Privacy Policy

Our Commitment to Privacy

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy as a visitor to our Web site at http://www.piaa.org. We take the issue of privacy very seriously and value the trust you place in us each time you use our services and access this Web site. This Privacy Statement describes the practices and policies we have put into place to safeguard your personal information that may be gathered and used as you visit our Web site.

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

The policy may change from time to time so please check back periodically. If you have any questions about our privacy policies, we encourage you to contact us using any of the methods outlined at the end of our Privacy Statement.

Who Is Collecting the Information?

PIAA is collecting information on this Web site as outlined in this privacy statement.

What Information Do We Collect?

Automatic Collection of Information:

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site or download information, our system will automatically gather and store certain information about your visit. This information does not identify you personally and is used in an aggregate way to help us improve our Web site and tell us the number of visitors to our site each day.

Our Web server automatically collects and records the following information:

  • The visitor's domain name, but not the e-mail address
  • The visitor's IP address
  • Aggregate information on what pages are accessed
  • The name and release number of web browser software used
  • The operating system used
  • Date and time you access our site
  • The address of the Web site that linked to us (referrer URL)

Permission-based Collection of Information:

At different places on our site depending upon the feature you use, you may be asked to volunteer personal information such as your name, e-mail, mailing address, and telephone number.

The following information is collected with your permission at this Web site:

  • Personal information and identification gathered from those who voluntarily submit such
  • The names and e-mail addresses of those who use a feedback form
  • The names and e-mail addresses of those who voluntarily submit e-mail communications to us

How Do We Use the Information We Collect?

The information we gather automatically and with your permission during your visit to our Web site may be used in any or all of the following ways:

  • Monitor, review, measure, and analyze Web site utilization
  • Modify and enhance the Web site
  • Improve the content and design of our Web site
  • Determine the need for new programs and services
  • Respond to your requests
  • Notify visitors of winning entries

With Whom Will the Information Be Shared?

The personally identifiable information gathered during your visit to this Web site is not shared with any organization for any purpose. We do not rent, sell, exchange, or in any other way provide personally identifiable information to any third-party organization.

Access and Correction of Personal Information

Review of Personal Information

Site visitors may not access information we have collected and maintain about them.

Additional Use of Personal Information

Requesting No E-mail Communication

You may receive e-mail messages from us about topics that may be of interest to you, including news and information about PIAA, Web site-related news, upcoming events, special promotions, and other relevant information. If you do not wish to receive such e-mail messages, please let us know by the following means:

Submit notification via postal mail to address contained at the end of our Privacy Statement.

Requesting No Postal Mailings

You may receive periodic mailings from us with information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by the following means:

Submit notification via postal mail to address contained at the end of our Privacy Statement.

Requesting No E-mail Communication

Persons who supply us with their telephone numbers on-line may receive calls from us regarding response to their information requests, orders they have placed on-line, or information regarding new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive telephone calls, please let us know by the following means:

Submit notification via postal mail to address contained at the end of our Privacy Statement.

Our Use of Cookies

Many Web sites now use "cookies" to provide useful features to their visitors by providing customizable and personalized services.

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. For example, a Web site may use cookies to store and sometimes track information about you, your preferences, or the pages you last visited.

Your browser software can be set to reject all cookies, or to ask you if you would like to accept or decline a cookie from a particular site before it is set. Most browsers offer instructions on how to reset the browser to reject cookies in the Help section of the toolbar. You should know, however, that if you reject a cookie, certain functions and conveniences of a site may not work properly.

PIAA does not use cookies or the cookie technology to store or collect information on our Web site.

Registration for Access

Some Web sites require you to provide some personal information through a registration process in order to take advantage of certain Web site features and to access content areas. For example, a registration form might request your name, telephone number and e-mail address.

Access to some of the features on this Web site requires registration, and the disclosure of some personal information. These Web site features may include:

  • Specialized programs, events, and promotions.

Our Children's Privacy Policy

We are especially concerned about protecting childrens' privacy. We hope parents and teachers are involved in childrens' Internet explorations. It is particularly important for parents to guide their children when children are asked to provide personal information on line.

Our site may feature information and services of interest to children 13 and under and we have the following practices:

  • When using our on-line feedback form, children may be asked to type their name, e-mail address, and home mailing address so that we can respond personally to them.
  • When submitting information requiring name and e-mail address, children must provide such information.
  • We do not disclose personal information about our 13 or under users.

Security of Communications

We recognize that many people are concerned about the privacy and protection of information as it is transmitted over the Internet. You should keep in mind that the possibility exists for unauthorized individuals to intercept any e-mail message you send over the Internet. In some cases, information can be encrypted (scrambled or encoded) to make it very difficult to read if it is intercepted during communication. Certain technology and practices allow Web sites to provide an increased level of security for your personal information when appropriate.

We use the following practices on our Web site to enhance the level of security for communication and the transmission of personal information:

  • We always use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving consumer data exchanged with our site.
  • We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of personally identifiable information that you may provide.
  • We use e-mail forms to allow our customers to ask questions about our services and programs. These are not hosted on a secure server. The possibility exists that unauthorized individuals may intercept e-mail messages.
  • We are not responsible for the privacy of e-mail messages during transmission.
  • We have appropriate security measures in place to protect the safe-keeping of received e-mail communications.
  • We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site.

E-Commerce, On-line Donations, and Online Shopping

Purchasing items or making donations over the Internet usually requires you to provide your personal identifying information and credit card information on a Web site. Many people have become accustomed to on-line commerce as a time-saving and useful convenience. There are a number of practices that can make providing your sensitive credit card information more secure and therefore make you feel more comfortable about doing so.

At this time, we do not process credit card payments for donations, merchandise, or services electronically via our Web site.

Advertising Servers

On-line advertising, such as banner ads, has become commonplace on many Web sites. Certain Web sites have developed relationships with third-party advertising servers to display these advertisements on their sites. By clicking on one of these banner ads, you will be taken to another site with different privacy policies. These third party ad servers may also use cookies to collect non-personal information on your preferences and interests via the advertisement you decide to view.

At this time, we do not partner with or have special relationships with any advertising server companies. Our Web site does contain banner advertising and in all cases any links associated with such advertising point directly to the third party advertiser.

Links to Other Sites

Web sites often provide a number of links that offer direct access to other useful or interesting Web sites holding potential value to site visitors. Inclusion of the other sites by links does not imply any endorsement of the material or information on the other sites. Users are encouraged to review the privacy policy of each linked site before sharing personal information.

This site includes links to non-affiliated external Web sites. We have the following practices:

  • We encourage users to review the privacy policy of each linked site, as we cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of other sites.
  • We may make efforts to notify you when you are leaving our site and you may be subjected to different privacy policies than those we have established for our Web site.
  • We are not responsible for any content or activities contained on or in linked sites.
  • We are not responsible for the accuracy of addresses (urls) of linked sites. Links are current as of the time they are programmed on our Web site. Given the fluid nature of Web site programming, links to pages on sites outside our domain may change without notice to us.

Changes in Our Privacy Policy

From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future, we have the following practices:

  • We will update this Privacy Statement and post such to our Web site. The date of the most current Privacy Statement is contained below, under the Modification Date section. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our Web site periodically.

Web Site Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns about our privacy policy, or feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, please contact us.

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc.
550 Gettysburg Road, P.O. Box 2008
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-0708
(717) 697-0374 or (800) 382-1392

Modification Date

This privacy statement was last modified on December 23, 2003.