Privacy Policy

Effective Date of This Version: January, 2025

International Orthodontics Foundation Limited., the operator of this website (iofglobal.org) (the "Official Website") respect your rights to privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy informs you how we collect, use, store, share and manage your personal information and how and where you can exercise your rights on the IOF Official Website.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before you register as an IOF member. By checking the box and clicking to agree, you shall be bound by this Privacy Policy and voluntarily authorize us to collect, use, store, share, manage and protect your information in line with this Privacy Policy. If you, or your guardians, do not agree to anything in this Privacy Policy, you shall immediately stop using our services. If you have any questions or concerns about the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy or related matters, please contact us by reference to our official contact information.

1. Personal Information We Collect

When providing services to you, we collect the following personal information about you. Sensitive personal information is underlined and bolded to draw your attention to it.

Membership Registration: When you initiating the membership registration, we will collect information about your name,gender,mobile phone number, email address, date of birth, university/college of graduation, time of graduation, educational background (specialist/undergraduate/master/doctoral/post-doctoral/other degree), major, province/city of residence, employer, nature of employer (public/private), clinical department (general practice/implant/orthodontics/restoration/endodontics/periodontics/pediatric dentistry/maxillofacial surgery/other), title (chief physician/associate chief physician/attending physician/practicing physician/assistant physician/other), occupation (medical doctor/nurse/technician/operation manager/other) and number of years of your practicing orthodontic treatment.

Payment for Membership Fees or Other Charges: When you make payment for the membership fees or other charges, we will collect information about your name, nickname, user ID, mobile phone number, province/city of residence, payment bank, account information, transaction time.

Application for IOF Research Grant: When you apply for an IOF research grant, we will collect information about your name, gender, mobile phone number, email address, educational background (specialist/undergraduate/master/doctoral/post-doctoral/other degree), employer, province/city of residence and project name. In addition, IOF may collect diagnostic and clinical data from you in the course of providing you with a research grant, in which case you shall ensure that you have obtained additional consents from the subjects (if involved) for providing us with such diagnostic and clinical data.

Registration for IOF Education Training: When you make registration for any IOF education training, we will collect information about your name, gender, mobile phone number and email address.

Application for IOF Sci-tech Innovation Grant: When you apply for an IOF sci-tech innovation grant, we will collect information about your name, gender, mobile phone number, email address, educational background (specialist/undergraduate/master/doctoral/post-doctoral/other degree), employer, province/city of residence and project name.

Customer Service: When you contact us or communicate with us via info@iofglobal.org, we will collect information about your name and your preferred liaison approach (e.g. by email or telephone) and any information you choose to provide, which may contain your personal information.

2. Data of Juveniles

Protecting the safety and privacy of juveniles is very important to us. We will not knowingly collect or use the personal information of any juvenile under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any personal information without the express consent and participation of your parent or guardian.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, due to technical limitations and in certain cases such as when performing IOF-related services, we are unable to identify the age of each user. If you believe that we have collected the personal information of a juvenile without his/her parent or guardian’s express consent, please contact us via info@iofglobal.org and we will delete such personal information.

3. Information We Collect Through Automation Technology

(1) Cookies

We also collect your IP address and the information about your use of the Official Website through tracking technologies such as cookies and web beacons. Although your website browser can be set to reject all cookies, you can, through cookies, use some basic functions of the Official Website which may not be available if you reject cookies.

“Cookies” are unique digital codes transmitted to your computer to track your interests and preferences, and to recognize you when you visit again. “Web beacons” are transparent graphic images which are placed on/in websites, emails or advertisements and can monitor users’ activities and website traffic. These technologies can help us remember your preferences and will enable us to provide you with the content and features that you may be most interested in according to the “clickstream” data which can show your previous activities on the Official Website.

To learn more about cookies and other tracking technologies (including the methods to disable them), please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/. Please note that some cookies are extremely important for the normal operation of the Official Website, and deleting or disabling them will weaken the function(s) of the Official Website.

(2) Third-party Code and SDK

In order to provide you with better experience and more comprehensive services, we may collect your personal information through third-party code or SDK. At present, we are docking with the SDK of Vhall, a video cloud platform operated by Beijing Weihou Shidai Technology Co., Ltd., in order to obtain the information about your equipment, IP, etc. Specific information about the SDK of Vhall is given as follows:

(3) System Permissions

In order to provide you with relevant products and services, we may, when you use the IOF Official Website, need your authorization to turn on relevant permissions to collect relevant information. Please note that by turning on these permissions, you authorize us to collect and use such personal information to effect the aforesaid functions. By turning off these permissions, you withdraw your authorization and we will no longer collect or use your personal information, nor we will be able to provide you with the functions requiring such permissions. Your decision to turn off your permissions will not affect the personal information processing previously carried out based on your authorization.

The circumstances under which you may choose to authorize to turn on relevant permissions may include:

· album permissions: when you use functions such as uploading/updating your account avatar, providing feedbacks to us, etc., we will need access to your device’s album permissions and collect information about the image(s) and/or video content(s) you are about to provide; and

· camera access: when you use functions such as shooting, uploading/updating your account avatar, scanning bar/QR codes, etc., we will need access to your device’s camera and collect information about the image(s) and/or video content(s) you are about to provide.

4. How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

(1) Proving Information

We may use your personal information to contact you and send you newsletters and service-related announcements. We may also use your personal information to contact you for the products and services that we think may be of interest to you and to invite you to participate in our surveys or other activities related to the Official Website or other project-related activities in which we are involved.

(2) User Data Analysis

We may use your personal information to understand your preferences and usage habits and conduct data analysis in order to improve our services and recommend information or features of interest to you.

(3) Entrusted Processing

By providing services hereunder, we may entrust third-party service providers (such as the operation service provider of the Official Website, the customer service provider, the security and maintenance service provider of the Official Website, the fraud management service provider, the technical service provider in charge of sending emails and newsletters, the anti-spam and anti-robot service provider(s) and the data analytics service provider(s)) to assist us in providing relevant operation and service supports, and may transmit or grant access to them your personal information.

(4) Sharing with Third Parties

For the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, we may share your personal information with the following third parties:

· Payment institutions: In order to fulfill each of your purchase orders, we need to provide your purchase order number and purchase order amount to Paypal for it to confirm your payment instructions and complete your payment;

· Third party video service platforms: We may work with third party video service platforms in order to make arrangements such as online meetings and provide such third party video service platforms with information about your name, user ID, etc.;

· Third party logistics companies: In order to send gifts to you, we will provide your personal communication information to third party logistics companies; and

· To improve our services and recommend activities that may be of interest to you, we may share your personal information with our affiliates, and we undertake that such information will be transmitted within the necessary scope to achieve the aforementioned purposes.

· Government agencies, regulators and law enforcement departments/Other third parties: In order to comply with our legal obligations, we may share personal information with them. We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties as required by laws, legal regulations or legal decisions, or as necessary to protect our rights.

5. Data Outbound

The personal information we collect on and through the IOF Official Website   will be stored on a server located in Hong Kong SAR. We may provide your personal information to overseas entities only under the following circumstances and after meeting the relevant requirements of laws and regulations and regulatory authorities, and will strictly require the receiving party to handle your personal information in accordance with the requirements of the applicable laws and regulations and this Private Policy: (1) there are clear provisions in laws and regulations; (2) we have obtained your separate consent; (3) the products and/or services you use are cross-bordered and you take the initiative to provide your personal information outbound.

You are aware and agree that the information you send to us via info@iofglobal.org will be stored on a server located in the United States, and the information you send to us via info@iofglobal.org will only be used to communicate with you about related problems, questions or complaints or send advisory notices to you.

6. Information Security

We maintain appropriate managerial, technical and substantive protection measures to protect your personal information from accidental, illegal or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, exposure or use.

(1) In terms of security management system and security management personnel, we set up an information security team responsible for the construction of information security system, including security management system. We manage and standardize the storage and use of personal information by establishing data classification and grading systems, data security management norms and security development norms:

• We use both the strict data access clearances and the multiple identification authentication technologies to control and protect personal information. By signing strict confidentiality agreements with information receiving parties and by implementing monitoring and auditing mechanisms, we run a comprehensive security control over data to avoid illegal data use;

• We use both the code security check and the scanning technology for system security audit;

• We will also hold security and privacy protection training courses to strengthen our employees’ awareness of the importance of protecting personal information.

(2) We have established relevant security management systems for information collection, storage, transmission, encryption, network security, vulnerability management, security incident handling, etc. We will use such security measures as meeting the industry standards and such security technologies as common in the industry to prevent unauthorized access to and modification of your personal information and prevent leakage, damage or loss of your personal information. These technical measures include: encrypting and storing your personal information with encryption technologies; when using your personal information, such as the display of personal information and calculation associated with personal information, we will use a variety of data desensitization techniques including content replacement and SHA256 to enhance the security of personal information in use.

(3) To address possible risks such as leakage, damage and loss of personal information, we have developed a number of systems to clarify the classification and grading standards for security incidents and security breaches and the corresponding handling processes. We have set up a dedicated emergency response team for security incidents. We will initiate security contingency plans for different security incidents in accordance with the requirements of the security incident handling code in order to stop damage, run analysis and positioning, formulate remedial measures, and collaborate with relevant departments to trace and combat the source of security incidents.

(4) In terms of technical measures:

• We have adopted SSL, HTTP and other technical measures to protect the security and confidentiality of information transmission;

• We have taken technical measures such as intrusion detection system, web application firewall, vulnerability scanning and other technical measures to protect the security and confidentiality of information preservation;

• Our network service adopts encryption technologies such as transport layer security protocol, and provides browsing services through https to ensure the security of your personal information in the transmission process;

• To ensure the security of personal information, we will intensify our network firewall, set up security policies to prevent malicious access, and conduct regular virus scanning to protect your personal information.

As the environment of internet is not 100% secure, we are unable to guarantee that the system and information are 100% secure. If you think there are any security risks or vulnerabilities in our system, please contact us via info@iofglobal.org.

7. Data storage period

IOF will retain your information for the timeframe as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which personal information is processed as described in this Privacy Policy and as long as required by applicable laws or administrative regulations. For example, your transaction information may be retained for at least three years, as required by laws and regulations relating to civil proceedings. After the storage period expires, we will delete or anonymize your personal information unless otherwise stipulated by applicable laws and regulations.

8. Your Rights

In accordance with the prevailing laws and regulations, you have the following rights:

• Right of access, right of rectification, and right to obtain a copy of your personal information

If you need to access or rectify your personal information generated in the course of your use of the IOF Official Website, or to obtain a copy in relation thereto, you may contact us by reference to the contact information below.

• Right to withdraw consent

If you wish to withdraw your consent to other uses of your personal information, you may do so by contacting us in the same manner as set out below. If you withdraw your consent to some use(s) of your personal information, you may not be able to use the relevant products and/or services normally.

• Right to restrict or reject processing

You have the right to restrict or reject the processing of your personal information by others. We will make available a way to you to restrict or reject the processing of your personal information in accordance with the requirements of the applicable laws. You may contact us in the same manner as set out below.

• Right to unsubscribe notifications and messages

If you choose not to receive any notifications or marketing or promotional messages from us, please contact us in the same manner as set out below.

• Right of deletion

You have the right to request that your personal information be deleted if (a) we violate laws or regulations in collecting or using your personal information, (b) we have no lawful basis for collecting your personal information or you have withdrawn your consent, (c) we collect or use your personal information in violation of our agreement with you, (d) you deregister your account, or (e) we no longer provide products or services to you.

• Right of deregistration

If you would like to deregister your account, please contact us in the same manner as set out below and we will take reasonable steps to deregister your account. We will delete your personal information upon your request or as required by laws and regulations. Unless we have to retain certain data due to legal reasons, we will only process such data to the extent required by laws and regulations and will not use the same in our daily business activities.

9. Third Party Platform

The IOF Official Website may contain links to third-party platforms. IOF cannot control these third-party platforms or the companies or individuals who maintain them. We are not responsible for the actions of these third parties, or any of your personal information that you provide to them after you leave the IOF Official Website.

10. Problems, Queries or Complaints

If you have any queries relating to this Privacy Policy, or if you have any questions, concerns or complaints about your personal information (including requesting access to or rectification of your personal information or making a privacy complaint), please contact us via info@iofglobal.org.

We will use our reasonable efforts to respond to your request in a timely manner and will respond to your request within 15 business days after we receive your request and complete the verification of your identity.

We generally do not charge fees for reasonable requests, but for repeated requests that exceed reasonable limits, we will charge certain fees as appropriate. We may refuse requests that are unnecessarily repetitive, require excessive technical means, pose risks to the legitimate rights and interests of others, or are very unreasonable.

11. Changes in This Privacy Policy

IOF reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy from time to time at its sole discretion. In the event of any changes in the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, IOF will post such changes on the Official Website. Such changes will become effective fifteen (15) business days after the date of update. You may choose not to accept such changes and cancel your membership registration before such changes become effective. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws, your continued access to or use of the IOF Official Website after the notice period specified above will be deemed as your full acceptance of and agreement to the changed privacy policy. IOF recommends that you regularly review the information posted on the Official Website to better protect your rights and interests.

12. Disclaimer and Other Information

We shall not be liable for (1) any leakage of your personal information as a result of your sharing your user password with others or sharing your registered account with others or (2) any leakage, loss, theft or alteration of your personal information as a result of force majeure caused by computer problems, hacker attacks, computer virus intrusion or attacks, temporary shutdown due to government regulation affecting normal network operations.