Privacy Policy
The Options Clearing Corporation respects your expectations of privacy. This Policy describes the ways in which we use information provided by users of this website.
Collection and Use of Personal Information
In general, you can visit OCC's website without telling us who you are or revealing personal information about yourself. We do collect certain personal information automatically, and, if you wish to communicate with us via email, you may need to supply us with information relating to the purpose of your communication in order to enable us to provide you with a useful reply.
Automatically Collected Information
If you visit the OCC website, our web server collects and stores information with respect to: the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet; the Internet protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using; the browser software and operating system you are using; the date and time at which you access the OCC website; and the address of the Internet site from which you linked directly to the site.
The OCC website also uses "cookie" technology. A cookie is an element of data that a website sends to the browser of a user of the website. The OCC website's use of cookies is currently limited to facilitating use of the website, measuring activity on the website, monitoring network traffic for security purposes, and all other information collected with cookies is anonymous. OCC does not use cookies to aggregate information with respect to use of the Internet from a particular email address.
Voluntarily Provided Information
If you choose to register for a seminar or ask to request to receive materials, we may require certain information from you, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number. We may also provide your name and address to third parties for purposes of sending you the information requested. In addition, we may rely on third party vendors to collect certain transaction and user information required to process any payment due for the transaction. Unless you specifically request us not to do so (by sending an e-mail to [email protected]), OCC may contact users that provide information for market research. If you choose to apply for an OCC employee position, we may request that you provide certain personal information in connection with evaluating applications for employment.
If you communicate with us via e-mail, you may need to supply us with information relating to the purpose of your communication in order to enable us to provide you with a useful reply. In some cases, we might forward an e-mail sent to us to a third party to facilitate an appropriate response.
You should note that e-mail is not necessarily secure from interception. The e-mail address or addresses identified in the OCC website do not have encryption capability. You should consider whether information of a particularly personal or sensitive nature is appropriate to include in an email.
OCC might use information provided to us by a user of this website to further inform and educate users about U.S. listed options, or to improve the website or the information that OCC makes publicly available. However, if we were to do so, we would not identify the source of the information provided to us.
MyOCC™
MyOCC is a secure area of our website available only to registered users. MyOCC provides a private and secure web environment to access OCC information, data and authorized applications. Logging in to MyOCC will require a password and id. OCC uses leading encryption technology so that data transmitted within MyOCC is secure. By registering to use MyOCC, Users may be asked to provide certain identifying information that is separate and apart from any voluntarily provided information described above ("Registration"). Examples of such information may include, but not be limited to, your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, social security number, and other personally identifying information that may be required to verify your identity and authenticate registered users. The information collected through Registration for MyOCC will only be used by OCC to administer access to MyOCC, and under no circumstances will such information be sold, transferred, or disclosed to third parties for any purpose. Additional information, including a Secured Web Site Access Agreement, may be obtained by contacting OCC directly at [email protected].
Security and Confidentiality of the Web site
To protect the security the OCC website and to ensure that the site remains available to all users, OCC employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the website. See OCC's User Agreement for additional information.
OCC protects the confidentiality of your personal information by restricting access to personal information to our employees and agents for business purposes only in accordance with this Privacy Policy. All employees and agents are required to safeguard such information. OCC also maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to guard your personal information.
Other Important Information
Links to third party websites are provided from this site for your convenience. Should you leave this site via such a link, the content of any third party website is not provided by OCC. OCC is not responsible for, nor has it developed or reviewed, the content of those sites. Third party websites may collect information from or about users. OCC's privacy policy does not cover any such collection activities, and users are advised to review the privacy policies of those websites for information.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Privacy Policy, OCC reserves the right to disclose user information in special cases, when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) our rights or property, other users of the OCC Web site, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. We may disclose personal information without notice to you in response to a subpoena or when we believe in good faith that the law requires it or to respond to an emergency situation.
OCC does not knowingly collect or use any personal information from users under 13 years of age. No information should be submitted to this Web site by guests under 13 years of age.
We continue to evaluate our efforts to protect personal information and make every effort to keep your personal information accurate and up to date. If you have any questions or concerns, or if you identify any inaccuracy in your personal information and need to make a change to that information, please contact us at [email protected] so that we may promptly update our records. Please also feel free to contact OCC if you have any questions, comments, or feedback about this Privacy Policy and information practices, or your use of this site.
OCC reserves the right to modify our privacy principles as business needs require. Any such modifications will be effective when published on this Web site.