The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc. (“ASC CAN”) values your trust, and we understand the importance of protecting your privacy. We want to make sure that you understand how your health information is collected and used by ACS CAN. This privacy statement (“Health Privacy Statement”) describes what health information we collect about you, including when and how we collect it; how we use it; with whom we may share it; and what choices you have regarding our use of your health information.
This Health Privacy Statement applies to all health information collected through your communications with ACS CAN, whether electronic, written, or oral. Examples include but are not limited to online forms, information provided at events, petitions collected on support for public policy, and storytelling collection forms about experiences with cancer, health insurance, medical debt, and other issues impacting health (Health Information). Health Information may be collected through an ACS CAN mobile application, ACS CAN website, in person, or otherwise and includes other Health Information about you that we may collect offline or online, including information that we receive from affiliates, partner organizations or other third parties (collectively, the “Sites”). By accessing our Sites or providing your Health Information to us, you accept and agree to the practices described in this Health Privacy Statement.
This Health Privacy Statement describes our privacy practices. The links below go straight to more detailed information on that topic.
- What types of Health Information we collect
- How we collect Health Information
- How we may use Health Information
- With whom we may share Health Information
- Internet activity information
- Our data security protections
- Text (SMS) Terms and Conditions
- Your privacy rights and choices
- Notices and Disclosures
- How to contact us / How to exercise your privacy rights
- Updates to this Health Privacy Statement
What types of Health Information we collect
When you engage with ACS CAN, we collect a variety of Health Information. In general, the type and amount of Health Information we collect on you will depend on how you choose to interact with ACS CAN.
Mission Related Information – In order to further our mission advocating for policies that improve the lives of cancer patients, we may request Health Information which will be shared with government representatives in support of our policy positions. Such information may include your experience with cancer or insurance information.
Internet Activity. We may collect web server traffic activity and browsing history which may be tied to your Internet Protocol address or device type. We use this information to measure engagement on the Sites, effectiveness of our campaigns and to determine areas of interest of our constituency. ACS CAN does not use Internet Activity to infer Health Information.
How we collect Health Information
ACS CAN and its service providers may collect Health Information in a variety of instances such as:
Site Use. We may collect Health Information through your use of the Sites. For example, if you sign a petition or provide additional Health Information (such as a personal experience) in support of a petition, such information may be disclosed to public officials. ACS CAN does not control the way public officials may use Health Information shared in this way.
Please exercise caution when deciding whether to disclose your Health Information in public forums. ACS CAN does not control the acts of other visitors to its Sites, so please be cautious when deciding to reveal Health Information on a public area of any site. Please contact us if you believe a visitor to an ACS CAN Site is improperly collecting or using information about you or other users.
Forms. If you decide to complete an online petition, volunteer form, or story collection form, we may collect Health Information from you in paper or electronic form on tablets or through our website. Health Information may include your cancer story or health insurance status. Such information is optional but helps to show the true impact cancer and access to health care have on specific communities.
Other Sources. We may receive your Health Information from other sources, including, but not limited to, our affiliated organization, the American Cancer Society, Inc., but this Health Information is only shared if you have voluntarily disclosed the Health Information (such as survivor status as an event participant).
How we may use Health Information
We and our service providers may use Health Information for the following purposes:
Mission. The primary use of your Health Information is to execute on our mission to eliminate cancer as a major public health problem. Your Health Information may be used at the direction of ACS CAN by vendors performing services on our behalf, affiliates like the American Cancer Society, aligned coalitions like ballot measure committees, volunteers, or others to engage you on our mission.
Data Analytics. We also perform data analysis to gain a greater general understanding of how individuals engage with ASC CAN or understanding needs of the population. This analysis can help us improve mission delivery and support. When we perform data analytics, we may also use Other Information also includes information that has been anonymized or aggregated in a manner that it no longer reveals your specific identity.
Other Business Purposes. We may use Health Information for other business purposes, such as conducting audits, developing new Sites, enhancing, improving, or modifying our programs and our Sites, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of mission activities, and updating and expanding our business activities.
With whom we may share your Health Information
ACS CAN will not sell or share the Health Information you provide or that we collect through our websites, with the following exceptions.
Focus Groups. We may, from time to time, invite you to participate in a focus group so that we can hear your opinions or and understand your needs and priorities in connection with our mission.
Story Collection. We may, from time to time, invite you to tell us about your experience with cancer, medical insurance, care giver or other health care issues to include in our advocacy efforts. These stories may be shared publicly with your consent.
Third-Party Service Providers. We may need to share Health Information with third parties that provide operational Sites on our behalf (such as website hosting, information technology and infrastructure, data analytics, email delivery, or other services of an administrative or technical nature). Your Health Information is shared solely for the purpose of providing such services and is subject to confidentiality obligations.
ACS CAN Affiliates. We may provide your information to affiliated organizations that share a common mission with ACS CAN, such as the American Cancer Society (“ACS”). Use of your information by ACS is governed by ACS’s Health Privacy Statement available at cancer.org.
Social Media. You may share Health Information with your friends associated with your social media account, to other website users and to your social media account provider, in connection with your social sharing activity. Please note that any information you post within these public forums or social media pages may become public and may be read, collected, and used by anyone. Please exercise caution when deciding whether to disclose your Health Information in these forums.
If You Submit Information to Share with Elected Officials. From time to time, ACS CAN will circulate petitions or conduct similar activities online or at events, where we will ask you to submit personal information to influence elected officials ("Petitions"). This may include health or health-related information, photographs or a personal experience or opinion. We may transmit to elected officials some or all the information you provide. However, we cannot control what an elected official will do with your information.
Other Uses or Disclosures of Health Information. We may also use and disclose your Personal Information as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) to comply with applicable law, which may include laws outside your country of residence, to respond to requests from public and government authorities, which may include authorities outside your country of residence, to cooperate with law enforcement, or for other legal reasons; (b) to enforce our Terms of Use; (c) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others. In addition, ACS CAN may use, disclose, or transfer your information to a third-party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our organization (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
Your Consent. In addition to the other disclosures described in this section, we may also disclose your Health Information as you expressly authorize us to do so.
Internet activity information
ACS CAN may also collect information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not relate to an identifiable individual, referred to throughout this Health Privacy Statement as “Other Information,” including browser and device information, App usage data, Internet Protocol address, information collected through cookies, pixel tags and other technologies. Other Information also includes information that has been anonymized or aggregated in a manner that it no longer reveals your specific identity. ACS CAN does not use Other Information to infer health status.
If we are required to treat Other Information as Health Information under applicable law, then we may use and share it for the purposes for which we use and share Health Information as detailed in this Health Privacy Statement.
Web Server Traffic Pattern Information and Browsing History. We collect standard web server traffic pattern information and your browsing history. General traffic, Site usage, browser information and length of stay information is collected and stored in log files. We do not use your browsing history to infer health status.
Cookies. We use “cookies,” small files that are sent to your web browser and stored on your computer's hard drive, to enhance your online experience. The cookies collect information about your use of our Sites, such as the type of browser you use, your home domain or Internet service provider, your referrer URL (which is the URL for the website that you were viewing prior to visiting the website), how you were directed to the Sites, which specific pages you accessed, how long you view each page, the time and date you access our Sites and anonymous traffic data. If you do not want information collected by cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular website. You can also reject all but strictly necessary cookies by selecting the “Reject Cookies” option in the banner which appears when you enter the site, or you may choose specific cookies by selecting “Manage Cookies. You may also wish to refer to http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the site. We do not use cookies to infer or collect Health Information.
Targeted Outreach and Advertising. We may work with third-party service providers to target our advertisements and outreach to you based on your preferences or other internet activity information, in some cases combining data we collect from you through online cookies and other technologies with other de-identified data (such as a hashed, non-readable email or postal address). In addition, we may use third-party service providers to display content-specific advertisements to you after you have left our Sites when you go to other websites. These third-party service providers may use cookies, web beacons or similar technologies to tailor advertisements to interests shown by browsing our Sites or other by visiting other websites. We do not control the third-party service providers' tracking technologies or how they may be used. The collection of your information or use of technologies by third-party service providers is subject to those third parties’ privacy policies, not ACS CAN’s. For more information on these practices or to learn how to opt-out of receiving targeted advertising from many service providers, please visit http://optout.aboutads.info/#!/ and http://optout.networkadvertising.org/.
Our data security protections
We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures designed to secure the information to protect Personal Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “How to contact us” section below.
Notices and Disclosures
Children’s Privacy. ACS CAN does not knowingly request or collect Health Information from any person under 13 years of age without parental consent. If you believe that your child has submitted Personal Information to ACS CAN without your consent and you would like this info restricted or removed, please contact us using one of the methods provided in “How to contact us / How to exercise your privacy rights” below.
Jurisdiction and Cross-Border Transfer. The Sites are controlled and operated by us from the United States and are not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country, or territory other than that of the United States. Your Health Information may be stored and processed in the United States where our servers are located and where our central database is operated. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities may be entitled to access your Health Information.
Information on Third parties. If you disclose any Health Information relating to other people to us, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Health Privacy Statement.
How to contact us / How to exercise your privacy rights.
In some countries and in some in certain states, such as Washington, you have specific rights regarding your Health Information. This section describes your rights and explains how to exercise those rights. Subject to certain limitations (such as our legal obligations), you have the right to access, to obtain a copy of, to correct, to opt-out of the sale or sharing, and to delete your Health Information. You also can limit the means or frequency of some communications and to appeal responses to your requests.
To exercise your privacy rights, please submit a Data Request Form. Please note that when you submit your request, you will receive an email asking you to confirm the submission. If the request is submitted on behalf of another person, please provide sufficient information that allows us to verify you are authorized to make the request.
To Access/Request a Copy of your Health Information. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to obtain confirmation of the categories of Health Information ACS CAN may have about you and/or to request access to and receive a copy of information about the Health Information that we maintain. To exercise your privacy rights, please submit a Data Request Form. In your request, please make clear what Health Information you would like to review. For your protection, we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. If you are submitting a request on behalf of someone else, we may ask for additional verification, such as written documentation or other proof of authority. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable, consistent with applicable law.
Subject to applicable law, although ACS CAN makes good faith efforts to provide individuals with access to their Health Information, there may be circumstances in which ACS CAN is unable to provide access such as where the information would compromise others’ privacy rights or where the information is subject to legal privilege. If ACS CAN determines that access should be restricted in any instance, we will endeavor to provide you with an explanation of why that determination has been made and a contact point for any further inquiries. To protect your privacy, ACS CAN will take commercially reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to or making any changes to your Health Information. To exercise this right, please submit a Data Request Form.
To Request Deletion. You have the right to request that we delete Health Information we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your Health Information from our records, unless an exception applies.
The right to access Health Information may be limited in some circumstances by local law. To exercise this right, please submit a Data Request Form.
Right to Appeal. Although ACS makes good faith efforts to comply with privacy rights requests, there may be circumstances in which ACS is unable to provide access, including but not limited to: where the information would compromise others’ privacy or other legitimate rights, where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy in the case in question, or where the information is subject to legal privilege.
If you exercise one of your privacy rights and we are unable to process your request, we will endeavor to provide you with an explanation as to why the request was denied. The explanation will include information on how to appeal, including the relevant regulatory authorities, based on your state or country of residence. All requests for appeal will be reviewed by the privacy office ([email protected]).
Privacy Questions and Requests. If you have any questions about this Health Privacy Statement, wish to notify us of any desired restrictions, or believe your privacy rights may have been violated, please contact us at:
Postal Mail:
If you have any questions about our Health Privacy Statement, please feel free to contact us at:
You can also reach us via US Mail at:
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
655 15th Street, NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: 202 661 5700
Email: [email protected]
Updates to this Health Privacy Statement
ACS CAN may modify this Health Privacy Statement at any time. When changes are made, we will update the “last modified” section at the top of our Health Privacy Statement. Your use of ACS CAN’s Sites following these changes means that you accept the revised Health Privacy Statement.
Last Modified: February 13, 2024