Privacy Policy

Overview

Welcome to www.gscc.org, owned and produced by The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Our website is available to all visitors, although some content and features are restricted to Chamber members.

Throughout www.gscc.org, there are forms for visitors to request information, products, and services. These forms may ask for contact information (such as your phone number or e-mail address), unique identifiers (your Chamber username and password), or financial information (such as your credit card number). Contact information from these forms is used to provide the products, promotional materials, or memberships that you request. Forms on our site that request financial information do so in order to charge you for products or services ordered. Unique identifiers (specifically, your Chamber username and password) are collected from website visitors to verify the user's identity for access to restricted content or features on the site.

All products and services on www.gscc.org are made available subject to this Privacy Policy. By using the products and services, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What information of yours does The Chamber collect?

Our goal is to become your destination for business-related information by providing information, services, and product offerings that are most relevant to you in the most convenient way. To achieve this goal, The Chamber collects information about site visitors.

Information collected online is usually defined as being either anonymous or personally identifiable.

Anonymous information refers to data that cannot be tied back to a specific individual. The Chamber collects some information each time a visitor comes to the Chamber website, so we can improve the overall quality of the visitor's online experience. For example, The Chamber may collect the visitor's IP address, browser, and platform type (e.g., a Netscape browser on a Windows platform). Gathering this data helps us to learn what browsers we need to support. Other anonymous information helps us determine what sections of www.gscc.org are most popular and how many visitors come to our site(s). You do not have to register with www.gscc.org before we can collect this anonymous information.

Personally identifiable information refers to data that tells us specifically who you are (e.g., your name and postal address). You are only required to provide such information if you want to take advantage of optional products and services provided through our website.

The Chamber collects personal information in the following ways from different parts of its website:

• Chamber Membership Applications: You are sharing personally identifiable information, including your name and mailing address, with us when you join The Chamber through our website. Chamber members are given a username and password, and this enables members to take advantage of restricted content and features on www.gscc.org.
• Other Registration: You may be asked for personal information when registering for specific services. For example, if you subscribe to an e-mail newsletter, you will be asked to provide your e-mail address.
• Online Purchases: We also ask for personal information when you make a purchase using www.gscc.org.

 

Who has access to your information?

Data collected through The Chamber’s website is generally collected and maintained solely by The Chamber and/or its website/database software provider. More specifically:

• Personally identifiable information. When you provide personally identifiable information on www.gscc.org to register for a service or buy a product, that information is collected and maintained solely by The Chamber and/or its website/database software provider, unless specifically stated otherwise at the point of collection. The Chamber will inform you at the point of collection if your personal data is being shared with another organization. If you do not want to share your information with that company, you can choose not to use that service.

If you join The Chamber through our website, you provide personally identifiable information on the membership application. The Chamber may provide mailing lists (names and mailing addresses) of members to third parties. If you wish to opt out of mail list distribution at any time during your Chamber membership, you may do so by following the directions in Item 6 below. The Chamber does not sell member e-mail addresses to third parties.

• Anonymous information. We disclose to third-party sponsors/advertisers aggregate statistics (i.e., impressions and click-throughs on a company's advertisement). Also, we may share aggregate website statistics with the media or other third parties. No personally identifiable information is disclosed to these sponsors/advertisers or other third parties as part of this process-only information in an aggregate form.

Be aware that The Chamber’s sponsors, advertisers, and third-party content providers have links on our site(s) that take you to other websites. For example, when you click on an ad displayed on www.gscc.org, you are linked to another site. Please note also that links to other websites are provided throughout www.gscc.org for users' information and convenience. The Chamber hopes that all third parties involved adhere to our policies regarding the privacy of our users. However, The Chamber’s Privacy Policy does not cover third-party data collection practices, and The Chamber does not assume any responsibility for any actions of third parties.

 

How does The Chamber use the information it collects?

The Chamber collects information to provide you with the services you request and to improve our website.

If you join The Chamber through our website, we use the personally identifiable information you provide in the membership application to send you Chamber publications, information about member benefits and special offers, and other information that The Chamber believes is relevant and useful to its members. The Chamber may provide mailing lists (names and mailing addresses) of members to third parties. You may opt out of mail list distribution at any time during your membership, as described in Item 6 below. The Chamber does not sell member e-mail addresses to third parties.

As mentioned above, The Chamber uses the aggregate, anonymous data collected to let our sponsors/advertisers know the number of impressions or views and the number of "click throughs" on their advertisement(s). The Chamber also uses this aggregate, anonymous data to perform statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our site visitors; to measure user interests regarding specific areas of www.gscc.org; and to analyze how and where best to use our resources. Without such data, we would not know which parts of www.gscc.org are the most popular, and we would not be able to change and update the content and services appropriately.

The Chamber may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities to provide information on individual users to the appropriate governmental authorities. In matters involving a danger to personal or public safety, The Chamber may voluntarily provide information to appropriate governmental authorities.

 

How can you modify your Chamber member information?

Chamber members have the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided.

• E-mail: receptiondesk@gscc.org
• Visit: www.gscc.org and login to the Member Information Center
• Send mail to the following postal address: The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, 501 E. Capitol Ave., Suite A, Springfield, IL 62701
• Call: (217) 525-1173

 

What is the opt-out policy for www.gscc.org?

The Chamber provides members and customers the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us and our partners. If you no longer wish to receive specific communications or services, you have the following options:

• E-mail: receptiondesk@gscc.org
• Send mail to the following postal address: The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, 501 E. Capitol Ave., Suite A, Springfield, IL 62701
• Call: (217) 525-1173
• Instructions for opting out of any Chamber e-mail newsletter you receive are included with each e-mail.

 

What types of security procedures are in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?

The Chamber has security measures, such as firewalls, in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of your user data under our control. While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration to data will not occur, we take reasonable precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences. Any other particularly sensitive information, such as your credit card number, collected for a commerce transaction is encrypted prior to transmission.

You are ultimately responsible for the security of your Chamber username and password. You may not share your Chamber username and password with colleagues or friends so they can access content or features on www.gscc.org that are restricted to Chamber members only. You should log out of your browser at the end of each computer session to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence, especially if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet café.

 

How does www.gscc.org use bulletin boards, discussion lists, and moderated chats?

This site may make bulletin boards, discussion lists, and moderated chats available to its members. Any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information. Although users may post messages that will appear on the message boards anonymously, The Chamber does retain a record of who posts all notes.