The best way to avoid data theft is to only collect data that is necessary for the delivery of the services. In light of the privacy issues that Facebook is currently facing, we wish to clarify that Safestsex.org will —at the most—only ever require a valid email address in order for members to take full advantage of our free services.
Anonymous members are not even required to provide an email address. Again, members at any level are never required to provide any additional personal information such as birthdate, age, sex or any proof of identity. Identity validation is done by our Partnered Testing Facilities (called Clinics in this document), so there is no need for SafestSex.org to ever collect any identifying information about its members.
A SafestSex.org membership is not a silver bullet, but instead is a software platform for members to implement an individual STI prevention strategy with a level of risk that they feel comfortable with.
Requirements demanded by members to reduce risk are always reciprocal. For example, in order for member-1 to require of member-2 that tests be confirmed by a partnered clinic, member-1 must first have their test results confirmed by a partnered clinic.
SafestSex.org offers four types of memberships, all at no cost.
· Anonymous
· Regular
· Associate
· Exclusive
Everybody joins SafestSex.org as an Anonymous member. During the initial registration the new member enters the latest STI test results using approximate dates as it is assumed that exact dates may be difficult to recall. Once a member, all subsequent tests will require exact dates.
After entering their test results, a new member may choose to save their results, in which case a unique ID called SSXID (SafestSex.org Xchange ID) is assigned and a new Anonymous membership is created. Because there is no email address associated with the SSXID, there is no way to recover this information should it be lost. For those planning to remain as Anonymous members, we recommend recording the SSXID and keeping it in a secure location.
Anonymous memberships are intended for testing the SafestSex.org platform which provides a centralized place to anonymously store the latest test results. Anonymous members are restricted from exchanging test results with other SafestSex.org members until they provide a valid email address.
An Anonymous member can become a Regular member by simply providing an email address and completing the email validation process.
Because the test results are member-reported and initially are not validated by clinics, the advantages of having a Regular SafestSex.org membership may not be obvious. Regarding STI/HIV status, a common exchange between men using a sex-seeking mobile app, may go something like this; “Are you clean?” followed by “Oh yeah, I got tested a couple of months ago.” The quality of this information is obviously poor.
A SafestSex.org online exchange is an immediate improvement over this somewhat anecdotal information because the testing information is clear and precise, something that a personal STI/HIV interaction can never be.
For more information on the advantages of a SafestSex.org membership visit the Frequently Asked Questions at http://safestsex.org/FAQnon-en.php.
Information about STI/HIV status, exchanged in a moment of high sexual arousal, should never be trusted. However, if the exchange of that same information is done electronically, sexual arousal is irrelevant because the information is unaffected by the emotional state of the SafestSex.org members.
Associate Membership
Regular members can associate themselves with a Partnered Clinic and become an Associate member. This is recommended for those members who want to improve the reliability of their test results and in turn be able to receive more reliable information from other members.
Association Process
The process for becoming an Associate member varies depending on whether or not the clinic has already partnered with SafestSex.org. For information on how to request a clinic partner with SafestSex.org, see below under Partnered Clinics.
Before making the request to associate with a clinic, the member must first discuss the intention with the clinic and provide them with the SSXID and the associated email address. SafestSex.org does not collect any other additional identifying information from members so the clinic will provide the connection between the SSXID and their client.
Associate members can get Clinics to verify their test results and drastically improve the reliability of the information, which in turn improves the reliability of the information received from other members in an exchange.
Members at the Exclusive level can drastically reduce the risk of STI/HIV infection and engage in sexual encounters with multiple anonymous partners with a risk of STI/HIV equivalent to a monogamous relationship. This concept is portrayed in the video at http://safestsex.org/. This strategy is offered to members who are committed to staying STI-free and who do not accept monogamy as a prevention strategy.
According to the Centre for Disease Control, Mutual Monogamy is the best, most effective prevention strategy when it comes to the spread of STIs.
To become an Exclusive member, an Associate member must sign a Mutual Monogamy Contract with a Clinic that has partnered with SafestSex.org. Upon signing, members are making a promise to only engage in sexual activity with other Exclusive members, thus reducing the risk to one equivalent to monogamy.
Test results can be:
· Unconfirmed
· Confirmed
All test results are Unconfirmed when initially entered by the member. Associate members can request that the Clinic confirm the test results.
All members can associate Clinics to specific test results because that information enhances the reliability of the test results. Clinics can be:
· Unverified
· Verified
· Partnered
Members can request SafestSex.org to save the information about the Clinic used to perform the tests.
Once the existence of a Clinic provided by a member is confirmed, the Clinic becomes a Verified Clinic.
Members can request that a Clinic partner with SafestSex.org. When a Clinic becomes a Partnered Clinic, they are issued access to SafestSex.org as a Partner through http://safestsex.org/TFlogin-en.php.
Many Clinics assume that as a partner they must release their information regarding members’ tests, thus breaking their promise of confidentiality. As mentioned above this is not the case. Safestsex.org ONLY uses the member’s SSXID and never requires Clinics to release any test information.
Members can perform the following actions:
· Enter new test results
· Include Clinic in directory
· Associate Clinics to particular tests
· Exchange test results with other members
· Partner with Clinics
· Request confirmation/validation of test results
· Sign Mutual Monogamy Agreement
All members, including Anonymous members can enter new test results. Keep in mind that there are rules for entering new test results. For instance someone who reported being HIV+ cannot enter a new test result of HIV-.
At any time members can request that the Clinic used to perform their tests be added to the general directory of Clinics kept by SafestSex.org.
Once a Clinic is in the Directory, a member can associate the tests that were performed by the Clinic. This is the first step for partnering with a Clinic.
All members, with the exception of Anonymous members, can exchange test results with other members in the form of an STD Screening Profile.
Depending on the type of membership, some restrictions apply to the exchange of STD Screening Profiles. For instance, Exclusive members can only exchange STD Screening Profiles with other Exclusive members only in order to maintain the promise of Mutual Monogamy.
Exchanging STD Screening Profiles can be done totally anonymously by providing the other member with their SSXID instead of their email address.
Once a member has associated test results with a Clinic, the member can request that the Clinic partner with SafestSex.org and become and Associate member.
Associate members can request that the clinic confirm and validate test results. Clinics never disclose test results. Instead, upon the request of the SafestSex.org member the clinic receives the test results entered by the member and can then verify the results and approve them or reject them.
Associate members can request their Clinic to coordinate the signing of a Mutual Monogamy Agreement in order to become an Exclusive member. This is required to become an Exclusive member.