Privacy Policy

American Bar Association Privacy Policy


The American Bar Association (ABA) respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how the ABA collects, uses and safeguards information on www.americanbar.org, www.abajournal.com, mobile websites, microsites, mobile applications, ABA profiles on ABA social media sites and any other digital services and properties officially operated or used by the ABA from time to time (the “Sites” or “Services”).

Changes to the Privacy Policy

As the ABA, its membership, products and services change from time to time, this Privacy Policy is expected to change as well. We reserve the right to amend the Privacy Policy at any time, for any reason. The date of the last revision to the Privacy Policy will be indicated by the "Last updated" date at the bottom of this page.

Information We Collect

  1. Personally Identifiable Information: We may collect information that identifies you (“Personally Identifiable Information”) when you interact and provide such information on our Sites such as, but not limited to, when applying for membership, registering for an ABA event or program, purchasing ABA products or services. The types of Personally Identifiable Information collected on our Sites will vary based on the Services offered on the Sites, but may include, among other things, your name, address, phone number, birth date, billing and delivery information, e-mail address, credit card or other financial account information.
  2. Non-Personal Data: As you interact on our Sites, we may also collect information that is not Personally Identifiable Information but may disclose other aspects of your browsing history or certain other information about you through the use of a variety of technologies, including, but not limited to, cookies, tags, beacons, Internet Protocol (IP) address tracking/URL tracking, and other tools. "Cookies" are pieces of code/text that gets placed on your computer when you browse our Sites. Cookies may be placed by us or third party advertisers contracted by us. “Tags” and web beacons refer to code scripts that are primarily used to track visitors’ activities on our Sites by web analytics software. The types of non-personal data collected on our Sites through the use of these, and other tools as the ABA may add from time to time, may include: the search terms you used, new or returning user, browser information, computer type, operating system, internet service providers, website usage, referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, number of clicks, ads viewed, etc. Additionally, cookies, tags and other tools placed by third parties may collect other information about you such as, but not limited to, your industry, company size, job function, seniority level, etc.)(collectively, all of the foregoing data the "Non-Personal Data").

How We Use and Share Personally Identifiable Information

Once collected, we may use your Personally Identifiable Information in a variety of ways including (but not limited to):

  • Provide service communications such as bill reminders, order confirmations, program registrations, and customer service messages
  • Answer your emails or online requests
  • Deliver and process surveys
  • Personalize and improve the usability of the Sites
  • Fulfill and/or deliver ABA products and services
  • Publish membership directories and registration lists as described below
  • Sharing with certain other companies to offer you products and services that may be of interest to you as described below
  • Sharing with third parties as required by law or to protect the ABA as described below
  • Sharing your Email Address as permitted under ABA Email Policy as described below


Publication of Your Personally Identifiable Information for Membership Directories and Registration Lists. As a professional organization, the Personally Identifiable Information you provide may be published on the Sites and in print or digital form in a variety of ways to allow other lawyers and the public to find you, including, but not limited to, directories, membership lists, and other types of registration lists for ABA programs and events (“Directory Lists”). Directory Lists will not include sensitive information, such as credit card or bank information, or social security numbers. Users may request their information be suppressed from Directory Lists by contacting us.


Sharing your Personally Identifiable Information to Fulfill Service Requests. When fulfilling service requests initiated by you, we may share your Personally Identifiable Information with certain third parties to fulfill the requests.


Sharing your Personally Identifiable Information With Certain Other Companies. The ABA may share Personally Identifiable Information, other than email address and financial account information, with certain other companies in order to provide them an opportunity to offer products or services that may be of interest to you, which helps contribute non-dues revenue to the ABA. The ABA also occasionally hires other companies to provide limited services on our behalf including, but not limited to, packaging, mailing and delivering promotional offers, sweepstakes or contests, answering customer questions about products or services, consulting services, data modeling, printing, sending postal mail and processing event registration.

Sharing Your Personally Identifiable Information When Legally Necessary or to Protect the ABA’s interests. The ABA may disclose your Personally Identifiable Information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process served on the ABA; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of ABA; or (c) protect the personal safety of ABA personnel or members of the public in appropriate circumstances.

Sharing Your Email Address Pursuant to ABA Policy. Your email address will only be used by the ABA and its entities. We do not sell or rent email addresses to anyone outside the ABA. The ABA will also not share email addresses to unrelated third-parties, affiliates or ABA members

 

How to Manage The Sharing Of Your Personally Identifiable Information

You can manage your profile and email preferences, including opting out of Email either online or by contacting us. Additionally, if you prefer to receive mailings only from the ABA and have your name and address removed from the list we provide to certain  companies, please contact us. For California residents, please consult the “Your Privacy Rights” for additional considerations.

 

How We May Use and Share Non-Personal Data

Through the use of various technological tools, we may collect Non-Personal Data to improve the usability of our Sites/Services and for other business reasons. We may share the Non-Personal Data we collect with third parties or permit third parties to place tools like cookies, tags, web beacons, to collect additional Non-Personal Data when you browse our Sites. We or other third party companies may then use the Non-Personal Data to provide advertisements and targeted advertisements to you (ads based on the Non-Personal Data). We do not share Personally Identifiable Information with third parties to whom we share your Non-Personal Data. Please note that you may be subject to the privacy policies of other non-ABA companies when you hit an advertising link or other link that takes you to sites not operated by the ABA.

 

How You Can Manage The Collection of Non-Personal Data. You can opt out of targeted advertisements by visiting the Opt Out From Online Behavioral Advertising website. By opting out of targeted advertisements you will no longer see advertisements on our Site from third-party partners that participate in the DAA; however, you may still continue to see other non-targeted advertisements on our Sites. You may also block or disable cookies on your computer which will restrict the collection of Non-Personal Data enabled through the use of cookies but doing so may prevent you from accessing certain functionalities on the Sites.

 

California Privacy Rights

In addition to the rights as explained in this Privacy Policy, under California’s "Shine the Light" law, California residents who provide personal information (as defined in the statute) in obtaining products or services for personal, family or household use are entitled to request and obtain from us once a calendar year information about the personal information we shared, if any, with other businesses for marketing uses. If applicable, this information would include the categories of personal information and the names and addresses of those businesses with which we shared such personal information for the immediately prior calendar year (e.g. requests made in 2012 will receive information about 2011). To obtain this information please write to us at: American Bar Association, 321 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60654 Attn: ABA List Sales -- California Privacy Law. Please include your full name and address and ABA Member Number, if applicable.

Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL)

The ABA complies with CASL. Non-ABA Members or Associates who have provided us a Canadian mailing address will not receive unauthorized  Commercial Electronic Messages (CEMs as defined under CASL) unless these individuals have opted-in to receive CEMs. 

 

Children

We do not knowingly solicit data online from or market online to children under the age of 13.

 

Information security

The ABA implements commercially reasonable security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. We restrict access to personal information to certain companies who may need to know that information in order to operate, develop or improve our services. These individuals or partner organizations are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

 

User ID and password

Certain areas of the Sites may require the use of a user ID, email address or password as an additional security measure that helps protect your information.

To help you protect your privacy, the ABA Sites have clear tools to help you log in and log out.

 

Linking to other Internet sites

You should be aware that other Internet sites that are linked from the Sites or from an ABA email message may contain privacy provisions that differ from the provisions of this Privacy Policy. To ensure your privacy is protected, we recommend that you review the privacy statements of these other linked sites, applications or other digital properties.

 

How you can access and change information

If you are a registered user of the Sites, subscriber to ABA publications, purchaser of ABA products and services or an ABA member, you may review and update/correct your information directly on the ABA’s website—americanbar.org—or by contacting us.

 

No guarantee

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, and despite our efforts, the ABA cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online products or services. If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.

 

Last updated August 6, 2014