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Privacy Policy

To protect the privacy of our donors and their special relationship with SPARC, we maintain the following policies:

  • We may request personal information online, such as name, address, phone number, email address, and credit card number ONLY for the purposes of accepting donations.
  • We will not release or use this information for any other purpose unless we have your consent.
  • We do not trade or sell your personal information to other organisations.
  • Personal data collected through our website is encrypted using 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) technology.
  • Personal information stored in the SPARC database is protected with a secured login with authentication, assignment of a unique ID to each person with computer access, regular pass code changes, and user IDs are deactivated or terminated as needed.
  • Our hosting data server provides data protection meeting PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), encrypted communication via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology, intrusion detection for all devices and network nodes, state-of-the-art firewall infrastructure that detects malicious application attacks, virus protection, network load balancing devices via Citrix, and patch management, security and vulnerability monitoring and tracking, and SQL server attack protection via applications to detect SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting Attacks.

Cookies

Visitors should be aware that non-personal information and data may be automatically collected by SPARC's website through the use of cookies. Cookies are small text files a Website can use to recognize repeat visitors, facilitate the visitor’s on-going access to and use of the site, and allow a site to track usage behaviour and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements. Cookies are not programs that come onto a visitor’s system and damage files. Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to the visitor that has no meaning outside the assigning site. If a visitor does not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the visitor to deny or accept the cookie feature. SPARC uses cookie technology only to obtain non-personal information from its online visitors in order to improve visitors online experience and facilitate their visit within our site.

Local storage technologies

Local storage technologies, like HTML5, that provide cookie-equivalent functionality but can store larger amounts of data, including on your device outside of your browser in connection with specific applications.

Web beacons

Web beacons, also known as pixel tags or clear GIFs, which are used to demonstrate that a webpage or email was accessed or opened, or that certain content was viewed or clicked.

Links to Third Party Sites

This website contains links to third-party websites. These linked sites are not under the control of SPARC, and SPARC is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. SPARC is providing these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement of the linked site by SPARC.

Legal Disclaimer

Though we make a good faith effort to preserve visitor privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our website.

Offensive or Inappropriate Content Placed On the website

  • If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content to or anywhere on the site or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any SPARC service, we may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.
  • Where SPARC reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any applicable laws (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

Interactive Features

From time to time our site requests information from visitors via interactive features, such as surveys or quizzes. Participation in these features is completely voluntary and the visitor therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and e-mail), and information on the visitor's interests. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site and providing pertinent information to participants. Visitors' personally identifiable information is not shared with third parties.

Referrals

If a visitor elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site, we ask them for the friend's name and e-mail address. SPARC will automatically send the friend a one- time e-mail with an introduction to SPARC and an invitation to visit the site. The one-time e- mail will include the name of the person making the referral. SPARC stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time e-mail and tracking the success of our referral program. The friend may contact SPARC to request the removal of this information from our database.

Updates

We may change the Donor Privacy Policy from time to time as per the Data Protection Act and other norms. Any and all changes will be reflected on this page. Substantive changes may also be announced through the standard mechanisms by which we communicate with our users and community. You should periodically check this page for any changes to the current policy.