Rules, Etiquette and Privacy Guidelines

Revised August 15, 2022

Materials Technology Institute Inc. (“MTI”) thanks you for being part of one or more of MTI's online Teams, Groups and Committees (referred to as "Communities" herein). To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic rules, terms and conditions for participation.

By joining and using any of the Communities, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules, terms and conditions. You also agree to reserve discussions and shared files and content to that best suited to the medium. The Communities provide a great medium with which to solicit the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. Questions should be directed to our member services department via the Contact Us link on this site.

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important rules, terms and conditions. If you have questions, contact the member services department. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules, terms and conditions.

The Rules, Terms and Conditions

1.     Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

2.     Respect the purpose of the Communities. Use the Communities to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way.

3.     Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.

4.     All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or that you would not want anyone to know came from you.

5.     Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator.

6.     When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s also advisable to contact the owner of any material if you would like to reuse it.

7.     Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

Discussion Group Etiquette

·         State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject. 

·         Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message. 

·         Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply change your settings.

The Legal Stuff

This site is provided as a service for the members of Materials Technology Institute Inc. (“MTI”).  MTI is not responsible for the opinions and information posted by others on this site (including in any of the Communities). We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by MTI or any third party, including any and all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall MTI be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Any user of the website or the community shall not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants MTI and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Any user of the website or the community shall not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  MTI does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of MTI we will take all appropriate action.

MTI reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

Materials Technology Institute Inc. (“MTI”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your Personal Information.  This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes the types of Personal Information we may collect from you in the normal course of business, including when you use our website (“Website”) or the Communities, the ways in which we collect information from and about you, and how we may use such information.    This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time.  When we do, we will post the revised policy on this page on the Website with a new “Last Updated” date. 

By using our services, by accessing or using our Website, or by providing any Personal Information to us via any means (whether through the Website, e-mail and/or any other mode), you are accepting this Privacy Policy and our Rules, Terms and Conditions set forth above, and you consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. 

Collection and Use of Information

In the normal course of business, you may provide and we may collect information about you, such as your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, business contact information, title, country of residence, financial information, and other personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”), as well as information about your business and website browsing information, from the following sources:

·         Information we receive from you in communications, at meetings or conferences, or in writing;

·         Information about your transactions with us, membership registration, member access to the Website and Communities, and related profiles and user accounts;

·         Information we may receive from third parties; and

·         Cookies information from your visits to our Website. Further information regarding cookies is provided below, and in our Cookies Policy.

We may use such information for the following purposes:  transactions between our firm and you (i.e., billing and payment for membership, etc.), administration of the Website and Communities, to process your requests and answer your inquiries (or otherwise communicate with you), marketing and business development, sending of newsletters and/or legal advisories and updates, consolidation of information relating to members, matters incidental to the purposes of the uses set out above, and other legitimate and lawful purposes, where permitted by applicable local law. 

We may also use cookies in connection with our Website for limited purposes.  A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site (personalization, etc.). Cookies themselves do not contain any Personal Information, and we do not use cookies to collect Personal Information. Cookie information helps us make our Website work in a more user-friendly way and improves the speed and security of the site.  Cookies may also allow us to gather data about our Website, such as the number of visits, most visited pages, etc.  Cookies may also be used by 3rd party content providers such as news-feeds.  You may disable or refuse to allow cookies, but that might limit the accessibility and functionality of the Website.  For more information, please refer to our Cookies Policy.   

The Website is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children.  Children should not send any Personal Information to us via the Website.

Protection of Personal Information

We make reasonable efforts to protect Personal Information.  Personal Information will not be released, disclosed, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

We maintain reasonable physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to guard your Personal Information.  We restrict access to Personal Information to our personnel who need to have the information to provide services to you or administer the Website or Communities.  This may include providing access to third party service providers, as noted below. 

We do not undertake to store or retain your Personal Information for any longer than is reasonably necessary or required by applicable laws.  Files or records with Personal Information may be destroyed at any time after the expiry of the applicable retention period, except those files or records you ask to be delivered to you.

While we make reasonable efforts to protect Personal Information, information communicated to us via the non-secure portion of our Website (i.e., via “Contact Us”) may not be secure.  Please do not send via the Website any electronic communications or general inquiries that contain confidential Personal Information. While we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us via the internet and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information.

With Whom Do We Share Personal Information We Collect

·         Our Service Providers.  We may share Personal Information with companies (including our affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, for example, companies that help process credit card payments in connection with transactions with us, help organize conferences for us, and assist us with administration of our Website. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the Personal Information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.

·         Business Transfers.  Personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your Personal Information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.

·         Government and Legal Disclosures. We may disclose Personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate or required to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Rules, Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of the Website and Communities; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.

External Sites & Links to Third Party Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information. 

Our Website may contain links to other websites, or other sites or services may be accessible through our site.  Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites and by linking to such websites we are not endorsing their content or practices.  Such websites may have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. We encourage you to be aware when you access any such third-party links and to read the privacy policies of each website that you access.  Please contact those third-party website operators or vendors directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies. 

Right to Access and Other Rights

Subject to applicable law (for example, if you are located in the European Union with rights under the General Data Protection Regulation), you may have one or more of the following rights with respect to Personal Information:  the right to request access to such information; the right to request correction of such information; the right to request deletion or erasure of such information; the right to request restrictions on our processing or use of such information; the right to object to our use under certain circumstances; the right to withdraw consent under circumstances when consent is required for any use of such information; and the right to obtain such information in portable form.  In certain circumstances in any European Union member state, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable data protection authority.

While you cannot opt-out of receiving notifications and other communications regarding your account or your transactions, you can opt-out of receiving newsletters, promotional e-mails or other marketing communications from MTI by contacting us at mtiadmin@mti-global.org. Please note that there might be a brief delay between when you submit your request to "opt-out" and when it is processed and reflected in our systems; accordingly, you may continue to receive communications from us for a limited time after you unsubscribe.

If you would like to request access, modification, correction, or deletion of Personal Information that you have provided to us or that you believe we may have collected about you, please contact us at mtiadmin@mti-global.org.

Acknowledgement and Consent. 

By accessing and using our Website and by providing any Personal Information (including any sensitive Personal Information) to us via any means (whether through the Website and/or email addresses and/or any other contact mechanisms), you acknowledge that you have read and accept this Privacy Policy and you consent to our use of your Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.  Please do not send us any Personal Information if you do not want that information to be used by us in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy.  Please do not access or use our Website for any purpose if you do not agree to this Privacy Policy.  We reserve the right to terminate or limit your access to our Website.

Contact Us

If you have any concerns relating to your data privacy or the use or possession of your Personal Information, or if you have any questions or requests about our privacy practices, please contact mtiadmin@mti-global.org.

Materials Technology Institute Inc. (“MTI”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. Our firm uses cookies on our website (the “Website”) for certain limited purposes. This policy explains how cookies are used on the Website. The policy may be amended from time to time. When we do, we will post the revised policy on this page on the Website with a new “Last Updated” date.

What are Cookies And How Cookies Are Used

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you browse Websites that can recognize you when you revisit and remember certain information about you. This can include pages you have visited, choices you have made from menus, any specific information you have entered into forms, and the time and date of your visit. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other Website users, which helps us to enhance the user’s experience and improve our Website functionality.

We use cookies in connection with our Website for limited purposes.  Cookies may also allow us to gather data about our Website, such as the number of visits, most visited pages, etc. Cookies also help with the following:

·         Make our Website work in a more user-friendly way;

·         Improve the speed and security of the site; and

·         Allow you to share pages with social networks like Facebook.

We do not use cookies to:

·         Collect any personally identifiable information (without your express permission);

·         Collect any sensitive information (without your express permission);

·         Pass data to advertising networks;

·         Pass personally identifiable data to third parties; or

·         Pay sales commissions.

Our Website uses two types of cookies to improve the functionality of our site and to deliver many of the features that make your browser experience more user-friendly. These are described in more detail below.

·         Our own cookies.  We use cookies in ways that help our Website function more effectively. These cookies identify whether you have visited us before or are a new visitor; and your search settings, which help us to understand which areas of the website are of greatest interest to you. These cookies are required for the operation of our Website. If you do not want these cookies to be set, you should not access or use our website for any purpose.

·         Social Website Cookies. Our website contains links to Facebook, Twitter and other similar social media sites that enable you to “Like” or share the content of our website with other people via social media. When you use these “share” buttons, a third-party cookie is installed. The privacy implications on this will vary from social network to social network and will be dependent on the privacy settings you have chosen on these networks.

Some web browsers may transmit “do-not-track” (DNT) signals to websites with which the user communicates. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they are even aware of them. We currently do not change our tracking practices in response to DNT settings in your web browser.  

Granting Us Permission To Use Cookies

By clicking the “I agree” button or by continuing to use our Website after you have received this cookies notification, you give us your permission to use cookies. However, removing or changing settings may limit the accessibility and functionality of our website, which means that it may not work as you would expect.

More Information About Cookies

You can usually switch cookies off or disable or refuse to allow cookies by adjusting your browser settings. Doing so, however, might limit the accessibility and functionality of the Website. For more detailed information about cookies, including how to disable cookies, see www.allaboutcookies.org.

It may be that your concerns around cookies relate to so called "spyware." Rather than switching off cookies in your browser you may find that anti-spyware software achieves the same objective by automatically deleting cookies considered to be invasive. 

If you have any questions in relation to this policy, please contact the Executive Director at mtiadmin@mti-global.org.