Privacy

THE REGION OF WATERLOO'S WEB PRIVACY STATEMENT

OVERVIEW

Most of the information accessible on the Region's website does not require you to identify yourself at all. You may access it anonymously. However, the Region of Waterloo does collect personal information about you when you choose to provide it. We endeavour to collect only as much personal information as is absolutely necessary to assist you in conducting business with the Region via the website.

Purposes for Which We Collect Personal Information

• We collect and retain personal information for the following purposes:
• To process your requests for services, products or further information
• To communicate with you regarding services or products that you have requested
• To identify you if you have a query or concern about the service or product that you have requested
• To advise you about changes to our web service offerings and of service interruptions
• To meet legal and regulatory requirements

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

The Region of Waterloo is the sole owner of the information collected on its site. We do not use or retain personal information that you provide to us for any secondary purposes unless we clearly notify you and gain your permission first. We will not sell, share, rent or otherwise disclose your personal information to any organization or individual outside the Region of Waterloo unless we first notify you and ask your permission.

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track clients' movements, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. We may occasionally report aggregated demographic information in the form of reports and statistics but this is not linked to any personal information that can be used to identify any individual person.

From time-to-time our site may request information from you via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you have a choice of whether or not to disclose the information requested. Survey information will be used solely for the purposes of monitoring and/or improving the use and satisfaction of this site. If you choose not to participate in surveys, you will still be able to use our site or request services or products from us. Exceptions

There may be certain exceptions to the Region's Privacy Statement. Any and all exceptions will be CLEARLY identified at the moment that information is being gathered.

For more information, or if you have questions or concerns, please contact the Region's Access, Research & Special Projects Officer:

 

By email at: bgeoff@region.waterloo.on.ca

By telephone at: 519-575-4492 or

By mail at: Access, Research & Special Projects Officer, Council and Administrative Services, Region of Waterloo, 150 Frederick Street, Kitchener, Ontario N2G 4J3 Notification of Changes to the Privacy Statement

If we decide to change our privacy statement, we will post those changes on the Region's home page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under which circumstances, if any, we disclose it. Links to Other Websites

This website contains links to other sites (eg. community links, business links, etc.). Please be aware that the Region of Waterloo cannot be held responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. When you leave our site, we encourage you to read the privacy statement of each and every website that you visit before you provide any personal information. The Region's privacy statement applies solely to information collected on the Region's website.