How I.S.T Protects Your Privacy

I.S.T Privacy Principles

To provide you (players, parents and executive members) with quality service, I.S.T must collect, process and use some of your personal information. At the same time, we want to protect the personal information you provide to us. To underscore I.S.T’s commitment to protecting your privacy and the value we place on your relationship with us, I.S.T has adopted the following privacy principles applicable to our handling of your personal information:

1. Recognition of Your Expectation of Privacy: We recognize and respect your expectation of privacy and security for your personal information. We understand the need to safeguard the sensitive information about you within I.S.T.
2. Use, Collection and Retention of Your Information: I.S.T collects, uses and retains information about you to help in the development and enhancement of our services; to understand which services will best meet your needs; to provide you with product and service opportunities that we deem interesting or beneficial to you; and to help administer our core business and programs. In addition, certain laws and regulations require us to collect information about you.
3. Our Maintenance of Accurate Information: Through our procedures and technology, we strive to maintain information about you that is accurate and complete. We will respond to your requests to correct inaccurate information in a timely manner should the need arise, but we reserve the right to ensure that the request to make changes is coming from you.
4. Limiting Access to Information: We have procedures and security measures that limit access to and disclosure of personally identifiable information to those individuals in our organization with a business reason to know such information. We educate our employees and volunteers about the importance of the confidentiality and privacy of customer information.
5. Security Procedures to Protect Information: We maintain security standards and procedures to deter unauthorized access to confidential information about you. We update and test our technology to continually improve the protection of our information about you and to assure the integrity of our information.
6. Disclosing Information: We will share your information only (1) with reputable reporting agencies; (2) when necessary to administer our business; (3) when you request it; (4) when the disclosure is required, or allowed by law; or (5) to make available special offers of products and services through Soccer Tribe sponsors and licensees as well as our relationship with other soccer organizations.Maintaining Your Privacy in Our Business Relationships with Outside Third Parties: It is sometimes necessary to provide personally identifiable information about you to a third party, such as to a vendor to prepare customer communications. All third parties must agree to hold confidential information at the same level of confidentiality maintained by our organization and to abide by applicable law. In efforts to ensure the safety and security of the I.S.T players and volunteers, I.S.T has developed the following privacy policies to define the methods by which personal information and information that is protected by independent agreements are protected and secure. It is understood that as technology advances, these policies will be updated accordingly.

Privacy Policy

I.   CHILD AND VOLUNTEER PROTECTION ADVOCATE (CVPA) PROTOCOLS

     A. Procedures for Protecting Volunteer Information

1.  Registrar shall collect all completed volunteer application forms.
2. Upon collection, the completed volunteer application forms will be storage in a safe location
3. Completed volunteer application forms shall never be left unattended and should always be kept under lock and key.
4. As indicated in the I.S.T Screening Protocols, I.S.T shall call the personal and professional references provided by the volunteer applicants and report to the Techinical Director “T.D” any irregularities discovered during that process.
5. The registrar shall not discuss sensitive volunteer information among themselves or with others in the region.
6. The Registrar shall notify the region if an applicant does not meet the suitability requirements to be an I.S.T volunteer.
7. In the event confidential information other than the volunteer application form must be transmitted to the I.S.T via FAX
8. Completed volunteer application forms are to be kept for a period of seven years, unless otherwise directed by the I.S.T, after which the forms are shredded or incinerated.

     B. Mailing Process for CVPA

1. Registrar staff handling the confidential information must pass a criminal history background check and must sign a confidentiality agreement.
2. Completed volunteer application forms shall never be left unattended and should always be kept under double lock and key.

     C. Electronic Process using e.I.S.T (new volunteer)

1. The volunteer logs in to e.I.S.T and completes the volunteer application form online. All required information must be provided (including social security number and a response to the disclosure statement). During submission and at all times thereafter, all such personal and private information is encrypted and obscured from view to all users except the I.S.T Registrar Office.
2. The volunteer must print out two of the completed forms (three if he/she wishes to retain a copy) and sign and date each copy. When any electronic form is printed, the personal and private information will be obscured.
3. The volunteer must submit the completed and signed volunteer application forms to the registrar and provide proof of identity (currently designated to be a state-issued driver’s license or state ID incorporating a photograph or a U.S. passport).
4. Following submission of the completed volunteer application forms, I.S.T Registrar shall follow the process described in Paragraph I A, steps 5-10.

     D.  Electronic Process using e.Soccer Tribe (returning volunteer)

1. The volunteer logs in to e.I.S.T using the member name and password previously determined.
2. The volunteer reviews the information contained in his/her record and makes any necessary changes online. All personal and private information is encrypted and obscured from view to all users except the I.S.T Registrar Office.
3. The volunteer must complete the disclosure statement, print out two copies of the form (three if he/she wishes to retain a copy), and sign and date each copy. When printed by the volunteer, the personal and private information will be obscured.
4. The volunteer must submit the completed and signed volunteer application forms to the I.S.T Registrar Office. It is not necessary for registrar to secure proof of identity for a returning volunteer using an online form.
5. Following submission of the completed pre-printed volunteer application forms,and staff shall follow the process described in Paragraph I A, steps 5-10

Why we ask for SSNs

Collection of Social Security Numbers on Volunteer Applications.

In the face of so much publicity these days about identity theft, more and more of our volunteers question why I.S.T requires social security numbers (SSN) as part of the volunteer application process. We ask our volunteers to consider the following questions and answers concerning the I.S.T decision to require the SSN.

Each coach, referee and other designated volunteers to complete a volunteer form, and with respect to verifying the information obtained, before permitting such coach, referee or such volunteer to participate. decided we must do because of our shared concern for children. This provision also is important for the health of the organization.

Why does I.S.T need the SSN in the first place?

We secure criminal background reports by searching court documents in county jurisdictions all across the country. These jurisdictions use a variety of personal information to identify those convicted of crimes. Unfortunately, there is no consistency as to the information used from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to identify those convicted. The expert opinions we sought and received on the matter told us unequivocally that all this information – including the SS# - was necessary to ensure the viability of the background information we secure. Collecting all this information serves I.S.T on two fronts. First, the accuracy of the information we receive ensures that we exclude those with the highest potential for harm to our children, and, equally important, it helps us avoid excluding a good and valuable volunteer due to mistaken identity.

What risk do the volunteers face?

Experts have informed us that there are so many easier ways to obtain someone’s SSN or otherwise engage in identity theft that it is extremely unlikely that giving the SSN to I.S.T will significantly increase that risk. Things we put in our trash, leave in our car, or supply in connection with consumer, banking and insurance transactions, all contain the SSN or other information sufficient to make identity theft possible even without the SSN. Therefore, while identity theft is a real risk, I.S.T has taken every possible step to minimize that risk. As a result ,we do not believe that supplying the SSN to I.S.T increases the risk our volunteers otherwise may face regarding identity theft generally. 

What risk do the children face?

Recent articles in the media have established that youth sports generally presents an increasingly enticing target for predators. Thus, it seems quite clear that youth sports participants in the United States – including those who choose to participate in I.S.T – unfortunately are at increased risk and would remain at such risk without some procedure, as collect the SSN  reduce that risk as far as may be reasonably possible. 

What are the comparative consequences of the two risks?

While no one can calculate how many cases of identity theft I.S.T may enable by collecting the SSN, if any, compared to how many cases of child molestation or abuse I.S.T may prevent by doing so, we can measure a significant difference in the magnitude of the consequences. Experts have advised us that identity theft can be detected and corrected simply by running a personal credit check every year. And, while the most severe cases of identity theft may take longer to correct, they ultimately are correctable and good credit ultimately can be recovered. The same cannot be said for the child who becomes a victim of molestation or abuse. For the child who falls victim to such abuse, there is no cure except perhaps years of therapy and guilt and recrimination, years that can never be recovered. 

How are these risks being addressed by I.S.T?

Clearly, we need to do everything we can to reduce both risks. With respect to the children, every professional company with whom I.S.T consulted about contracting to perform our background screening of volunteers informed us that, without the SSN, the accuracy of their reports could be diminished substantially. Therefore, I.S.T has decided to heed this advice and require the SSN from volunteers to reduce the risk to the children. The risk to the volunteers of supplying the SSN can be and is being reduced significantly through our use of industry-standard encryption and certified electronic firewall’s that protect the data stored on our servers. This is what I.S.T has decided is the best balance between the two risks. 

What has I.S.T concluded it must do when a volunteer asks I.S.T to choose between the risk to the children and the risk to the volunteer?

Admittedly, even the best devices and protocols cannot eliminate entirely either risk. Thus, some volunteers have asked I.S.T to waive the requirement for the SSN – i.e., to choose between the two risks and to make the risk to the volunteers a greater priority than the risk to the children. We believe that I.S.T must always stand up for the principle that, as between the two groups, it should never be the children who are put at increased risk. As a result, we have instructed all I.S.T Registrar to not accept a volunteer application from anyone refusing to fully cooperate with the process, including supplying the SSN. We know this may drive away some volunteers. But, we also know that it will drive down the risk that our children otherwise would face. We therefore remain convinced that, when asked to choose, I.S.T must opt to put child protection ahead of the risk, if any, to a volunteer from supplying the SSN. 

Will I.S.T continue to require the SSN?

Until some other means of reliably verifying the information supplied by our volunteers becomes readily available we will continue to require the SSN to protect the children from unnecessary risk, to protect the organization from avoidable liability, and to comply with the Bylaw provision that the Executive Members have adopted unanimously. We respect that some people will refuse to supply their information. Regrettably, we will thank them for their interest but will not accept their application to be a volunteer in I.S.T.

Thank you for giving your consideration to these important questions and answers attendant to Soccer Tribe’s need to obtain volunteers’ SSN. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please contact the Soccer Tribe Registrar.