Privacy Policy
This policy was updated on July 15, 2019, in accordance with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We are committed to modeling best practices as global privacy standards continue to evolve, and we will be rolling out additional updates over the next several months with the goal of increasing transparency and strengthening consent across all of our systems, for all of our supporters worldwide. If you have questions or feedback regarding this process, please reach out to us at privacy@maps.org.
Website Privacy Policy
See below for our Online Store and Donor Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy explains why we collect particular information through our website and how we work to protect your personal privacy while you explore our digital resources. Many people ask whether simply visiting our Site can be cause for concerns about privacy and security. MAPS Europe B.V. is wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Our visitors span the spectrum from psychedelic and medical marijuana users to scientists, law enforcement, educators, researchers, doctors, therapists, patients, and students. In all cases, MAPS Europe B.V. is a strong supporter of individual privacy and we do everything we can to safeguard information about our visitors and contributors.
In order to fully understand your rights, we encourage you to read this Privacy Policy. MAPS Europe B.V. reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time simply by updating this page. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting, unless otherwise stated. If we make material changes to the way we collect or process personal data, we will send a notice via email, or post an update on pages that are directly impacted by the change.
To demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, this Privacy Policy notifies you of:
What personally identifiable information is collected through the Site;
How such information is used;
With whom your information may be shared;
What security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under our control;
How you can correct any inaccuracies in your information, and request to be forgotten.
Questions regarding this statement should be directed to MAPS Europe B.V. by sending an email to privacy@maps.org. Please reference this Privacy Policy in your subject line.
Information We Collect and How We Use It
Our online forms ask users to give us contact information that may include name, email address, format preference (HTML vs. text), address, interests, and similar information. We do not request or store sensitive information from our visitors, such as credit card or social security numbers. To protect your privacy, we will never send you mail with the word “psychedelic” or “psychedelics” on the outside of the envelope.
Internet Protocol (IP) Address
We collect an Internet Protocol (IP) address from all visitors to our Site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our Site, analyze trends, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use to help us to improve the site, and deliver customized, personalized content. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.
As with almost all websites, temporary log files are kept which identify some information about our visitors, including the IP addresses of machines that access the site. Our Web logs are not available to the public. These logs allow Site administrators to see how many people visit the Site, how many pages have been accessed, which pages are accessed most frequently, and which links are leading people to the site.
Standard logs (including ours) also track which pages are visited by each IP address. This information is important for us to have because it allows us to catch “denial of service” attacks (for example, individual computers accessing hundreds of thousands of pages per day). We take great care to make sure this information cannot be used to compromise the privacy and security of our visitors.
Use of “Cookies”
Our Site may use “cookies” to enhance your experience while using our Site. Cookies are pieces of information that some Web sites transfer to the computer that is browsing that Web site and are used for record-keeping purposes at many Web sites. Use of cookies makes Web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords, your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular Web site and to make sure you don’t see the same ad repeatedly. The use of cookies is an industry standard.
Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. If you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our Site (in particular our Webstore) will not function properly when you view them.
Third Party Providers
MAPS Europe B.V. uses a number of third-party providers to host our website and constituent database, process donations, sell event tickets and merchandise, and manage our communications. We may share information from or about you with these third party providers so that they can perform their services or complete your requests. All shared data is transferred and stored securely, in accordance with the privacy policies of each provider. We endeavor to work with providers with privacy standards that match our own, but in some cases, third-party providers collect more information on you than MAPS Europe B.V. does, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies, which are linked below.
Z2 Systems (Neon) – our CRM, through which we process donations, event registrations, and product sales, as well as volunteer interest forms, and applications to the Zendo Project. Most of the data from our front-facing forms are stored in Neon. https://www.neoncrm.com/privacy/
Bluepay – our payment gateway, through which credit card transactions are securely processed, and payment information is encrypted and stored for recurring donors. https://www.bluepay.com/privacy-policy/
Mailchimp – our mass email service, through which the Email Newsletter, Zendo Newsletter, Event/Outreach Volunteer Updates, and Study Recruitment Updates are sent. Your email address and any location information that you provide is used to customize certain updates by region, and is not required. We do not track opens and clicks using Mailchimp’s built-in analytics features because we do not want to store your IP address; instead, we track visits to campaign-specific URLs using Matomo, which is explained in more detail below. https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
Analytics and Tracking
MAPS Europe B.V. uses Matomo, an open-source alternative to Google Analytics (GA), in an effort to reduce the amount of information that is being collected and stored about our supporters, while still empowering us to gain insights into how our website is being used. Some of our third-party providers use GA, however, and they are therefore collecting information about your activity, including your IP address. IP anonymization is a requirement of GDPR, with which all of our providers have pledged compliance, but we encourage all of our supporters to learn more about Google Analytics. Google has also provided a tool for opting out of Google Analytics that can be installed on all major browsers.
MAPS Europe B.V. endeavors to not track the activity of our supporters in any personally identifiable way. Matomo supports us in this, and we do not use the Facebook Pixel, but some externally hosted or embedded services do engage in tracking for their own analytics purposes, as explained above. If you want to block tracking beacons and gain greater control over targeted ads, consider installing a tool like Ghostery or Privacy Badger, the latter of which is maintained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.
Removal of Identifying Information
If you have previously submitted information to our Site and would like to have your name or contact information removed from the submission, please email privacy@maps.org, or call our office at (831) 429-6362. Our public digital archives include several independent collections of information. Some of these archives may display names or contact information without the permission of the author. We are happy to anonymize submissions, though we will need to verify that you are the original submitter. We are also happy to delete your information from our database, in accordance with the “right to be forgotten.”
Security
All information provided to MAPS Europe B.V. is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a proven coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before you send it to us. We also protect account information by placing it on a secure portion of our Site that is only accessible by certain qualified employees of the MAPS Europe B.V. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.
Other Web Sites
Our Site contains links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another Web site for which the MAPS Europe B.V. has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.
Authorized Release of Information
MAPS Europe B.V. may be legally required to disclose information to the IRS in the case of an audit. MAPS Europe B.V. complies with all applicable legal requirements and standards.
Contacting Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, you can contact:
MAPS Europe B.V.
PO BOX 71352
1008 BJ, AMSTERDAM
You can also send an email to privacy@maps.org.