Website and Network Use Terms
Acceptable Use Policy
Effective May 8, 2018
The following terms apply to your use of and access to any AVA sites or Services together with its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, and licensors (collectively “AVA”) owned or operated website (“Website”), as well as any electronic transmission sent, received, posted, accessed, or stored via any network (“Network”), including AVA branded social media sites that may be owned by a third party (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).
COVERAGE OF THIS POLICY
In addition to other agreements between you and AVA, these terms explain the policies that govern your access to and use of our Website and Network. By accessing or using our Website or Network, you agree to these terms (collectively the “Policy”), as AVA may modify it from time to time. Modifications to this Policy are effective upon its posting on our Website. If you do not agree to accept and comply with the Policy, then do not access or use our Website or Network.
ILLEGAL OR HARMFUL USE
You may access and use our Website and Network only for lawful purposes. You are responsible for any transmission you send, receive, post, access, or store via our Network, including the content of any communication. Transmitting, distributing, or storing any material that violates any applicable law is prohibited. Additionally, the following non-exhaustive list details the kinds of illegal or harmful conduct that is prohibited:
Infringement: Infringement of intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights including, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right. Infringement may result from the unauthorized copying, distribution, and/or posting of pictures, logos, software, articles, musical works, and videos.
Offensive Materials: Disseminating or posting material that is unlawful, libelous, defamatory, obscene, indecent, lewd, harassing, threatening, harmful, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable is not allowed. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not access or use our Website or Network in any manner for the transmission or dissemination of images containing child pornography or images that depict adult nudity or contain sexually explicit themes.
Export Violations: Violations of export laws, regulations, and rules, including, without limitation, violations of the Export Administration Act and the Export Administration Regulations administered by the Department of Commerce.
Fraudulent Conduct: (1) Conducting fraudulent business operations and practices; (2) offering or disseminating fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions (e.g., make-money-fast schemes, chain letters, and pyramid schemes); and (3) individual or business representation as an authorized 3rd party affiliation or agent for any business entity (e.g., AVA) without the business’ prior consent.
Falsification/Impersonation: Using the Network to impersonate any person or entity; falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity; or create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not use invalid or forged headers, invalid or non-existent domain names, or other means of deceptive addressing.
Failure to Abide by Third-Party Network or Website Policies: Violating the rules, regulations, or policies that apply to any third-party network, server, computer database, or website that you access.
Harmful Content: Disseminating or posting content that is harmful to the Network or other users of the Network including, without limitation, viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, zombies, cancelbots, or any other computer programming routines that may damage, interfere with, secretly intercept or seize any system, program, data, or personal information.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
You may not distribute, publish, or send through our Network: (1) any spam, including any unsolicited advertisements, solicitations, commercial e-mail messages, informational announcements, or promotional messages of any kind; (2) chain mail; (3) numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages; (4) empty messages; (5) messages that contain no substantive content; (6) very large messages or files that disrupt a server, account, newsgroup, or chat service; or (7) any message that is categorized as “phishing.”
Likewise, you may not: (1) participate in spidering, harvesting, or any other unauthorized collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others or participate in using software (including “spyware”) designed to facilitate such activity; (2) collect responses from unsolicited messages; or (3) use any of our mail servers or another site’s mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the account holder or the site.
NETWORK SECURITY AND INTEGRITY
You may not violate the security of our Network in any way. Such violations may result in criminal or civil liability. AVA may, but is not obligated to, investigate any violation of our Network. AVA may cooperate with law enforcement where criminal or unauthorized activity is suspected. By using AVA products and services or sending, receiving, posting, accessing, or storing any electronic transmission via our Network, you agree to cooperate in any such investigation. Examples of Network security violations include, without limitation: Hacking: Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems, or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without the express prior authorization of the owner of the system or network.
Interception: Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without the express prior authorization of the owner of the system or network.
Intentional Interference: Interference with service to any user, host, or network including, without limitation, denial-of-service attacks, mail bombing, news bombing, other flooding techniques, deliberate attempts to overload a system, and broadcast attacks.
Falsification of Origin or Routing Information: Using, selling, or distributing in conjunction with the Network, any computer program designed to conceal the source or routing information of electronic mail messages in a manner that falsifies an Internet domain, header information, date or time stamp, originating e-mail address, or other identifier.
Avoiding System Restrictions: Using manual or electronic means to avoid any limitations established by AVA or attempting to gain unauthorized access to, alter, or destroy any information that relates to any AVA customer or other end-user. AVA may, but is not obligated to, take any action it deems necessary to (1) protect its Network, its rights, or the rights of its customers or third parties, or (2) optimize or improve its Network, services, systems, and equipment. You acknowledge that such action may include, without limitation, employing methods, technologies, or procedures to filter or block messages sent through the Network. AVA may, in its sole discretion and at any time, filter “spam” or prevent “hacking,” “viruses,” or other potential harms without regard to any preference you may have communicated to us.
INVESTIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE POLICY
We have the right, but are not obligated, to strictly enforce this Policy through self-help, active investigation, litigation, and prosecution. AVA reserves the right to act immediately and without notice to restrict, suspend, or terminate your use of the Network if it reasonably determines that your conduct may: (1) expose AVA to sanctions, prosecution, civil action, or other liability; (2) cause harm to or interfere with the integrity or normal operations of AVA’s Network or networks with which AVA is interconnected; (3) interfere with another AVA customer’s use of the Network; (4) violate any applicable law, rule, or regulation; or (5) otherwise present an imminent risk of harm to AVA or its members or customers.
AVA has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor or restrict any uses of the Network that AVA reasonably believes in its sole discretion violate this AUP. You are solely responsible for all content that you transmit or receive utilizing the Network, and you are responsible for abuse of your account by others.
We may also access and disclose any information (including transactional information) related to your access and use of our Network for any lawful reason, including but not limited to: (1) responding to emergencies; (2) complying with the law (e.g., a lawful subpoena); (3) protecting our rights or property and those of our customers; or (4) protecting users of those services and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of or subscription to such services. Indirect or attempted breaches of this policy and actual or attempted breaches by a third party on behalf of a company, customer, or user may be considered breaches of this policy by such company, customer, or user.
MISCELLANEOUS
Any failure to insist upon or enforce performance of any provision in this Policy will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between the parties nor trade practice will act to modify any provision in this Policy. AVA may assign its rights and duties under these terms to any party at any time without notice to you. If any provision of this Policy is deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision will be deemed severable from these terms and conditions so that it does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how American Vaping Association (“AVA”) will collect, access, use or disclose your personal information. It applies to all of our products, services, and web sites (“Services”). A few of our Services are covered by different privacy policies and, in the event of a conflict between the two, the product, brand or service-specific policy governs.
Personal information does not include information that is not used to identify you, including aggregate or anonymous information. Our collection, access, use, disclosure and safeguarding of your personal information is subject to U.S. law.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
We collect personal information about you in various ways. We may also get information from other sources, including from affiliates, and may combine it with information we collect about you.
Information you give us. The personal information we collect includes information you give us, such as name, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, government identification numbers, demographics, activities, location information, and personal preferences. You may give us information in a variety of ways, including when you sign up for Services, communicate with customer service or register on www.vaping.org.
Information that we automatically collect. We automatically receive certain types of information whenever you use our Services. We may collect information about your device such as the type, operating system details, as well as information about how you use the device and services available through it, such as your location, web sites you have visited, applications purchased, applications downloaded or used, and other similar information. In addition, when you visit our website, we may collect information contained in HTTP headers such as IP addresses, information about your web browser, the pages you viewed and your history of navigating to any of our pages.
We may link information we automatically collect with personal information, such as information you give us at registration or check out. We may use systems or tools to follow your use of our Services and other applications, including using cookies, web beacons and other mechanisms, along with analysis of network and device information. For example, we allow collection by analytic service provider(s) of site click-stream and cookie data to help track aggregate and individual use of our Services. This includes Google Analytics cookies, which provides us anonymous information on visitors to our website. We sometimes use cookies to enable features on our sites, such as the ability to save your shopping cart or set preferences. Advertisers and advertising networks that serve ads on our sites may also use their own mechanisms, including cookies. These third party cookies or tools are governed by the privacy policies of the entities placing the ads and are not subject to this Policy.
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We use your personal information for a variety of purposes, including providing you with Services. We use your personal information to do things like:
- Process your orders.
- Protect our rights and property and those of our customers.
- Respond to legal process and emergencies.
- Develop or inform you of new products and services.
- Anonymize or aggregate personal information for various purposes like market analysis or traffic flow analysis and reporting.
- Monitor, evaluate or improve our products, Services, systems, or networks.
- Customize or personalize your experience with our Services.
INFORMATION WE SHARE
DE-IDENTIFIED DATA
We may share information that is de-identified or in an aggregated form that does not directly identify you.
We share de-identified or aggregate information for purposes such as to: Conduct market or traffic flow analysis and reporting or produce or facilitate production by others of business and marketing reports or for creation of advocacy materials to share with third parties.
PERSONAL DATA
We do not share information that identifies you personally with third parties other than as follows: Affiliates. We may share personal and non-personal information with affiliated entities for approved business purposes. WE NEVER SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH AFFILIATED ENTITIES FOR MARKETING USES.
Service Providers. We may share personal information with third parties who perform services on our behalf.
Relationship, Discount, and Reward Programs. We may share limited personal information (e.g., name, address, telephone number, account status/active or inactive, membership number) with non-AVA entities when you sign up for an AVA program, including our mailing list.
Third Party Verification Services. We may share limited personal information (e.g., address, phone number) with non-AVA entities to assist with identity verification, and to prevent fraud and identity theft.
Other Third Parties with Your Consent, ONLY. We may share information with other third parties with your consent. For example, you may agree to our sharing your information with other third parties to hear about their products and services. This may include sharing information collected in connection with financial products or services, such as installment billing. It may also be for petitions or collecting signatures on a letter or other instrument used for advocacy. Use of the information you agree to share will be subject to those third parties’ separate privacy policies.
Disclosures to Third Party Application and Service Providers. You may choose to use services and products offered by third parties through our Services, such as third party applications. Your use of such services and applications may result in these third parties collecting your personal information and obtaining information from AVA, including location information (when applicable). You may also choose to give personal information directly to third parties when using our Services. In each case, personal information you give a third party will be subject to its terms, conditions, and policies—not this policy. You should review a third party’s privacy policy and terms of service before providing your information or using the service.
Business Transfers. Personal information about you may be disclosed as part of any merger, acquisition, sale of company assets or transition of service to another provider. In the unlikely event of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership, personal information may also be transferred as a business asset.
Protection of AVA and Others. We may access, monitor, use or disclose your personal information or communications to do things such as: • comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; • protect the rights or property of us, our agents, members, our customers, and others including to enforce our agreements, policies and terms of use; • respond to emergencies.
NETWORK AND INFORMATION SECURITY
We maintain a variety of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards. These safeguards help protect your personal information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. Be sure to use a strong password to access your information on vaping.org and not one you use for other services.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSENT
AVA will not sell your number or permit it to be used for 3rd party sales or marketing of an outside entity’s products. But, we do reserve the right to contact you through whatever means necessary using the telephone. You understand that this may include automated calls when there is important information we need to disseminate to stakeholders in a short amount of time. Generally, you agree that you are giving your express consent for AVA to utilize your phone number on record for conducting trade association business whether it is a landline or mobile or VoiP number and whether those calls are live or automated calls from AVA. You agree that checking your own profile contact information for accuracy is your responsibility.
INFORMATION CHOICES AND CHANGES
In addition to the choices we offer you in the INFORMATION WE SHARE section above relating to de-identified data and your financial data, we offer you the following choices regarding your information:
Advertising. As described above, we work with advertisers and advertising networks that serve ads or collect information on our sites and that may use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your use of our sites. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, deliver advertising and content targeted to your interests on other websites and better understand your online activity.
Cookies. If you disable cookies on your Internet browser, you also may stop some collection and use of data when you visit our web sites.
CHILDREN
You must be 18 or otherwise have legal capacity to subscribe to AVA services. If you believe your child is participating in AVA’s services or any AVA program without your consent, please feel free to contact us at gconley@nullvaping.org. A valid request to delete a child’s personal information will be accommodated within a reasonable time.
CONTACTING US
If you have any questions or complaints that concern this Policy, please call us at AVA or email us at gconley@nullvaping.org. If you prefer, you also may write us at AVA, 70 Hemlock St, Stratford, CT.
UPDATING THIS POLICY
We may change this Policy at any time. When we change the Policy we will give notice by changing the date it was last updated or as required by law.
YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
AVA shares personal information between AVA affiliates and marketing agents for marketing purposes. We do not share your personal information with unaffiliated third parties for their own independent marketing purposes without your consent. California residents may request the categories of personal information AVA shared with third-parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes during the previous calendar year, if any. To make your request, send an email to gconley@nullvaping.org. Written requests may be sent to the AVA, 170 Hemlock St, Stratford, CT. AVA will respond to these requests within 30 days. Requests that come to AVA by other means may result in a delayed response.
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS & ABUSE
If you want to report any violations of this Policy, please email us at gconley@nullvaping.org.
