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Privacy Policy

In this Privacy Policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refers to: Online Intergroup of SCA, Inc., hereafter referred to as SCA Online Intergroup. The website is onlinesca.org.

This privacy policy sets out how SCA Online Intergroup uses and protects any information that you provide, whilst using SCA Online Intergroup products and services. This only includes SCA Online Intergroup meetings and facilities hosted on this website. SCA Online Intergroup may change this policy as and when necessary. We will provide a more prominent notice (including email notification of privacy policy changes).

1. What information we collect about you and how we use this information
1.1 Profile and Profile Information

You don’t have to create a profile to access the site generally. However, you do have to create a profile to access the online meetings (forums) and related password-protected areas. If you do choose to create a profile, you must provide us with some data so that we can provide our services to you. This includes a first name and last initial, a valid email address, a username (for example, “tom.s”), a display name (for example, “Tom S”),  and a personal password. Your display name is available and visible to other registered users of the meetings and site but you can use a first name and last initial only. Sometimes, you may need to provide additional identifying information to distinguish you from others with the same details, as each user registration must be unique.

Once you register and create a profile, you also have the option of adding the following information and features:

  • Avatar
  • Timezone
  • And other details to your profile information to be displayed in our community.


Additionally, whilst visiting SCA Online Intergroup, the following information may be collected (not public):

  • Internet Protocol (IP) address (not public)
  • Browser type and version (not public)
  • Operating system (not public)
  • Length of visit, page views, website navigation and any other related browsing activity


You are responsible for your topics, posts, comments (“shares” or “sharing”) and other information you provide through our services, and you should think carefully about what you post, especially if it is sensitive information.

1.2 Contact Information

We use your contact information, such as your email address, to authenticate your account and keep it — and our services — secure, and to help prevent spam, fraud, and abuse. We also use contact information to personalize our services, and enable certain account features, for example, for login verification, to reset passwords, to communicate with and send you information about our community and notify you of new replies to your subscribed meetings and topics. You can also unsubscribe from any customized email notifications.

If you email us, we will keep the content of your message, your email address, and your contact information to respond to your request.

1.3 Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of data that is stored on your computer or mobile device. Like many websites, we use cookies and similar technologies to collect additional website usage data and to operate our community. Cookies are not required for many parts of our community such as searching and looking at public profiles. Although most web browsers automatically accept cookies, many browsers’ settings can be set to decline cookies or alert you when a website is attempting to place a cookie on your computer. However, some of our community features may not function properly if you disable cookies. We do not support the Do Not Track browser option. You can learn more about how we use cookies and similar technologies here.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

1.3.1 Authentication – we use cookies to identify you when you visit our community. When you create a topic or post a reply, we store your name and email address in cookies. 

1.3.2 Status – we use cookies to help us to determine if you are logged into our website.

1.3.3 Security – we use cookies as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally.

Cookies used by our service providers

1.3.4 Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

1.3.5 We may use Google Analytics to analyze the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create anonymized reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ .

1.4 Log Data

We receive information when you view content on or otherwise interact with our community, which we refer to as “Log Data.” For example, when you visit our website, sign into our community, or interact with our email notifications, we may receive information about you. This Log Data includes information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, the referring web page, pages visited, location, your mobile carrier, device information (including device and application IDs), search terms, and cookie information. We use Log Data to operate our services and ensure their secure, reliable, and robust performance. This helps us better design our services for you.

2. Information We Share and Disclose
2.1 How we share information we collect

You should be aware that any information you provide in our community – including information associated with the profile you use to post the information – may be read, collected, and used by any member of the public who registers and accesses these websites. Your posts and certain profile information may remain even after you terminate your account. We urge you to consider the sensitivity of any information you input into these Services. To request removal of your information from publicly accessible websites operated by us, please contact us. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to and why.

2.2 Sharing with third parties

2.2.1 Service Providers: We share information with third parties that help us operate, provide, improve, integrate, customize, support and market our services. We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, payment processing, analysis and other services for us, which may require them to access or use information about you. If a service provider needs to access information about you to perform services on our behalf, they do so under close instruction from us, including policies and procedures designed to protect your information.

Our administrators may choose to add new functionality or change the behavior of the community by installing third party apps within the community. Doing so may give third-party apps access to your account and information about you like your name and email address, and any content you choose to use in connection with those apps. Third-party app policies and procedures are not controlled by us, and this privacy policy does not cover how third-party apps use your information. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of third parties before connecting to or using their applications or services to learn more about their privacy and information handling practices. Below are the third party services we use in our community:


2.2.2 Links to Third-Party Sites: Our community may include links that direct you to other websites or services whose privacy practices may differ from ours. If you submit information to any of those third-party sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies, not this one. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any website you visit.

2.3 Law, Harm, and the Public Interest

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Privacy Policy or controls we may otherwise offer to you, we may preserve, use, or disclose your personal data if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; to protect the safety of any person; to protect the safety or integrity of our platform, including to help prevent spam, abuse, or malicious actors on our services, or to explain why we have removed content or profiles (accounts) from our services; to address fraud, security, or technical issues; or to protect our rights or property or the rights or property of those who use our services. However, nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to limit any legal defenses or objections that you may have to a third party’s, including a government’s, request to disclose your personal data.

2.4 Non-Personal Information

We may share or disclose non-personal data, such as aggregated information like the community statistics (online users, visitors, current viewers of a topic, etc.), the number of people who clicked on a particular link (number of topic views) or voted on a poll in a topic (even if only one did).

3. How to access and control your information
3.1 Accessing or Rectifying Your Personal Data

You have the right to request a copy of your information, to object to our use of your information. If you have registered a profile in our community, we provide you with tools and account settings to access, correct, delete, or modify the personal data you provided to us and associated with your profile. You also can request correction, deletion, or modification of your personal data.

Your request and choices may be limited in certain cases: for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal information about another person, or if you ask to delete information which we are permitted by law or have compelling legitimate interests to keep. Where you have asked us to share data with third parties, for example, by installing third-party apps, you will need to contact those third-party service providers directly to have your information deleted or otherwise restricted.

3.2 Deletion of Your Personal Data

You can request deletion of your profile. This will include personal data, profile data, created content, logs, etc. Cookies should be deleted from your side. Almost all browsers have an option to delete cookies. Certain meeting posts may be impossible to delete, however, particularly a reply post embedded in the middle of a set of replies written by others.

3.3 Restrict Processing

3.3.1 Request that we stop using your information: In some cases, you may ask us to stop accessing, storing, using and otherwise processing your information where you believe we don’t have the appropriate rights to do so. For example, if you believe a community profile was created for you without your permission or you are no longer an active user, you can request that we delete your profile (use “Contact Us”). Where you gave us consent to use your information for a limited purpose, you can contact us to withdraw that consent, but this will not affect any processing that has already taken place at the time. When you make such requests, we may need time to investigate and facilitate your request. 

3.3.2 Opt out of communications: You may opt out of receiving email notifications related to your subscribed meetings and posts or promotional communications from us by contacting us as provided below to have your contact information and registration removed from our registration database. This means you will no longer be a registered user of the site.

4. How we store and secure information we collect

We use data hosting service providers to host the information we collect, and we use technical measures to secure your data. While we implement safeguards designed to protect your information, no security system is impenetrable and due to the inherent nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that data, during transmission through the Internet or while stored on our systems or otherwise in our care, is absolutely safe from intrusion by others.

5. Children and Our Community

Our community is not directed to children, and you may not use our services if you are under the age of 18. You must also be old enough to consent to the processing of your personal data in your country.

6. Online Privacy Policy Only

This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.

7. Your Consent To This Policy

By using our site, you consent to our Privacy Policy.

8. Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will update the “effective date” at the bottom of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.

Effective: September 16, 2020