IANDS is committed to protecting your privacy

The International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) is a non-profit service organization. In general, any person can visit us on the internet without telling us who they are or giving us personal information. At times, however, we may need to collect certain information from a user, for instance: to process a membership, subscription, conference registration, donation, or order; to provide customer support; or to manage your communication preferences. We may supplement this information to complete a transaction or to provide a better service. This Privacy Policy describes in more detail how IANDS may collect and use your personal information, and the choices you have concerning our use of such information.

PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY. BY ACCESSING OR USING THE WEBSITE AT https://www.iands.org OR DERIVATIVE SITES AT https://conference.iands.org, https://video.iands.org, OR https://isgo.iands.org (collectively, the “Site”), OR BY SUBMITTING ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS TO OR THROUGH THE SITE, YOU AGREE TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF SUCH INFORMATION OR MATERIALS BY IANDS AND OTHERS AS DESCRIBED BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY, OR TO THE COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION OR MATERIALS FROM YOU BY IANDS, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM IANDS

IANDS may communicate with you via email, mail or phone regarding services you request (e.g., to set up an account, to join or renew as a member or subscriber, to register for an IANDS event, to purchase merchandise, to submit an NDE account to our data base, to submit a donation or other payment to IANDS, etc.) or to respond to your inquiries to IANDS. By voluntarily requesting these services or making these inquiries, you expressly consent to these communications from IANDS.

IANDS may also communicate with you via email using the MailChimp marketing platform to send you information about IANDS promotions and solicitations, and information and news about near-death experiences. By voluntarily signing up, you expressly consent to these communications from IANDS. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

SCOPE

The Site is operated by IANDS. This Privacy Policy applies to the Site only and does not cover the privacy practices of any other company, including third-party software companies which we use to implement the Site, which each have their own privacy policies:

VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information is data that can be used to identify or contact a single person.

The Site allows you to fill out forms for the purpose of learning more about IANDS and our services, applying for accounts, using our services, or making general inquiries. You can always elect not to fill out these forms. By filling out these forms, however, you agree to send to us all of the information you input into those forms, including personal information in some cases. These forms may prompt you to fill in, among other data, your:

  • First and Last Name;
  • Email address;
  • Telephone number;
  • Mailing address; and
  • Payment information.

Except for the instances described below, we do not share or use your information unless you explicitly give us permission to do so.

IANDS may associate the data you voluntarily disclose to us with the data we collect when you visit the Site or use our services, as well as with data obtained from outside sources. By voluntarily disclosing such information to us, you expressly permit this use of your personal information by IANDS. You also should be aware that if you include information such as your name in a comment on the Site, such information becomes public information, meaning that you lose any privacy rights you might have with regard to that information. Such disclosures also may increase your chances of receiving unwanted communications from third parties.

For users outside the United States, please note that any information you enter into the Site will be transferred out of your country and into the United States. You consent to such transfer through your use of the Site. You also warrant that you have the right to transfer such information outside your country and into the United States.

The Site also links to IANDS’s pages on various social networking sites, such Facebook and Twitter. If you become a fan, follow us, or otherwise interact with IANDS on these social networking sites, then we may be able to personally identify you because we may be able to see whatever information you make publicly available about yourself on that social networking site. By doing so, you expressly permit this use of your personal information by IANDS.

USE AND SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

IANDS may use the personal information you submit, consistent with this Privacy Policy. Our uses may include in order:

  • To fulfill your requests to access, purchase and use our services or store products, and to provide you with the services you request from us, including by others involved in fulfillment.
  • To contact you in connection with certain transactions or for customer satisfaction surveys.
  • To provide you with notices such as communications about purchases and changes to our terms, conditions and policies.
  • To communicate with you—via telephone, email, mail or other means—as may be required in the context of our business relationship related to your access, purchase or use of our services.
  • For marketing purposes, for example, to announce upcoming events and services.
  • For internal purposes such as auditing, analysis (e.g., clickstream data) to improve our Site or services or our advertising.

IANDS does not sell or rent any of the personal data we collect or maintain. IANDS does not maintain or use any payment information beyond the immediate need to process a transaction.

Additionally, we may store certain data, including personal information, on servers located at third-party data centers.

IANDS takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of the data we collect and maintain. This includes requiring third parties with whom your information may be shared to comply with the IANDS Privacy Policy.

Other than as described above, IANDS discloses your personal information only when permitted to do so by law, or when IANDS believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property, rights or safety of IANDS, third parties or the public at large. This may include providing or using personal information to comply with any valid legal process such as a search warrant, subpoena, statute, or court order or to assist in any legal investigation or other proceeding when we deem necessary or appropriate.

INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT WHEN YOU VISIT THE SITE

We also may use, collect, track, and store certain data in a form that does not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual. We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose. This data may be collected when you visit the Site or use our services, including:

  • Your IP address;
  • The website that referred you to the Site;
  • The search terms you used to find the Site;
  • Your device information, such as operating system, browser type, and device type, used to access the Site;
  • Session information, including how you use the Site; and
  • Cookies and other technologies, such as pixel tags.

We might use this non-personal information, for example, to better understand customer behavior, to improve our products, services and advertising, or to provide our customers with more useful information about our Site or services.

We might aggregate the information we collect in order to make use of it; aggregated data is considered non-personal information for purposes of this Privacy Policy. If we combine non-personal information with personal information, the combined information will be treated as personal information for as long as it remains combined.

HOW WE MAY CONTACT YOU AFTER YOU VISIT THE SITE OR USE OUR PRODUCTS

We may contact you via email or telephone, though, in efforts to answer your questions about the services we provide, or to respond to your general inquiries.

We may also use data we collect, including personal information, to track visits to the Site and improve the user experience of the Site. If you have enabled the Do Not Track feature in your browser, our technology observes that signal and does not utilize information collected through the Site to further track you. However, we may track clicks from data obtained through other means, including newsletters, promotional offers, and the like. IANDS does not authorize third parties to collect your information or to conduct their own online tracking of you while you are on the Site.

SPECIFIC USES OF THE SITE

When you consider becoming a Member of IANDS:

  • If you ask for further information to consider joining IANDS, we will send you that information and we will add you to our email list for notices about our upcoming events and IANDS news, unless you decline to be added.

When you establish an Account or become or renew as a Member of IANDS:

  • If you join IANDS, we will send you the services promised as a result of your membership and will notify you when your membership is about to expire. We occasionally will remind you that memberships and donations are what allow IANDS to continue to exist.

  • When you join or renew your membership in IANDS, you specify whether we may share your information with organizations that address related subjects so that they may inform you about their conferences. They agree to use the information about you only once for that specific purpose. The frequency of this kind of sharing is, at most, twice per year.

When you register for an IANDS conference, retreat, workshop or course:

  • When you register for our programs, you specify whether we may share your information with organizations that address related subjects so that they may inform you about their activities. They agree to use the information about you only once for that specific purpose. The frequency of this kind of sharing is, at most, twice per year.

When you use the IANDS Shopping Cart or other website services:

  • If you use our shopping cart or other site services, the software may store information on your computer ("cookies") depending on how you use the service. This information is used only to make it more convenient for you to use these services. We do not collect or examine it.

  • If you order something from us, such as a publication, DVD or audio download, we share information about you only as much as needed to fulfill the order. For example, if you use a credit card to place the order, we must tell the credit card company enough information to complete the transaction, and we must give the delivery company a package labeled with your shipping address. We retain your information for the purpose of internal record keeping only.

When you submit your near-death experience to our research archives:

  • If you have had a near-death experience and would like to fill out our information form to place in our archives, you will specify on the form how your information may be used. We will use it only for the purposes and in the ways you have specified. Please note that if you give permission to publish your NDE account on the Internet, the text can easily be copied by anyone and published elsewhere. Such republication may be allowed under the Fair Use Doctrine.

SECURITY

IANDS takes very seriously the security of the information we collect and maintain. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosures, we use physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect all of the information we collect and maintain, including any personal information you voluntarily provide. Please be aware that, although we endeavor to provide appropriate security for the information we collect and maintain, no security system can prevent all potential security breaches.

CHILDREN

We do not intend to knowingly solicit data from or market to children under the age of 13. The use of this Site is conditioned, in part, on a certification that the user is at least 13 years of age. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with information without their consent, he or she should contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will delete such data from our files upon request.

CHOICE AND OPT-OUT

Under IANDS's policy, we only send permission-based email for any marketing purposes. In addition, users always have the opportunity to opt-out or change preferences via a link in the footer of all non-transactional email messages. These options are made available when you sign-up for our email lists and in email messages delivered from us. Alternatively, you may email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Some communications (e.g. important account notifications and billing information) are considered transactional and are necessary for all IANDS customers. Customers may not opt out of these communications.

REVIEWING AND REQUESTING CHANGES TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

You may review and request changes to the personal information we maintain about you by contacting us via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please note that some information may remain in our records after your request is submitted.

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES

This Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by IANDS. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies or other parties that IANDS does not own or control. The Site may contain links to third party websites. Any information you provide to, or that is collected by, third-party sites may be subject to the privacy policies of those sites, if any. We encourage you to read such privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit. It is the sole responsibility of such third parties to adhere to any applicable restrictions on the disclosure of your personal information, and by using the Site you agree that IANDS shall not be liable for the wrongful use or disclosure of your personal information by any third party.

UPDATES TO PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and in our sole discretion. When we do so, you will see the changes on this page, and we will update the effective date of the Privacy Policy on this page. In all cases, IANDS's use of the information we collect is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is collected.

CONTACT US

If have any questions regarding our privacy practices, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..