For consumer transactions, CWN follows the University of Waterloo’s consumer data privacy policy located here

The Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “Act”), which has been in force since 2004, and to which CWN is subject, prohibits the unauthorized use and disclosure of your “personal information”.

What is personal information?
Personal information means any information about an identifiable individual.

Why do we need personal information?
We may collect personal information from you so as to permit you to access the services of CWN, for CWN to provide its services to you, or to include you in any direct communication and marketing activities (the “purposes”).

How do we collect personal information?
Any personal information about you that we collect will for the most part be collected directly from you. We may also collect personal information about you from:

a.     consumer reporting agency;

b.     a government agency or registry.

Consent
We will not collect any personal information without your consent. Subject to very limited exceptions, we cannot disclose your personal information without your authorization.

Use of personal information
We will use your personal information only for the stated purposes.

Disclosure of personal information
The Act permits us to disclose your personal information without your consent in the following circumstances:

a.     The information is publicly available.

b.     Disclosure is required to comply with a summons, warrant, or order.

c.     Disclosure is required to comply with the rules of court.

d.     Disclosure is required to comply with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

e.     Disclosure is made in response to an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual.

f.      Disclosure is necessary to establish or collect fees.

g.     Disclosure is required by law.

Security
We protect your personal information from unauthorized access using security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. These measures include:

a.     premises security;

b.     safeguards to prevent unauthorized computer access; and

c.     internal password and security policies.

Accuracy

If we hold personal information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, we will take reasonable steps to correct the information when we are advised of errors.

Access to your personal information

Subject to limited exceptions, we will give you access to any of your personal information in our possession. Exceptions may include information that is prohibitively costly to provide, information that refers to other people, or information that cannot be disclosed for legal, security or proprietary reasons.

E-Mail and personal information

E-mail is not perfectly secure. It is possible for people to gain unauthorized access to e-mail. We routinely use e-mail, however, because its efficiency and cost-effectiveness usually outweigh the risk of unauthorized access.

Website
Like most other businesses, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimize our web service.

Retention and destruction of personal information

Your personal information in our possession will be stored in any one or more of the following locations:

a.     our paper file;

b.     electronic files;

c.     accounting records; and

d.     administrative records.

With few exceptions, the content of our paper file belongs to you. When your personal information is no longer required by us for the purposes stated, we will shred, delete or otherwise destroy it, save and except for name and address information which we will keep indefinitely for marketing purposes, unless you otherwise direct.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
We regularly review all of our policies and procedures. We may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.

Requests for access
If you have any questions, or want access to your personal information, please write to:

Canadian Water Network
c/o University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo ON N2L 3G1
info@cwn-rce.ca
Tel: 519-888-4567 ext. 36367
Fax: 519-883-7574

If you feel that we have contravened any provision of the Act, you may file a written complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at 112 Kent Street, Ottawa, ON, K1A 1H3.