Security tangent:
Why and how is ieee.org collecting my emergency contacts and identity documents? Based on this, I chose to not accept reading this article.
>What information do we collect?
IEEE collects the following personal data in line with the use purposes explained in a subsequent section:
- Your name and contact details
- Date of birth
- Online profile data/usage
- Emergency contact information
- Social media profile information
- Copies of identification documents
The problem there is failure clearly specify what information is automatically collected vs what information is collected by way of you filling in a form, or otherwise explicitly providing them the information.
I'm quite certain that line item refers to there being a form someplace on the site where you can provide emergency contact information. I'm not an IEEE member so I'm not sure if this is just optional information you can provide on your account profile, or if it is part of signing up to attend some conference or the like.
The obvious intended purpose is that if you attend an IEEE conference (or similar event) and become stricken with a serious health issue leaving you unconscious or incoherent (and thus unable to let them know who should be contacted), they can attempt to get in touch with your emergency contacts while you are being taken to the hospital. This has benefits over the hospital having to contact your insurance company to get them to contact your emergency contacts to let them know what is going on.
>What information do we collect?
IEEE collects the following personal data in line with the use purposes explained in a subsequent section:
- Your name and contact details - Date of birth - Online profile data/usage - Emergency contact information - Social media profile information - Copies of identification documents
From: https://www.ieee.org/security-privacy.html