Polar Data Catalogue Privacy Policy

Under the authority of the University of Waterloo Act, 1972, the University of Waterloo collects, uses, maintains, discloses, and disposes of information for the purposes of operating the programs and business functions of the university in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) R.S.O. 1990, c. F. 31. As a publicly funded institution which operates with a high degree of autonomy and self-regulation, the University of Waterloo affirms the importance of the principle of freedom of information and the obligation to conduct its operations as much as possible in ways which are open to public scrutiny. As a University of Waterloo partner organization, the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN), is committed to preserving and safeguarding your right to privacy.

CCIN maintains strict client information privacy policies and uses state of the art technologies to safeguard user information and communications from unauthorized intrusions. We may only use personal information for the purpose it has been collected, or for a consistent purpose, unless another use is specifically authorized at law.

CCIN Online Privacy Policy: Informed Choice

CCIN has put in place the following Online Privacy Policy. This policy covers all CCIN. CCIN will continue to protect user information derived from its on-line services consistent with federal laws and with federal regulations issued by Communications Canada.

How CCIN Protects Your Privacy Online

When you browse or download information from the Data Catalogue, hereinafter referred to as CCIN Digital Assets, our servers automatically collect limited amounts of standard information for traffic monitoring and statistical purposes. These server logs collect your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and may include web page visited, parameters supplied, browser type, date, and time. The information is analyzed for operational trends, performance, and for ways to improve our sites. Access to log data is generally restricted to authorized individuals. Note that this type of information can be linked to individuals.

Distribution of Information to Third Parties

Third-party contractors and or agents may be involved in maintaining and improving the functions (e.g., IT services) of the Polar Data Catalogue (PDC) website. In these scenarios, if any associated third party should be provided access to any personal information, personal information will be kept secure, private, and confidential in accordance with Canadian Provincial/territorial and Federal legislation, and that of the PDC Privacy Policy. Such parties are only permitted to use such personal information for lawful purposes authorized by CCIN.

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored on your device when you visit a website. Cookies do not give us access to your hard drive and do not allow us to make changes to your device. They collect user information anonymously, allowing us to collect statistical information that provides you with a better user experience.

CCIN does not store personal information in cookies and does not collect personal information from you without your knowledge.

You can opt out of cookies by changing your browser settings or permanently using a browser plugin. This also applies to third-party cookies. This may affect your experience when you interact with CCIN Web pages.

Hyperlinks and Other Privacy Policies

If you follow a hyperlink from the PDC website onto the website(s) of another entity, that entity may have/uphold a different privacy policy. CCIN bears no responsibility for the privacy of the user in such a scenario, and we advise you to appropriately consult the privacy policies of these other entities.

Analytics

To serve you better, we use web analytics services including Google Analytics to help analyze the use of our website. These tools use cookies to collect and generate information about your visits to our sites (including your IP address) that is transmitted to their servers in an anonymous form for processing. We study patterns of website activity so we can improve the experience of visitors to our sites.

The use of these tools does not allow us or our analytics service providers to identify individuals.

You can opt-out of analytics activity by setting your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent and block analytics cookies if desired. Please consult your browser’s Help Menu for instructions. Visiting our website with analytics cookies disabled will have no significant impact on your browsing experience.

Disclosure

CCIN may only disclose personal information where we have legal authority to do so, or where the disclosure is for the purpose that we collected the information, such as providing you with a program or service. When CCIN uses other agents, contractors, or companies to perform services on its behalf, CCIN will ensure that the organization protects your user identifiable information consistent with this Policy. If CCIN includes your name and any other user identifiable information in a directory that CCIN creates from information we receive as an online service provider, the organization will give you the opportunity to have your information excluded from that directory.

Security

CCIN uses up-to-date security safeguards to protect its networks and websites from misuse, alteration, copying, disclosure, destruction, monitoring or unauthorized sharing of information and damage.

Privacy Policy Revisions

These policies are subject to change, and we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy each time you visit the site. If any significant changes are made to this policy, a notice will be posted on the homepage for a reasonable period after the change is implemented, so that the user may be fully aware of any changes before using the PDC website.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about the PDC RDI privacy policy, practices, third party material, or about your personal information, please contact: