Privacy Policy

This website (“Our Site”) is provided by Asia Society and hosted in the United States. Asia Society is committed to protecting the privacy of its website and on-site visitors, members, and donors in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This Statement describes how the Asia Society collects and uses information from Our Sites’ visitors, however these principles apply when we collect personal data from you through any channel. It explains Asia Society’s information processing practices and applies to any personal information you provide to Asia Society and any personal information we collect from other sources. This Statement applies to all Asia Society operations including the websites we control and which are accessible via multiple Asia Society domains. This Statement does not apply to your use of a third party site linked to on the Asia Society websites. To learn how a third party site handles your personal information you should read the privacy statement on that site.

By using Our Site, you consent to our collection and use of information about you in accordance with this Statement. We may change this Statement by occasionally posting an updated version of it on this page. If we decide that it is appropriate, we may also post a notice of the update on Our Site’s home page at asiasociety.org. By continuing to use Our Site after we have posted any changes, you agree to the terms of the updated Statement. This Statement is part of the Terms that govern your use of Our Site, so please read the entire Terms.  

When and how do we collect your information?

Asia Society collects two kinds of information from Our Site’s visitors:  anonymous information and personally identifiable information.

Anonymous Information

Our servers automatically log certain information that does not personally identify you. We use this anonymous information in aggregate form to help us manage and improve Our Site. The anonymous information we record includes, for example, the pages you visit on Our Site, the amount of time you spend viewing those pages, the links and advertisements you click, the browser you use, and the address of the web page that referred you to Our Site.

Personally Identifiable Information

We also collect personally identifiable information that you voluntarily provide to us through Our Site, such as your name, postal or email addresses, and phone number. We collect personally identifiable information in the following ways:

• Membership Purchases: to fulfill orders and manage memberships
• Donations:  to process your donation with our payment processor
• Store Purchases: to fulfill orders for merchandise in our store
• Event Tickets and Registrations: to process purchases and registrations for events, conferences and other activities
• Surveys & Contests: to facilitate participation
• Promotion of our Programs: to give you information about upcoming programs and activities

When a visitor provides personal information to us, we use it for the purposes for which it was provided to us as stated at the point of collection or as obvious from the context of the collection. We sometimes share your information with a third-party service provider who helps us deliver our services. Whenever possible or required by law, such sharing of information will be subject to an agreement with each such service provider, requiring such service provider to comply with all relevant data protection regulations.  

Social Media 

Should you engage with us via social media websites or through applications on Asia Society’s website that integrate with social media sites, you may grant us access to certain information from your social media account. If you post information on Our Site such as in a blog, this information may become public depending on your privacy settings. You can control what information you share through privacy settings on some social media sites. For more information about how you can customize your privacy settings and how third-party social media sites handle your personally identifiable information, refer to their privacy notices and terms of use.  

Communications Sent to You

We distribute newsletters and other communications by email and regular postal mail. We send these communications to you only if you have signed up to receive them or if you have agreed to receive them as part of an Asia Society membership. We may also use your personal data to contact you individually if you initiate correspondence with us. If you no longer wish to receive one or more types of communications, we will happily honor your request. To unsubscribe, simply follow the instructions we include in the mailings we send you, such as the unsubscribe link you will find in our email messages. You may also submit your request to privacy@asiasociety.org.

Legal Basis

If we wish to use your personal information for a purpose which is not compatible with the purpose for which it was collected for, we will request your consent. In all cases, we balance our legal use of your personal information with your interests and rights in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to make sure that your personal information is not subject to unnecessary risk. The processing of your personal information is justified by a “lawful basis” for processing: In the majority of cases, processing will be justified on the basis that the processing is in our legitimate interests, subject to your interests and fundamental rights and 

• The processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party
• The processing is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation

In limited circumstances, we will use your consent as the basis for processing your personal information.

Collecting Information from Children

We do not intentionally seek to collect information from children on our website. Users of Our Site under the age of 13 should not submit any personal information through the website. If you have information that this may have happened, please contact us at privacy@asiasociety.org.

Retainage of Personal Information

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary given the purpose for which it was collected unless a longer retention period is permitted or required by law. In certain circumstances, we may store your personal information for longer periods of time so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us should you or we have any questions.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Within Asia Society

We may share your information with other divisions and branch offices within Asia Society to better serve you for the kinds of activities cited above. We do not rent, sell or otherwise disclose personal information about Our Site visitors to unaffiliated third parties for marketing purposes. We only share your information with third parties as described below.

Authorized Service Providers

Analytics

We continuously seek ways to improve Our Site for our users. In order to do this we make use of third-party analytics tools to better understand who is using the website and how people are using it so we can continuously improve it. These tools may use cookies and other technologies to collect information about your use of the website and your preferences and activities. These tools collect information sent by your device or the website and other information that assists us in improving the website. This information may be used to analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and better understand your online activity, among other things.

Third Party Service Providers

Your personal information is disclosed to service providers we have engaged to carry out our work and provide you with services. Third party service providers may be involved in any of the ways we collect your information described above. Our service providers help us with, for example, web hosting, order fulfillment, subscription management, software development, database maintenance, and website consulting. There are strict limits on what these service providers use or disclose. They may only use the information that is absolutely necessary for performing the service that we have contracted them to do or to comply with legal requirements.  

In addition, we may occasionally refer you to a service provider’s site for help in serving you. For example, we may link you to a service provider’s site to process a conference or program registration, to take an order for special Asia Society publications, download a mobile application, or to gather survey responses. When you follow a referral or link away from Our Site, you leave Our Site. This Statement applies only to Our Site, and not to service provider’s sites. You should review their privacy statement to find out how they protect your privacy.

Cookies and other Tracking Technologies

We, along with third-parties, use cookies, local storage objects, web beacons and other technologies. These technologies are used for tracking, analytics and personalization and optimization of the website.

Cookies are small files that are transferred to and stored on your computer through your web browser (if you allow it) that enable the website’s or service provider’s system to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. You can instruct your browser to stop accepting cookies. But if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use all portions of all functionality of the website.

• Persistent cookies remain on the visitor’s computer after the browser has been closed.
• Session cookies exist only during a visitor’s online session and disappear from the visitor’s computer when they close the browser software.

Web beacons are small strings of code that provide a method for delivering a graphic image on a Web page or in an email message for the purpose of transferring data. You can disable the ability of Web beacons to capture information by blocking cookies.
Some of our business partners, such as our analytics providers, advertising networks, social sharing provider, and social media connections, also use cookies and other tracking technologies on Our Site, some of which may track users across websites and over time. Given the nature of third-party services, they are constantly evolving and if you have any questions concerning the use or policies of those third parties, we encourage you to consult their Privacy Policies and Terms of Use directly.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your personal information if we are 1) required to do so by law, 2) in response to a law enforcement authority or other government official request, 3) when we believe the disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, 4) in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual legal activity, or 5) in the event that Asia Society is dissolved or otherwise reorganized.  

Transfer of Personal Information Across National Borders

Our servers are located in the United States. If you are located outside the United States, please note that your personal data will be transferred to and stored on a server located in the United States. By submitting your personal data to us, you consent to this transfer and to the collection, storage, processing and use of your data in the United States.

As an international organization, your personal information may be transferred across national borders. Within Asia Society, our branches all adhere to the requirements set out by the EU commission. If we transfer your personal information across national borders to third parties who help us provide our services, we ensure through contractual obligations that your personal information is protected. If you would like further information about the transfer of your personal information across national borders and how it is being protected, please contact us at privacy@asiasociety.org. 

Security Measures to Protect Your Personal Information

Understanding how important your personal information is to you, Asia Society has strict security precautions in place to protect it. Your personal information is protected against unauthorized use or disclosure using state-of-the-art security technologies, training and procedures. When Our Site uses online forms to collect sensitive personal data like credit card numbers, we secure the form with Secure Socket Layers (“SSL”) encryption, one of the most widely accepted and tested forms of data encryption.  With less sensitive personal data we use password protection.  We also take the following precautions with your personal data and other information:

• Firewalls
• Software to detect viruses and other intrusions into our site and computers
• Secure hosting environment for our web servers
• Storage of personal data on password-protected computers
• Restricting access to personal data to necessary Asia Society staff

No email, internet or mobile application transmission is fully secure however and we cannot guarantee that your personal information will be free from theft, unauthorized use, or disclosure. While our third-party providers are contractually bound to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information, we cannot guarantee that transmissions of your personal information will be fully secure. WE ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION DUE TO TRANSMISSION ERRORS, THIRD PARTY ACCESS, OR CAUSES BEYOND OUR CONTROL.

Your Handling of Your Information

We have described here how and what we use your personal information for. In certain circumstances, we will communicate with you about your preferences about how you would like it to be used. In the case of marketing, for example, we will ask you whether you would like to receive communications from us, how often and about what. You may update and correct your information at any time by contacting us at privacy@asiasociety.org.

You may have other rights regarding the handling of your personal information based on where you live. Subject to legal and other permissible considerations, we will make every effort to honor those rights if you contact us. We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, if your request is unfounded or excessive.

EU Data Subject Rights

If you are an EU Data Subject, you have the rights enumerated below in this section. Please email us at privacy@asiasociety.org if you wish to exercise these rights.

Right to Access

You have the right to access the personal information Asia Society has for you.  

Right to Rectification

You have a right to request us to correct your personal information where it is inaccurate or out of date.

Right to be Forgotten (Right to Erasure)

You have the right, under certain circumstances, to have your personal information erased. Your information can only be erased if your data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and we have no other legal ground for processing the data.

Right to Object to Processing

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information at any time, on legitimate grounds, except if otherwise permitted by applicable law, or to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.

Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information, but only where:

• Its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy; or
• The processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased; or
• It is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
• You have objected to processing of your data, and verification of overriding grounds is pending.

Right to Data Portability

You have the right to data portability, which requires us to provide personal information to you or another controller in a commonly used, machine-readable format, but only where the processing of that information is based on (1) your consent; or (2) the performance of a contract to which you are a party.

Right to Decline Automated Decision Making

You have the right to not be subject to decisions based solely on automated decision making, which produce legal or significant effects for you, except where these are (1) necessary for a contract to which you are a party; (2) authorized by law; (3) based on your explicit consent.

Even where such decisions are permitted, you can contest the decision and require Asia Society to exercise human intervention.  

We currently do not use automated decision making when processing your personal information.

International Transfers

You can request information about the safeguards to protect any transfer of your personal information outside the European Union.

California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you may request from a business with whom you have a business relationship information about how it shares personal information with third parties. You may make one request per year by emailing us at privacy@asiasociety.org.

Further Questions

Please feel free to contact us at privacy@asiasociety.org if you have additional questions about our privacy policy and/or have a complaint and we would be happy to provide you with greater detail. You may also contact your local Data Protection Authority.

Updates to this Statement

We will make updates to this Statement from time to time. Please review it periodically for the most current information.