Data Protection & Privacy Standards
Privacy Policy
At ESDANA (Ex-Shaheen of North America), we are committed to safeguarding the personal information of our alumni, students, faculty, and supporters. This policy details what data we collect, how it is used, and how you retain complete control over your directory presence.
1. Overview
2. Data We Collect
3. How We Use Data
4. Your Privacy Controls
5. Data Sharing
6. Security & Retention
7. Your Rights
8. Contact Us
1. Overview & Privacy Pledge
This Privacy Policy applies to the Ex-Shaheen Association of North America ("ESDANA", "we", "us", or "our") and describes how we handle information across esdana.us, our member portal, mobile applications, and alumni directory services.
Our Core Alumni Pledge: We will never sell, rent, trade, or monetize your personal data to advertisers or third-party marketing brokers. Your data is used exclusively to facilitate alumni connection, organize community activities, and support institutional growth.
2. Information We Collect
We collect information that you directly provide when registering an account, updating your profile, participating in feeds, or making contributions:
A. Profile & Alumni Information
- Identity: Full name, username, profile photograph/avatar, and biographical summary.
- Shaheen Credentials: Batch graduation year, House affiliation (Sher-e-Bangla, Titumir, Nazrul, Isha Khan), student/alumni registration details.
- Contact Details: Email address, phone number, physical address, city, state/province, and country of residence.
- Professional & Academic Background: Current organization/company, job title/designation, educational history, skills, and social media handles (LinkedIn, Facebook, GitHub).
B. Community Activity & Contributions
- Posts, updates, comments, and media uploaded to the community feed.
- Job openings posted and classified advertisements submitted.
- Event registrations, RSVPs, and attendance records.
- Donation amounts, supported causes, and pledge records (payment card details are processed directly by secure third-party processors and are never stored on ESDANA servers).
C. Technical & Device Information
- IP address, browser type, operating system, and last active timestamps to prevent unauthorized access and secure member accounts.
3. How We Use Your Information
We utilize the collected information strictly for legitimate alumni community purposes, including:
- Directory & Networking: Enabling fellow Ex-Shaheen alumni across North America to locate batchmates, connect professionally, and mentor younger graduates.
- Account Authentication: Verifying identity, maintaining security, and approving pending alumni registrations.
- Events & Reunions: Managing RSVPs, badges, attendee lists, ticketing, and event logistical communications.
- Welfare & Charitable Projects: Processing alumni donations, issuing donor acknowledgments, and displaying leaderboard recognitions (unless marked anonymous).
- Service Updates: Sending necessary administrative notices, security alerts, and community newsletters.
4. Your Privacy Controls & Directory Visibility
ESDANA empowers every alumnus with granular privacy preferences accessible under Account Settings → Privacy:
- Contact Visibility: You can choose whether your phone number and email address are visible publicly, visible only to verified alumni, or restricted to direct connections.
- Directory Listing: You can choose whether your profile appears in the global member directory or remains hidden from search.
- Feed & Activity Privacy: Control who can view your posts and timeline updates.
- Anonymous Donations: When contributing to a fundraising cause, you can check the "Hide My Name" option to keep your contribution anonymous on the public donor log.
Tip: Visit your User Settings at any time to toggle your privacy and visibility preferences.
5. Information Sharing & Disclosure
We do not share your personal information except under the following strictly limited circumstances:
- Fellow Verified Members: Information you choose to make public on your profile or feed is viewable by other logged-in ESDANA members in accordance with your privacy settings.
- Trusted Service Providers: We may share necessary data with vetted infrastructure partners (e.g., cloud hosting, transactional email delivery, SMS gateways) strictly bound by data confidentiality agreements.
- Legal Compliance: We may disclose information if required by subpoena, court order, or applicable law in the United States or Canada, or to protect the safety of our members.
6. Data Security & Retention
We implement enterprise-grade physical, technical, and managerial safeguards to protect your personal data:
- Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is secured using modern TLS/SSL encryption (HTTPS). Passwords are cryptographically hashed using standard Bcrypt algorithms.
- Access Control: Administrative access to member databases is restricted strictly to authorized ESDANA maintainers with multi-factor authentication.
- Data Retention: We retain your profile information for as long as your account remains active or as needed to maintain historical alumni records. You may request account deactivation or deletion at any time.
7. Your Privacy Rights
You possess full autonomy over your data on ESDANA:
- Access & Export: You may request a copy of the personal information associated with your account.
- Rectification: You can update or correct your profile, employment, batch, or house details anytime directly in settings.
- Deletion & Erasure: You have the right to request complete deletion of your account, posts, and profile from active directory servers.