Privacy Policy for the MLA Web Sites
The Modern Language Association is committed to protecting the privacy of its members and has adopted the following policy about the gathering and dissemination of personal information at the MLA’s network of Web sites, which includes www.mla.org, maps.mla.org, profession.mla.org, and www.mlajournals.org (the “Network”).
In general, you may visit the MLA Web sites without submitting any personal information. However, to provide certain online services, the MLA may request personal information in one or more of the ways listed below. Users are told when information is to be collected, and you have the option not to submit this information.
LOCATION OF SERVERS AND TRANSFER OF INFORMATION: SPECIAL ALERT TO NON–UNITED STATES USERS
Our servers are located in the United States. If you are located outside the United States, be aware that the information you provide us will be transferred to the United States and that the law applicable to the protection of User Information in the United States may be different from the laws of your jurisdiction. By using the Network or providing us with information through it, you consent to this transfer and to the collection, storage, processing, and use of your information in the United States as described in this Privacy Statement and the Terms of Service.
1. The legal basis for processing your user information. To comply with applicable data privacy laws, we are required to set out the legal basis for the processing of your personal data. In accordance with the purposes for which we collect and use your personal data, as set out above, the legal basis for processing your personal data will typically be one of the following:
- our own or our third parties’ legitimate business interests (for example, in maintaining and promoting our business by providing customers with feedback opportunities or other instances where we have carried out a legitimate interests assessment and have established an existing legitimate interest);
- the performance of a contract that we have in place with you;
- your consent where appropriate; or
- compliance with our legal obligations.
2. Online membership, registration, and subscription forms. As a convenience to members, the MLA provides online forms for transactions such as membership renewal, convention registration, and the purchase of MLA publications. Some of the information collected on these forms will be used for your listing in the online Member Search; other MLA members will be able to view your listing. Some of the information collected on these forms may be shared with a third party for business purposes, such as a convention housing bureau that helps process the hotel reservation transactions. The MLA also selectively rents mailing lists of members, subscribers, or convention registrants to appropriate third parties, such as book publishers. Before renting a mailing list to a third party, the MLA reviews all the materials that will be mailed to ensure that they will be of professional interest to MLA members. Users have the right to request that their personal information not be shared with such third parties. Contact information is provided at the Web site so that users may notify the MLA membership office at any time of errors in the information provided or to request that personal information not be shared with third parties. In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets. Furthermore, where the MLA is or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, then any personal information held by us about you will be one of the transferred assets.
3. Online Member Search. The MLA provides members access to the online Member Search for the purpose of scholarly exchange related to the study of languages and literatures. To protect members’ privacy, the MLA does not allow use of the online Member Search for commercial purposes, nor does it allow the collection and retention of member information for mass mailings of any kind. Restrictions on the number of searches apply. The MLA may at its sole discretion remove the search privileges of any member.
4. Online credit card transactions. As a convenience to members, the MLA accepts online credit card transactions through its secure servers. The credit card information provided by users at the site is submitted through Authorize.net to Chase PaymentTech, the companies the MLA has contracted with to process the secure electronic transaction. This information is not used for any other purpose, nor is it stored on MLA servers.
5. Password-protected services. The MLA Web site password system uses cookies. A “cookie” is a small file that the MLA Web server places on your computer’s hard drive when you log in to a member- or subscriber-restricted area. This cookie does not contain any personal information, but it allows the server to identify you as having successfully logged in so that you do not have to reenter your password each time you access the password-protected page.
You can set your browser to warn you before you accept a cookie. You can also set your browser to refuse all cookies. While all public pages at the MLA Web sites are accessible without receipt of a cookie, you must accept a cookie to access a password-restricted area.
6. Remarketing. The MLA uses Google AdWords and Facebook remarketing to advertise on third-party Web sites and on social media. Remarketing is used to display relevant ads to you based on the pages of the MLA Web site you have viewed by placing a cookie on your computer. This cookie does not contain any personal information but does identify you as having visited certain Web pages. You can opt out of Google AdWords remarketing on the Google ad preferences page. You can opt out of Facebook remarketing on the Facebook ad preferences page.
7. Web site administration. The MLA Web server maintains a standard log file of visitors to the site that automatically records your IP address or that of the service you use to connect to the Internet. No personal information is attached to this address. The MLA may use this IP address to help diagnose problems with the server and to administer the Web site. This address is not shared with any third parties or used for any other purpose.
8. Other sites. The MLA Web sites contain links to other Web sites. The MLA is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of other Web sites.
9. Records retention. We will keep your personal data for as long as we need it, or as otherwise prescribed by law, for the purposes set out above, and so this period will vary depending on your interactions with us. For example, where you have paid to attend a conference with us, we will keep a record of your payment for the period necessary for invoicing, tax, and warranty purposes. We may also keep a record of correspondence with you (for example, if you have made a complaint about a conference) for as long as is necessary to protect us from a legal claim. Our data retention notice further describes our retention practices. Please note that where you unsubscribe from our marketing communications, we will keep a record of your e-mail address to ensure we do not send you marketing e-mails in future.
10. Data subject rights. Data subjects in the European Economic Area and other jurisdictions may have rights in relation to their personal data that include:
- Right to rectification. Data subjects may request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Right to withdraw consent. Data subjects may at any time withdraw their consent to the processing of their personal data carried out by us on the basis of their previous consent. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on such previous consent.
- Right to make a subject access request (SAR). Data subjects may request in writing copies of their personal data. However, compliance with such requests is subject to certain limitations and exemptions and the rights of other individuals. Each request should make clear that a SAR is being made. You may also be required to submit a proof of your identity and any payment permitted by law, where applicable.
- Right to object to processing, including automated processing and profiling. We do not make automated decisions about data subjects. However, we may rely on information provided by third parties such as credit reference agencies that may score data subjects on the basis of automated decisions. Profiling may be carried out for business administration purposes, such as monitoring trends in user visits of our Web site and in order to deliver relevant ads to users’ devices. We will comply with valid objection requests unless we have a compelling overriding legitimate ground for the continuation of our processing or we have another lawful reason to refuse such request. We will comply with each valid opt-out request in relation to marketing communications.
- Right to erasure. Data subjects may request that we erase their personal data. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so. For example, there may be an overriding legitimate ground for keeping the personal data, such as our business record retention obligations that we have to comply with.
- Restriction. Data subjects may request that we restrict our processing of their personal data in various circumstances. We will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so, such as a legal obligation to continue processing your personal data in a certain way.
- Right to data portability. In certain circumstances, data subjects may request the controller to provide a copy of their personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and have it transferred to another provider of the same or similar services. We do not consider that this right applies to our services. However, to the extent it does, we will comply with such transfer request. Please note that a transfer to another provider does not imply erasure of the data subject’s personal data that may still be retained for legitimate and lawful purposes.
- Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. We suggest that data subjects contact us about any questions or complaints in relation to how we process their personal data. However, each data subject has the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority directly.
11. Security. We will take reasonable measures to protect the integrity of private communications on the Network and to protect against loss, corruption, and alteration of the information on the Network. However, even protected sites can be subject to hacking, technological glitches, user misconduct, and administrative errors, and we assume no liability for any of these actions or occurrences or their results.
12. Children under age thirteen. The MLA Web sites are not intended for use by children under the age of thirteen. By using the Network, you represent to us that you are at least thirteen years old. If you are not at least thirteen years old, you may not use the Network. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected any personally identifiable information from a child under the age of thirteen, we will delete that information. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that your child under age thirteen may have provided personally identifiable information through the Network, please contact us at tcallaghan@mla.org.
13. Changes to our privacy statement. Any changes we make to our privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy statement.
If you have questions or comments about the MLA privacy policy, please write to tcallaghan@mla.org.