Privacy Policy

ABROAD101 - Privacy Policy

Welcome to Abroad101 and our online network that brings together universities, students, parents, study abroad program providers, and affiliates (referred to herein as the "Abroad101 Network" or the "Site"). Abroad101 is a service provided by The Westonian Group, Inc. (“Company,” “we” or “us”). In the provision of Abroad101, we are committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information of users ("you" or "User"). Since we collect certain types of information about our Users, we want you to understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This Privacy Policy discloses what information we collect, how we use it and how to correct and change it. Please read this page carefully. If you do not accept this Privacy Policy, you are not permitted to use this Site or Services. We may amend or modify these Terms of Use at any time with notice provided on the Site and/or by notification to your last known email address. Information will be handled according to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time the information is used.

College and university study abroad offices (“Universities”) use Abroad101 to manage student and program provider data and to automate and web-enable their feedback processes and other administrative functions. Universities also use Abroad101 to interact with students and parents through forums. In these capacities, Universities and their staff and administrators may have the ability to access and use some or all of the personal information on the Site belonging to you if you are a student of their school, including, without limitation, the ability to send you e-mails using communication tools on the Site. Universities are not subject to this Privacy Policy, and we are not responsible for what Universities do with personal information about students that is available or accessible to them on or through the Site. If you have questions regarding the practices and policies of a University with respect to your personal information, we recommend that you contact the University directly. Company may make content or services from other web sites available to you from links located on the Site. These other web sites are not subject to this Privacy Policy. We recommend that you review the privacy policy at each such web site to determine how that site protects your privacy.

Personally Identifiable Information We Collect

We receive and collect personally identifiable information about individual Users of our site (such as name, contact information, etc.):

* From Universities; and
* From you, on a voluntary basis, by specifically requesting it from you (i) when you register on the Site, (ii) when you complete or edit your profile, (iii) when you use or register for certain products and services, (iv) when you respond to surveys or questionnaires, and/or (v) when you enter or sign up for promotions or contests; and
* From you, on a voluntary basis, if and when you choose to upload to the Site any feedback, evaluations, comments, forum posts, pictures, or other documents that contain personal information about you.

We may also ask you for other information from time to time, which you may choose to provide or not to provide at your sole discretion, such as information regarding your personal experiences, interests and preferences, your views on study abroad and travel-related topics, your opinion regarding various features of our Site and the types of information that interests you. In certain instances, personally identifiable information with respect to you may also be received from one or more of our business partners.

How We Use Personally Identifiable Information Collected

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose, display or share your personal information to or with third parties without your permission. We use personally identifying information we collect on the Site mainly for the following purposes:

* To enable you (and other Users) to access and utilize the various tools, features and functionality of the Site, such as searching, leaving and reviewing feedback, making forum posts, uploading documents, etc.
* For administering sweepstakes, contests, surveys, questionnaires, polling activities and other similar events and activities that you choose to participate in, and for other purposes specifically communicated to you when we collect the information.
* To communicate with you with regard to your use of the Site and its services or to advise you of Site changes or other events or occurrences which may affect your access to or use of the Site.
* To provide Universities who are members of the Abroad101 Network with information and statistics on Users of the Site.

We allow you to classify personally identifiable information that you provide to us with one of three levels of protection.

*Anonymous: What you classify as anonymous, other Users will not be able to directly associate with your profile information.
*Visible to Your University Network: Information with this classification is visible only to Users with a valid email address that shares your particular University’s “.edu” extension (making them members of your “University Network”), as well as their parents by invitation and subject to verification. For example, all email addresses provided by Harvard College take the form name@fas.harvard.edu; Harvard’s extension is “Harvard.edu”. Please be aware that this classification does not block affiliates of your University who have a valid University-provided email address; for example, faculty.
*Visible to All University Affiliates: Information with this classification is visible to any Users in the Abroad101 Network with a valid email address ending in “.edu”.
*Public: Information with this classification is visible to anyone who visits the site.

When you provide us with personally identifiable information, we will explicitly inform you of and/or allow you to select the level of protection for that information. We are not responsible for the use of your personal information by Users to whom it is made available by you or in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Often, you have the ability to change the level of protection by which you classify certain information. In those cases, other parties may have already gained access to that information and may have retained a copy of that information in their own files or databases. We are not responsible for the retention, use or privacy of information in these instances.

With your permission, we may use your e-mail address and other contact information to send you articles, profiles, travel news and other study abroad related information, as well as to notify you of special promotions or additional products and services offered by us or our business partners and advertisers that may be of interest to you. With your permission, we may also share your personal information with our business partners and other third parties to enable them to contact you regarding special promotions, products and services they offer which may be of interest to you. You have the ability to opt-out of these types of communications at any time (see "Opt-in/Opt-out Policy" below).

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email or telephone number) about your visits to this and other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting our web servers, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. These other companies will have access to your personal information as necessary to perform their functions, but they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information and are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide services to Abroad101.

From time to time, we may also disclose personally identifiable information to fulfill certain legal and regulatory requirements or if we believe, in good faith, that such disclosure is legally required or necessary to protect others' rights or to prevent or mitigate harm. We may also disclose and transfer such information to a third party who acquires all or a substantial portion of Company’s business, whether such acquisition is by merger, consolidation or purchase of all or a substantial portion of our assets. In addition, if Company becomes the subject of a bankruptcy proceeding, whether voluntary or involuntary, Company or its trustee in bankruptcy may sell, license or otherwise dispose of such information in a transaction approved by the bankruptcy court.

All Users should be aware that when they voluntarily display or distribute personal information (such as their e-mail address) to others (whether in forums, messages, by posting feedback, responding to feedback or otherwise), that information can be collected and used by others. This may result in unsolicited messages from third parties, for which Company is not responsible.

Finally, if you provide any information to parties who operate web sites that are linked to or from our Site, different rules may apply to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information by such other party. We are not responsible for any such party's use of your personal information. We encourage you to review these sites' privacy policies before revealing any sensitive or personal information.

Updating Account Information

Company allows you to change or correct your profile information at any time. To do so, simply log in to your Abroad101 account, go to your profile, and you will find options for editing the information you have submitted.

Opt-In/Opt-Out Policy

When you complete your profile or register on the Site, you will be presented with a series of choices regarding whether you want to receive certain types of communications from us and/or our business partners and advertisers. If you do not wish to receive any or all of such communications, you may opt-out by responding "no" or clicking the appropriate opt-out box. By opting in to receive any and or all communications, you are granting permission to allow Abroad101, its business partners and advertisers to send the selected communications. We reserve the right to send you communications regarding the Site and our services, or to advise you of Site changes or other events or occurrences which may affect your access to or use of the Site (such as service announcements, administrative notices and the like) without offering you the opportunity to opt out of them.

If after opting-in to the Abroad101 Network or to receive communications from us and/or our business partners, you wish to opt-out of participation in the Abroad101 Network or from receiving future communications, you may do so at any time. To do so, simply log in to your Abroad101 Network account, go to your profile, and you will find options for editing your opt-in preferences.

Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses and Aggregated User Data

We collect IP addresses from all Users of the Site, and collect and monitor other data and information about the activities of our Users on the Site collectively. We only use such data anonymously and in the aggregate. This data is not used to track or monitor personally identifiable information of individual Users. We gather and monitor this data to analyze trends, administer the Site, identify visitors when they visit the Site, track Users' movements on the site and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We may share this information with our partners so that they too may understand our User base and Site usage patterns, but only on a collective, aggregated basis and in a manner which does not reveal any personally identifiable information about any individual User.

Cookies and log files

We use cookies and log files to administer the Site. A log file is a list of recent actions that is maintained by our servers. Cookies, which are small text files recorded in a User's hard drive, are employed by thousands of sites to enhance users' Web viewing experience. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive. Cookies allow sites and advertisers to "remember" users across pages of a site and across multiple visits to a site. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify Users, although they do identify a User's computer. We use cookies for remembering User preferences and current session information. Because of our use of cookies, we can deliver faster service, more consistent, updated results, and a more personalized site experience.

You may be able to use your computer’s control panel to disable cookies; but doing so may affect your ease in using the Site. We have no access to or control over any cookies that may be used by linked or other third party sites.

Children

We do not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from or about children under 13 except as permitted by law.

Security

The account containing your registration information, profile and resume is password protected, so only you (or third parties you provide your password to) can access your account. All personally identifiable information we collect about you is stored in limited-access servers. This Site has technical, administrative and physical security measures and safeguards in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. While we are committed to placing reasonable and appropriate safeguards to protecting your information against foreseeable risks, no computer system or information can ever be fully protected against every possible hazard, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not be able to circumvent those safeguards or use your personal information for improper purposes.

Questions or Concerns

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or privacy issues relating to the Site, you can contact us online at legal@abroad101.com or mail or phone us at:

Abroad101.com, Inc.
147 North Avenue
Weston, MA 02493
Phone: (617) 500-3522