Last Updated: June 1, 2023
This Privacy Policy describes the types of information collected through the https://hipaacow.org/ website (the “Site”), and our practices for how the information collected is used, shared, and protected.
The HIPAA Collaborative of Wisconsin, Inc. (together with its affiliates, “HIPAA COW”, “we”, or “our”) may collect or receive information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household (“Personal Information”). This policy will describe any rights you may have regarding this information in connection with your access to and use of the Site. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and made a part of our Terms of Use (“Terms”) located here.
By accessing or using the Site or by entering into our Terms, you agree on behalf of yourself and any organization or company that you represent (together, “you” or “your”) that you have read and understand this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not access, or use the Site.
Your privacy is very important to us. If you choose to provide data to us that may personally identify you such as your name, email address, or phone number we will collect, use, share, and protect the information pursuant to this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your Personal Information or other information collected through the Site, please contact us using the contact information provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.
Revisions to this Privacy Policy
HIPAA COW reserves the right to revise, amend, and modify this Privacy Policy at any time. All changes will be effective immediately upon posting to the Site unless otherwise noted. Material changes will be visibly posted on the Site or otherwise communicated to you. Your use of the Site after any changes are implemented constitutes your acknowledgement of those changes.
Information We Collect and How We Collect It
The information that we may collect from or about you broadly falls into the following categories:
• Information that you voluntarily provide to us, for example, your contact information, communication preferences, user-generated content, and job applications.
• Information that we automatically collect through your use of the Site, for example, data collected by the servers used to operate the Site/our website (e.g., IP addresses), data collected by cookies and other tracking technologies, location information, and data collected by analytics and advertising services.
Personal Information and Other Information You Provide
Personal Information: You can visit the Site without providing your Personal Information to us, but you will be required to provide your Personal Information to request information from us, to register for an online HIPAA COW event, to upload resources on the Site, and to use certain other features of the Site. We will collect any Personal Information from or about you that you choose to provide to us, which information may include your name, physical address, email address, and telephone number. Personal information must be provided, for example, when registering for or attending a HIPAA COW event; when you submit a job application or career inquiry to our job board; when you provide User-Generated Content (as discussed below); to sign up for HIPAA COW’s newsletter; when you fill out forms or questionnaires on the Site; and when responding to communications from us (e.g., surveys or registration confirmations).
We will use your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy, including to set up and administer any HIPAA COW registration, to process and communicate with you in connection with your requests, and to provide you with information and communications that you request or that we believe are relevant or may be of interest to you, subject in each case to your communications preferences, applicable laws, and the terms of this Privacy Policy.
When you voluntarily register with us, you agree to provide information such as your name, email address, and occupation. Once you register, you are not anonymous to us, but we still protect your information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and this privacy policy.
Event Registration Information: To sign up for any HIPAA COW event you will need to provide certain Personal Information, including your name and email address. The information collected from users during the registration process is used to manage user attendance and membership rosters and may be shared with our sponsors and other third parties.
Membership and Mailing List Information: If you sign up or otherwise opt in to receive newsletters or promotions from us, you will need to provide your email address and name. We will use this information to provide you with promotional and other electronic communications. You may opt out of receiving promotional emails from us at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in the applicable email. We may use third-party email providers to deliver these communications to you.
User-Generated Content: You are responsible for any comments, data, text, images, video, audio, and other content, and material that you create, post, transmit, upload, publish, distribute, broadcast, submit, or otherwise provide via the Site, including by submitting documents to our resources (together, “User-Generated Content”). User-Generated Content that you provide is posted on the Site at your own risk. We cannot guarantee that User-Generated Content you provide will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. You understand that, even after removal, copies of User-Generated Content you have provided may remain viewable in cached and archived pages and may have been copied or stored by Internet archives and other Site users. HIPAA COW will make User-Generated Content available to other users of the Site (as applicable and at its sole discretion) and will use and disclose User-Generated Content for the purpose for which it was provided as indicated at the point of collection. Please remember that any information you disclose in public areas of the Site will be accessible to other Site visitors. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose Personal Information in these public areas. For more information on User-Generated Content, please review our Terms.
Career Opportunities: If you submit a job application or career inquiry using the Site, we will collect your resume and all other information and materials that you provide in the course of making that submission. We may use submitted information and materials to evaluate your qualifications and to otherwise consider or respond to your inquiry. Your submission of an application or inquiry does not in any way require HIPAA COW to review your information or consider you for employment. For more information on how we process information provided while applying or being considered for employment by us, please refer to the Job Applicant privacy policy associated with the posting.
Other Information We Collect
IP Addresses and Related Data: The servers used to operate and provide the Site may collect data pertaining to you and the equipment, software, and communication methods you use to access the Internet and the Site, including Internet protocol (“IP”) addresses assigned to the computers and other devices from where you access the Internet, your Internet service provider (ISP), your device ID number, your approximate geographic location, your web browser type, the pages you access on the Site, the websites you access before and after visiting the Site, the length of time you spend on the Site, date and time stamps, and clickstream data. HIPAA COW may use this information to administer the Site and its servers, to generate statistical information, to monitor and analyze Site traffic and usage patterns, to monitor and help prevent fraud, to investigate complaints and violations of our policies, and to improve the Site’s content and the products, services, materials, and other content that we describe or make available through the Site (see also how we use Google Analytics/analytics services as described below). We may combine this information with other Personal Information and information obtained from third parties for security reasons and to protect our rights or the rights of others as discussed below. The suppliers that we use to provide the Site may collect information about your visits to the Site and other websites. Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technologies as explained further below under “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies.”
Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: The Site automatically uses cookies to track your use of the Site in order to facilitate and enhance the user experience on the Site and for other purposes as described below. A “cookie” is a small piece of information that is stored on your device’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit certain websites. We use cookies to track how you access and use the Site, to learn when and how users visit the Site, to learn how popular Site pages are and aren’t, to learn which search terms are used to find the Site, to learn which websites direct you to the Site, and to recognize Site users. We also use cookies to help display certain information on the Site and to improve your enjoyment of the Site, for example, by remembering your contact and other information when you access or use the Site, as well as for statistical purposes to improve the products and services we provide and to manage our telecommunications networks.
The Site may use both cookies that we implement, and cookies implemented by other third parties, such as advertisers. We do not control third-party cookies, or the information collected through them and expressly disclaim responsibility for information collected through them.
Most browsers automatically accept cookies. You can disable cookies but disabling cookies may impact your use and enjoyment of the Site. Most browsers allow users to manage cookies in the browser’s settings. For example, a browser may allow you to reject cookies from certain websites, reject certain types of cookies regardless of the website, reject or disable all cookies from all websites, and/or delete cookies stored previously. Some browsers also give you the option of being notified every time a cookie is sent to your browser by a website.
Changing your cookie preferences in one browser will not necessarily carry over to other browsers, so you may need to adjust your preferences each time you get a new computer, install a new browser, upgrade an existing browser, or alter or delete a browser’s cookie file.
The types of information collected by a cookie and the purposes for which that information is used depends on the type of cookie. By way of illustration, the types of information collected by the Site’s cookies and the purposes for which that information are used are described below. We may also combine information collected by cookies with other Personal Information.
• Operationally necessary cookies (also called essential cookies). These are cookies that are required for the operation of the Site. For example, these cookies are required to identify irregular website behavior, prevent fraudulent activity, and improve security. They also allow users of the Site to make use of its functions, for example, shopping carts, saved search, and similar functions. Without these cookies, services that you have requested cannot be provided.
• Functionality-related cookies. These cookies allow us to offer you enhanced functionality when accessing or using the Site. This may include to remembering choices you make, for example and as applicable, remembering your username, preferences, or settings, remembering if you reacted to something on or through the Site so that you are not asked to do it again, remembering if you have used any feature of the Site before, restricting the number of times you are shown a particular advertisement, remembering your location, and enabling social media components. As described above, you may disable functional cookies, but if you do so then various functions of the Site may be unavailable to you or may not work the way you want them to.
• Performance-related cookies (also called analytical cookies). These cookies assess the performance of the Site, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how visitors use and interact with the Site, for example, which pages on our websites users visit most often. These cookies also enable us to personalize content and remember your preferences. These cookies help us improve the way our websites work and provide a better, personalized user experience.
• Advertising or targeted cookies. These cookies record your visits to the Site, the pages you visit on the Site, and the links you have clicked. They gather information about your browsing habits and remember that you have visited a particular website. HIPAA COW and its third-party advertising platforms or networks may use this information to make the Site, its content, and advertisements displayed on our websites more relevant to your interests (this is sometimes called “behavioral” or “targeted” advertising and is further discussed below). These cookies are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and to help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. To find out more about interest-based ads and your choices, please visit the Digital Advertising Alliance, the Network Advertising Initiative, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe, https://www.allaboutcookies.org, and https://www.youronlinechoices.com.
The Site may also use the following types of tracking technologies: web beacons (also called clear GIFs), flash cookies, and pixels (also called pixel tags). A web beacon is a tiny graphic with a unique identifier that functions similar to how cookies function. However, in contrast to cookies, web beacons are embedded invisibly on websites. Flash cookies collect and store information about your use of a website and are commonly used for advertisements and videos. Pixels can be placed on websites or within emails to track your interactions with those websites and when emails are opened.
How We Respond to Do-Not-Track Signals: Due to the automatic collection of data using cookies as described above, we currently do not honor “do not track” requests.
Location Information: In addition to the approximate geographic location information collected as discussed above, we may, with your consent, access more specific location information to enhance the user experience and increase the usefulness of the Site. This includes geographical location information collected by device-based location services (including GPS data). You may choose to allow us to access your location by granting the Site access to your location when prompted or through your device’s location services settings. Company also uses the Google Maps API(s). Pursuant to the Google Maps APIs Terms of Service, use of this location feature is also subject to Google’s Privacy Policy. For information on how Google categorizes location information, please visit Types of location data used by Google. Both the Google Terms of Service and Google’s Privacy Policy are incorporated into this Privacy Policy by this reference.
Analytics: The Site uses third-party analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics) to collect and process data about your use of the Site, including when you visit the Site, URLs of the websites that you visit prior to visiting the Site and when you visit those websites, and IP addresses assigned to the devices from where you access the Internet. Our analytics providers may set and read cookies to collect this data and your web browser will automatically send data collected by those cookies to our analytics providers. Our analytics providers use this data to provide us with reports that we will use to improve the Site’s structure and content. For more information on how Google uses this data, visit Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s page on How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps. To prevent this data from being used by Google Analytics, follow the instructions to download and install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for each browser you use. Using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on will not prevent HIPAA COW from using other analytics tools and will not prevent data from being sent to the Site itself or to Google. For more information about how Google Analytics uses cookies to measure user interactions on websites, visit Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites. You may disable cookies as discussed above, but that may impact your use and enjoyment of the Site.
Advertising Networks, Personalized Advertising, Remarketing, and Retargeting: From time to time the Site may use or participate in advertising networks and related advertising services that are managed and provided by third-party advertising servers, advertising agencies, technology vendors, and research firms, including advertising services provided by Facebook (sometimes referred to the Facebook “tracking pixel”). These services collect information about your visits to and interactions with the Site and other websites and will use that information to target advertisements for goods and services. The information collected may be associated with your Personal Information. These targeted advertisements may appear on the Site or on other websites. Advertising networks often gather data about consumers who view advertisements to make inferences about a consumer’s interests and preferences, which enables their computers to deliver advertisements directly targeted to the consumer’s specific interests. This practice is often referred to as “online behavioral advertising.” For example, a third-party advertising network might collect the type of web browser you use, the type of computer operating system you use, the domain name of a website you visit, whether or not you visit specific pages of the Site and other websites, the location of your Internet service provider, the date and time of a visit to a website, and other interactions between you and a website.
Opting out will not affect your use of the Site.
Our Social Media Pages: HIPAA COW is active on social media. You may have the opportunity to comment on those social media platforms regarding HIPAA COW and the resources and services we offer. HIPAA COW may post on the Site and its other websites and social media pages any comments or content that you post on our social media pages.
How We Use and Share Personal Information
In addition to the uses and sharing described above, HIPAA COW and its affiliates may use and disclose Personal Information as described below. We do not use, sell, rent, or otherwise disclose Personal Information except as stated in this Privacy Policy and as required or permitted by applicable law.
Purpose Collected & Communication with You: We will use and share your Personal Information and other Personal Information for the purpose for which it was collected, for example, to process and communicate with you in connection with your requests, to administer your attendance at HIPAA COW events, to consider and respond to job applications you have submitted, to administer HIPAA COW business activities, to provide customer support to Site users, and to provide you with information and communications that you request. We will make certain Personal Information, including User-Generated Content, available to other users of the Site as mentioned above.
We may use Personal Information to notify you of changes made to the Site (e.g., changes to our Terms of Use or this Privacy Policy) and to provide you with promotional materials and other communications as described above. If you send us an email inquiry, we will use your email address to respond to the email inquiry we receive. If you contact us for support or assistance in using the Site, we may use Personal Information to determine whether or not your system meets the minimum requirements needed to access and use the Site and otherwise to contact you regarding your request.
Sharing Personal Information with Our Affiliates: We may share Personal Information with affiliates who we use to support our business. We share your information only as necessary for us to provide the Site and services to you, to engage in the use and sharing of Personal Information as permitted by this Privacy Policy, and as may be otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. These affiliates include our Site management and hosting suppliers, cloud storage providers, IT security providers, marketing and public relations service providers, and email service suppliers. Our suppliers are bound by applicable law and contractual obligations to keep Personal Information confidential and are authorized to and may only use and disclose Personal Information as necessary for them to provide the applicable services to us and, as applicable, as provided by their own privacy policies as noted above.
Security and Protection of Rights: We may use and share Personal Information as required or permitted to respond to subpoenas, court orders, valid law enforcement requests, and other legal process, as well as to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims if we believe doing so is necessary, including sharing information necessary in order to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of HIPAA COW’s Terms, identify, contact, or bring legal action in the event of a violation of our contracts, terms, or policies, or as may be otherwise required or permitted by law.
Business Transactions: All Personal Information is exclusively the property of HIPAA COW but, if HIPAA COW undergoes a change in control, acquisition, merger, reorganization, or asset sale (in whole or in part), we may transfer, sell, share, or otherwise disclose Personal Information to the subsequent owner(s) or successor(s) of those transactions. We may also disclose Personal Information in connection with the evaluation of those transactions. Those owner(s), successor(s), and other recipients, as applicable, will be bound by this Privacy Policy as it applies to the information disclosed. Also, if HIPAA COW or any of its assets are acquired or if HIPAA COW goes out of business, enters bankruptcy, or goes through some other change in control or reorganization, Personal Information may be one of the assets transferred to or acquired by a third party.
With Your Consent: With your consent, we may use and share your Personal Information in ways not specifically described in this Privacy Policy.
Children’s Privacy
The Site is not directed at children under 18 years of age. HIPAA COW does not knowingly collect or use information from children under 18 through the Site.
Data Security
HIPAA COW does not guarantee that loss, misuse, or alteration of Personal Information will not occur, but we have implemented technical and organizational security measures to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control, including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, which is used to encrypt information passed between our systems and your browser. The storage and communication of information online can never be completely secure, so we do not guarantee that our security measures will prevent third parties from illegally obtaining this information, nor do we guarantee that communications or other information that you submit or that are otherwise provided to us will be completely secure. If you become aware of any breach of Site security or this Privacy Policy, please notify us via email at HIPAACOW@badgerbay.co immediately. If our security system is breached, we will notify you of the breach only if and to the extent required under applicable law.
Third-Party Websites and Services
The Site may link to, or be linked to, websites and services not maintained or controlled by HIPAA COW. HIPAA COW is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third parties or any third-party websites or services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party websites or to any personal or other information that you may provide to third parties. You should read the privacy policy for each website that you visit.
Access from Outside the United States
If you are accessing or using the Site from outside the United States, please be aware that Personal Information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States (where our and our suppliers’ servers and databases are located and operated). The data protection and related laws and regulations of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in the country from which you access the Site.
State Privacy Rights
We recognize that the privacy landscape is everchanging, and that laws throughout the United States may require different standards for regulating Personal Information. Specific state consumer privacy laws may provide you with additional rights regarding your Personal Information. These rights, where applicable and in accordance with applicable laws, may include the right to request that we allow you to access, transfer, correct, or delete your Personal Information.
If you are a resident of a locality with such rights, or generally have any questions, complaints, or requests please contact us with your name and contact information via email at HIPAACOW@badgerbay.com .