Privacy - Technology in AA Online Community

How does the TIAA Forum collect data about me?

The TIAA Forum collects data about you:

when you browse the forum
when you create and use an account on a forum
when you post, send private messages, and otherwise participate on in forum activities

The TIAA Forum does not buy or otherwise receive data about you from data brokers.

What data does the TIAA Forum collect about me, and why?

The TIAA Forum collects data about site and topic visits

When you visit our forum, whether you have an account or not, the forum uses cookies, server logs, and other methods to collect data about what pages you visit and when.

The TIAA Forum uses data about how you use the website to:

optimize the forum, so that it’s quick and easy to use
diagnose and debug technical errors
defend the forum from abuse and technical attacks
compile statistics on forum and topic popularity
compile statistics on the kinds of software and computers visitors use

the TIAA Forum usually stores data about how you use the forum in identifiable form for just a few weeks. In special circumstances, like extended investigations about technical attacks, we may preserve log data longer, for analysis. We stores aggregate statistics about use of the forum for as long as we hosts the forum, but those statistics don’t include data identifiable to you personally.

The TIAA Forum collects account data.

Almost all of the features and access to our topics require an account.

To sign up for a forum account, We require a user name, and an e-mail address.

The TIAA Forum uses your account data to identify you on the forum, and to create pages specific to you, like your profile page. We make your username and forum activity available to everyone who can access the forum.

We use your e-mail address to:

notify you about posts and other activity on the forum
reset your password and help keep your account secure
contact you in special circumstances related to your account
contact you about legal requests, like DMCA takedown requests

You may provide additional data for your account, like a short biography, your location, or your birthday, on the profile settings page for your account. We makes that data available to others who can access the forum. You don’t have to provide this additional information, and you can erase it at any time.

The TIAA Forum stores your account data as long as your account remains open.

The TIAA Forum collects data about posts and other activity on the forum.

We collect the content of your posts, plus data about bookmarks, likes, and links you follow in order to share that data with others, through the forum. We make your activity available only to users permitted to see it.

The TIAA Forum also collects data about private messages that you send through the forum. We make private messages available to senders and their recipients, and also to forum administrators.

We store your posts and other activity as long as your account remains open.

How can I make choices about data collection?

You can make choices about how data about is used on the settings page for your account. When the forum uses access restrictions that vary by category, you can choose who will see your post by choosing the appropriate category.

The TIAA Forum does not respond to the Do Not Track HTTP header.

Where does the TIAA Forum store data about me?

We store data in data centers in multiple jurisdictions, such as the United States.

Where can I access data about me?

You can see your account data at any time by visiting your account page on the forum. Your account page also lists your posts and other activity on the forum.

Your account activity page also includes a link to download all of your activity in standard comma-separated values format.

How can I change or erase data about me?

You can change your account data at any time by visiting the profile settings page for your account. You can also delete your account entirely from the settings page. Deleting your account starts a process of erasing or anonymizing the TIAA Form’s records of data you provided for your account. Forum administrators can also erase and anonymize accounts.

You may also be able to edit, anonymize, or erase your posts. When you edit posts, we will keep all versions of your posts. Forum administrators can view old versions of posts, and optionally make them visible to other forum visitors.

You may submit a request to have your account and post history deleted by a forum administrator. If you send this in from the email address associated with the account we will consider your identity to be true. If the request is not from this address we will send a confirmation email to the account which we will need a reply from.

If the request is on behalf of a past user who is no longer able to use the forum or is deceased we will use the same method of verification via the email associated with the user account.

We may ask if data can be retained but anonymized to maintain post and conversation history. If this is declined we will delete all the posts and data associated with the account using the Discourse tools at our disposal.

Does the TIAA Forum make automated decisions based on data about me?

The forum can classify posts as spam automatically.

The TIAA Forum uses data about your posts and other activity to make automated decisions about whether your posts are spam.

If you think a post has been wrongly blocked or removed, contact an administrator of your forum. They can override the decision that a post was spam.

The TIAA Forum uses data about posts and activity to set trust levels automatically.

The forum may use data about your posts and activity to award you badges and calculate a trust level for your account. Your trust level may affect how you can participate in the forum, such as whether you can upload images, as well as give you access to moderation and management powers in the forum. Your trust level therefore reflects forum administrators’ confidence in you, and our willingness to delegate community management functions, like moderation.

If you think your trust level has been set incorrectly, contact an administrator of the forum. They can manually adjust the trust level of your account.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

Our site, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older. If this server is in the USA, and you are under the age of 13, per the requirements of COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), do not use this site.