Privacy Policy

Last Updated: August 30, 2005

We are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. The policies below are applicable to www.seattleartmuseum.org, a website produced and maintained by Seattle Art Museum. We have established this security and privacy policy to let you know the kinds of personal information we may gather during your visit to the website, why we gather this information, what we use it for, why we might disclose it and how you can manage it.

Please be advised that the practices described in this privacy policy apply only to information gathered through this website and do not necessarily reflect our practices with respect to information gathered off-line.

By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices described in our privacy policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this privacy policy, please do not use the website. We reserve the right to modify or amend the terms of our privacy policy from time to time without notice. Your continued use of our website and our affiliate sites following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or don’t see your concerns addressed here, you should contact us by email at webmaster@seattleartmuseum.org.

What Information About Me Does the Seattle Art Museum Collect and Store?

Seattle Art Museum adheres to the highest standards of ethical practices in all of our operations and is dedicated to protecting the privacy of all visitors to our website. One of the basic principles we've followed in designing this website is that we ask for only the information we need to provide the service you've requested. As a result, what information we collect and store depends almost entirely on how you choose to make use of our website and our services.

Personal Information

We collect and store information that you enter into this website. For example, when you join the museum, make a donation or purchase online tickets, we collect and store some or all of the following information that you provide: name, billing address, email address, telephone number, credit card number and credit card expiration date. This information is used to provide the products and services that you have ordered or requested, to process orders, to send order and donation confirmations, and to provide customer service. Registration may also be required and personal information may also be collected in certain portions of the website in which you specifically and knowingly provide such information, e.g. community postings (such as chat or bulletin boards), suggestions, or customer service requests. Some of this information also may be used to contact you about sales, special offers and new site features, unless you have opted not to receive promotional communications in connection with this website.

Anonymous Information: Traffic Data

Through your use of the website, we may also gather certain information that does not identify you individually (“Anonymous Information”). Generally, this information is collected through "traffic data" and may involve the use of "Cookies," "IP addresses" or other numeric codes used to identify a computer. We collect and store certain other information automatically whenever you interact with this website. For example, we collect your IP address, browser information and reference site domain name every time you visit this website. We also collect information regarding user traffic patterns and site usage. This information is used to analyze and improve this website and to provide our users with a fulfilling experience.

Use of Cookies and Spyware  

Like many websites, we use “cookies,” which are files stored on your computer’s hard drive by your browser. Cookies help us to identify members and to optimize their experience. We need browser cookies to be enabled for certain areas of the website. For example, we use cookies in educational interactions (e.g. to track your progress in the game) and gallery slide shows (e.g. to track your progress in the slide show). Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's computer. Our website never uses cookies to retrieve information from your computer that was not originally sent in a cookie. Most browsers accept cookies automatically but allow you to disable them. We recommend that you leave cookies “turned on” so that we can offer you a better experience on this website.

We never use or install spyware on your computer, nor do we use spyware to retrieve information from your computer.

Email Communication

We provide free monthly enews and evites to keep you up-to-date on Seattle Art Museum programs and events. We do not sell, rent or share your email information with anyone. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to receive this information at anytime.

Surveys

We deploy surveys online and on location (in order to get information) to help us understand our audience. You may decide whether or not you want to answer our survey questions. No personal information from these surveys is disclosed to third party organizations. We do compile the (survey question) results and may publish them or share them with other parties.

My Collection

The My Collection section of our website allows visitors to chose images from the SAM permanent collection and save them to a custom webpage. In order to store and manage these custom webpages, a user name, password and email address is required. This information is used for management purposes only.

Is Information Collected from Children?

In any section of the website that requests personal information, children 12 years of age and under are reminded to obtain permission from a parent or guardian before supplying the requested information.

Currently, the only area in which a name of a child is specifically requested is the My Art Gallery program. This program allows children to practice "curating" their own exhibitions by selecting images from SAM's collection and recording their thoughts and ideas about these works in personal notebooks. In order for children to save and revisit their online notebooks, we need their names and a nickname as a unique identifier so they can come back to the website and continue where they left off. The names entered through this program are never shared with any third party.

How Is My Information Used?

Our privacy policy is simple: except as disclosed below, we don't sell, barter, give away or rent your personal information to any organization outside of Seattle Art Museum.

Use of Mailing Lists and Membership Information

SAM email and mailing lists are used primarily to send notices about SAM activities. We do not sell, rent or share our contact information with commercial businesses. Occasionally, we trade our membership mailing lists with sister arts organizations. We may also use this list for our annual contribution drive. You may instruct us not to allow such contact on our membership and renewal forms. You can also opt out of this trade at any time by contacting our membership office at membership@seattleartmuseum.org or 206.654.3180.

Customer Service and Feedback

We may use your personal information to fulfill orders, provide customer service, track your compliance with the website’s rules and regulations, or for editorial and feedback purposes (to the extent that is explained when you provide the information).

Use of Anonymous Information

We use anonymous information to help us determine how people use parts of the website and who our readers are so we can improve our website and ensure that it is as appealing as we can make it for as many people as possible. We also use anonymous information to provide statistical "ratings" information in aggregated form to our partners and other third parties about how our users collectively use the website. We may also use or share anonymous information (or other information, other than personal information) in any other manner that we deem appropriate or necessary.

Third-party Agents

We occasionally have third-party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and partners that perform functions on our behalf, such as email sign-up and distribution, marketing, analytics, credit card processing, providing customer service, fraud protection, etc. These entities have access to the personal information needed to perform their functions and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of that personal information. They are restricted from using, selling, distributing or altering this data in any way other than to provide the requested services to the website.

Emergency Situations

We may also use or disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) conform to applicable law or comply with legal process served on us or the website; (b) protect and defend our rights or property, the website or our users; and (c) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of us, our affiliates, agents, the users of the website or the public.

What Steps Are Taken to Keep Personal Information Secure?

The security of all personal information associated with you is of utmost concern to us. We exercise great care in providing secure transmission of your information from your computer to our servers. personal information collected by our websites is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public. In many instances, such as in the case of credit card numbers and all online purchases, the personal information is encrypted before you conduct your transaction. Only those employees who need access to your personal information in order to do their jobs are allowed access.

To protect the security of your information during transmission, we use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts the information you input. Most browsers will give a visual indication of when your connection is secure. For example, Internet Explorer will show a lock icon in the lower right of the browser window.

While we make reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information once we receive it, no transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us or information we transmit to you from our website, and you do so at your own risk.

What Happens When I Link to or from Another Website?

This website may contain links to other websites operated by affiliates of Seattle Art Museum or third parties. Please be advised that the practices described in this privacy policy do not apply to information gathered through these other web sites. These other sites may also send their own cookies to you, collect your data or solicit your personal information. We are not responsible for the actions and privacy policies of third parties and other websites. We encourage you to be aware of when you leave this website and to read the privacy policies of each and every website that you visit.

Public Areas, Chat Rooms and Newsgroups

Please remember that any information you share in public areas, such as message boards or feedback sections, becomes public, and therefore this privacy policy does not apply to any information you choose to make public. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any personal information that you expect to keep private.

Governing Law/Assignment

Policy Changes

We are committed to maintaining www.seattleartmuseum.org as a premier website on the internet. As our website continues to develop, we may add new services and features to our website. In the event that these additions affect our privacy policy, this document will be updated appropriately. We will post those changes prominently so that you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. We do, however, recommend that you read this privacy policy each time you use our website in case you missed our notice of changes to the privacy policy.

Opt-Out and Correction Procedures

You always may opt-out of receiving future email messages and newsletters. You can stop receiving email communications from us at any time by selecting the “unsubscribe” text link provided at the bottom of all email communications. We also permit you to correct or update personal information that you have previously provided to us. To do so, you can access, correct and update certain personal information that you have provided to us by clicking on “Updateprofile” text link provided at the bottom of all email communications.

Contact

Direct all questions regarding this statement to:

Digital Media Manager
Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101-2003
206.954.3165
webmaster@seattleartmuseum.org