Privacy Policy
Powershift Communications Inc. is committed to maintaining the privacy, security and accuracy of the personal information we collect, use and disclose in accordance with applicable legislation. This privacy policy is a statement of principles and guidelines concerning the protection of personal information of our individual clients, individual service providers and other individuals (with the exception of our personnel, whose personal information is collected, used and disclosed in accordance with our Personnel Privacy Policy).
CONSENT
BY SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO POWERSHIFT COMMUNICATIONS AND ITS THIRD PARTY AGENTS (as defined herein), YOU AGREE THAT WE MAY COLLECT, USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, THE PRIVACY PREFERENCES YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO US, AND AS PERMITTED OR REQUIRED BY LAW.
Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the identified purposes at any time by contacting us. If you refuse your consent or withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you, or continue to provide you, with certain services or information that may be of value to you.
Canadian privacy legislation defines “personal information” broadly as information about “an identifiable individual” or as information that allows an individual to be identified. The types of personal information that we may collect from you include your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, previous address(es), payment information (for billing purposes), delivery instructions, and individual customer service preferences.
We might also obtain a photograph or video of you if you attend or present at one of our special events, but if you have any objection to its use in our editorial content or promotional material please tell us at the event.
In addition, from time to time, we may ask you to provide us with more detailed information regarding your interests, occupation, and background. For example, we sometimes ask our customers to complete surveys in order to get a better sense of who they are and what issues, products or services may be of interest to them and our readership.
Finally, from time to time, we may acquire demographic and other information about you from a third party, but only if you have previously agreed to allow that organization to disclose the information to companies such as Powershift Communications Inc.
We collect your personal information for several reasons.
To provide the product, service or information you requested – If you are a customer of one of our publications, we use your name and address (postal and/or e-mail) in order to deliver the product, service or information you requested and to follow up with you about the transaction (send a bill, notify you that your subscription is expiring, etc.). If you enter into a contest offered through one of our websites or printed publications, we use your personal information to administer the contest on our own behalf or on behalf of our sponsors.
To process payment – Your credit card number, debit card number, or banking information for pre-authorized payments is used only for processing payments and for presenting you with payment options – not for marketing purposes.
To send you information – From time to time, we may send you further information about the publication, its offers, or other products produced under its name.
Other purposes – In addition, we may use your personal information for the following purposes:
-
to detect and protect Powershift Communications Inc. and other third parties against error, fraud, theft and other illegal activity, and to audit compliance with our policies and contractual obligations;
-
to understand your needs and preferences, including to contact and communicate with you and to conduct surveys, research and evaluations;
-
to obtain audited statements regarding numbers of subscribers per publication;
-
to engage in a corporate reorganization or like business transactions, including the purchase, sale, lease, merger, amalgamation or any other type of acquisition, disposal, securitization or financing involving us;
-
for any other purpose we may indicate to you from time to time.
We may disclose your personal information to the following Third Parties in the following circumstances:
-
i) Disclosure to Service Providers – We may disclose your personal information to other companies that provide services on our behalf, including label printers, invoice printers, fulfillment contractors, auditors, software developers (including website developers and hosts), data processing, document management and office services. In addition, we may disclose your personal information to an organization or individual retained by us to evaluate your creditworthiness or to collect debts outstanding on an account or to our auditors. We will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the service and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.
-
ii) Disclosure to Trading Partners – From time to time our magazines or websites may make their list of customers available to other carefully screened organizations (such as other magazines, book publishers, banks or charities) that want to let you know about a product or service that might interest you, or to solicit a donation from you. The material to be sent to you is reviewed by us before the names and addresses (including e-mail addresses) are released to ensure the organization is reputable.
-
iii) Disclosure in Business Transfers – We may be involved in a corporate reorganization or the sale or transfer of some or all of our business. As part of that sale or transfer, we may disclose your personal information to the acquiring organization, but will require the acquiring organization to agree to protect the privacy of your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.
If you would prefer for us NOT to share your information as described in (i), (ii) or (iii) above please contact us.
-
iv) Law Enforcement and Legal Disclosure –We may disclose your personal information to a government institution that has asserted its lawful authority to obtain your information or to comply with a subpoena or warrant or an order made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of your information, or to comply with court rules regarding the production of records and information, or to our legal counsel.
At Powershift Communications Inc., we want you to be able to maintain control over how we use your personal information. In particular:
-
You may have the right to “opt out” of some or all of the identified purposes, uses and disclosures listed above.
-
You always have the option to instruct us not to use your name, address, e-mail address, etc. beyond providing you with the product, service or information you requested. Please contact us with these instructions.
-
E-mail communications will always include an identification of the sender and an “Unsubscribe” option.
-
If you receive a mailing from any of our magazines and you wish to know the source of your name (i.e. what list it came from), we will make every reasonable effort to determine the source and provide you with the information. For this request, or to confirm that any personal information we may have is correct, please contact us.
Please remember, we may not be able to provide you with our services if you withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information.
Storage of Personal Information
Your personal information is stored in secured locations and on servers controlled by Powershift Communications, located either at our offices or at the offices of our service providers. For access to your personal information, please contact us.
Accessing your Personal Information
Upon written request from you, subject to certain exceptions, we will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal information and will give you access to that information.
Protection of Personal Information
We make every reasonable effort to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personal information under our control. Our security policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary.
Only authorized employees and suppliers have access to your personal information. Where information is sent to a third party for processing, we make sure, through our contracts with them, that all your information is kept securely and confidentially. We keep your information for the time we are providing you with a product or service, and for a reasonable time thereafter in the event that you wish to resume service.
We operate secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Credit card information is processed using industry-standard encryption and security. We do not collect personal information from bulletin boards or forums. However, we cannot guarantee that personal information voluntarily disclosed in chat rooms or discussion boards will not be collected and used by others, which may result in unsolicited messages to you from other parties.
Privacy and our Websites
We sometimes collect personal information through our various websites. In this section, we provide you with additional information regarding such collectio