Privacy Policy

 

COMMITMENT TO YOUR PRIVACY

We understand that you value your privacy. This policy governs information you provide to us or that we learn from your use of this website and other contacts with Oceana Canada. It explains how we may collect, use, and in some instances share this information.

Personal Information Defined. Oceana Canada considers “Personal Information” to include information that alone or when in combination with other information may be used to readily identify, contact, or locate you, such as: name, address, email address, or phone number. Oceana Canada does not consider Personal Information to include information that has been anonymized so that it does not allow a third party to easily identify a specific individual.

INFORMATION OCEANA CANADA COLLECTS AND HOW WE USE IT

Information You Provide

We may ask you to provide us with Personal Information, for example if you would like to participate in some activities available on, or benefit from services offered on, this website. Through the use of forms we may collect this information to help provide you with Oceana Canada services and respond to your requests.

If you choose to make a donation or other activity that requires payment, we may also ask for information required for billing and shipment, such as your credit card number, card verification value code, billing address, phone number, and email address. Oceana will not share or sell a donor’s personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations; and Oceana will only share or sell personal information once the donor has given the charity specific permission to do so.

If you would like to post comments to our blog, you may log in with your log-in credentials from other websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Yahoo!. When you log in this way, we may collect Personal Information from such websites. For example, when you log in with your Facebook credentials, we may collect the Personal Information you have made publicly available in Facebook, such as your name and profile picture. We may also obtain other information with your permission, such as your email address. The information we obtain may depend on your privacy settings with the other website.

We may collect Personal Information through your communications with our supporter relations and donor relations teams.

We try to limit our requests for Personal Information to information we believe is minimally necessary to achieve our stated collection purposes.

Usage Tracking

We track website usage data to improve our website, which may or may not involve the handling of Personal Information. We collect user traffic patterns throughout our website using web logs, cookies, and similar technologies. This information is collected to help improve website flow and usability. In addition, when we send emails to our members and supporters, we track information on clicks-through to our website, including IP addresses. This is done to gauge the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and to discourage fraudulent use.

Cookies

We may place a text file called a “cookie” in the browser files of your computer. The cookie itself does not contain Personal Information, although it will enable us to relate your use of this website to information that you have specifically and knowingly provided. But the only Personal Information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other websites. Oceana Canada may use cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above). In addition, Oceana Canada uses encrypted cookies to authenticate the user on each page after the user logs onto the website. You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you have set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. Some Oceana Canada website features and services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.

Our Usage of Personal Information

We process Personal Information as described above and also for such internal and service-related purposes as:

  • To advance our mission including delivering information that may be of interest to our supporters;
  • To conduct research and analysis in order to maintain and improve our website;
  • To alert you to news updates and related developments, special offers, and other new Oceana Canada offerings. We provide you with controls so that you can determine whether or not you would like to continue to receive such communications if you so choose (as described below);
  • To contact you in response to requests for information such as requests made through the “Contact Us” page of our web site.

We may also initiate certain joint campaigns with other charities. If you choose to participate in such joint campaigns, your information will be collected, used, and disclosed by Oceana Canada only in accordance with this Policy and for the purposes presented to you at the time of collection. The information you provide will also be collected by the other charity in accordance with their own privacy policy. Please review this Policy along with the privacy policy of the other charity. We do not control the privacy practices of our third-party partners and their collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information. By providing your information to the joint campaign you acknowledge and agree to our privacy policy and that of the other charity.

Children

Oceana Canada does not knowingly collect, maintain, or use any Personal Information from children under 13 years of age. If we become aware that we have collected any Personal Information from children under 13, we will promptly delete such information from our databases. If you are a parent or legal guardian and discover that we may have collected information about your child under the age of 13, then you may alert us at canada@oceana.org and request that we destroy any Personal Information we may have collected and retained about that child.

User Access

We make a good faith effort to provide you with access to your Personal Information to correct data that may be inaccurate or delete data at your request. If you would like to review the information in our files, correct it, or ask Oceana Canada to refrain from sending you information in the future, please contact us by e-mail at privacy@oceana.ca or by writing to the postal address listed below. We may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others, would be extremely impractical, or where information is required to be retained by law or for legitimate business purposes.

OCEANA CANADA TRANSFER AND INFORMATION SHARING POLICY

We do not rent, sell, or share Personal Information we collect with third parties for their direct marketing purposes without your permission. We may transfer Personal Information or permit access to Personal Information by our vendors and service providers, for example those we have contracted to help us administer this website. Some of our service providers are located outside of Canada, including in the United States, and your personal information may therefore be subject to foreign law. These service providers may process Personal Information on our behalf or use Personal Information to assist Oceana Canada, for example in administering our website. Oceana Canada does not otherwise share Personal Information without consent, unless where it is legally required or where done to protect Oceana Canada’s property or other legal rights or the rights or property of others.

Reorganization of Oceana Canada

If Oceana Canada should ever file for bankruptcy or have its assets sold to or merged with another entity, information Oceana Canada receives from you shall be treated as an Oceana Canada asset and may be transferred as part of any such transactions.

Affiliated Websites, Other Websites, and Advertisements

This Privacy Policy applies to websites and services that are owned and operated by Oceana Canada. We do not exercise control over the websites of third parties that you may link to or view as part of a frame on a page on this website. These other sites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data, or solicit Personal Information from you. We are not responsible for the actions or policies of such third parties. You should check the applicable privacy policies of those third parties when providing information on a feature or page operated by a third party.

CONSENT TO ALLOW USE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

By choosing to visit the website or otherwise provide information to Oceana Canada, you agree that any dispute over privacy or the terms contained in this Privacy Policy will be governed by the law of the District of Columbia.

This website is hosted in the United States, by Oceana, Inc., as a service provider to Oceana Canada. The laws governing data collection and use in Canada and other countries may differ from U.S. law. Please note that by providing your personal data you are transferring your personal data to the United States, a country which does not have the same data protection laws as Canada, and you consent to:

  • the use of your personal data for the uses identified above in accordance with this Privacy Policy; and
  • the transfer of your personal data to the United States as indicated above.

SECURITY AND RETENTION

We take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We protect Personal information with technical, organizational and/or physical safeguards that are appropriate to the type of Personal Information as well as its sensitivity. No data transmissions over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Consequently, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make reasonable efforts to ensure security on our systems.

If Oceana Canada learns of a security systems breach we may attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. By using this website or providing Personal Information to us you agree that we can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy and administrative issues relating to your use of this website, your relationship with Oceana Canada, or for other purpose(s) with your consent. You may receive commercial electronic messages from us, and we will seek your consent to do so where appropriate. If applicable, you may unsubscribe from the commercial electronic messages you receive from us by following the instructions in that message. Oceana Canada may post a notice on our website if a security breach occurs. Oceana Canada may also send an email to you at the email address you have provided to us in these circumstances. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. To receive free written notice of a security breach (or to withdraw your consent from receiving electronic notice) you should notify us at privacy@oceana.ca.

We retain your Personal Information for only as long as is required to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected, unless we are required to retain it for longer in accordance with law.

CHANGES AND UPDATES

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will also revise the “effective date” on the Privacy Policy. For changes to this Privacy Policy that may be materially less restrictive on our use or disclosure of Personal Information you have provided to us, we will attempt to obtain your consent before implementing the change. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Policy to stay informed about how we are protecting the Personal Information we collect. Your continued use of this website constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any updates.

CONTACTING OCEANA CANADA

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about Oceana Canada or this Privacy Policy, please email us at privacy@oceana.ca or write to us at Oceana Canada, Attention: Privacy Officer, 18 King Street East, Suite 505, Toronto, ON M5C 1C4. Oceana Canada is committed to cooperating to achieve a proper resolution of your privacy concerns.

 

Effective: March 2017