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About PIR
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Last revised: June 27, 2005

Public Interest Registry (PIR) respects your privacy. That's why we've adopted this privacy policy, which embodies our commitment to the protection of your privacy through adherence to fair electronic information practices. This privacy policy protects your privacy by informing you about:
  • the types of personal data PIR collects;
  • how it collects these personal data;
  • the specified, explicit and legitimate purposes for which it collects such data;
  • the types of recipients to which it discloses personal data; and
  • the choices and means by which individuals may access their personal data and limit their use and further processing, including sharing with third parties.
This policy also protects your privacy by assuring you that PIR:
  • implements reasonable policies and procedures to ensure that the personal data collected, including the personal data collected as required by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) contracts between PIR and ICANN, as well as between PIR and accredited registrars, are adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and/or for which they are further processed;
  • does not further process personal data in a way incompatible with the purposes for which they were originally collected, except with the data subject's consent or by authority of law;
  • uses reasonable measures to ensure that we have accurately and completely recorded the personal data provided and that for the data provided to PIR by accredited registrars we provide the mechanisms for the registrars to keep them up to date;
  • implements reasonable policies and procedures to ensure that personal data are kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed;
  • takes appropriate technical and organizational precautions to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, alteration, destruction or disclosure, and against all other unlawful forms of processing.

Domain name registration information
PIR is the registry operator for the .ORG top-level domain (TLD). As such, PIR accepts domain name registrations only from ICANN-accredited domain name registrars. PIR does not accept domain name registrations directly from registrants. Please note that each registrar has its own policies and procedures.

If you have any questions about a particular domain-name registration, you should begin by contacting the registrant and registrar of record. Except for certain extraordinary circumstances, PIR alters a record in the registry only at the request of the relevant and authorized registrar.

When you register a domain name through a registrar, the domain name, its associated name servers and other data are given to PIR to make your chosen domain name a functional address on the Internet. PIR discloses these data to TLD server administrators for the purpose of ensuring that the domain name operates as a functional address on the Internet. PIR is bound by the .ORG Registry Agreement with ICANN.

As required by the .ORG Registry Agreement, we make information about domain name registrants available to the general public via domain name registration database look-up (WHOIS) services. Please note that consistent with the current rules and policies for the Domain Name System set by ICANN, this information about registrants must remain available in the publicly accessible registration database. These services give users access to such data on a query-by-query basis.

Consistent with the .ORG Registry Agreement and the current rules and policies of ICANN, we also may disclose TLD zone files to other interested recipients, provided those recipients agree not to further process the TLD zone files for purposes incompatible with the purposes for which they were originally collected, including the transmission of unsolicited commercial e-mails.

We are further required by the .ORG Registry Agreement to notify registrars of the purposes for which personal data submitted to us by the registrars are collected, the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such personal data, and the mechanism for access to and correction of such personal data. We are required to take reasonable steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction and not to use or authorize the use of personal data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.

Please note that every ICANN-accredited registrar is bound by similar obligations to make personal data available to the general public via domain name registration database look-up (WHOIS) services operated by the registrars and to make such data available on a bulk basis to qualified processors, provided that the data may not be used for marketing activities and may not be resold or redistributed. Qualified processors also may access such personal data on a bulk basis from ICANN-accredited registrars, provided that those processors agree, among other things, not to use the personal data to enable or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited commercial communications via e-mail, telephone or facsimile.

Information we collect on our Web sites
You are free to visit http://www.pir.org without identifying yourself. If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter, we ask for contact information such as your name and e-mail address.

If you are interested in our services (other than registering a domain name, which must be done through an accredited registrar), you may be required to register with PIR. When you register, we might request certain personal data, including your name, address, e-mail address and other personal data. In addition to Web site registration, PIR may, from time to time, request personal data for purposes such as the provision of customer service, service offerings, network management, surveys and other exchanges of information, as long as such personal data are adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and for which they are further processed and provided that the personal data are not further processed in a way incompatible with those purposes.

Log files
PIR gathers information about all users collectively, such as what areas of its sites users visit most frequently and what services users access most often. PIR automatically logs session sources and other data that track users' access to this site and the other channels and PIR sites. We analyze these logs to understand aggregate user behavior as well as for system-performance monitoring. These logs are analyzed for the overall, aggregate trends they reveal about our customers, not for the behaviors of individual users. PIR may disclose aggregated user statistics to describe the service to prospective partners, advertisers and other third parties and for other lawful purposes.

Cookies
A cookie is a small data file that certain Web sites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information that allows a Web site to track the pages you have visited. PIR uses cookies to tell when a user is a repeat visitor and to let us know how the user found the Web site. They also allow us to automatically link users to their personalized accounts, enabling you to enter various services as a member and to visit member-restricted areas of the site without having to log in each time.

If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. Although some of the services require the use of cookies, visitors to our sites always have the option of disabling cookies via their browser preferences. You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. However, some of the services will not work if you have cookies disabled.

Children
Please note that we do not knowingly solicit information from children, and we do not knowingly market our products or services to children.

Sharing the information we collect on our Web site
The information that you supply to PIR through this site will never be given, sold, rented, loaned or otherwise disclosed to any third parties outside of PIR, except when we have your express permission, or under special circumstances, such as when it is necessary to comply with legal process or protect the rights, property or personal safety of PIR, its customers or the public.

We may share aggregated demographic information with our business partners and the press. This is not linked to any personal data that can identify any individual person.

Sharing information with our partners
Our trusted processors (vendors, subcontractors and other similar business partners) are responsible for processing some of the personal data that we receive on our behalf. These processors are not authorized to use such personal data for purposes beyond those specified by us.

Links and third-party collection
Except as otherwise expressly discussed in this privacy policy, this document only addresses the processing (e.g., collection, use and disclosure) of personal data we collect from you. To the extent that you disclose your personal data to other parties, whether they are registrars or other Web sites throughout the Internet, different rules may apply to their processing of the personal data you disclose to them. Since we do not control the privacy policies of third parties or endorse their products or policies, you are subject to the privacy customs and policies of that third party. We encourage users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of every Web site that collects personal data.

Security
PIR takes strong precautions to protect information. When you submit personal data via our Web sites or when registrars submit specifics about the domain name registration, as required by the ICANN contracts, your personal data are protected both online and offline.

Furthermore, all of our users' personal data are access restricted, and the servers on which we store personal data are kept in a secure environment.

Message boards and other communications
PIR is not responsible for maintaining as confidential any personal or other data posted by you on message boards hosted by our Web sites or otherwise communicated to this Web site and domain. Disclosing such personal data in this way makes this publicly available information unless expressly stipulated by PIR.

Site and service updates
We also may send users site and service announcement updates. Users are not able to unsubscribe from these service announcements, which contain important information about the service.

Updating personal data
If you are a domain name registrant and wish to update your domain account information, you should do so through the sponsoring registrar.

If you are another type of user; have personal data changes, such as change of address; or no longer desire our service, you may contact us by sending a message to privacy@pir.org.

Contact us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at: privacy@pir.org.

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