Privacy Considerations

Note:There is no privacy on the internet. You should assume that anything that you see or do on the internet can be tracked and your data harvested. Major corporations and government agencies spend vast sums trying to keep their data private and yet are regularly hacked and your personal data is sold.

That being said, on the OWA site we do what we can to keep normal internet users from accessing your private data.

The OWA does not share or sell its membership information to outside interests or organizations.

The information that you provide in your Profile, on your Portfolio and Journal pages and in your Forum postings will appear in various places on the site. Generally, all of the information you post (except your password) will be available to any logged-in, active OWA member. An active member is a member that has paid membership dues in the last 2 years.

Some or much of this information will not be available to the public however. The public includes non-members, inactive members (who haven't renewed their membership in the last 2 years), active members not logged in. How much of your information may be seen by the public is determined by your selection of the "Public Profile & Portfolio" checkbox on your profile entry form.

Member Directory:

If you have a "Public Profile" some of your contact information is available to the public. It is limited to your name, profession, company name, city, state, web site links and an email link that allows the public to send you email without revealing your email address. Street addresses, zip codes, phone numbers and email addresses are never visible to the public. If you have un-checked the "Public Profile" checkbox, no directory information will be seen by the public.

Your Profile and Portfolio:

If you have a "Public Profile" the public can view your Portfolio and Profile pages. Only the limited contact information available in the directory will appear on your profile and portfolio pages. If you have un-checked the "Public Profile" box in your profile, your Profile page and Portfolio pages can only be seen by active, logged-in OWA members.

Your Journal:

Your journal is not viewable by the public. In addition, you may make posts to your journal that are only visible to the OWA members you have chosen as Associates.

Your Associates:

Your Associates page (which is a mini directory of those people you have chosen as your OWA associates) is only viewable by you. The links to your Asscociates (shown on your Profile page) are not viewable by the public but can be seen by any logged-in member.

Your Forum Postings:

By default, your forum postings are viewable by the public. However, you may post a members-only forum topic by checking the "member viewing only" box when making your post. All comments added to that topic will also be viewable only by logged-in, active members. Links to your forum postings are on your Profile page. Only links to public forum topics are viewable to the public.

Your Payment Records:

Your payment records are only viewable by you.

If you have questions about privacy on the site, or concerns about the privacy setup to date, please let me know and I will do my best to clarify and address things, both to you and on this page.

-- OWA Webmaster