AAGRAPEVINE, INC. PRIVACY POLICY
Last Updated and Effective as of 09/05/2019

Thank you for visiting the www.aagrapevine.org website and reviewing our Privacy Policy.  This policy explains how AA Grapevine collects, uses, shares and protects personal information about you (meaning, information that can identify you personally or that can be used with other sources of information to identify you).  This policy applies to personal information you submit to us and other information we collect about you when you interact with our website or with AA Grapevine, as described below.  PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE WEBSITE OR PROVIDING INFORMATION TO AA GRAPEVINE THROUGH ANY OTHER MEANS.

AA Grapevine may modify this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an updated policy on this page.  If AA Grapevine makes any material changes to this Privacy Policy, it will indicate the date the Privacy Policy was last revised at the top of this page.

1. Personal Information We Collect

Information You Submit

You may submit certain personal information in connection with your use of our website and ordering books or publications.  For example, if you subscribe to one of our magazines or AA Grapevine Story Archive, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, phone number, credit card information and address.  As a returning customer creating an account with AA Grapevine, we may also collect your username and password, and address for delivery so we can process your repeat orders faster.

You may also submit personal information when you sign up for our email newsletters, make a purchase through the AA Grapevine online store, register an account, contact us or otherwise communicate with us.

You may also choose to submit your personal stories, your experiences, as well as photographs and artwork. While these stories will include first-person accounts of your personal experiences, we ask that you do not include any information that may lead to your identification. With your consent, we may publish your stories, photographs and artwork in our publications or on our website.

You may also collect your personal information when you give a gift certificate to another individual to be used for subscriptions to our magazines or AA Grapevine Story Archive. We use your personal information to process the purchase of the gift certification and your information as the purchaser will not be revealed to the person receiving the gift certificate.  

Information Collected during our Conferences and Events

We may take photographs at our conferences and events. With your consent, we may publish these photographs on our website or our publications. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

Information from Local Groups, Intergroups/Central Offices & Area Committees

Local groups, intergroups/central offices and area committees are not part of AA Grapevine, and do not share information about you with AA Grapevine, unless you expressly consent to be listed in our internal directory of contacts for the groups, intergroups/central offices, calendar of events or area committees, to be used for purposes of sending notifications and updates about the fellowship.

Information Collected Automatically

In order to improve our website and application, and tailor our web services to your needs, AA Grapevine may also automatically collect information about you when you use our website. The type of information collected includes information about your computer, mobile device, or other device that you use to access the website or other application(s), which may also include, for example, IP address, access dates and times,  geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information. We may also collect information about your use of our website and application, which may include, for example, a reading history of the pages you visit on our website.

We may receive personal information about you from our third party service providers, software or applications, who enable us to deliver our website, apps and online content to you, to process your orders, and to provide other services offered by AA Grapevine.  Our service providers are contractually bound to use your personal information only in accordance with our instructions and this Privacy Policy.  With your consent, the service providers may use your personal information for other purposes as stated in that provider’s privacy policy. 

2. Use of Cookies

Like many websites, AA Grapevine may use “cookies,” which are files stored on your device that help AA Grapevine identify users and optimize their website experience.  Most browsers accept cookies automatically but allow you to disable them.  We recommend that you leave cookies enabled so we can offer you a better experience.  AA Grapevine will not drop cookies or other tracking methods that are persistent and cannot be erased from a your device. Your IP address, searches, and other usage information are collected by Google analytics, but only to generate aggregate data to help us improve our website.

Our third-party providers may occasionally drop cookies on your device.  AA Grapevine does not control these cookies, and these cookies fall outside the scope of this Privacy Policy.

3. Our Use of Information

We may use your information to provide and improve our website, apps, orders and activities, and to personalize your experience with the website, apps, orders and activities.  For example, we may use your personal information to: 

  • Process and fulfill orders, subscriptions and other transactions;
  • Communicate with you about your account or information you have submitted, respond to your inquiries and requests for customer service or other assistance or information;
  • Send newsletters and other communications that you have requested;
  • Notify you about changes to our policies;
  • Optimize or improve our website, apps, content, products, events, activities, communications and operations;
  • Let you know about websites, apps, content, products, events, activities, promotions, features and functionality, that we think might be of interest to you; and
  • Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our terms or policies, applicable law or regulations, or the rights of any persons, organizations or entities.

4. Retention of Information

We delete your personal information as soon as we no longer need it in connection with the purpose for which it was submitted or collected, unless we are required by law to retain it for a longer time and we only retain it accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When you cancel an order or subscription or stop using a product, application, feature, activity or promotion, the service provider who processed your personal information may not automatically delete your personal information they have previously received, if information is still needed for the purpose for which it was collected.  We encourage you to read the privacy notices of these service providers, organizations and companies to make sure that you understand how they may use the personal information you provide to them.  You can engage directly with the service providers if you have any concerns about the way they process your personal information.

5. Disclosure of Information

We will only disclose your Personal Information to other organizations, companies and individuals as described in this Privacy Policy.

Service Providers

AA Grapevine occasionally engages third-party contractors and agents that provide services to AA Grapevine, such as credit card processing, order fulfillment, marketing, database hosting, web analytics, and providing customer service.  These entities may have access to personal information in order to perform their functions.  We do not authorize them to use the information we share with them for any other purpose.

Legally Compelled Disclosures

AA Grapevine may disclose personal information to government authorities and other third parties when compelled to do so by law, including, without limitation, in response to court orders and subpoenas.

Emergency Situations

AA Grapevine may disclose personal information if required to do so or in the good-faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to (i) protect and defend its rights or property, the website or its members, and (ii) act under emergency circumstances to protect the personal safety of AA Grapevine personnel, its members, or others.

Affiliated Entities

We may disclose personal information to our parent, subsidiary and other affiliated organizations, including the General Service Board, and A.A.W.S.

Change of Ownership or Organizational Structure

We may transfer personal information to another entity in connection with any change of ownership, change of organizational structure or similar transaction, such as, for example, a transfer to an entity with which we have merged, that we have acquired or that has acquired AA Grapevine. Under such circumstances, AA Grapevine will require the transferee to agree to follow the practices described in this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time.

Limited Publications

If you submit a personal story, memoirs or correspondence and expressly consent to allow us to publish them, we may include them (in whole or in part), including such personal information as you have authorized us to publish, on our website and in digital and print publications, in accordance with the consent granted.  Copies the published stories will be retained in our archives.

6. Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to keep your personal information secure.

For example, payment card information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway provider’s database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential.  Once a transaction is complete, your payment information will be deleted from our servers.

Though AA Grapevine takes reasonable steps to protect the security and integrity of all personal information provided to AA Grapevine, due to the nature of the Internet, no transmission of data over the Internet is guaranteed to be completely secure.  It may be possible for third parties to intercept or access transmissions or private communications unlawfully, including when you contact AA Grapevine by email or a “contact us” or similar feature on the website.  Accordingly, AA Grapevine cannot guarantee that information, during transmission through the internet or while stored on its system or otherwise in its care, will be absolutely safe from intrusion by others, such as hackers.

7. Children

This website is not directed at children under the age of 13, and AA Grapevine does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age.  If you are under 13 years of age you should not use this website, and under no circumstance should you provide personally identifiable information to AA Grapevine.

8. Referrals

AA Grapevine may refer you to other websites, organizations or entities, in which case this Privacy Policy may not apply to information that you submit or make available to such websites, organizations and companies.  We encourage you to read the privacy notices of those websites, organizations and companies before submitting or making available any information to them.

9. Notice to Persons Outside of the United States

Please note that:

  • The personally identifiable information you provide to AA Grapevine will be transferred to the United States for processing in accordance with this Privacy Policy, for which we will obtain your express consent, to the extent required by law;
  • You have the right to access your personal information upon request, to have it corrected as necessary, to have it deleted when you no longer want to use our website, download or use our app, participate in activities , or communication with us, or to have it transmitted to anyone you choose;
  • You also have the right to share your concerns about how we use and protect your information if you have any.
  • To exercise these rights, please contact our privacy office at [email protected].

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may file a complaint with your national data protection authority.

10. Questions?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please use this website feedback form to contact us.

Read it in Spanish here

PDF VERSION HERE