The Ontario Association of Cardiologists – Privacy Policy
Effective Date: June 6, 2012
The Ontario Association of Cardiologists (“OAC”, “us” or “we”) is committed to protecting your privacy and wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose any personal information that we collect about our users (e.g. your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, financial information)(collectively, “Personal Information”) through the www.ontarioheartdoctors.ca website or any related OAC Sites (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains our online information practices and the choices you, as a visitor to or user of this Site, can make about the collection and use of your Personal Information. We will only collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and forms part of our Terms of Use, which outline the terms and conditions you agree to when accessing and using this Site. By accessing and using this Site, you agree and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.
1. How OAC Protects Your Personal Information
OAC keeps your Personal Information and the business that you do with us in strict confidence. Your Personal Information is not sold and you have control over how OAC obtains, uses, and discloses Personal Information about you. You also have access to the Personal Information that OAC has about you and OAC respects your privacy when we market our services.
2. When Will OAC Collect Your Personal Information?
OAC will only collect Personal Information that you have voluntarily provided to us. OAC will not collect any Personal Information about you without informing you ahead of time (either through this Privacy Policy or at the time OAC is requesting Personal Information from you) why and how Personal Information is being collected and how such Personal Information will be used or disclosed (if applicable). The following are examples of how OAC may collect your Personal Information:
- When you register to become a member of OAC or otherwise wish to participate in an event held or sponsored by OAC;
- When you register as a user of this Site;
- When you access our training materials or otherwise use our e-learning services;
- When you participate in a review, survey, a research panel, or similar type of activity;
- When you participate in an advocacy campaign sponsored by OAC;
- When you ask to receive online information from us; or
- When you otherwise participate in features of our Site that ask for Personal Information.
Your participation in any of these activities is voluntary and we will only use the Personal Information you provide for the purposes for which it was collected. For example, we may use the Personal Information you provide to: respond to your questions or comments; administer our campaigns and Site; fulfill your request, subscription or order; and/or to otherwise provide or improve our member services. We will not send you any online newsletters or similar e-mail communications unless you expressly consent to receive such a communications from us. We may, however, send you notices of changes to our Privacy Policy.
You may be given the opportunity to consent to receive future promotional communications from us. If you opt-in to receive such communications, we may use the information to: communicate with you regarding our services and promotions; provide you with other information that you request; and/or improve our service offerings. You will always have the opportunity to “unsubscribe” from receiving e-mail or other communications at any time.
If you contact one of our representatives through this Site, we may ask you for Personal Information such as your name, address, phone number, or e-mail address so that we can respond to your questions or comments.
3. How Do We Gather Data by Automatic Means?
Sometimes we use cookie technology, web beacons and other similar devices on this Site to enhance functionality and navigation for our visitors. Information tracked through these mechanisms includes, but is not limited to: (i) your IP address; (ii) the type of web browser and operating system being used; (iii) the pages of the Site a user visits; and (iv) other sites a user visited before visiting this Site. If you wish to disable cookies, refer to your browser help menu to learn how to disable cookies. Please note that if you disable cookies, you may be unable to access some customized features on this Site. Cookies do not collect or contain your Personal Information.
Internet tags, graphic tags and similar web beacon type functions allow us to count the number of users who have visited a particular web page or to access certain cookies. We may use web beacons on this Site to count users and to recognize users by accessing our cookies. Being able to access our cookies allows us to personalize this Site and improve your experience at this Site. We may also include web beacons in HTML-formatted e-mail messages that we send to determine which e-mail messages were opened. Like cookies, web beacons do not collect or contain your Personal Information.
4. How Do We Share Personal Information?
OAC does not sell to third parties any Personal Information that OAC collects. OAC will obtain your consent before OAC obtains, uses or discloses to other persons, information about you except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy unless we are obliged to do so by law or to protect OAC’s interests.
OAC may share the Personal Information that you provide with other companies hired to provide services for us, including payment sites. These companies – our third party vendors – are contractually bound to use Personal Information shared with them only to perform the services they have been hired to provide. OAC does not share, sell, or lease Personal Information about you to any other third-parties except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy.
By choosing to provide OAC with your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy, you are further consenting to its use in accordance with the principles outlined in this Privacy Policy and as may be further outlined at the time of collection. We reserve the right to transfer any Personal Information we have about you in the event that we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets to a third party. Further, we reserve the right to disclose any Personal Information as needed if such information is requested by law enforcement agencies or if we are requested to do so by law, regulation, court order, or by a government entity. We may also disclose your Personal Information to third parties if we have reason to believe that disclosing such information is necessary to: (i) conduct investigations of possible breaches of law; (ii) cooperate in any legal investigation; (iii) identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating the Terms of Use of this Site; or (iv) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property. Lastly, we may disclose your Personal Information for any other purpose to which you consent.
5. Your Password and Account Login
You may be asked to create an account login and password in order to access some of the services on the Site. You are solely responsibility for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password, and you agree to accept responsible for all activities that occur under your account or password.
6. Links to other Sites
This Site contains links to websites that are independently owned and operated by third parties. These other sites may have their own privacy policies and are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any site(s) owned and operated by any such third parties. Other sites may collect and treat information collected differently, so we encourage you to carefully read and review the privacy policy for each site you visit.
7. Children’s Privacy
The Site is intended for use by users on a business to business basis only. We do not expect to be gathering any Personal Information from children, but if a child has already provided us with Personal Information, his or her parent or guardian may contact us for the purpose of deleting this information.
8. Jurisdiction
All matters relating to this Site are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable therein. If you are located outside of Canada, and you contact us, please be advised that any Personal Information you provide to us will be transferred to Canada and that by submitting information, you explicitly authorize its transfer.
9. How We Protect Personal Information
The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards (appropriate to the sensitivity of such information) designed to protect against unauthorized use, disclosure or access of the Personal Information we collect on this Site. For example, we endeavour to protect the security of your information during transmission to our Site by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts the information you input.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we are committed to protecting your Personal Information, we cannot ensure, represent or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. All third parties that obtain Personal Information from us (e.g. service providers that perform functions on our behalf) are contractually required to protect your confidentiality and Personal Information in a manner consistent with this policy, and/or as required by law.
10. Your Consent to the Terms of this Privacy Policy
By using this Site you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy, you signify your assent to all of the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. If you do not agree with any terms of this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use, please do not use this site or submit any Personal Information.
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change or replace this Privacy Policy at our sole discretion at any time. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any updates or changes in this Privacy Policy. We will indicate at the top of this page the date this Privacy Policy was last revised. Your continued access or use of this Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the Privacy Policy as revised.
12. Retention and Disposal
OAC keeps your Personal Information only so long as we need it for the products and services that you are using, to offer you services when you are a member and for a reasonable time thereafter, or to meet any legal requirements. OAC has retention standards, which meet these requirements. OAC destroys your Personal Information when it is no longer needed, or we remove your name from the Personal Information.
13. How to Contact Us
We welcome your feedback. If you have questions, comments or concerns about our Privacy Policy, or would like to do any of the following:
- see Personal Information that you have already sent us so that you can correct or update it delete your Personal Information from our files;
- if your child under 13 has sent us Personal Information, delete that Personal Information from our files;
- ask that we not send you mailings or otherwise contact you; or
- report any violation of this Privacy Policy
- Please contact us at: Privacy Officer at [email protected]
We will use commercially reasonable efforts to deal quickly with your request and will always respond to you within thirty (30) days. If OAC needs to extend the time, or OAC has to refuse your request, OAC will tell you why, subject to any legal restrictions and OAC will notify you of the new deadline, the reasons for the extension, and your rights under applicable legislation respecting the extension.
Additionally, there may be files that include Personal Information about you and other users, or that have information confidential to OAC or are the property of OAC. As OAC must protect everyone’s confidentiality and legal rights, OAC cannot make these files available to persons outside of OAC. However, OAC will make available to you any factual Personal Information about you contained in such files.