Elements (aka Mineralogical Society of America) Privacy Policy

Introduction

The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is the umbrella organization or "vendor" for Elements: An International Magazine of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology. 

Elements (aka MSA) is committed to protecting your privacy and the personal information provided to Elements.  This information is defined as any data with which you can be personally identified.

This Privacy Policy describes what information we collect, how we use it, how long we keep it, and how you can access it, modify it, or request its deletion.

This Privacy Policy applies to data collected through elementsmagazine.org, the US Postal Service, by phone, by fax, or by email.

Your Consent

By using the Elements website, or by sending us information via telephone, fax, email, or paper copies, you are consenting to the collection, use, and transfer of your personal information you supply as described in this Policy.

If you do not consent to the collection, use, and transfer of your personal information as described in this Policy, you may not use these sites.  Elements (aka MSA) will be unable to provide the services for which such information is needed.

What information does Elements (aka MSA) collect and how is it collected?

Your personal information is collected directly from you when:

Purchasing publications: we collect your name, email address, postal address, billing address.

Submitting or reviewing manuscripts for Elements: when you submit or agree to review a manuscript for Elements, your personal information (name, mail and email address and, optionally, your organization) is collected. Manuscript processing is by e-mail and Dropbox, no database is used. Author information collected is the same bibliographic information that appears in the published paper available both in print from Elements and online at elementsmagazine.org,
GeoScienceWorld, msapubs.org, and minpubs.org.

Purchasing author reprints, page charges, extra copies, or open access: we collect your name, email address, postal address, and billing information.

Making a donation: we collect your name, email address, postal address, billing address, and organization.

Participating Society Members (Elements): MSA is the umbrella organization for Elements. It is the custodian of member data (name, address, email, member #) provided by 18 participating societies to MSA for the purpose of mailing print copies and providing access to the online version.

Advertising in Elements: we collect your name, email address, postal address, billing address, and organization for arranging for and invoicing of purchased ad space in Elements (print or online). This data is retained for tax purposes. We also use your contact information to send notices about placing ads in future issues. At any time, advertisers can opt-out of receiving these notices.

How does Elements (aka MSA) use the information collected?

The use of your personal information is limited to the purposes for which it was collected. This includes delivering the services described below.

To fulfill some of these services, we contract third-party organizations and vendors (listed below) and need to share some of your personal information with them. These organizations and vendors are committed to protecting the privacy of your data, they do not process it in any way nor disclose it and use it only for the purpose of the contract we have with them. They are equally committed to complying with data protection regulations.

Elements Participating Society Member Data: MSA is the umbrella organization or “vendor” for Elements and is the custodian of member data (name, address, email, member #) provided by the participating societies. The data is stored on MSA computers that are hosted on MSA servers located in the MSA Offices, Chantilly, VA, United States. The Participating societies are responsible for updating/deleting/modifying data. This member data is used to distributing print copies and providing online access (USERID = email and password = Member #).

Publication (online and print): To enable online subscriptions Elements, we use your information (email address and membership number) from the Elements databases to allow you access the files on the elementsmagazine.org website. To send you print copies of your subscriptions or orders for Elements, we need to share your information (name, postal address and membership number) with our contracted mailers, Allen Press and APC Postal Logistics.

Elements Advertisers provide contact information for arranging for and invoicing of purchased ad space in Elements. Advertisers have opted-in to receiving communications from Elements about future advertising. At any time, advertisers can opt-out of receiving these notices.

Credit Card Payments: To process credit card payments, Elements (aka MSA) uses the organization Elavon’s Converge platform. Elements (aka MSA) does not keep records of any credit card details.

Other Third Parties: In certain, limited circumstances we may share or transfer personal information to unrelated third parties. For example, we may provide personal information to a third party (i) at your request; (ii) to comply with a legal requirement or court order; (iii) to comply with a warrant from a law enforcement agency; (iv) to investigate a possible crime, such as identity theft; or (v) in connection with the sale, purchase, merger, reorganization, liquidation or dissolution of MSA or Elements. If such an event occurs, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information.

Other Uses: If a complaint is made by you, or by another member or by an authorized legal representative, regarding your Elements account, Elements (aka MSA) reserves the right to use some or all of your personal data to determine our response to the complaint, but we will not share it with another third party or service unless required or absolutely necessary and will always aim to share the minimum amount of data possible.

How can you access your personal information, modify it, or request its deletion?

Members: If you would like to review, correct and update the personal information you have provided to Elements, contact the participating society through whom you receive your subscription to Elements.  Participating societies are responsible for updating/deleting/modifying data.

Subscribers and Publication Customers: If you would like to review, correct and update the information you have provided to us, contact the Elements (aka MSA) business or editorial office via phone, postal mail or email using the contact information below.

If you choose, you may request to delete or make inactive your account with us (be forgotten). You must contact Elements (aka MSA) in writing at the address below. Be aware that we may be required by law or business practice to retain some portions of your information and interactions with us and we will retain your request in case we are questioned about why we did remove your information.

Elements Advertisers: If you would like to review, correct and update the information you have provided to us, contact the Elements (aka MSA) business or editorial office via phone, postal mail or email using the contact information below.

Advertisers have opted-in to receiving communications from Elements. At any time, advertisers can opt-out. You must contact MSA in writing at the address below. Be aware that we may be required by law or business practice to retain some portions of your information and interactions with us and we will retain your request in case we are questioned about why we did remove your information.

How long does Elements (aka MSA) keep your information?

Administration: Elements (aka MSA) retains the personal information collected as long as necessary to provide the services, products, and information you request or as required by applicable business practice or law. The length of time for which we keep the data depends on its nature and purpose.

Elements (aka MSA) keeps the backup documentation seven (7) years for:

1. Federal Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax
2. Federal Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return
3. Virginia Form 500, Corporation Income Tax Return
4. Virginia Retail Sales and Use Tax Form ST-9.

Copyright information (name, address, email) is retained on behalf of authors as part of the copyright assignment forms. The time required to retain documentation of copyright is more complex and requires long-term retention of documentation.

For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Where is your data stored?

The data provided to Elements is stored on Elements (aka MSA) servers located in Chantilly, Virginia, United States of America.

Elements (aka MSA) does not collect or keep records of any credit card details. Elements (aka MSA) uses the Elavon Converge platform.

Security of Personal Information?

We have implemented reasonable physical measures and administrative procedures to safeguard against unauthorized access and help prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. However, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us; any data transmission is at your own risk. Should a data breach of Elements (aka MSA’s) systems occur, Elements (aka MSA) will notify you within time frames required by applicable data protection laws.

Elements (aka MSA) offers either an opt in or opt out option in a limited number of cases.

Every Elements (aka MSA) officer, volunteer, member of staff, and member who has access to data or personal information collected by Elements (aka MSA) is charged with respecting the privacy of those who provided it and is expected to respect and follow the Elements (aka MSA) Privacy Policy.

Website Users

When you browse the Elements website, Elements (aka MSA) does not collect any personal information, only statistical data on an aggregated basis. We use cookie technology to analyze traffic to our websites. We gather information such as the number of visits and page views, the popularity of each page, or the location of our visitors. The purpose of this is to help us understand which information is useful to you and how we might improve your experience when navigating our websites, but again, no personal information is collected through this process.

If you do not wish to receive cookies, you may set your browser to reject cookies or to alert you when a cookie is placed on your computer. Although you are not required to accept cookies when you visit the Elements website, you may be unable to use all of the functionality of the site if your browser rejects our cookies.

Children under the Age of Thirteen

Elements sites wherein personal information is collected are not intended for children or minors under the age of thirteen years without the permission of a parent or guardian.

If you believe that a child has submitted personal information on or through the Elements website a without the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian, please contact us at the address below so that we can take appropriate action.

Protection of Intellectual Property

Protection of intellectual property is the responsibility of Elements (aka MSA) and its members. Violation of intellectual property rights are legally covered through intellectual property laws, and not privacy laws. Members and authors are asked to contact the legal officers at your home institution or organization, and contact Elements (aka MSA) in writing at the address below, if you believe you have experienced an intellectual property violation related to Elements (aka MSA) programs.

External links on Elements website

The Elements (aka MSA) website contain links to other websites for the convenience of visitors to the sites. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies, and Elements (aka MSA) has no control, responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. This Policy does not apply to personal information collected on any of these third-party websites. When you access third-party websites through a link on Elements (aka MSA) website, please take a few minutes to review the privacy policy posted on that site.

Elements (aka MSA) does, however, wish to protect the integrity of our site and we welcome any feedback about these linked sites.

This Privacy Policy May Change

The Mineralogical Society of America and Elements reserve the right to update or modify this
Policy and any Privacy Notice, at any time and without prior notice, by posting the revised version of the Policy or Privacy Notice on these sites. If we modify this Policy or any Privacy Notice, the modifications will only apply to the personal information we collect after we have posted the revised Policy or Privacy Notice on these sites. For your convenience, when we modify this Policy we will post a notice informing users of the change for thirty (30) days on the home page of Elements and/or MSA sites.

Governing Law

The Mineralogical Society of America is a United States not-for-profit, tax-exempt (501(c)3) corporation and a Commonwealth of Virginia corporation. This policy shall be governed under the laws of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Questions about this Policy or our Data Practices

If you have questions or concerns about this Policy or any Privacy Notice, please contact at:

The Mineralogical Society of America 3635 Concorde Pkwy Ste 500 Chantilly VA 20151-1110 USA United States of America Tel: +1 (703) 652-9950 Fax: +1 (703) 652-9951 e-mail: msa@minsocam.org

Elements Jodi J. Rosso, Executive Editor WSU Tricities 2701 Crimson Way TFLO 263 Richland WA, 99354-1671, U.S.A. Phone: 1-509-420-5331 (UTC-8) e-mail: jrosso.elements@gmail.com

This Policy was last revised on 25 May 2018 and is effective as of that date.