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UFT.org Privacy Statement

Last modified: July 20, 2023

Introduction

The United Federation of Teachers and our affiliates (“UFT” or “Union”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. This policy describes:

  • the types of information we may collect or that you may provide when you register with, access, or use the website www.uft.org (“Website”), the UFT Member Hub and the UFT mobile app (“App”), or when you receive UFT email or texts (collectively, the “Services”).
  • our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.

This policy applies to information you provide or we collect via the Services and other electronic communications sent through or in connection with the Services. This policy DOES NOT apply to information that:

  • we collect offline or on any other apps or websites, including websites you may access through the Website or the App.
  • you provide to, or is collected by, any third party.

Other websites and apps, and these third parties, may have their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to read before providing information on or through them. Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not register with or use the Website or the App or opt to receive union communications via email or text message. By registering with or using the Services, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Services after we make changes is deemed to be your acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

Collection of Information

We are committed to respecting the privacy and security of your generic information and personally identifiable information (“PII”). The type and amount of information received depends on how you use the Services. You may provide (1) generic information that is collected on an aggregate basis from all users; or (2) PII that you voluntarily choose to disclose through registering, filling out a profile form, joining an email list or signing up for text messages. UFT members are required to register, for validation purposes, to view or use specific member-only features of the Services. Any generic information and PII that you are required to provide us as a part of your registration will be used to verify your UFT membership and to provide you with information, services and member benefits through the Services.

Generic Information

Generic information includes, but is not limited to, information about the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address or other identifier assigned to your device, browser type, operating system type, Internet Service Provider, platform type, regional information, the date and time of your visit, the time spent utilizing the Services or certain usage of certain features of the same. The generic information that you provide through the Services, or that is automatically collected, does NOT reveal your identity and may be freely disclosed by us to our affiliates or third parties as we deem appropriate. We may use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality of the Services. This software may record information such as how often you use the Services, the events that occur within the Services, aggregated usage, performance data, and where an application was downloaded from. You may also adjust how some of the Services, the App specifically, monitors or identifies your location based on settings on your mobile device.

Personally Identifiable Information

PII includes any information by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, telephone number, date of birth, membership number, or any other identifier by which you may be identified or contacted online or offline. Our definition of PII does not include “aggregate” data. Aggregate data is information we collect about a group or category of users or services from which individual user identities have been removed. In other words, no personal information is included in aggregate data and aggregate data does NOT reveal your identity. Aggregate data helps us understand trends in our users’ needs or use of the Services. This Policy in no way restricts or limits our collection, distribution, and use of aggregate data.

Disclosure of Information

We use the PII we collect to respond to your inquiries, fulfill your requests, provide assistance through the Services, and to send you information, such as discount information, updates to policies or products and services. The information we collect may also be used to personalize your experience and to offer you products, programs, features or services that may be of interest. We may freely share PII with our national and state union affiliates, provided that such affiliates agree to abide by the terms of this Privacy Policy. We may also use the information we collect from and about you for our internal business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, and improving our marketing and services. We will not attempt to match any PII that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation. The Services, and certain “Member-Only” sections of the Website, contain significant information and opportunities exclusive to active and retired UFT members. In order to verify your membership status, we must compare the data that you provide against UFT and New York City Department of Education records. In addition to creating a profile, a member wishing to access certain features of the Services must fill out the required fields on the member-validation page. The information gathered on this page is used only to verify your membership and ensures that your web account grants you access to member-only features. We will not share the PII we collect from you through the Services with third parties, except as described in this policy or as required by law. For example, we may share information as follows:

  • with vendors, consultants and other service providers who work with us in connection with the operation of the Services and who need access to such information to carry out their work for us, but only to the extent necessary to perform their functions and provide such services, and only pursuant to binding obligations requiring such third parties to maintain the privacy and security of such information;
  • when you give us your consent to do so, including if we notify you via the Services that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information;
  • in an aggregated or anonymized form that does not directly identify you;
  • when we believe in good faith that we are lawfully authorized or required to do so or that doing so is reasonably necessary or appropriate to comply with the law or legal processes or respond to lawful requests or legal authorities, including responding to lawful subpoenas, warrants, or court orders;
  • when we believe in good faith that we are lawfully authorized or required to do so or that doing so is reasonably necessary or appropriate to protect our rights, property, or safety of the rights, property or safety of our users, our members, our affiliates, our employees, copyright owners, third parties or the public, including without limitation to protect us, our members, our affiliates or our users from fraudulent, abusive, inappropriate or unlawful use of the Services; and
  • to enforce or apply this policy or our other policies or agreements.

We WILL NOT sell PII to third parties for any reason. We or our affiliates may anonymize and/or aggregate the PII and combine or incorporate such anonymized and/or aggregated data with information available, derived or obtained from other licensees, users and/or any other sources. We may share or sell such combined data for any purposes, including, but not limited to, helping us, our affiliates or third parties better understand our membership’s needs and improve our services. By registering with the Services, you consent to such sharing or sale. In order to process and fulfill any purchase orders for Teacher Center courses, events or our products, you must provide your credit card number, expiration date, security code and billing information; this is standard information required by all credit-card processing vendors. For your protection, we use state-of-the-art security protocols to protect sensitive data, such as PII or credit card numbers. The privacy of this data is ensured with a keyed symmetric encryption algorithm. While this data is being transferred, it is protected by the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) using a 128-bit signed certificate. Encryption keys are secured by Verisign. For more information on SSL and web security, see https://www.verisign.com. Additionally, we DO NOT store your credit card information once the transaction has been accepted. Certain of the Services may provide discount offers through external hyperlinks to third party merchants and vendors who may request your email address or other personal information. We are not a party to any transaction between you and a third party merchant or vendor and are not responsible for any personal information provided by you as a part of your transaction. Any and all transactions with third party merchants or vendors are directly with said merchant or vendor and will be wholly processed by the merchant or vendor. All issues and disputes with a merchant or vendor, including but not limited to discount issues, delivery issues and returns of merchandise, should be handled directly with the merchant or vendor, as we are not a party to your transaction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we are committed to the highest level of member support and want to assist you in the event there is an issue or dispute with a merchant or vendor. Therefore, any issue or dispute that cannot be resolved directly with the merchant or vendor can be reported to the UFT by calling 212-598-9512, or emailing appdiscounts [at] uft [dot] org (appdiscounts[at]uft[dot]org). Please be advised that we do not have any specific authority to compel any action or response by a merchant or vendor, but we will attempt in good faith to address any issue or dispute. If you choose to sign up for one of our email lists or for text messages, we may ask for your email address or cell phone number, zip code, interest preferences and/or other related information. We use this information to administer the email lists and texts and to provide relevant content for your interests and geographic area. As a part of your membership, you also have the option to receive emails or texts to inform you of new program features, vendor additions, discounts, perks and other information that we think you’ll enjoy. Local, regional, national and international discounts and nearby offers may be provided to you based upon the zip code you provide or based upon your device’s IP address.

All above categories exclude text message originator opt-in and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Opt Out

If you wish to revoke your subscription to any email list or to stop receiving emails or UFT text messages, please either:

  • for emails, follow the unsubscribe instructions provided at the bottom of all emails;
  • for UFT texts, text STOP to the UFT short code or follow the opt-out instructions that are part of the Short Code Terms and Conditions;
  • log in to the Website or the App and edit the relevant email or text profile; or
  • if you have any problems revoking your subscription, contact us at webteam [at] uft [dot] org (webteam[at]uft[dot]org).

Use of Cookies

We may store some information on your computer when you access certain of the Services. This information is commonly known as a “Cookie” and once recorded is not accessible by any other company. We may use Cookies or other similar technologies in order to better understand how the Services are being accessed and used. Cookies also help us to determine if the Services are being delivered efficiently. In addition, Cookies allow us to enhance your online experience by potentially customizing your use of the Services and potentially eliminating the need for you to re-enter data every time you visit the Services. The use of Cookies is an industry standard and is used by most major sites to provide the visitor with tailored information. You should be able to block these Cookies in the first instance, or erase them from your device after they have been recorded, if you so choose. Please consult your device manual or browser help files in this regard. If you block or erase these Cookies, you may limit the functionality available to you via certain of the Services. Pages of the Website and the Member Hub and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Union, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related Website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain Website content and verifying system and server integrity).

Territory

UFT’s services are provided in the United States. If you are located outside the United States, please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States. By using the Services, you irrevocably consent to this transfer. Your information and data may be transferred to and maintained in whole or in part on computer networks which may be located outside of the state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction in which you reside, including the United States, which may have different data protection rules than in your jurisdiction.

Third Party Links and Advertisements

The Services may provide links to other third party websites. Even if the third party is affiliated with us through a business partnership or otherwise, we are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices or the content of such external links. These links are provided to you for convenience purposes only, and you access them at your own risk. Some advertisements are served by third-party advertisers, ad networks and ad servers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with other tracking technologies to collect information about users of the Services. This may include information about users’ behavior on the Services and to present them interest-based (behavioral) advertising. We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement, you should contact the responsible advertiser directly.

Security

Unfortunately, data transmission over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be secure nor is any security system completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we do not guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us via the Services or provide online. It is possible that unauthorized “hackers” may post or transmit offensive or obscene materials via the Services and that you may be involuntarily exposed to such materials. It may also be possible for other users or “hackers” to improperly gain access to personal information about you. By using the Services, you assume the risk of such occurrences. We request that you do not electronically send — and we will not be liable for — your sensitive or confidential information. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Services. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a user name and/or password to access the Services, you are responsible for keeping this user name and/or password confidential. We ask you not to share your user name and/or password with anyone.

Children Under 13

The Services are not directed at children 13 years of age or younger. We therefore do not intentionally collect information about any user under the age of 13. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at webteam [at] uft [dot] org (webteam[at]uft[dot]org).

California Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section §1798.83 permits California residents to request certain information regarding disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to webteam [at] uft [dot] org (webteam[at]uft[dot]org).

Our Do Not Track Policy

Some browsers have a “do not track” feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. At this time, we do not respond to browser “do not track” signals, but we do provide you the option to opt out of interest-based advertising. To learn more about IBA or to opt out of this type of advertising, visit the Network Advertising Initiative website and the Digital Advertising Alliance website. Options you select are browser- and device-specific.

Contacting Us

If you have questions or concerns about the information that we collect, you may contact us at webteam [at] uft [dot] org (webteam[at]uft[dot]org).