Background

Privacy Policy

Preamble

As part of the services available on futureeyedoc.org, eyeopnersession.org, or any other online resource provided by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO), ASCO collects certain types of information about users.

Types of Data

  1. Personal Data

We collect information that allows ASCO to identify you or contact you as part of our business activities. 

The types of personal data we collect include your:

  • Name

  • Email address

  • Zip code

  • Graduating class year

  1. Non-Personal Data

We also collect data that does not directly identify you (but may still include identifiable information) as you interact with out sites. This non-personal data includes:

  • Site usage data (browsing history, search terms, number of clicks, referring and exit pages, timestamps, time on site, and similar data)

  • Computer type, operating system and platform

  • Internet Service provider 

  • IP Address

How your Data is Used:

Your data is used for the following purposes:

  • Mentor Matching: To connect you with a practicing optometrist who best aligns with your background, interests, and preferences.

  • Program Communication: To send relevant information about your mentor match, scheduling, program updates, and follow-up support.

  • School Outreach: To share your contact information with accredited schools and colleges of optometry so they can follow up with you directly about educational opportunities, admissions, and the optometry profession.

  • Reporting and Metrics: To help us understand how the program is performing, improve our services, and demonstrate impact to stakeholders, including schools and sponsors. Data used for reporting is aggregated and anonymized where possible.

  • Feedback Collection: To gather your insights after participating in a session so we can continually improve the experience for future students.

We do not sell your information. Your data is shared only with your matched mentor and authorized program administrators, and is handled securely in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

Cookies

Our website sends cookies (pieces of code or text placed on your computer when you browse our sites) to your web browser (if your browser settings allow it) to collect data when you browse our sites. Cookie settings can be controlled in your internet browser to automatically reject some forms of cookies. By browsing our website without changing your cookie settings you are indicating your consent to receive all cookies from our sites. If you do not allow cookies, some features and functionality of our sites may not operate as expected.

Children

We do not knowingly collect personal data or market to children under the age of 13. 

Data Protection

ASCO uses commercially reasonable security measures to help protect against unauthorized access or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, or destruction of data. Except for our authorized third-party partners we restrict access to personal data from any other outside company.

Other Sites

Be aware that other websites linked from ASCO websites or emails may contain privacy provisions that are different from this privacy policy over which ASCO has no control. To ensure your privacy is protected we recommend that you review the privacy statements of any website you visit. 

Transmission of Data to Other Countries

Your personal data is processed in the United States, where privacy laws may be less stringent than the laws in your country. By submitting your personal data to us, you agree to the transfer, storage, and processing of your personal data in the United States.

Breach Notification

In the event we determine the occurrence of a data security incident, we will notify you by email, US mail, telephone, or other means as permitted by law.

Contact Us

If you have questions, comments, or complaints or if you wish to change, access, or remove your personal data, please contact us as indicated below. We will attempt, where practical, to respond to your requests.

Third-Party Ad Networks

We use third parties such as network advertisers to serve advertisements on our Site and on third-party websites or other media (e.g., social networking platforms). This enables us and these third parties to target advertisements to you for products and services in which you might be interested. Third-party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. These third-party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party’s specific privacy policy, not this one. These cookies do not in any way identify you or give access to your computer or mobile device. ASCO does not sell, loan, trade or otherwise disclose your personal information collected at our site, including contact forms. Users in the United States may opt out of many third-party ad networks. For example, you may go to the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Consumer Choice Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by DAA companies. You may also go to the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Consumer Opt-Out Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by NAI members. Opting out from one or more companies listed on the DAA Consumer Choice Page or the NAI Consumer Opt-Out Page will opt you out from those companies’ delivery of interest-based content or ads to you, but it does not mean you will no longer receive any advertising through our Site or on other websites. You may continue to receive advertisements, for example, based on the particular website that you are viewing (i.e., contextually based ads). Also, if your browsers are configured to reject cookies when you opt out on the DAA or NAI websites, your opt-out may not be effective. Additional information is available on the DAA’s website at www.aboutads.info or the NAI’s website at www.networkadvertising.org.

Online Behavioral Advertising and How You Can Opt-Out

We may work with third-party advertising companies who may utilize cookies and web beacons, and data collected on our services, to customize advertisements to you on our services, as well as on other websites or mobile applications in their networks beyond our services. Among other things, these customized advertisements may advertise our products and services and third party products and services on websites or mobile applications not affiliated with us. Some of these ads are online behavioral advertising – which serve advertisements that are more likely to be of interest to you using non-personal behavioral information.  Such ads may contain cookies that allow monitoring of websites and mobile applications (including our own services) and your response to such advertisements.  Cookies or web beacons placed by these companies do not collect personal information, and the third-party advertising companies do not have access to or use your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number or other personal information; they may however, anonymously track your usage across our services and other websites or mobile applications in their networks. We limit companies that place our ads from using information for any purpose other than to assist us in our advertising efforts. For more information about these third-party advertising companies’ privacy policies, visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s website at www.networkadvertising.org. If you prefer to not receive targeted advertising, you can opt-out of network advertising programs that use your information. To do so, please visit: the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page.