Electronic Privacy & Security Policy

The REALTORS® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh (RAMP) respects your right to online confidentiality and makes every attempt to safeguard your private information. The following statement discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for www.realtorspgh.com and the association’s internal databases. For definitions of "members" as used below, please see Article IV of RAMP's bylaws.

I. Definitions

II. E-mail address and database security
    A. Data collection and non-disclosure
    B. RAMP use of member e-mail addresses
    C. Member-to-member e-mail contacts
    D. Affiliate member access to REALTOR® data

III. Security of financial information

IV. Web site privacy information

I. Definitions

Member(s) and Affiliate Member(s)
For the purposes of this policy, “member(s)” and “affiliate member(s)” as used below are defined by Article IV of RAMP's bylaws.

User(s) and visitor(s)
User(s) and visitor(s) as used below shall refer to any person or entity that accesses www.realtorspgh.com or any RAMP electronic publication. User(s) and vistor(s) may or may not be member(s) as defined above.

II. E-mail address and database security

A. Data collection and non-disclosure

RAMP collects e-mail addresses: 1) At the time a member joins RAMP, 2) In conjunction with dues renewal, 3) When the member voluntarily provides updated contact information, and 4) When a vistor registers to use RAMP online services. RAMP does not collect, store or otherwise have access to the e-mail addresses of unregistered users who access our Web site.

All member e-mail addresses collected by RAMP are stored in secure databases that are shared by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® (PAR). RAMP will not sell, share, grant access to, or otherwise release its e-mail database to any third-party other than NAR and PAR. Please consult those associations for their electronic privacy policies.

B. RAMP use of member e-mail addresses

Members may opt out of any or all e-mail communications. By default, member e-mail addresses provided to RAMP are used in the following ways:

1)      Personal communications. From time to time, RAMP staff and volunteer leaders may contact members individually with personal messages.

2)      E-mail newsletter. In an effort to limit the amount of e-mails we send, RAMP has instituted a weekly e-mail newsletter that contains a wrap-up of relevant news items and a look at the week ahead. To ensure timely removal from this list, you must unsubscribe using the link found at the bottom of each e-mail. Members are discouraged from unsubscribing, however, as e-mails are sometimes the exclusive vehicle for relaying news and information about events, benefits, and other services to which you are entitled as a REALTOR® member.

3)      E-bulletins. On an extremely limited and thoroughly selective basis, RAMP may send additional e-mails throughout the week if the nature of communication is so time sensitive that it cannot be forestalled until the subsequent Friday.

4)   Listservs and e-mail groups. From time to time, RAMP may bundle e-mail addresses into internally managed electronic groups to communicate targeted messages to members with a potential interest in a particular information niche. Uses may include but are not limited to messages that target members: a) In specific geographic regions, b) In specific real estate practice areas, c) Who are members of a RAMP committee, or d) Who have attended previous RAMP classes, meetings, or events.

C. Member-to-member e-mail contacts

Previously, RAMP permitted its members to access the e-mail information of fellow individual members via a secure, password-protected section of its Web site. Due to misuse, that function has been disabled. Use, resale, or other transmission of this data for commercial or solicitation purposes is strictly prohibited and may result in a loss of electronic privileges.

1) Affiliate members do not have permission to contact REALTORS® via blanket e-mail except by purchasing advertising space in RAMP’s e-newsletter as detailed below. As stated above, this process does not entail the release of user e-mails to a third party, and affiliates will not gain direct access to e-mail addresses.

 

2) E-newsletter advertising.
RAMP affiliate members have the ability to purchase advertisements on RAMP’s Web site and in its weekly e-mail newsletter. Advertisements are published solely as components of non-advertising-based communications that include relevant and important news items of interest to our members. RAMP does not permit e-mail communications that are primarily or exclusively commercial in nature.

 

3) Affiliate access to postal mail databases
Affiliate members are enabled to rent a postal-address-only database of RAMP REALTOR® members. Typically, this database is not directly released to affiliates electronically or in any other form. Affiliate members interested in additional information may consult RAMP’s direct mail database policy. Access is generally granted in one of two ways:

o RAMP furnishes an electronic database (of names and postal addresses only) directly to a mail preparation facility. In order to gain RAMP approval, such facilities are required to destroy said electronic database after applying the addresses it contains to a single mailing.

o The affiliate member may provide a pre-assembled mailing to RAMP staff, who will then apply postal-address labels to that mailing. This service incurs an additional charge for the affiliate member.