to the production of records
If it was produced by an individual in the course of their employment, business, or profession and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was produced
If the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes
If the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations

How collected information may be used

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our services, including:

To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts. We may process your information so you can create and login to your account, as well as keep your account in working order.
To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information to provide you with the requested service.
To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service.
To send administrative information to you. We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information.
To fulfill and manage your orders. We may process your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through our services.
We may process your information if you choose to use any of our offerings that allow for communication with another user.
To request feedback. We may process your information when necessary to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our services.
We may process the personal information you send to us for our communications and marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. You can opt out of our marketing emails at any time.
We may process your information to develop and display personalized content and deliver targeted advertising tailored to your interests, location, and more.
We may process your information as part of our efforts to keep our services safe and secure, including fraud monitoring and prevention.
We may process information about how you use our services to better understand usage trends and how our services are being used so we can enhance and improve them.
We may process your information to better understand how to provide marketing and promotional campaigns that are most relevant to you.
We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm.

Information sharing

We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the vendors, consultants, and other third-party service providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (“third parties”) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows:

Data analytics services
Order fulfillment service providers
Affiliate marketing programs
Sales and marketing tools

We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations:

We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
Periodically, we may exchange member names and mailing or email addresses with like-minded, local, nonprofit organizations we have ongoing relationships with.

Security of information

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our services is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.

Notice concerning minors

At the New England Aquarium, we are especially concerned with protecting the privacy of children who using our services. We fully support and comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act despite nonprofit organizations such as ours are not currently being subject to the provisions within the act. Please note we require the consent of the parent or legal guardian of any guest under the age of 13 before we collect or use any personal information. If we collect personal information from children, it is only to be able to furnish information regarding participation in programs. We do not ask children for other any information, and we never share the information we collect with anyone outside of the Aquarium. At any time, a child’s parent can request review the child’s personal information, ask us to delete it and refuse to allow any further collection or use of information from the child. You may consent to our collection of personal information from your child by contacting us to identify yourself and your child and giving authorization to us to collect personal information from your child.

Privacy rights

Withdrawing your consent

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section “Contact Us” section below or updating your preferences.

However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

Opting out of marketing and promotional communications

You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send, or by contacting us using the details provided in the section “Contact Us” below. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you — for example, to send you service-related messages that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes.

Account Information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account your account, you can contact us at webmaster@neaq.org.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies

Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services.

Foreign Countries

Our website is hosted in the United States and are governed by United States law. If you are using the website from outside the United States, please be aware that your personal information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located. The data protection and other laws of the United States and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using the website, you consent to your personal information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this privacy policy.

Privacy rights for California residents

If you are a California resident you are entitled to additional privacy rights under California law. If you submit a written request to the address in the “Contact us” section below, the New England Aquarium will provide you with a California Customer Choice Notice that you may use to opt-out of third-party personal information sharing. Please specify on your request that you are seeking “California Customer Choice Notice” and allow for thirty days for a response.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at webmaster@neaq.org.

Links to third party sites

Through our websites, newsletter or other marketing materials we may provide links to other content or websites we think you will enjoy. These sites operate independently of the New England Aquarium and will have their own privacy and security policies. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read these policies at any site you visit.

Updates and changes to this policy

We may update this privacy notice from time to time to stay compliant with relevant laws and compliance obligations. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “version” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

Contacting us

If you have questions, comments or concerns about this notice, you may contact us via email at webmaster@neaq.org. If you would like to contact us by mail you may do so via this address:

New England Aquarium
1 Central Wharf
Boston, MA 02110