Legal and Privacy Policies

Thank you for visiting the website of the Gastrointestinal Society and the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research (collectively referred to within our policies as “GI Society”). Please review all the information in this section carefully. By visiting www.badgut.org you agree to accept our policies.

Medical Disclaimer

We advise seeking a medical professional whenever a health problem arises requiring an expert’s care. The information contained on www.badgut.org is in no way intended to replace the knowledge or diagnosis of your doctor. Our intention is to provide you with a wide range of materials, and to focus on overall treatment and management issues or strategies.

Opinions expressed by authors are their own and not necessarily those of the GI Society. Specific products, treatments, therapies, or claims may be mentioned in articles and acknowledgements on www.badgut.org. However, the GI Society does not guarantee or endorse the specific products, treatments, therapies, or claims made by the authors and disclaims all liability relating thereto. Not mentioning a particular product, treatment, therapy, or claim does not mean that the GI Society disapproves of it. Furthermore, the absence of a warning for a given drug or combination of drugs does not imply that the drug or combination of drugs is safe, appropriate, or effective in any given patient.

Although, the GI Society makes every effort to ensure that information on our website, www.badgut.org, is as accurate and reliable as possible, we cannot guarantee that it is completely free of errors or an inclusive source of information. The GI Society does not assume, and disclaims, any liability to any person for any claims, damages, liability, or any loss resulting from any use of or reliance on the content of this website.

Privacy Policy

Personal Information

Personal information is any information that can be used to distinguish, identify, or contact a specific individual. The GI Society keeps personal information gathered in confidence. The GI Society personnel are only authorized to access personal information based on their need to deal with the information for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered. We also take measures to ensure the integrity of this information is maintained and to prevent its being lost or destroyed. Personal, identifiable information of users will not be sold or otherwise transferred to unaffiliated third parties without the user’s prior consent. We only collect personal identifying information when it is knowingly provided by visitors to our site.

Personal information can include, but is not limited to, salutation, first and last name, street address, city, province or state, postal or zip code, country, telephone number, e-mail address, fax, and other contact information. When specific forms or applications are submitted to the GI Society, we may request further distinguishing information including, but not limited to, personal references, employers, areas of interest, diagnosis, and opinions or beliefs. Exceptions: business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, are not considered personal information. Where an individual uses his or her home contact information as business contact information as well, the GI Society considers that the contact information provided is business contact information, and is not therefore subject to protection as personal information.

You do not need to give personal information to receive information from this site. There are instances online, however, when the GI Society requests individually identifiable information from you. Please note that we give our website visitors options wherever necessary and practical to not provide information, such as choosing not to provide certain personal details when completing donations, forms, or registration features. As well, individuals can choose not to receive potential/further communications from the GI Society. (See below for details on preventing/canceling communications from the GI Society.)

The GI Society uses personal information in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, issuing tax receipts where applicable, updating users on the GI Society and its events, guiding development of new features and services relevant to www.badgut.org users, providing advertisers with summary (never individual) information about our website’s overall usage patterns, and processing your credit card information during an online donation/transaction.

The GI Society may contact individuals with further communications on a variety of topics by mail, telephone, or e-mail. If you do not wish to be contacted or would like to be removed from our current database, we will honour this request. Simply contact us by mail at the Gastrointestinal Society, 231-3665 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC, V5R 5W2 Canada, by phone at 604-873-4876 (toll-free 1-866-600-4875), by fax at 604-451-4429, or via the online form.

Information on Payments/Donations/Pledges

When you choose to make an online payment, donation, or pledge of any kind through www.badgut.org, we may request the following information so that we may process your transaction: a salutation, first and last name, street address, city, province or state, postal or zip code, country, telephone number, and e-mail address. Further optional information may also be requested.

We process standard credit card information (name on card, card number, card type, and expiration date) via a secure web transaction. This information is only used to process the individual payment/donation/pledge. In fact, by using our secure online site, your credit card number is never provided to GI Society personnel, but is directly processed by an agent of the credit card company via a secure site.

In the case of memorial or honour contributions, a personalized acknowledgment card is sent to a designated recipient, usually the family member of the deceased or the honouree. Therefore, we will request the name, address, city, province or state, postal or zip code, country and telephone number for your designated acknowledgment card recipient. This information is only used for the purpose of sending the acknowledgment card.

In order to satisfy the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), we maintain records of all contributions to the GI Society. Personal information is private and confidential. Additionally, all information is stored in a secure location accessible only by authorized staff and carefully screened volunteers.

Website Security

The GI Society uses password protocols and encryption software, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to protect personal and other information we receive when a donation is made or a product or service is requested and/or paid for online. You should always check a site’s certificate before entering any credit card information. Our software is routinely updated to maximize protection of such information. However, to take advantage of this, you must use a compatible browser.

Cookie Policy

Cookies are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer to improve your experience. We use cookies to collect data related to forms and surveys and to connect with social media networks. We also use google analytics to track traffic to our website. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page.

Disabling Cookies
You can prevent cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your internet browser help section for how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. It is recommended that you do not disable cookies.

User Submissions

The GI Society frequently gathers and uses personal information submitted via our website (collectively referred to here as “submission/s”) for various programs and initiatives. Information such as articles, remarks, suggestions, questions, correspondence, comments, creative ideas, graphics, surveys, or other information communicated to www.badgut.org, shall be treated as non-confidential.

By submitting information, you

  1. Agree that you will not upload or transmit any submission that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party, and
  2. Acknowledge that by providing a submission you are granting the GI Society the right to publish, distribute, archive, and otherwise use the submission, in whole or in part, in print, electronic, or any other media, and for promotional purposes related to the GI Society’s products and services, and
  3. Represent that you have the right to authorize the GI Society to use the submission.

Anyone from whom we collect such submissions should expect that it will be carefully protected, and that any use of, or other dealing with, this submission is subject to consent.

These user submissions are assessed to improve our level of service to you. While aggregate information about user submissions may be publicized, individual data from these submissions will not be shared with other organizations.

Your submission becomes the property of the GI Society, and the GI Society shall be free to use the submission on an unrestricted basis for any purpose whatsoever.

Affiliate Disclosure

Gl Society is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com and amazon.ca. If a page or post contains an affiliate link, we will include a disclosure statement within the post or page.

Linking Policy

Links to other sites from www.badgut.org

The GI Society website www.badgut.org contains links to other internet sites that are independent of the GI Society. Please take note that the GI Society is not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites that we link to, and cannot guarantee the security of information you provide to the linked sites. Furthermore, the GI Society does not endorse or approve of these external websites and does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, or timeliness of information located at such addresses. Conversely, the absence of a link to any external website does not denote that the GI Society disapproves of the host website, the organization(s) or individual(s) operating the host website, or it’s content. The GI Society does not assume, and disclaims, any liability to any person for any claim, damage, liability, or any loss resulting from any use of or reliance on the content of any third-party website link. The user assumes all risks of using the content linked from this website.

To suggest a link from www.badgut.org to another website, please email us. All submissions will be reviewed by the GI Society staff or external reviewers with expertise on that topic. If you encounter a page that does not link properly, please email us.

Permission to link to www.badgut.org

Permission to link to www.badgut.org may be granted as long as an external website follows and understands the following guidelines.

  1. The GI Society reserves the right to revoke consent to the external website, by amending this linking policy, at any time.
  2. The host website is aware that the GI Society is not responsible for the information or materials contained on the host website. A link to www.badgut.org is not an endorsement of the host website, the organization(s) or individual(s) operating the host website, or it’s content.
  3. www.badgut.org cannot be viewed within frames from the host website; it must be viewed in an independent browser.
  4. A link to www.badgut.org that is text-only must be clearly labelled either “Gastrointestinal Society” or “GI Society”.
  5. Our logo or any of our trademarked phrases may not be used in any part of the link, unless prior written permission is obtained from the GI Society.

If you have any questions please regarding our Linking Policy please contact us.

Terms of Use

Except as provided below, the information on the GI Society website may not be copied, reproduced, transmitted, displayed, distributed, sub-licensed, modified, stored for subsequent use, or otherwise used in whole or in part in any manner, without written authorization from the GI Society.

Users may make temporary copies in a single computer’s RAM and hard drive cache as are necessary to browse the website, and the user may make one permanent printout of each page of the website for personal and non-commercial use. Upon acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, permission is granted for you to temporarily view, copy, print, or download a single copy of the materials on this Site solely for your personal, non-commercial use. You may not alter the information in this site in any way without prior written consent of the GI Society. Provided that you have obtained consent, full acknowledgement for reformatted information, such as is necessary for inclusion within newsletters, newspapers, websites, etc. is as follows: “© Gastrointestinal Society, All rights reserved, www.badgut.org, (Insert: The date on which the information was captured). Reprinted by permission.”

Information on www.badgut.org is subject to change without notice, and the GI Society reserves the right to change this policy at any time. If you violate any of these Terms and Conditions, your permission to use the Content automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any portion of the Content.

Trademarks

BadGut®, the Inside Tract® Newsletter, and other marks are registered marks of the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research and the Gastrointestinal Society. Improper use of these marks by other parties will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Copyright

Unless otherwise indicated, all information contained on www.badgut.org, including, but not limited to, text, graphics, logos, buttons, reading lists, updates, news, glossary, reviews, health tips, opinions, and other material is owned by or licensed to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research and the Gastrointestinal Society which retain all proprietary rights to the information. This information is intended for personal and educational use.