Spam Policy

The Proctor Gallagher Institute (the “Company”) does not condone nor support spam (i.e., unsolicited commercial e-mail) because it wastes precious time and resources. Spam also diminishes the overall value and effectiveness of e-mail communications. As a result, neither the Company nor any website, affiliate, member or customer is permitted to send unsolicited e-mail communications to people who have not requested them to do so or to whom a preexisting relationship does not exist by using, harvesting or otherwise obtaining information associated with the www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com website (the “Website”) in order to transmit any e-mail communication. It shall be a violation of this Spam Policy and the Terms of Use (“TOU”) for any customer, member, website or affiliate to do so. Violation of this Spam Policy and/or the TOU can, at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, result in account termination and/or the restriction of access rights to the Website.

Why you may have received unsolicited e-mails or e-mails from unfamiliar senders?
On occasion, you may receive what appears to be an unsolicited e-mail or an e-mail from a sender you do not know. Depending on the circumstances, these e-mails may or may not violate this Spam Policy or the TOU. For instance, the following are examples of permissible circumstances under which a potentially unsolicited e-mail or an e-mail from an unknown may have been received by you:

  1. You may have signed up for an associated website’s and/or affiliate’s newsletters, promotions or services and have forgotten having done so;
  2. You have an existing relationship (i.e., purchased something or use certain services) with an associated website and/or affiliate; and/or
  3. Someone may have signed you up to receive an associated website’s and/or affiliate’s newsletters, promotions, services or e-mail communications without permission to do so.

Under the foregoing scenarios, the e-mail communication received would not violate the Company’s Spam Policy or TOU because it would have been authorized, or at least appear to have been authorized, by you or there is an existing relationship between you and the sender. Despite these circumstances, however, you may wish to stop receiving these e-mail communications.

What you can do to stop receiving unwanted e-mail communications.
The first thing you can do is see if the unwanted e-mail communication contains a hyperlink at the bottom of the message for opting out of or removing your e-mail address from future e-mail transmissions. If so, click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the message that is designated for opting out or removing you from further e-mail transmissions from the sender in order to stop receiving them in the future. If you click on the “remove” link at the end of a message sent by the Company or an associated website, you will be automatically removed from the customer subscriber list used to generate the e-mail communication.

Circumstances may arise where you have received spam in violation of this Spam Policy and the TOU. To report abusive e-mail activity, please send an e-mail to [email protected] that provides a description of the e-mail content, subject matter and sender’s identity so the Company can investigate the matter and, if warranted, appropriate action can be taken.

How the Company protects against spam originating from its servers.
The Company takes several steps to protect its online community from spam originating from its servers. To begin with, the Company only sends e-mail communications those who have provided their e-mail address and have indicated an interest in receiving future offers, newsletters, promotions and other information. Next, the Company carefully guards the information provided by its members and customers. For instance, e-mail addresses provided to the Company are securely maintained and access to this information is restricted. Furthermore, the Company endeavors to personalize its e-mail communications with information that demonstrates an existing relationship with those who receive e-mail messages from it.

The Company also does not allow any associated website or affiliate to send offers, newsletters, promotions and other information to those who have not requested them. Any such e-mail communications violate this Spam Policy and the TOU.

Moreover, the Company uses specific tools to make sure no one is signed up to a newsletter against their wishes. The Company additionally provides opt out or removal hyperlinks at the bottom of its outgoing e-mail communications.

The Company takes every reported spam incident seriously. In doing so, the Company carefully considers each reported spam incident in view of the customer or member’s cumulative behavior while using the Website and its related services or features.

What happens when an associated website or an affiliate is accused of spamming?
The Company takes the following steps if it receives a spam complaint involving an associated website or an affiliate:

  1. The Company immediately checks to see if the associated website or affiliate is receiving an inordinate number of spam complaints, which may indicate a breakdown in protocol or some other procedure that requires corrective action;
  2. If, after reviewing the spam complaints, the Company finds a mailing list to be compromised or questionable, it will restrict access by the website or affiliate in question until it is provided with an affidavit sufficiently attesting that the website or affiliate is in compliance with the Company’s Spam Policy and that it is not sending spam. An authorized representatives of the website or affiliate must sign the affidavit and its contents must be approved by the Company before any services or access is reinstated; and
  3. The Company will not do business with any website or affiliate that refuses to agree to the Spam Policy, the TOU or any other agreement required by it. Moreover, the Company reserves the right, which may be exercised in its sole discretion, to terminate any business relationship with a website or affiliate that violates the Spam Policy or the TOU whether or not action is allegedly taken to remedy the circumstances giving rise to the violation.

Why a website or an affiliate named in a spam complaint is not simply cut-off.
Some may believe that the Company should immediately cut-off a website or an affiliate that is named in a spam complaint. The Company has decided against doing so. This is because the Company believes that such action would compromise legitimate e-mail Website-related communications and that it would be unfair to its members/customers. A number of possible scenarios exist whereby a website or an affiliate might be accused of sending spam e-mail communications despite having complied with the Spam Policy and TOU. In some cases, a spam complaint might be made by a disgruntled employee, dissatisfied customer or competitor seeking to disrupt Website access for an ulterior, improper purpose. Moreover, in many other cases, the Company may receive a spam complaint from someone who has simply forgotten he or she signed up to receive an e-mail communication from a website or an affiliate.

In short, the Company must investigate, evaluate and judge each spam complaint on its merits. The Company would not be effectively serving its members/customers by immediately refusing to do business with anyone before it has an opportunity to investigate and consider the circumstances of a spam complaint.

Changes to Spam Policy.
The Company, in its sole and absolute discretion, may change, alter, amend or modify this Spam Policy without notice to members, customers, affiliates and others by posting a copy of the newly operative version on the Website. All members, customers, affiliates and others that are subject to the Company’s Spam Policy shall be obligated to familiarize themselves with its terms and conditions together with periodically reviewing the Spam Policy posted on the Website for any changes, alternations, amendments or modifications to it.

How can I ask questions or raise concerns about the Spam Policy?
Please send any questions or concerns about the Spam Policy via e-mail to: [email protected].

Notification of claimed non-compliance with either the GDPR or the LGPD should be sent via email to the designated Data Protection Officer at [email protected] or via U.S. Mail addressed to Proctor Gallagher Institute – Data Protection Officer, 14354 N Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, Suite 18 Scottsdale, AZ 85260.