WA Privacy Policy

World Architecture Community ("WA", "we", "us" and "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. We have prepared this Privacy Policy to describe our practices regarding the Personal Information (defined below) we collect from users through our website, located at worldarchitecture.org, ("Site"), mobile applications ("Applications") and services made available through the Site and Applications (collectively "Services"). Capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy have the meanings given in our WA Member Agreement (the "Terms").

This Privacy Policy will apply whether you are a "Visitor" (which means that you simply browse the Services) or an "Registered User" (which means you have registered to use the Services). Visitors and Registered Users are individually referred to as a "User" and collectively as "Users".

1. User Consent. By submitting Personal Information through our Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and you expressly consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
2. A Note to Users in the European Union. Although your Personal Information may be processed in the country in which it was collected and/or in other countries, including but not limited to the United States, where laws regarding processing of Personal Information may be less stringent than the laws in the European Union, as WA we are making every effort to comply with the May 25th, 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as implemented by the European Union. By using the Services you agree to such processing.
   
   As such, we are implementing new options whereby we are introducing the following features on WA:
1. Consent. In our new Privacy Policy, we outline how we use your personal data, who we expose your data to and how long we keep it. In order to use our services, we ask you to specifically consent to it. At any given time, you may verify if and when you have accepted our Privacy Policy or revoke your consent.
2. Data Protection Officer (DPO). If you have a special request concerning your personal data, you are able to contact our Data Protection Officer directly.
3. Privacy Settings. We provide you full control of third parties we share your data with.
4. Request Archive. You may perform a Subject Access Request. When you do so, we will send you a copy of all the personal data we currently possess on you.
5. Unsubscribe. You have an option to start or stop receiving all marketing e-mails from us.
6. Forget Me. You may request a total erasure from WA. We will delete everything we have related to you upon your request. Caution: This can not be undone.
3. Types of Information We Collect. "Personal Information" means information that allows someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as any other non-public information about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing Information. "Anonymous Information" means Information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information. Anonymous Information does not, by itself, permit the identification of individual persons. We collect Personal Information and Anonymous Information, as described below through the Services. This information is stored on our servers or the servers of third parties working on our behalf, unless specified otherwise.
1. Information You Provide to Us.
1. Registration. When you first register to become a Registered User and open an account (a "WA Account"), we collect your first and last name, country, membership type (specificallly: Architect, Student, Academic, Manufacturer / Service provider or Other), e-mail address, username and password. The registration information listed herewith are stored on our servers or the servers of third parties working on our behalf.
2. My Settings Page. Once you confirm your e-mail address and activate your account, you have access to your "My Settings" page. On this page, as a regular or Associate member, you may optionally add or complete the following information: a profile picture, year of birth, city, a personal profile description or short biography, profession (specifically: Architect, Student, Academic, Interior Designer, Industrial Designer, Developper, Contractor, Artist, Media Professional or Other), Education (specifically: Architecture, Industrial Design, Engineering, Social Sciences, Business and Administration, Media and Communication, Other or None), Graduated From, finally wether or not you want to receive e-mails from WA.
   Further to this information, as a Professional member, you may add a URL to your professional or personal website, Social Media links for your Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin accounts.
   Finally, to become an Academic member, you must provide a recognised and verified educational (.edu) or academic (.ac) e-mail address, and may specify a url to their current educational or academic institution.
3. Profile Pages. Most of the information collected during registration and through your "My Settings" page is used to populate your personal Profile page, visible to all visitors, be it members of our community or not, basically to the general public. What is NOT displayed on your profile page are your: on record e-mail address, student or academic e-mail address, password and year of birth. In addition, your registration date, projects you have favorited, and a background image, if you chose to customise it, are displayed on your Profile page.
4. Office Pages. If you are a Professional member, and represent an architectural office, large or small, you have the option to create an Office page. If you decide to create such a page, we will collect information through your Office Page Settings section and all of this information will be displayed on your Office page. The information you may provide for this purpose are your office name, year it was founded, office e-mail address, website URL, description, street address including ZIP code, city and country, telephone numbers (fixed and mobile) and fax number, skype username and Social Media links for your office's Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin accounts. Other WA Registered Users may attach themselves to your Office page, in which case they will be listed on your Office page visible to all.
5. Project Pages. We encourage our Registered Users to share their work, be it built or concept through our Portal. We collect the images and descriptions you provide when you upload a project, whether you chose to participate in one of the cycles of the WA Awards competition, a Project Page is then created on our system. The project information we collect are: project name, project type (specifically: Designed, Realized or Student), year of design and year of construction (if applicable), design intention, technical data and project team, city and country, architecture category (specifically: vernacular, alternative or contemporary), project category and sub-category (describing the type of building), wether it should be listed on your personal or office page and finally up to 20 images (in jpeg or png format) representing the project.
6. WA Awards. If you participate in one of the cycles of the WA Awards competition, your project will also be listed as participating to the cycle. If your project wins at the WA Awards competition, you will be contacted to provide additional description and high definition pictures for your project. As recognition of your win, a poster will be created by one of WA staff and be displayed on your Project page for your and others to view or download as an image file. Typically, such posters include a visual from your project as well as its name and your name and the cycle number in which it has won. In addition, a winner certificate will be produced only visible to you.
7. Postings. When you post comments or publish news or other articles ("posting" or "postings") on our portal, the information contained in your posting(s) will be stored on our servers or the servers of third parties working on our behalf. Once submitted, your posting becomes the property of WA.
8. Feedback. If you provide us feedback or contact us via e-mail, we will collect your name and e-mail address, as well as any other content included in the e-mail, in order to send you a reply.
9. Purchases. If you choose to make purchases through our Services, including purchasing a subscription to our portal or WA Awards participation, we will collect all information necessary to complete the transaction, including your name, e-mail address, and billing information. WA collects information related to your credit card, only to relay your transaction through a secure connection to our local bank, Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S. We then only keep a limited number of digits of your credit card to identify and reconcile your transaction and to be able to let you know what means of payment you've used, while making your purchase.
10. Other Information. We may also collect Personal Information in other ways within the Services, where we state that Personal Information is being collected. For example, we may collect Personal Information as part of a survey, competition, sweepstakes or contest.
2. Information Collected via Technology.
1. Browser Information. To make our Site and Services more useful to you, our servers (which may be hosted by a third party service provider) may collect information from you, including your browser type, Internet Protocol (IP) address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet, and which may vary from session to session), search terms, and/or a date/time stamp of your visit.
2. Cookies. WA portal and online services may use "cookies". Cookies enable you to, for example, remain signed-in and to personalize your experience on our site, tell us which parts of our website people have visited, help us measure the effectiveness of ads and web searches, and give us insights into user behavior so we can improve our communications and products. Among others, we use cookies and URL information to gather information regarding the date and time of your visit. "Cookies" are small pieces of information that a website sends to your computer's hard drive while you are viewing a website. We may use both session Cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent Cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our Portal. Persistent Cookies can be removed by following your internet browser help file directions.
3. Collection of Information by Advertisers. We may also use third parties to serve ads through the Services. Certain third parties may automatically collect information about your visits to this and other websites, your IP address, your ISP, the browser you use to visit our Site. They do this by using Cookies, Pixel Tags or other technologies. Information collected may be used, among other things, to deliver advertising targeted to your interests and to better understand the usage and visitation of our Site and the other sites tracked by these third parties. This policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, Cookies or Pixel Tags in third party ads, and we encourage you to check the privacy policies of advertisers and/or ad services to learn about their use of Cookies and other technologies.
4. Analytic Services. We may use third party analytics services such as Google Analytics to collect information about how you use and interact with our Site and Services. Such third party analytics services may use cookies to gather information such as the pages you visited, your IP address, a date/time stamp for your visit and which site referred you to the Site. We use these analytics services to help us analyze how people use our Services, to improve our Services, to customize the content users see based upon their interests and to send e-mail to users who are not actively using our Services. For more information about how these entities use this information, please refer to their privacy policies made available on their websites.
5. Information Collected from You About Others. If you decide to invite a third party to create an Account, we will collect your and the third party's names and e-mail addresses in order to send an e-mail and follow up with the third party. We rely upon you to obtain whatever consents from the third party that may be required by law to allow us to access and upload the third party's names and e-mail addresses as required above. You or the third party may contact us at [email protected] to request the removal of this information from our database.
6. Information Collected from Third Party Companies. We may receive Personal and/or Anonymous Information about you from companies that offer their products and/or services on our Site. These third party companies may supply us with Personal Information. We may add this information to the information we have already collected from you via our Site in order to improve the Services we provide.
4. Use of Your Personal Information.
1. General Use. In general, Personal Information you submit to us is used either to respond to requests that you make, or to aid us in serving you better. We may use your Personal Information in the following ways:
1. to provide the Services to you;
2. to direct certain content and advertisements to you so that you are more likely to see content and advertisements that are relevant to you;
3. to facilitate the creation of and secure your WA Account;
4. to identify you as a user in our system;
5. to provide improved administration of our Services;
6. to notify visitors about updates to our Services;
7. to improve and customize the quality of experience when you interact with our Services;
8. to send you a welcome e-mail and to verify ownership of the e-mail address provided when your WA Account was created;
9. to send you administrative e-mail notifications, such as security or support and maintenance advisories;
10. to respond to your inquiries;
11. to engage with or contact inactive users of the Services;
12. to send offers and promotional materials related to our Services and those of third parties for marketing and other purposes.
2. Creation of Anonymous Information. We may create Anonymous Information records from Personal Information by excluding information (such as your name) that makes the Information personally identifiable to you. We use this Anonymous Information to analyze request and usage patterns so that we may enhance the content of our Services and improve Site navigation. We reserve the right to use Anonymous Information for any purpose and disclose Anonymous Information to third parties in our sole discretion.
5. Disclosure of Your Personal Information. We disclose your Personal Information as described below and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.
1. Profiles and Projects. Connecting people, firms and projects is an essential element of the Services. As such, personal profiles, office profiles and projects are made publicly available within the Services, with the understanding that within your personal profile, we do not make your e-mail and mailing address, phone or fax number, social links or website URL publicly available, unless you expressly make them available on your personal Profile Settings page. In addition, you may make comments or post material in other public areas of the Services. Once displayed on publicly viewable web pages, please be aware that the information can be collected and used by others. We cannot control who reads your profile, projects or posts, so please be thoughtful about the information you make publicly available within the Services. Once information is posted publicly, while you will still be able to edit and delete it within the Services, you will not be able to edit or delete such information cached, collected, and stored elsewhere by others (e.g., search engines).
2. Third Party Service Providers. We may share your Personal Information with third party service providers to assist us in providing you the Services or otherwise operating our business, including to: host our servers, conduct quality assurance testing; facilitate creation of accounts; provide technical support; and/or to provide other services to us.
3. Affiliates. We may share some or all of your Personal Information with our parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under a common control ("Affiliates"), in which case we will require our Affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy.
4. Corporate Restructuring. We may share some or all of your Personal Information in connection with or during negotiation of any merger, financing, acquisition or dissolution, transaction or proceeding involving sale, transfer, divestiture, or disclosure of all or a portion of our business or assets. In the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership, Personal Information may also be transferred as a business asset. If another company acquires our company, business, or assets, that company will possess the Personal Information collected by us and will assume the rights and obligations regarding your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.
5. Other Disclosures. Regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Information, the Company may disclose Personal Information if it believes in good faith that such disclosure is necessary (a) in connection with any legal investigation; (b) to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on Company; (c) to protect or defend the rights or property of the Company or users of the Services; and/or (d) to investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Policy, or Terms of Use.
6. Third Party Websites. When you click on a link to any other website or location, you will leave our Services and go to another site and another entity may collect Personal Information or Anonymous Information from you. We have no control over, do not review, and cannot be responsible for, these outside websites or their content. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these outside websites or content or to any collection of Information after you click on links to connect to such outside websites.
7. Our Relationship with Social Networking Sites (SNS). As noted above, we offer you interfaces that allow you to connect to your WA Account by using account and an SNS (e.g., Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin). We may work with the SNS's application protocol interface (better known as their developer API) in a way that allows you to authorize us to access your account on that SNS on your behalf. In order to provide this authorization, you will not provide us with your user name or password to the SNS, but you will need to log-in to that SNS directly through our Site. Once authorized by you, the SNS will provide us a token that allows the SNS to recognize us when we ask, on your behalf, for access to your account. You will be able to revoke our access to any SN Site at any time by amending the appropriate settings from within your account settings on the applicable SNS, though such revocation may limit the Services we are able to provide you.
8. Your Choices Regarding Your Personal Information.
1. Newsletters and e-mail. We will periodically send you newsletters and e-mails that promote the use of our Services. When you receive newsletters or promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further communications from us and you will have the opportunity to "opt-out" by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive, by terminating your WA Account or by contacting us directly (please see contact information below). You may also limit the communications you receive from us through your Profile Settings page within the Services. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing related messages, we will continue to send messages regarding the administration of the Services.
2. Changes to Personal Information. Except for your e-mail, username or password, you may change any of your Personal Information in your WA Account (including the Office profile and the Project pages connected to your WA Account) by editing your profile or by sending an e-mail to us at the e-mail address set forth below. You may request deletion of your Personal Information by us, but please note that we may be required to keep this information and not delete it (or to keep this information for a certain time, in which case we will comply with your deletion request only after we have fulfilled such requirements). Additionally, it is important to note that system-recorded personal information is not editable. When we delete any information, it will be deleted from the active database, but may remain in our archives. We may retain your information for fraud prevention or similar purposes.
9. Security of Your Personal Information. WA is committed to protecting the security of your Personal Information. We use a variety of industry-standard security technologies and procedures to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We also require you to enter a password to access your WA Account information. Please do not disclose your WA Account password to unauthorized people. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while WA uses reasonable efforts to protect your Personal Information, WA cannot guarantee its absolute security.
10. Contact Information. WA welcomes your comments or questions regarding this Privacy Policy. Please e-mail us at [email protected].
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is subject to occasional revision, and if we make any material changes in the way we use your Personal Information, we will notify you by sending you an e-mail to the last e-mail address you provided to us and/or prominently posting notice of the changes on our Services. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective upon the earlier of thirty (30) calendar days following our dispatch of an e-mail notice to you or thirty (30) calendar days following our posting of notice of the changes on our Site. These changes will be effective immediately for new users of our Service. If you do not wish to permit changes in our use of your Personal Information, you must notify us prior to the effective date of the changes that you wish to deactivate your WA Account with us. Continued use of our Services, following notice of such changes will indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes. Please note that at all times you are responsible for updating your Personal Information to provide us with your most current e-mail address. In the event that the last e-mail address that you have provided us is not valid, or for any reason is not capable of delivering to you the notice described above, our dispatch of the e-mail explaining the changes will be effective notice.