Privacy Policy

Below is the Privacy Policy that applies to users of the Center for Critical Thinking Community website found at community.criticalthinking.org (‘the website,’ ‘website’). If you are unable or unwilling to agree to any part of this policy, you may not use the website.

Please note that this policy does not apply to www.criticalthinking.org, which is also owned and operated by the Foundation for Critical Thinking. To read the privacy policy for criticalthinking.org, please visit: https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/bookstore-customer-support/642.

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time.

The Center for Critical Thinking Community website protects your privacy.We will never sell, share, or trade the personal data collected through this website with any third party except 1) where absolutely required by law, 2) where absolutely required to facilitate your financial transactions (see subsection ‘Data Collected from Anyone Making a Financial Transaction through the Website’ for details), 3) where necessary to facilitate communication with you regarding information relevant to the website after you have become a member (see subsections ‘Data Collected from Members’ and ‘Our Use of SendGrid and Constant Contact’ for details; for clarification on the term ‘member’ as used in this document, please see item 4 under ‘Explanation of Terms Appearing in This Policy’ below), or 4) where you have given us explicit, written consent to do so.

In managing the Center for Critical Thinking Community website, we strive to only collect the bare minimum amount of data required to facilitate the website’s services (details are provided below).

For purposes of this document:

1. The term ‘web account’ refers to any subscription-based web account on the website, which provides access to resources and features that non-subscribing visitors do not have access to.
2. The term ‘passive visitor’ refers to any individual who lawfully visits the website, but who does not 1) create or utilize a web account on the website, 2) utilize the Job Listings section of the website, or 3) submit information through the ‘Contact Us’ page of the website (found at https://community.criticalthinking.org/contactUs.php).
3. The term ‘active visitor’ refers to any individual who lawfully utilizes the Job Listings section of the website to post an available position or search for an available position that has been posted, OR who submits information through the ‘Contact Us’ page of the website, but who has not created or utilized a web account on the website.
4. The term ‘member’ refers to any individual who lawfully creates or lawfully utilizes a web account on the website.
5. The term ‘personal data’ refers to information collected by the website that may be used to personally identify or contact any passive visitor, active visitor, or member of said website.
6. The term ‘delete,’ as it applies to web accounts, refers to the deliberate termination of a web account by its member or by a website administrator. Lapses in subscription renewal do not constitute deletion of a web account.
7. The term ‘website administrator’ refers to any employee of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, with administrative privileges on the website that passive visitors, active visitors, and members do not have.

Data Collected from Members
In order to maintain persistent web accounts, facilitate financial transactions, and contact members with information relevant to the website (including, but not limited to, announcements of new learning opportunities, announcements of changes to this policy or the Terms of Service, account verification emails, and password-reset emails; for more details, see subsection ‘Our Use of SendGrid and Constant Contact’), the website collects and stores the following types of data from members:

1. Email addresses. One is stored in the website database for each member until that member changes his or her email address on file, deletes his or her web account, or until a website administrator deletes said web account. For how email addresses are used with SendGrid and Constant Contact, see subsection ‘Our Use of SendGrid and Constant Contact.’
2. Whatever values are entered as first names and last names. Each value may be a legal name or an alias and is stored until a member deletes his or her web account, or until a website administrator deletes said web account. For how these values are used with SendGrid and Constant Contact, see subsection ‘Our Use of SendGrid and Constant Contact.’
3. Encrypted passwords. Each password is stored until its member changes his or her password, deletes his or her web account, or until a website administrator deletes said account.
4. Keys which link user accounts to financial transactions in our payment gateway, Stripe. (You can read Stripe's privacy policy here.)

Data Collected from Anyone Making a Financial Transaction through the Website
The following information is collected by the website to facilitate financial transactions, is not stored on the website, but is partly stored in Stripe (details below):

1. Legal names or business names.
2. Credit card or debit card information: names on cards, card numbers, card expiry dates, card verification codes or security codes, and card schemes (i.e., whether each card is a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.)
3. Billing addresses.

You can read Stripe’s privacy policy here.

Each transaction utilizes the above information and generates a log in our third-party payment gateway, with the log being stored for 18 months. The name and billing address submitted during each transaction are included in said transaction log, as are the last four digits of each card; this data is never accessed by Foundation for Critical Thinking personnel, except where necessary to conduct normal business (for example, to void accidental transactions). Other personal data, including full card numbers, is not visible to Foundation for Critical Thinking personnel in said logs. You may read Authorize.Net’s Privacy Statement and its Terms of Use.

Data Collected from Anyone Submitting Information through the ‘Contact Us’ Webage
The following information is collected by the website from anyone who submits information through the ‘Contact Us’ webpage (found at https://community.criticalthinking.org/contactUs.php), and is stored indefinitely to maintain a record of communication and service:

1. Name (this can be a legal name or an alias).
2. Email address.
3. Any personal information that the individual chooses to submit in the body of the message.

Access and Error Logs
The website maintains access logs and website error logs with associated IP addresses. These logs maintain records (the date, time, and associated IP address) of each occasion where 1) a device requests data from, or submits data to, the website, and 2) a device requests or submits data, and the request or submission results in one or more website errors. These logs are generated regardless of whether someone is a passive visitor, an active visitor, or a member of the website.

Our Use of SendGrid and Constant Contact
The Foundation for Critical Thinking, in order to facilitate communication with you regarding information relevant to the website after you have become a member, utilizes third-party services known as Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) and SendGrid (www.sendgrid.com).

We save members’ email addresses, and whatever values they’ve entered for their first and last names, in Constant Contact in order to send them announcements relevant to the website (including, but not limited to, announcements of new learning opportunities and announcements of changes to this policy or the Terms of Service).

We save members’ email addresses, and whatever values they’ve entered for their first and last names, in SendGrid in order to increase the likelihood that emails necessary to facilitate use of the website (including, but not limited to, account verification emails and password-reset emails) are successfully delivered (i.e. not blocked or misfiled as junk/spam by email servers).

These maintained lists of email addresses and name values are never sold, shared, or traded with other third parties, except where members have given explicit written consent, or where absolutely required by law.

What Is Data Collected by Implication?
There are cases where the website does not require or request personal data, but where its members may volunteer such data in the act of completing individual learning activities or sharing content with other members, and where the website stores said data in order to maintain persistent member web accounts along with a record of member engagement, as well as to allow the continuation of said engagement. Example of such cases include 1) members addressing each other by name, 2) members sharing images of themselves with other members, and 3) members referencing personal data when completing individual learning activities.

Policies Governing Usage of Data Collected by Implication
The following policies govern usage of this type of data:

1. As with personal data collected deliberately, the Foundation for Critical Thinking will never sell, share, or trade your personal data with any third party except 1) where absolutely required by law, 2) where absolutely required to facilitate your financial transactions (see subsection ‘Data Collected from Anyone Making a Financial Transaction through the Website’ for details), or 3) where you have given us explicit, written consent to do so. Members may not share with each other any personal data about another member, unless that member has already shared the data in question with the website’s community and the data in question remains visible to the website’s community at large (i.e., has not been deleted by the member who shared it). This policy is described in our Terms of Use.
2. Members may contact a website administrator with requests to remove references to their personal data made by other members if these references are violations of the Terms of Service.

Content created and shared on the website by members is not visible to the general public; only members with web accounts on the website may access this content. Except where longer storage is required by law or approved by a member’s explicit, written consent, content created or shared by any member on the website is stored until 1) the member deletes said content, 2) the member deletes his or her web account, or 3) said content is deleted by a website administrator. The only exception is where job listings are posted in the Job Listings section of the website (details below).

There are cases where the website does not require or request personal data, but where either members or active visitors may publish such data when posting job listings or submitting information through the ‘Contact Us’ webpage. An example of such a case is where a phone number or email address is included in a job listing or in an inquiry submitted through the ‘Contact Us’ webpage.

Members and active visitors should note that personal data posted in job listings is visible to and searchable by all website visitors; no web account is required for website visitors to view and search job listings. Each job listing is stored for the duration that the job listing is posted (60 days or 90 days, depending upon the poster’s preference).

Data submitted through the ‘Contact Us’ webpage is visible only to Foundation for Critical Thinking employees and is retained indefinitely to maintain a record of communication and service.

Except where longer storage is required by law or approved by a member’s explicit, written consent, content created or shared by any member on the website is stored until 1) the member deletes said content, 2) the member deletes his or her web account, or 3) said content is deleted by a website administrator. The only exception is where job listings are posted in the Job Listings section of the website (details below).

The following information is collected from each member who utilizes the Job Listings section of the website to post an available position, and is thereafter included in the job listing:

1. The title of the position being advertised.
2. The city, state, and ZIP code of the job being advertised.
3. The name of the company for which the listing is being posted.
4. Information relevant to the job listing, such as skills required of the applicant.

The resulting job listing is visible to and searchable by all website visitors; no web account is required for website visitors to view and search job listings. Each job listing is stored for the duration that the job listing is posted (60 days or 90 days, depending upon the poster’s preference).

In addition to the information above, information is collected by the website to facilitate a financial transaction wherever an active visitor utilizes the Job Listings section of the website to post an available position This information is not stored on the website, but is partly stored in Stripe (details below):

1. The legal name or business name of the entity making payment.
2. Credit card or debit card information: names on cards, card numbers, card expiry dates, card verification codes or security codes, and card schemes (i.e., whether each card is a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.)
3. Billing addresses.

You can read Stripe’s privacy policy here.

Each transaction utilizes the above information and generates a log in our third-party payment gateway, with the log being stored for 18 months. The name and billing address submitted during each transaction are included in said transaction log, as are the last four digits of each card; this data is never accessed by Foundation for Critical Thinking personnel, except where necessary to conduct normal business (for example, to void accidental transactions). Other personal data, including full card numbers, is not visible to Foundation for Critical Thinking personnel in said logs. You may read Authorize.Net’s Privacy Statement and its Terms of Use.

The following information is collected from each member or active visitor who utilizes the Job Listings section of the website to search for available positions that have been posted:

1. Each keyword input by the member or active user in order to generate search results, such as a company name or position title.
2. The preferred city, state, or ZIP code of the positions being sought.

This information is utilized only to return search results, and is not stored after results are returned to the member or active visitor.

Persons may contact a website administrator via media outside of the website itself (e.g. telephone, email, physical mail, or fax) in order to obtain assistance. When providing assistance to any such person, a website administrator may request and/or collect personal data in order to facilitate said assistance. This data may include names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and/or billing information. (This data may also include personal data volunteered by the person requesting assistance, but not requested by any website administrator.) Where this data is collected in written form, and does not contain sensitive information (such as full credit card numbers), it is stored indefinitely to maintain a record of communication and service. Such data containing sensitive information (such as full credit card numbers) is stored only long enough to facilitate assistance to the person requesting said assistance, and is destroyed after said assistance has been provided.