Privacy Policy
At Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), we know you care about your personal privacy and about the terms and conditions that govern your use of this website (“Website”). Because SRF is dedicated to respecting your privacy, we have adopted the policies and practices described in this Privacy Policy.
Our Collection and Use of Your Personally Identifiable Information
In general, SRF collects and uses information about you to deliver subscription benefits (e.g., the SRFeNewsletter), to deliver services (e.g., to pray for you or your loved ones), to better allow you to share your experiences (e.g., “share your story”), and also to keep you informed of SRF programs. We store that information subject to the terms herein. Except as described herein, we do not sell, rent or otherwise share or disclose your private, personally identifiable information to third parties.
SRF specifically collects information from you at several different points, including but not limited to the following: Information you provide to us, correspondence you may send us, your IP address and your last URL requested, and we set cookies on your hard drive that gather limited amounts of data.
Children’s Privacy
We do not knowingly attempt to solicit or receive any information from children under 13 years of age.
Children under 13 wishing to submit personal information to the site are advised to have their parents submit any requests using the parents’ own personal data.
Information You Provide to Us
SRF primarily collects information where you specifically share it with us on the Website.
YOGANANDA-SRF.ORG collects information from users only on a voluntary basis in the following categories: name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. SRF never discloses the information except as provided herein. Information is provided voluntarily by users and is used by SRF only to the extent necessary to deliver items ordered from SRF, to subscribe to SRF publications, to subscribe to summaries of current SRF news stories, to submit information regarding news or events, or to provide feedback regarding the site. The information collected is used strictly to facilitate users’ requests or to respond to a query. We regard this information as confidential and do not use it for any other purpose, sell it to other parties, or disclose it to any third party (except to third-party delivery services as necessary to effectuate delivery of the goods as requested by the user).
Correspondence
If you correspond with SRF via email, the postal service, or other form of communication, we may retain such correspondence and the information contained therein and use it to respond to your inquiry and/or share SRF news or other SRF-related information with you. Email and postal address information is never sold, given, or otherwise shared or disclosed to third parties except as set forth herein. If you do not wish to receive such notifications, you may express your preference to not be so contacted by sending a letter, calling or emailing SRF offices at the contact information below informing us of your preference.
URL and IP Address
Like many other websites, we collect information about our users’ utilization and navigation of the Website. This information helps us to design the Website to better suit our users’ needs. We may also use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer the Website, analyze trends, track visitor movements, and gather broad demographic information that assists us in identifying visitor preferences.
Cookies
Cookies are pieces of data that a website transfers to a user’s hard drive for record-keeping purposes.
The Website uses cookies to provide enhanced functionality on the Website (e.g., user ID and password prompts) and to aggregate traffic data (e.g., what pages are the most popular). While these cookies may be associated with personal information you have provided, we do not associate personal information with clickstream data. The Website also captures limited information (such as the last URL requested by the user) about visits to the Website; SRF may use this information to analyze general traffic patterns and to perform routine system maintenance. You have many choices with regards to the management of cookies on your computer. All major browsers allow you to block or delete cookies from your system. To learn more about your ability to manage cookies, please consult the privacy features in your browser.
The Website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help the Website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the Website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the Website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. By using the Website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
Restrictions on Disclosing Information to Third Parties
SRF may disclose all of the information (described above) that we collect, as stated above and in accordance with the terms set forth in this section. We do not reveal personally identifiable information about you to third-parties for their independent use unless: (1) you request or authorize the disclosure; (2) the information is provided to comply with the law (for example, to comply with a search warrant, subpoena or court order), or to protect our rights, property or safety, or the rights, property or safety of our employees or others; (3) the information is provided to our agents, vendors or service providers who perform functions on our behalf, such as our provider of e-commerce services, Mountain Media, Inc., and our credit card processor Authorize.net; or (4) to address emergencies or acts of God. SRF may also gather aggregated data about visitors to the Website and disclose the results of such aggregated (but not personally identifiable) information to our service providers or other third parties for administration of the Website.
Our Security Measures to Protect Information
To help protect the privacy of data and personally identifiable information you transmit through use of the Website, SRF maintains physical, technical, and administrative safeguards. We update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis. We restrict access to your personally identifiable information to those SRF staff members who need to know that information to provide benefits or services to you. In addition, we train all our staff members about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information. We commit to taking appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce the privacy responsibilities of our staff.
When you sign up for a bookstore account or make a purchase, the Website gathers credit card information using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input and transmit. We reveal only the last four digits of credit card numbers when confirming an order, but we do transmit the entire card number, using SSL, to our credit card processor and the appropriate credit card company. You may choose to have SRF store your credit card information to make subsequent transactions easier. If you choose this option, your credit card information will be encrypted and stored on the secure servers by the hosting company Mountain Media. This vendor is certified by external agencies to be PCI compliant.
Inapplicability of Privacy Policies of Any Linked Sites or Other Third Parties
This Privacy Policy only addresses SRF’s use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information. As the Website may contain links to other websites, please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites, and we are not liable for their misuse of personally identifiable information. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website to which you navigate.
Your Access to and Updating of Personal Information
Reasonable access to personally identifiable information will be provided promptly, at no cost to visitors to the Website, in response to a request sent to the contact information provided below. If SRF cannot provide access within that time frame, we will provide the requesting party a date when the information will be provided. If for some reason it is not possible to comply with the request, SRF will provide an explanation as to why it is impossible.
Conditions of Use, Enforcement, Notices and Changes to Our Privacy Policy
By using the Website, you agree to the terms and conditions contained in this Privacy and Conditions of Use and/or any other agreement that we might have with you. If you do not agree to any of these terms and conditions, you should not use the Website or any SRF online services.
You hereby expressly waive trial by jury in any action, proceeding or counterclaim on any matters whatsoever arising out of or related to this Privacy Policy and Conditions of Use or the provision or use of the Website (“Claim”). You hereby agree to submit any Claim to binding arbitration, to be held in Los Angeles, California. In the event any Claim is deemed by a court not to be subject to arbitration, it will be submitted to a court of competent jurisdiction located in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, which shall constitute the exclusive venue for any such dispute(s).
This Privacy Policy is current as of April 19, 2010. As the Website changes from time to time, this Privacy Policy may change as well. SRF reserves the right to amend the Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason. We may email subscribers or account holders to notify them of material changes to the Privacy Policy, but you should check the Website frequently to read the current Privacy Policy and review any changes that may have been made to it. The provisions contained herein supersede all previous notices or policies regarding our privacy practices that govern the use of the Website.
Contact Information for Questions Regarding the Privacy Policy and Conditions of Use
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, any concern about privacy of personal data at SRF, wish to request access to your personally identifiable information or to opt out of our use of your personally identifiable information, please contact us at:
Email address: info@yogananda-srf.org
Physical Address: 3880 San Rafael Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90065
Attn: Website Content Manager
Telephone: (323) 225-2471