Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: I was misunderstood again... sorry for stimulating the energy

[Craig Ragland (craigragland]

The Coho/US privacy statement:

http://www.cohousing.org/privacy
talks about privacy and how we use the information we collect. I reworked
this statement extensively before the latest beta version launch (1/31/08)
to bring it into better compliance with the law. If somebody wants to help
make it even better, they are welcome to lend a hand. We endeavor to keep
our practices in synch with our policy. Our policy was recently reviewed and
approved when a new company began processing our customers' credit card
payments.

Some snips from the Privacy Statement:

ON PRIVACY

Coho/US collects personally identifiable information through our website at
several points. When you join our mailing list or subscribe to our online
magazine, we collect your name, zip code and email address.

We also collect personal data if you make a contribution, join our Community
Directory or register for a tour, workshop, conference, or other event. We
collect this information for our database so that we can better serve our
constituents and track information. Our database is not outsourced to a
third party. We verify the accuracy of transactions through AVS address
verification services.

ON USAGE

The information collected by Coho/US will be used for fundraising,
recruiting supporters, Community Directory listings, tracking tour or event
registrations, and for third party mailings which are managed by Coho/US.
Users who provide information will receive Cohousing magazine broadcasts and
other Coho/US email announcements, including sponsored mails originating
from Coho/US partners. Out of respect for the privacy of our users we
present the option to not receive these types of communications by
opting-out of specific types of mailings or all emails.

ON COHO-L

In particular, our website also offers the Cohousing List-serve. Please be
advised that information posted on the Cohousing List-serve immediately
becomes public knowledge and is sometimes automatically collected by other
parties for their own purposes.

ON THE FUTURE

Coho/US is transitioning from a past that was pretty casual to a future that
is much more driven toward growing the movement through the active, precise
use of technology - we are also opening up the website to active
participation by many, instead of just a few. Our online team is made up
entirely of people with professional expertise in online communications and
all of us are motivated to do great work that better serves the movement.

Next week, I'm presenting two plans to the Coho/US Board of Directors at our
Face-to-Face meetings at Harmony Village, in Golden Colorado - (1) Premium
Access Plan - that is, what does Coho/US provide to our website users when
they log in, telling us who they are, and (2) Advertising Plan - that is,
what's next in our advertising offerings. I'm looking forward to the board's
input on the work that the staff has been cooking up. For both of these new
offerings, getting privacy right is critical if we are to properly serve the
interests of the people who are trusting us with their personally
identifiable information.
On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
> On Apr 6, 2008, at 7:32 PM, Craig Ragland wrote:
>
>  I WAS writing about the growing
> > number of direct "cohousing for sale" solicitations that are being sent
> > directly by various parties who are building their own, private email
> > distribution lists without our consent.
> >
>
> It wasn't clear and thank you for clarifying.
>
> Are they using a list that you provide to them? Or taking email addresses
> from this list? Where do they get the lists?
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>


-- 
Craig Ragland

Coho/US executive director
http://www.cohousing.org
craig [at] cohousing.org

New Earth Song project manager
http://www.NewEarthSong.com
craig [at] newearthsong.com

Songaia Cohousing member
http://www.Songaia.com
craig [at] songaia.com

Please try email first, include your phone number (w/time zone) - or give me
a call: 425-487-3550 (Pacific)... communicate!