Privacy & Security

Policy on Privacy of User Personal Information

My Owl is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information obtained by reason of your use of our website and educational materials. This policy explains the types of user personal information we collect, how it is used, and the steps we take to ensure your personal information is handled appropriately.

Our policies and practices have been designed to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) and corresponding provincial privacy acts.

My Owl has the meaning given in our Terms of Use.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information that refers to an individual specifically and is recorded in any form. Personal information includes such things as age, income, date of birth, ethnic origin and credit records. Information about individuals contained in the following documents is not considered personal information:

·       public telephone directories, where the subscriber can refuse to be listed,

·       professional and business directories available to the public,

·       public registries and court records,

·       other publicly available printed and electronic publications.

We are accountable to you

My Owl is responsible only for any personal information that is under its control, including any personal information that is transferred to third parties for processing, storage or other purposes.

We let you know why we collect and use your personal information and get your consent

My Owl identifies the following purposes for which your personal information may be collected and used or disclosed. If a particular purpose is not listed below, we will do this before or at the time the information is actually being collected. You will be deemed to consent to our use of your personal information for the purpose of:

·       communicating with you generally

·       facilitating your use of our website and educational materials

·       processing and keeping track of our interactions

·       protecting against fraud or error

·       performing statistical analyses of user behaviour and characteristics, in order to measure interest in and use of the various sections of this site so as to improve design and navigation and to gather use information. Only aggregated data from these analyses, not individual data, will be used for this purpose

·       complying with legal and governmental requirements

·       fulfilling any other purpose that would be reasonably apparent to the average person at the time we collect it from you

Otherwise, My Owl will obtain your express consent (by verbal, written or electronic agreement) to collect, use or disclose your personal information. You can change your consent preferences at any time by contacting My Owl. Please refer to the “How to contact us” section below.

We limit collection of your personal information

My Owl collects only the information required to provide materials and information, and any related services to you. My Owl will collect personal information only by clear, fair and lawful means.

We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of some of our features.

We also receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use “cookies,” and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses our website and sub domains.

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser, to enable our systems to recognize your browser.

The “help” portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Additionally, you can disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on’s settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. Because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of our website’s features, we recommend you leave them turned on.

Examples of the information we may collect and analyze include the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet; login; e-mail address; password; computer and connection information, such as browser type, version and timezone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform; usage history, which we sometimes aggregate with similar information from other users; the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through, and from our website, including date and time; cookie numbers; materials you viewed or searched for; and the telephone number used to call our user service number. We may also use browser data such as cookies, Flash cookies (also known as Flash Local Shared Objects), or similar data on certain parts of our website for fraud prevention and other purposes. During some visits we may use software tools such as JavaScript to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

We limit disclosure and retention of your personal information

My Owl does not disclose personal information to any organization or person for any reason except for the promotion of the My Owl curriculum and program and for any related research activites.

You are deemed to consent to disclosure of your personal information for those purposes.

If your personal information is shared with third parties, those third parties will be bound by appropriate agreements with My Owl to secure and protect the confidentiality of your personal information.

My Owl retains your personal information only as long as it is required for our program or as required by federal and provincial laws.

We keep your personal information up to date and accurate

My Owl keeps your personal information up to date, accurate and relevant for its intended use.

You may request access to the personal information we have on record in order to review and amend the information, as appropriate. In circumstances where your personal information has been provided by a third party, we will refer you to that party. To access your personal information, refer to the “How to contact us” section below.

The security of your personal information is a priority for My Owl

We take steps to safeguard your personal information, regardless of the format in which it is held, including any combination of the following measures:

·       physical security measures such as restricted access facilities and locked filing cabinets

·       electronic security measures for computerized personal information such as password protection, database encryption and personal identification numbers

·       organizational processes such as limiting access to your personal information to a selected group of individuals

·       contractual obligations with third parties who need access to your personal information requiring them to protect and secure your personal information.

It’s important for you to protect against unauthorized access to your password and your computer. Be sure to sign off when you’ve finished using any shared computer.

What About Links to Other Websites?

Our site may include links to other websites. We do not provide any personally identifiable user information to third-party websites.

We are open about our privacy and security policy

We are committed to providing you with understandable and easily available information about our policy and practices related to management of your personal information. This policy and any related information is available at all times on our website or on request. To contact us, refer to the “How to contact us” section below.

We provide access to your personal information stored by My Owl

You can request access to your personal information stored by My Owl. To contact us, refer to the “How to contact us” section below. Upon receiving such a request, My Owl will:

·       inform you about what type of personal information we have on record or in our control, how it is used and to whom it may have been disclosed

·       provide you with access to your information so you can review and verify the accuracy and completeness and request changes to the information

·       make any necessary updates to your personal information.

We respond to your questions, concerns and complaints about privacy

My Owl responds in a timely manner to your questions, concerns and complaints about the privacy of your personal information and our privacy policies and procedures.

How to contact us

·       by email to myowl@sunnybrook.ca

Our program may change over time, and this privacy notice will change also.  We may e-mail periodic reminders of our notices and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our website frequently to see recent changes. We are, however, committed to protecting your information and will never materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of user information collected in the past without the consent of affected users.