Our Privacy Policy
The Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies Society (CIIPS Society) is committed to upholding the right to privacy and protecting the personal information of visitors to the CIIPS website, as well as our Society’s members and supporters. CIIPS has established this Privacy Statement to explain what information we collect through our websites and how it is used.
In this policy, “CIIPS” refers to CIIPS staff, interns, volunteers, and consultants, all of whom are bound by law or contract to keep confidential information they receive as part of their assistance to CIIPS.
The Personal Information Protection Act requires that we keep personal information that is used to make a decision that directly affects individuals for at least one year after we make that decision.
Subject to the above one-year retention requirement, we will only retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the identified purposes set out below, or as long as required for a legal or business purpose.
1. Collection of Information
a. Website Visitors
Like most website operators, CIIPS collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, referring site, the date and time of each visitor request, and what areas of the site are visited. CIIPS’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how CIIPS’s visitors use its website.
CIIPS’s site also provides links to a wide variety of third-party websites, including interactive links to sites like Twitter or Facebook. We also allow our website to interact with other services, like social networking and video hosting websites. CIIPS is not responsible for, and does not have any control over, the privacy practices or the content of such third parties. We encourage users to read the privacy policies of any website visited.
b. Contact Information
Some visitors to CIIPS’s website choose to interact in ways that require our site to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that CIIPS gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for our e-newsletter to provide their first and last name, along with a valid email address. Those who engage in transactions with CIIPS — by donating or purchasing an event ticket, for example — are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions.
When you join the CIIPS Society as a member or donate to the Institute, we collect and retain your name, postal address and email address, telephone number, position or title, organization (if any) and your areas of interest. We also record the date and amount of the donation and details of any other service you receive from CIIPS.
When you subscribe to CIIPS emails or other information services, we collect your name, email address, and the date that you joined. We retain subscriber information for as long as an individual subscribes to our services. If an individual unsubscribes, contact information is deleted from our database.
2. Use of Information
a) Aggregated Website Statistics
CIIPS collects statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. For instance, the CIIPS uses analytics software to collect information about which pages and posts are most commonly visited and for how long. We will not publicly display this information, but we may share it with our website developers in order to improve our web presence.
b) Member Information
We use member information to process and manage your membership, send official Society notices, send you updates and alerts about our work and contact you for renewal of your membership.
c) Donor Information
We use donor information to process and manage your contribution, send you updates and alerts about our work and invite further donations.
3. Disclosure of Your Information
CIIPS does not sell or trade information to third parties, nor do we rent it. While CIIPS endeavors to provide the highest level of protection for your information, we may disclose personally identifiable information about you to third parties in limited circumstances, including: (1) with your consent; or (2) when we believe it is required by law, such as pursuant to a subpoena or other judicial or administrative order.
If personal information is disclosed to third parties for the fulfillment of any purposes identified above, FIPA will ensure that appropriate security undertakings, such as confidentiality clauses in contractual agreements, are employed to protect the transfer and use of personal information.
If we are required by law to disclose the information that you have submitted, we will attempt to provide you with notice (unless we are prohibited) that a request for your information has been made in order to give you an opportunity to object to the disclosure. We will attempt to provide this notice by email, if you have given us an email address, or by postal mail if you have entered a postal address. If you do not challenge the disclosure request, we may be legally required to turn over your information.
In addition, we will independently object to requests for access to information about users of our site that we believe to be improper.
4. Updating, Removing or Obtaining Access to Your Information
CIIPS will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that personal information is as accurate, complete, and current as required for the purposes for which it was collected. You may choose to correct, update, or delete the membership information you have submitted to us by sending an email requesting changes to communications@ciips.ca
Individuals have the right of access to their own personal information that is in our custody. A request for access must be made in writing, and we require individuals to prove their identity before giving them access to their personal information.
CIIPS will give individuals their personal information under our control, information about the ways in which their information is or has been used, and the names of any individuals and organizations to which their personal information has been disclosed.
Individuals can complain about CIIPS’s treatment of their personal information; ask for access to their own personal information; or simply ask questions by contacting the Executive Director at darrell@ciips.ca or calling 604-441-3441.
If individuals are not satisfied with FIPA’s response, they can complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.
5. Third Party Service Providers
CIIPS makes use of several third party service providers. Our relationship with these providers governs our privacy policy based on the kind of interaction individuals are undertaking with CIIPS. We endeavour to use Canadian hosted and housed services wherever possible. The Privacy Statements of our third party providers can be found here: (To come)
6. Changes to Our Policies
CIIPS’s Privacy Policy may change from time to time. However, any revised privacy policy will be consistent with the CIIPS Society’s mission. If we make any substantive changes to our policies, we will post notice of changes on this page.
You may direct your questions or concerns regarding CIIPS’s compliance with this policy to: Executive Director, 5383 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6M 3C2
Tel: 604.441-3441, Email: darrell@ciips.ca