Privacy Policy

The American College of Veterinary Surgeons (“ACVS,” “we,” “us,” and “our”) and the ACVS Foundation respect individual privacy and value the confidence of our members, candidates, residents, and other visitors to this website. This Privacy Policy sets out the privacy principles that we follow with respect to the collection, use, and disclosure of information that you may provide through ACVS’s website, www.acvs.org, partner websites cert.acvs.org, learn.acvs.org, online.acvs.org, www.mycadmium.com, and mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vsu (collectively referred to as the “Site”). The term “partner” refers to any companies that ACVS works with to operate and maintain the websites that collectively make up the Site. Please read this entire Privacy Policy before using ACVS’s Site or submitting information to ACVS through the Site. By using the ACVS Site, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, in addition to contacting us by any of the methods described below, you may also contact us at preferences@acvs.org. If you do not agree with our policies, your choice is to not use the Site or provide ACVS with your information.

How We Collect Information

While the policy presented here concentrates on the information that ACVS and our partners collect in connection with the operation of our Site, the policy also applies to personal information submitted to ACVS by other means (mail, email, fax, phone, apps, etc.). All the information that you provide on the Site is maintained by ACVS or service providers acting on behalf of ACVS.

You can access some areas of the Site without submitting any personally identifiable information. However, several areas of the Site require that you provide us personal information, including but not limited to:

creating a website account
donating to the ACVS Foundation
registering for an ACVS meeting
purchasing items through ACVS’s online store
contacting ACVS by email
submitting a manuscript to Veterinary Surgery.

Users may be asked to provide personal information from which you can be identified, such as your name, company name, postal and email address, phone number, and credit card information, collectively referred to herein as “personal information.”

How We Use Information

We will use the information you share with us to provide you with information and materials you have requested, to provide you with information that ACVS believes may be of interest to you, to manage the certification process, to administer our relationship with you, and for internal business purposes. There may be times when we share aggregate information—such as the number of hits per page—with our partners and with advertisers, sponsors, and other third parties in an effort to customize or enhance the content and advertising on our Site for our users.

How We Share and Disclose Information

We do not share, sell, or rent email addresses to anyone outside the ACVS and our partners except in the following circumstances:

If needed for vendors to provide services to the ACVS (for example, when using a third-party vendor to send an email); or
If you have given explicit permission for us to do so through the Email Preferences page on the Site.

ACVS may share, sell, or rent limited data from members or individuals in the certification process, including postal address, to third parties, including companies that offer products and services related to veterinary surgery for sale to ACVS members or employment positions. In addition, ACVS may share limited personal information of registered ACVS Surgery Summit attendees with exhibitors. Authors whose manuscripts are accepted by our journal, Veterinary Surgery, will have their information transferred to our publisher to manage the proofing and publication process. ACVS also hires vendors to perform certain services for the ACVS, such as packaging and mailing purchases, printing and sending postal mail, and processing event registration. We provide only the information these companies need to perform these services.

When you terminate your membership or cancel Site account access, ACVS may continue to share information about you according to our legal and regulatory requirements.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, ACVS may disclose your personal information as required by law or as needed in legal proceedings when ACVS believes in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.

How to Update Your Preferences

Contact information and preferences can be updated through www.acvs.org/my-account, in the Contact/Profile and Email Preferences sections. ACVS Diplomates and individuals in the certification process who prefer not to receive mailings from third-party organizations can update Contact/Profile preferences to be excluded from third-party mailing opportunities. We collect contact/privacy preferences from ACVS Surgery Summit attendees during the registration process. You can update your choices through the My Events portal.

Credit Card Account Information

ACVS does not disclose credit card account information provided by its members and customers. When members and customers choose to pay using their credit cards, ACVS submits the information needed to the appropriate clearinghouse through secure sites to conduct the transactions.

Children’s Information

The Site is not intended for children under 13 years of age. ACVS does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. If ACVS discovers that a child under the age of 13 has provided us with personal data, we will delete the child’s personal data unless a parent or guardian provides verifiable consent to ACVS.

Security Measures

The Site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under ACVS’s control. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) as part of the purchase process, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

When you submit information to ACVS through our Site, you should be aware that your information is transmitted across the Internet and that no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. Although we take reasonable security measures to protect your information when we receive it, you also need to ensure you take appropriate steps to protect your information.

Communications From ACVS

Except for transactional emails, communications necessary to individuals certified by ACVS or in the certification process, or promotion of continuing education opportunities, we will not send you information without your consent, and you can withdraw consent at any time by contacting us. If you wish to unsubscribe from ACVS’s promotional communications or wish to change your communication preferences, you may do so by following the instructions included in each communication, by logging in at www.acvs.org/preferences, or by contacting us at preferences@acvs.org.

International Website Access and Cross-Border Data Transfers

If you are visiting the Site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and ACVS is based. In addition, information that ACVS collects may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which ACVS operates to enable the use of the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You agree to such cross-border transfers of personal information.

Access and Correction/Notice to All Users

If your personally identifiable information changes you may correct, update, amend, or delete it by making changes at www.acvs.org/my-account or by contacting us at preferences@acvs.org.

You may request a copy of the information ACVS holds about you so you can correct or amend information that may be inaccurate or incomplete by contacting us at preferences@acvs.org. In addition, we may ask you to provide sufficient evidence of your identity for your own protection so we can ensure that information is being released to the correct person. We will respond to your request to access your information within 30 days.

To request the deletion of your information, please contact us at preferences@acvs.org. In some cases, our business requirements and legal obligations may prevent us from being able to delete your information. If we are unable to delete your information, we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

“Cookies” and Internet Protocol Addresses

“Cookies” are files that contain information created by a web server that can be stored on a user’s hard disk for future use. ACVS uses cookies only to facilitate automated activity, store and track passwords, and review navigation patterns. Cookies are not used to disseminate significant information about users over the Internet or to analyze any information that users have knowingly or unknowingly provided.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However, if the user declines the attachment of any cookie, the user may not have access to the full benefits of the Site.

We use your Internet Protocol addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our Site, and to gather broad demographic information.

Privacy Issues and Links to Other Sites

The Site contains links to other third-party websites that are not affiliated with ACVS or its partners. ACVS has no control over and is not responsible for the privacy policies or content of such sites.

Social Media Widgets

The Site includes social media features, such as the Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn buttons, that run on our Site. These features may collect your Internet Protocol address and which page you are visiting on our Site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Amendments and Updates

ACVS will occasionally update this Privacy Policy. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted here so that users will know what information we gather, how we might use that information, and whether we will disclose it to anyone. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices and this Privacy Policy.

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