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EU Privacy Position Statement - Send Word Now

EU-US Safe Harbor for Privacy

The US Department of Commerce and the European Commission have developed a framework of data protection principles (the "Safe Harbor"). This Safe Harbor is designed to provide US organizations with a means to satisfy the European Union's (EU) legal requirement that adequate data protections be afforded to personally identifiable information transferred from the EU to the US. SWN is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of those who entrust us with their Personal Information. SWN fully complies with the Safe Harbor privacy principles published by the US Department of Commerce (the "Principles"). SWN's certification to the Safe Harbor list can be found here...

SWN's European Union Privacy Principles
GENERAL:

SWN recognizes and respects the privacy interests of individuals concerning the Personal Information SWN retains. This is a fundamental aspect of SWN's "EU Privacy Position Statement." SWN's EU privacy principles may be supplemented or superseded by legal requirements in local jurisdictions.

SCOPE:

SWN's privacy principles apply to all of the Personal Information about any person who is a European citizen or resident that is collected or retained as part of SWN's business operations. This statement supplements the general SWN Privacy Policy. The EU Privacy Principles also applies to agents and third parties that handle and process Personal Information about individuals on behalf of SWN.

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Any information relating to an individual who resides in the European Union that identifies an individual or could reasonably be used to identify that individual (regardless of the medium involved) shall be deemed "Personal Information". Any Personal Information handled by SWN in connection with SWN's business operations, such as information about and from customers, employees or agents of our customers, account holders and others, is covered by SWN's EU Privacy Principles. As part of providing our notification services, SWN retains Personal Information about the individuals who are to be contacted in the case of an emergency or other event ("Contact Lists"). The Contact Lists are created, populated, and transferred to us by our customers. SWN customers, usually through a designated customer/administrator, represent to us in writing that they have the authority to collect all of the Personal Information contained on the Contact Lists. It is the sole responsibility of our customers to obtain the permission of their individual employees and agents prior to including their information on the Contact Lists. The Contact Lists contain data which relates to living individuals, who can be identified from it (whether alone or together with other information at the disposal of the person processing the data). This data includes, but may not be limited to names, landline phone numbers, cell phone numbers, pager numbers, e-mail addresses, and Instant Messaging identities. Other data we receive (and may or may not retain for some period of time) includes the contents of messages created by and sent to and from individuals on the Contact Lists.

 NOTICE:
Acceptance and Retention

SWN accepts, retains and uses Personal Information in accordance with the law. When SWN retains personal data about an individual, SWN informs its customer about the purposes for which it retains and uses the Personal Information, the third parties with whom it may share this information and the ways that individuals may limit and control the use of such Personal Information. SWN does not act as the primary collector of any Personal Information. SWN does act as an intermediate data processor for customers who provide Personal Information about individual employees or agents. In all such cases, SWN requires that the customer state in advance that they have the authority to collect such Personal Information on behalf of their employees.

Informing the Individual

SWN does not generally allow an individual to obtain direct access to its proprietary site. The only exceptions are the "Self-Add" and "Recipient Self-Update" features, which are accessed by a link (sent via an e-mail invitation), to a customized web page, that allows for manual creation and/or updating of the individual's contact information. All "Self-Add" and "Recipient Self-Update" e-mail invitations contain a link to SWN's full Privacy Policy and require acceptance of SWN's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. The individual will be informed of how and from whom SWN obtains Personal Information, the type of data collected, the purposes for which the Personal Information is collected, how to contact SWN with any inquiries or complaints, the types of parties to whom Personal Information is disclosed, the privacy and information safeguards employed, and the procedure through which individuals may access and, if necessary, correct their Personal Information. SWN also makes full information about its policies available, as appropriate, upon request.

 Sensitive Information

SWN does not obtain or retain any "sensitive information" as provided for in the EU Privacy Directive. Sensitive information is Personal Information specifying medical or health conditions, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership or information specifying the sexual preferences of the individual.

DISCLOSURE (ONWARD TRANSFER):

SWN recognizes the importance of respecting individuals' privacy preferences.

As a part of its normal business operations, SWN may share an individual's Personal Information with an agent acting on behalf of SWN, where that agent provides an essential component of SWN's overall services. In all such cases, the agent must provide satisfactory assurances that they ensure at least the same level of privacy protection as is required by the Principles. If SWN becomes aware that an agent is using or sharing Personal Information in a way that is contrary to the Principles, SWN will take reasonable steps to prevent or stop such processing.

In certain limited or exceptional circumstances, and in accordance with legal requirements, SWN may disclose an individual's Personal Information without the individual's consent, such as when SWN is required to disclose the information by law, warrant or legal process or when the vital interests of the individual or others, such as life or health, are at stake.

Where consent of a customer for the retention or use of Personal Information is required by law, contract or agreement, SWN requests such consent and respects the individual's choice in such matters.

SWN may use agents and contractors to carry out certain functions that require use of "Personal Information." In such cases, SWN shall bind the parties through written agreements to observe the relevant EU Privacy Principles, restrict the use and retention of the information to the purposes and timeframe of such outsourcing, and take other measures to require the observance of the relevant SWN EU Privacy Principles. It is the policy of SWN to grant employees, agents and contractors access only to the amount of information necessary to carry out their responsibilities.

If an individual objects to SWN's collection, use, or disclosure of certain Personal Information, SWN will contact the individual's customer/administrator as soon as possible and request that reasonable efforts be made to remedy the concerns of the individual. SWN will also request that the customer/administrator contact the individual directly.

In no case will an individual be subject to sanction or retaliation for objecting to the collection, use or disclosure of the individual's Personal Information. An individual withholding Personal Information or prohibiting its collection, use or disclosure, however, may be disadvantaged as a result of not making the information available. For example, unwillingness to provide information required to use a service or receive a benefit may make a user ineligible for that service or benefit.

ACCESS:

All Personal Information retained by SWN is collected and delivered to us through a customer/administrator. SWN will not accept delivery of any Personal Information unless it has received reasonable assurances that the customer/administrator has full authority to act on behalf of all the listed individuals. Any individual who objects to the inclusion, accuracy, collection, use, or disclosure of Personal Information is encouraged to contact SWN, who will in thereafter contact the customer/administrator as soon as possible and request that they immediately address the concerns of the individual involved. SWN will also instruct the customer/administrator to contact the individual directly. Access to an individual's Personal Information may be denied when SWN's customer/administrator prevents that access. In addition, access may be denied when the information requested relates to an ongoing investigation of the individual, litigation or potential litigation where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual's privacy.

DATA INTEGRITY:
Accuracy

SWN employs reasonable steps to keep Personal Information accurate, complete, and up-to-date.

 Retention

SWN retains Personal Information only as long as needed to meet the purposes for which it was received or as required by contractual agreement or legal requirements. SWN uses reasonable procedures to ensure that it archives Personal Information no longer than is required for the purposes for which it was originally collected, unless otherwise agreed to by the customer/administrator. Some Personal Information of individuals may be archived to meet legal requirements, to provide evidence in cases of litigation or for internal statistical analysis.

 SECURITY:

SWN takes reasonable precautions, including administrative, technical, personnel, and physical measures to safeguard Personal Information against loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, destruction, and theft.

 ENFORCEMENT:
Compliance

SWN maintains an active initiative to ensure compliance with EU Privacy Principles, as well as with legal requirements, contractual agreements, and other commitments in the handling of Personal Information. The SWN EU Privacy Complaint and Resolution Process are described below.

1. What are the responsibilities of the senior SWN Privacy Compliance Official?

Responsibilities of the senior SWN Privacy Compliance official include:

2. What steps are taken to promote compliance with SWN's EU Privacy Principles?

Compliance measures include:

SWN recognizes the importance of having mechanisms in place to address and resolve complaints by individuals about the processing of Personal Information. Therefore, in addition to any legal remedies that may be available, if an individual covered by SWN's EU Privacy Principles makes a complaint about the processing of the individual's Personal Information, and the complaint is not resolved to the individual satisfaction through SWN's internal procedures, then SWN will use a readily available and affordable independent dispute resolution mechanism to resolve the complaint.

Individuals receiving messages via SWN services who have privacy concerns may follow these outlined steps to address the issue.

Some jurisdictions have established data protection authorities overseeing the processing of Personal Information that are willing to assist in the resolution of complaints. SWN is committed to working with these authorities to resolve any complaint and to complying with their decisions in such cases.

Alternatively, in jurisdictions where there is no data protection authority available to provide dispute resolution, SWN has identified and will utilize an independent alternative dispute resolution mechanism to resolve the complaint if it deems it unresolvable.

The SWN EU Privacy compliance official in charge of administering SWN's Privacy Principles or the designated regional officials will be able to provide additional information about the use of independent dispute resolution mechanisms.

 SCOPE:

SWN's privacy principles apply to all of the Personal Information about any person who is a European citizen or resident that is collected or retained as part of SWN's business operations. This statement supplements the general SWN Privacy Policy. The EU Privacy Principles also applies to agents and third parties that handle and process Personal Information about individuals on behalf of SWN.