PRIVACY STATEMENT

Privacy Statement: The Irish Computer Society

ICS Membership Online Privacy Policy

  • Introduction

The Irish Computer Society (hereafter ‘ICS’) takes the protection of your personal data very seriously and are committed to protecting it at all times. This Online Privacy Policy details how ICS will collect, use and safeguard personal data it receives from new and existing members. There are three ways in which personal data can be obtained;

  1. directly from members
  2. via our membership websites (HISI, IASA, DPO, ITSMF etc)
  3. via cookies and other related technologies.

Information collected will primarily be used to manage membership subscriptions as well as provide end users with a personalized internet experience that delivers information, resources, and services that are most relevant and professionally helpful. The Irish Computer Society will not share information you provide us without your consent, unless we say so in this Privacy Policy, or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.

ICS fully respects your right to privacy and will not collect any personal information about you on this website without your explicit permission (where applicable). Any personal information which you volunteer to us will be treated with the highest degree of security, integrity and confidentiality, in accordance with our obligations outlined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Acts Ireland 2018, Electronic Communication Regulation and other similar legislation.

By accessing our websites and availing of our services, you agree to this Privacy Policy and to be bound by our terms of use.

  • Types of membership

There are three types of membership:

  1. Individual Single Society – this refers to membership of one and only one society which is usually the ICS, typically paid for by the individual.
  1. Individual Multi-Society – this refers to membership of one or more societies maintained by us which includes but is not limited to ICS, HISI, DPO, IASA, ITSMF, and BAAI. This is also paid for by the individual.
  1. Corporate – Facilitates collective membership of single or multi society membership by employees of an organization typically paid for by the employer.
  • What information do we collect and how is it used?

When you avail use of our website(s) for registering for events or maintenance of your membership subscription(s); the following information will be collected;

  1. Names and email address(es)
  2. home or work address
  3. phone number(s)
  4. profession/ job title/role
  5. payment details
  6. CPD credits for events attended or performed.
  7. Competencies, certifications etc.
  8. Survey responses (where relevant).

ICS does not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about its members (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and bio-metric data). Nor does it collect any information about criminal convictions and offenses

  • New Registrations

When a new user registers on our website, a login account will be created for one or more of the purposes outlined below;

  1. registration for programs and services
  2. application for ICS single or multi-society membership
  3. registration for events or courses online
  4. payments and transactions
  5. accrual and maintenance of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points as evidence of professional development and where appropriate maintenance of certification. For more information about CPD, click here.
  6. subscriptions to publications or newsletter
  7. participation in online surveys, submitting questions or comments
  8. requesting for information or materials.

Once the account is created, a notification will be sent to the email address provided. A registered member will be able to manage his or her account the same way existing members manage their accounts by updating their details, registering for courses and events, limiting alerts or opting-out of some or all future communication.

  • CareerPlus

CareerPlus is a complete solution a member can avail of manage his or her career and skills development. It is free to use and consists of a CPD recording system, and an online tool to assess members’ IT and business skills. Using CareerPlus will result in the capture of the following information;

  1. Information used to claim CPD points (date, event, type of classification)
  2. User skills and competencies
  3. If a Corporate member chooses to record the personal details of their manager in CareerPlus, their manager can review their CPD and their CareerPlus records.
  4. Should a member leave the employment of a corporate member their data is fully portable and is moved to individual membership
  • Communication

It should be noted that the primary mode of most communication is email and the majority of communication from the ICS with members shall be availed of through this medium. Where required, other modes (e.g. communication via post/phone) will be considered. Certain communication are mandatory under the terms and conditions of membership. Other optional communication will contain an “unsubscribe” link for members who wish discontinue communication at any time. Members should be aware that opting out of communication may trigger the membership resignation process. Where this is case, we will contact you before the resignation process is initiated.

To opt out of future emails and newsletters, click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any email or e-newsletter from us. You can also contact the ICS helpdesk on 01 237-7788 or email us at memberservices@ics.ie.

Children -- We do not knowingly solicit data online from or market online to children under the age of 16.

  • MemberCloud

MemberCloud is an online discussion forum available exclusively to ICS members. Participation in the MemberCloud is subject to community guidelines available here. Content posted on MemberCloud and details of member participation in MemberCloud are not shared with 3rd parties. Members may request to have their MemberCloud profile and associated comments or posts deleted at any time.

  • Rights of Members

Whether you are a single, multi society or corporate member, you have the following rights conferred on you by law. GDPR as well as the Irish Data Protection Act 2018, provides you with the right to know how personal data held about you by us is used. Outlined below are the rights of members as defined under the Regulation,

  • You have the right to find out if we are processing your personal data. This is known as the right to establish the existence of processing.
  • You have the right to access your personal data held by us. You can request for a copy of your personal details by writing to us using the address at the bottom of the page. You can also formally email us at dpofficer@ics.ie. Please note that all access requests received via email will be responded to in like manner unless otherwise agreed.
  • You have the right to be informed that your personal information is being collected fairly, for one or more limited lawful purposes. You will be provided with;
  1. details of who holds your data
  2. what it’s being used for
  3. why it is being used
  4. any other information relating to your personal details.
  • You have the right to rectify or amend your personal details particularly in instances where inaccuracies exist. Factually, incorrect data can be rectified however; it is your responsibility to provide us with accurate and truthful personal information. ICS will not be held liable for any information that is provided to us that is incorrect.
  • You have the right to request erasure of your personal data where one of the following condition applies;
  1. You withdraw consent to processing of your personal data and there are no subsequent grounds for further processing;
  1. We have to comply with a legislative requirement (e.g. we will retain financial transactional information for seven years in compliance with requirement of the Finance Acts);
  • You have the right to prevent use of your personal details. You have the right to refuse your data to be used for other purpose(s) e.g. statistical analysis or research.
  • You have the right to prevent use of your personal data for direct marketing purpose.
  • How Do I Request Access to My Details?

Where inaccuracies exist, members can update their personal details using their ICS membership account page. Most of the information will be available on the ICS member page. Also, you can formally initiate a subject access request by emailing dpofficer@ics.ie

We have an obligation to respond to your request within 1 month from the date of receipt of your request. The first request shall be free but subsequent requests may incur a charge. Depending on the nature of the request and the volume of request, there are situations where processing of your access request may take longer than the one month allowable response window as define under GDPR as well as the Data Protection Acts 2018. Where this is the case, we will inform you within the first month that the request will take longer.

You are also required to provide us with one form of identification such as a copy of your passport or driver’s license. It will be destroyed once the subject access request has been honoured.

To facilitate and speed up your request, you are advised to provide as much information as possible. Requesting for “all information” may be deemed disproportionate and can result in unnecessary delays to your request. If you require specific information, please be clear about the information you require.

You can contact us via email at memberservices@ics.ie or alternatively you can write to;

Irish Computer Society

87-89 Pembroke Road,

Ballsbridge,

Dublin 4.

D04 R266.

  • Disclosures

All information you provide to us will be treated with strictest confidence in line with national and EU data protection laws, unless mandated by law or with your explicit consent, ICS will not disclose any personal or personally identifiable information about you to a third party under any circumstances unless;

  • disclosure reasonably necessary to perform a service or deliver a product or publication;
  • you have given explicit consent
  • disclosure permitted under this Privacy Policy;
  • disclosure is required by statute, regulation or court order
  • such disclosure is in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to:
  1. conform to legal requirements or comply with legal process served on the ICS ;
  2. protect and defend the legitimate rights of the ICS
  3. protect the personal safety of ICS personnel or members of the public in urgent circumstances;
  4. enforce our Privacy Policy.
  • Corporate Members: ICS may where appropriate, make disclosures to a nominated point of contact (e.g. Human Resources) in your organization with the view to providing information that is adequate, relevant and not excessive e.g. total number of CPDs accrued by an employee or total number of events an employee attended in a year.

For internal purposes, ICS will avail of summary reports, which will be used to assess and measure the effectiveness of the CPD initiative. It may also highlight useful trends that require taking action e.g. advising members through automated notification of suggested courses to take, to help them achieve their professional objectives and maintain certification.

  • Online Activity Tracking Using Cookies

ICS track website usage by both anonymous visitors and registered users who interact with the ICS website, using "cookies." A cookie is a small file or string of text on the site user's computer that is used to aid Web navigation.

We use the following different types of cookies to monitor web activity:

  • Web Beacons

A web beacon operates as a tag that records members and visitors to a particular web page on our website after clicking through from an ICS related advertisement on another website or email. Web beacons provide an ability to produce specific profiles of user behaviour by collecting limited non personally identifiable information. For example, beacons are used to count the number of users who;

  1. visit our website(s),
  2. avail use of our services and applications.

It is not possible to refuse the use of web beacons as they are used in conjunction with cookies. However, because they are used in conjunction with cookies, they can be effectively disabled in the browser by changing the settings to restrict or block cookies.

  • Mandatory Cookies

Mandatory cookies enhance your browsing experience and are also required for the effective functioning of our website(s), services and applications. For example, cookies will allow you access to the members secure page and also remember the number of CPD credits you applied for.

  • Functionality Based Cookies

Functionality based cookies allow our website(s), services and applications to remember choices and preferences that you make (e.g. when you login) and provide more personalised features during browsing. These cookies can also be used to remember customisable changes made by you. This information is usually anonymised and cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

  • Performance Based cookies

Performance based cookies collect information about how visitors and members use our website(s), services and applications. Cookies of this nature typically do not collect personally identifiable information. All information these cookies collect are by default aggregated, anonymous and used to improve the way our website(s), services and applications work.

The table below explains the cookies we use and why:

Cookie Type

Purpose

Google Analytics

These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. Click here for an overview of privacy at Google. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

CMS session cookie

This cookie is set by our content management system upon user login and stores the current user session. Unless requested otherwise at user login it is removed at the end of the user session.
  • Information Security

ICS has taken measures to protect and safeguard the integrity of your data by implementing appropriate technical and security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access to, unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. Access to personal information is restricted to ICS employees and partners on a need to know basis in order to operate, develop or improve our services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality and contractual obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

  • Safeguarding Information

ICS understands the importance of technical and online security, and as such has taken a number of steps to enhance the protection of personal information sent to or from ICS over the Internet. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Accordingly, and despite our efforts and best of intentions, ICS cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, or to or from our online products or services.

  • Links to Non ICS Websites

Please be aware that despite efforts and measures we have taken to protect personal data, other Internet sites that link to the ICS sites or to an ICS email may contain online privacy provisions that differ from these. To ensure your privacy is protected, we recommend that you review the privacy statements of other Internet sites you visit.

  • Changes to the Privacy Policy

As a membership organization, benefits offered to our members may change from time to time, and these changes will be reflected in this policy document. ICS reserves the right to amend this without notice to end users at any time, for any reason, and will signal a change by revising the "Last updated" date at the bottom of this page.

  • Statement Changes

We may occasionally update this privacy statement to reflect regulatory changes or industry best practices. Therefore we would suggest you periodically review this statement to stay informed about how we are meeting our obligations under the Data Protection Acts. Your continual use of the service constitutes your agreement to this privacy statement and any updates.

  • Fraudulent Emails Warning

From time to time, you may be contacted by our Member Services Team for housekeeping purpose. ICS will never contact you to request for your username and password by email or other medium. If you receive any emails purportedly from the ICS requesting for such information, do not respond to such requests. Instead, please contact us by telephone (01-2377788) or email (memberservices@ics.ie) immediately.