GBCI, INC. PRIVACY POLICY

This page states the Privacy Policy under which you, the Web Site visitor ("You" or “Your” or “Yourself”) may use or correspond with this Web site (“Our Site”), which is owned by the Green Building Certification Institute, Inc. (“We” or “Us” or “Our”).

We respect Your privacy interests and operate this site by these principles. We have taken reasonable steps to protect the integrity and confidentiality of personally identifiable information that You may provide.

Voluntary Submission of Information

You may use the GBCI® Web site without disclosing personally identifiable information, and We will not obtain such information about You unless You choose to submit it to us. Registration with gbci.org is not required, as much of the content on the site can be accessed even if You are not a registrant. However, in order to access a greater number of services, We ask that You create a site user account. Any information You submit will be used internally only within GBCI® and its affiliated organization, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC®); nevertheless, submission of information authorizes such internal use by Us and Our employees. In particular, please note that submission of an e-mail authorizes Us to contact You via e-mail.

The types of information We request include:

PLEASE NOTE: LEED® OnlineTM is a product owned and maintained by the USGBC® and used by GBCI® under license with USGBC®. In order to utilize LEED® OnlineTM, you must create a user account with USGBC® which will be shared with GBCI®.

Cookies

Please note that We use “cookies,” which are small files stored on Your computer’s hard drive that are used to track certain information. These cookies enable Us to track and target the interests of Our users to enhance their experience on Our site. For example, cookies usually allow Your browser to remember which pages You have visited and help Us to know how much traffic Our pages receive. This process does not reveal any personal information about the person viewing the page (such as a username or password) unless the person has previously given such information. If You find cookies objectionable, please consult Your browser’s documentation for information on how to block or erase cookies.

Log Files

In addition, Our Web server collects and saves the default information customarily logged by World Wide Web server software. Our logs contain the following information for each request: date, time, originating IP address and domain name, object requested, and completion status of the request. We use these logs to help improve Our service by evaluating the level of demand for Our site and detecting any errors on the site that might occur. These logs may be kept for an indefinite length of time and used at any time and in any way necessary to prevent security breaches and protect the integrity of the data on Our servers.

Use of Collected Information

Any information We gather, whether submitted voluntarily or collected automatically, will be used for Our internal purposes only. We may ask for personal information when You are discussing a service issue on the phone with a customer service associate, registering for a conference, or participating in an online survey. Information used for market research purposes to gain a better understanding of our customers and thus provide more valuable service. We collect information regarding customer activities on the websites www.usgbc.org, www.leedonline.com, and www.gbci.org or using web beacons in survey emails. This helps us to determine how best to provide useful information to customers and to understand which parts of our websites, products, and Internet services are of most interest to them. Billing information is collected through a secure server and is not shared with other organizations other than the credit card issuing entity. Your credit card number is not retained once Your transaction has been authorized and processed. It is Our policy not to disclose or to sell any user information to third parties. We retain the right to disclose collected information if required to do so by law or if acting on a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to protect Our rights or property or to respond to an emergency situation

How We Use and Disclose the Information

We may use the information we obtain from you, including personal information, to tailor your experience on the Site, to display content We think may be of interest to You, or to let Us customize what You see when You visit the Site according to Your preferences. We will use the personal information You provide online only for the purpose(s) You have submitted. Examples of using Your personal information for the purpose(s) submitted include sending You an email about updates to the Site or about an upcoming event if You have signed up for updates. We also may conduct an occasional survey of Our registered users, to see how our Site can better serve You. In addition, We may send to You an e-mail offering products or services that We think You may be interested in. Finally, We may share your information with organizations that are affiliated with or related to GBCI®, including USGBC®, and affiliates of both USGBC® and GBCI® in connection with the provision of their respective information, products, materials and services or for marketing and/or administrative purposes. If You want Us to stop using the personal information You provided in these ways, please update the preferences in your account or contact us at www.gbci.org/contact.

We will not share the personal information You provide except (a) as otherwise permitted under this Privacy Policy (b) if it is for the purpose(s) You provided it; (c) with your consent; (d) as may be required by law; (e) with other persons or companies or affiliated or related organizations with whom we contract to carry out internal Site operations or our business activities (for example, third-party contractors -- see below); (f) In the event of a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, transfer of control, joint venture or other business combination involving Us or Our affiliates. and/or (g) to notify You when We make changes to one of Our agreements with You or to this policy. Our business needs may change from time to time and We reserve the right to make changes to our Privacy Policy. We will not use Your personal information in a manner inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, however, without first obtaining Your consent to do so. If intended uses differ from this policy, We will seek to obtain Your consent at the place where the information is collected either by an "opt-in" or "opt-out" method, or by other means (such as sending You an email).

Our operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to Your personal information in the course of providing products or services to Us. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide Us with email distribution technology, services, and/or content for the operation and maintenance of our Site. Access to your personal information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for Us. We also contractually require that Our operations and maintenance contractors 1) protect the privacy of Your personal information consistent with this Privacy Policy, and 2) not use or disclose Your personal information for any purpose other than providing Us with products and services as required by law.

Choices and Control of Your Personal Information

GBCI® has implemented important privacy safeguards in order to protect Your privacy. GBCI® retains personal information only to the extent necessary to serve Your needs. For instance, GBCI® will share your email address with USGBC®. You may manage your opt-out preferences related to receiving information about or participating in programs and services offered by GBCI®. You may elect not to receive the following: If you like to opt-out, please update the preferences in your account or contact us at www.gbci.org/contact.

For sensitive information, We will ask that you explicitly opt in so as to permit us to disclose such information to a third party (except for agents of GBCI® who have agreed to privacy controls at least as strict as GBCI’s) or to use such information for a purpose other than the purpose for which you originally provided such information to Us.

Access, Modification, and Deletion of Collected Information

You are responsible for the accuracy of any information You provide on this site and for maintaining the confidentiality of Your personal information through keeping Your user ID and password secure.

If You are concerned about the information You have provided to Us or would like to review, update, or delete this information, please update your account or contact us at www.gbci.org/contact. We will make reasonable efforts to comply with Your requests.

Links

Please see Our Terms and Conditions page.

Security

This site takes reasonable precautions to protect our users’ information. GBCI uses Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) technology to protect and securely transmit personal information you enter using both server authentication and data encryption.. We transmit the entire credit card number over SSL to the appropriate credit card company during order processing. We reveal only the last five digits of your credit card numbers when confirming an order. Our service providers are subject to strict confidentiality requirements. Please note, however, that electronic transmissions via the Internet are not necessarily secure from interception, and We do not guarantee the security or confidentiality of transmissions. We reserve the right to update or otherwise alter Our security practices if and when it seems appropriate to do so. As with Our Terms and Conditions, You should check Our Security provisions each time You visit Our site to identify and understand any changes made since Your previous visit.

Notification of Changes

If We decide to change Our approach to privacy, We will post those changes to this Privacy Policy so that users are always aware of what information We collect, how We use it, and under what circumstances We disclose it. Changes to the Privacy Policy will be dated, and will be effective from the date specified forward. As with Our Terms and Conditions, You should check Our Privacy Policy each time You visit Our site to identify and understand any changes made since Your previous visit.

Transfer of Business Assets

The personal information you provide is considered a company asset and may be included among transferred assets if We or any or all of Our subsidiaries or affiliates, or any of their assets is ever acquired by or merged into a third party.

Transborder Policy

GBCI® is a global organization. Users of gbci.org who provide their personal information consent to their information being processed and controlled in the countries in which the data is collected, and then transmitted into and out of the United States, which is the primary processing location for GBCI® and its service providers.

We are dedicated to conducting our organization in a manner that complies with the EU Safe Harbor Principles published by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Safe Harbor Principles were developed to aid U.S. businesses in addressing and assessing their privacy policies and practices as they may relate to the European Union’s Directive 95/46/EC on data privacy for “personal data” (including any EU member state’s rules, regulations or laws enabling such Directive, herein the “Directive”). Personal data is information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. It includes personal information specifying medical or health conditions, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union memberships and information concerning the personal activities, undertakings, traits or habits of a particular individual. An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to the person’s physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. Personal data may be considered transferred outside the EU under the Directive if it falls under one of two situations that are described below. For the Directive to apply, the personal data must be processed, wholly or partly, by automatic means or if not processed to any extent by automatic means, it forms (or is intended to form) part of a filing system.

Links to Third-Party Sites

Some GBCI® web pages may contain links to the Web sites of third parties. The privacy policies of these third-party web sites may be different from Our privacy policy and GBCI is not responsible for the privacy practices or the contents of such sites. We recommend that You carefully read the privacy policies of each site You visit.

Questions

Questions regarding the privacy policy should be directed to our customer service at www.gbci.org/contact.