At Lymphoma Canada (LC), we recognize the importance of privacy and are committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality and security of your personal information. This privacy policy describes the personal information that LC collects, how we manage and protect that information and the circumstances under which we may disclose that information.

 

LC’s privacy policy is based upon the requirements of Canadian laws governing the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal information.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, other than an individual’s business title or business contact information. Personal information (e.g., name, address, age, credit card information, banking information) does not include information that cannot be associated with or tracked back to a specific individual. Information that is publicly available, such as a telephone book listing, is also not considered to be personal information.

What information does LC collect?

LC collects two types of information.

1. Non-Personal Information. When you browse through www.lymphoma.ca (“Web site”), you do so anonymously. LC does not collect personal information about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us by interacting with the Web site or submitting an inquiry to us. Our servers automatically log information about visits to this Web site in the normal course of establishing and maintaining web connections. The server logs record statistical information, such as visitors’ IP addresses, time and duration of visit, and Web sites visited. LC collects this information so that we may continuously improve our Web site content. These statistics are reported in aggregate form only. LC does not link server log information to any other data in a way that would enable us to identify individual visitors. In addition, we store certain information from your browser using cookies. A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer’s hard drive or memory by a web server, which allows for personalization of certain aspects of your visit to that Web site. We use session ID cookies to confirm that you are logged in and maintain the user identity of registered users during user sessions (for example, to allow you to change web pages or make personalized selections during your visit without having to re-enter your password). These cookies are deleted once you close your browser. Cookies can usually be disabled by changing your browser preferences. Your browser usually has documentation on how to disable cookies and web beacons. Note that if you disable cookies, certain features of the Web site will not function properly, and you may not be able to register or use your on-line account. As you interact with the Web site, such as posting stories or performing searches and queries, we store this specific usage data in order to provide you with personalized features such as viewing your most recent postings and your favourite searches. These types of data are used to track site usage in an aggregate manner and to improve the services provided on the Web site. Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on the Web site is a violation of the LC Terms of Use and should be reported to:

Attention: Privacy Officer
Lymphoma Canada
6860 Century Avenue, Suite 202
Mississauga, ON L5N 2W5

2. Personal Information. Information you knowingly and voluntarily choose to disclose to establish, maintain and manage our relationship with you may also be collected. Your provision of personal information to LC means that you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not provide any personal information to LC. Failure to provide your personal information to LC may prevent us from offering you the services and/or programs you have requested. We will discuss the impacts of withdrawal of consent with you at that time.

Personal information may also be needed for certain optional Web site activities: The Web site’s “Lymphoma Community” is an on-line service that helps you share your experiences about Lymphoma and connect with others over the Internet regarding their Lymphoma journey. Our Lymphoma Community includes various communication tools, such as shared stories and community connections. Through these tools and through other features of the Web site, certain personal information is collected, as described below.

Registration Information

You may wish to participate in and contribute to the Lymphoma Community. This requires registration. As a registered member, you can contribute to all LC on-line communications, such as posting to the shared stories and permitting other registered users to be able to contact you via personal messages within the Web site, or making resource recommendations to the Web site’s editorial team.

When you register on the LC Web site, you will be required to create a user profile and provide us with your chosen “User Name,” your e-mail address and a password. First name and last name are mandatory but not publicly displayed on the Web site. You will be asked to create a unique User Name; nobody else will be able to post to the site using that name. You will be known to other users of this Site only by your User Name, unless you otherwise identify yourself. When you create a User Name, we encourage you to select a pen name or pseudonym that is easy to remember.

User-submitted Content

Using the Web site, you may submit or contribute information such as:

  • Discussion forum posts
  • Weblog story entries
  • Resource recommendations or submissions
  • Survey and poll responses
  • Other “User Content” as defined in the LC Terms of Use.

You submit and contribute this User Content at your own discretion. Keep in mind that certain User Content you post on the Web site using these features will be available to the general public. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal information in a publicly-available forum such as the Web site.

What types of personal information do we collect?

The information LC collects is the minimum amount we need to demonstrate and maintain a service, volunteer, member or donator relationship with you. This includes:

  • Contact and identification information, such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address;
  • Donation information such as amount of gift;
  • Financial information such as your billing and banking information (credit card number and expiry date, in order to process your donation); for on-line financial transactions such as donations and event registrations, we process standard credit card information (card number, card type and expiration date) via a secure, 128-bit encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) session. SSL is the proven standard for secure web transactions.
  • Other personal information used for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances (e.g., if you have demonstrated an interest in volunteering, we may send you information regarding volunteering and upcoming events).

Some of the information LC collects is needed to satisfy the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) (e.g., income tax receipts). There are also circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of personal information is justified or permitted without consent. These circumstances may include:

  • Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal;
  • Where LC believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
  • Where the information is public.

LC generally collects your personal information directly from you and only with your consent. In addition, LC will not collect or use personal information about you from a third party without your express consent. LC will usually obtain your consent at the time that we collect your personal information. If the purpose for using your personal information changes from the time since such consent was obtained, LC will advise you of this purpose before such use or disclosure.

How does LC use your personal information?

As explained above, LC uses your personal information for membership, to send e-newsletters, to process donations, to respond to requests for services and information, to permit access to the Lymphoma Community on the Web site, to keep you informed about LC activities and to maintain records of correspondence with us. In addition, we use it to control and administer access to and use of the Web site and its features to maintain the security of our Web site and verify and control access to your account to administer personalized settings and content depending on your user profile and the options you have selected.

We may also use the information you provide to us in the following ways:

  • To assist in the development of new programs, events and services
  • To provide donation recipients with summary or aggregate information about our donations, programs and services
  • For internal research purposes
  • To develop information materials based on donor preferences.

 

Web site Privacy Settings

We understand you may not want everyone to see the information you create on the Web site; that is why we give you control of your information. When you register with LC, you create your own profile. You can edit your profile at any time. Your User Name is publicly displayed together with any other optional information you elect to make available. For example, your User Name appears when you post a message to a discussion forum or as the author of the stories you write. Postings to the Lymphoma Community will be associated with your User Name.

Accessing, Changing or Removing Information on Web site

Access and control over most personal information on the Site is readily available through the profile editing tools. Registered users may modify their profile information at any time by logging into their account. Individuals who wish to deactivate their Lymphoma Community registration may do so through “Edit Profile.” Removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time but will not be generally available to registered users of the Web site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal of User Content from our systems, copies of User Content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have viewed, copied or stored your User Content.

Where you make use of the communication features of the service to share information with other individuals on the Web site you generally cannot remove such communications.

Personal information in our custody in connection with the Web site will be located in Toronto, Canada. If you wish to request access or correction of your personal information in our custody or control, you may use the tools described above or otherwise write to:

Lymphoma Canada
6860 Century Avenue, Suite 202
Mississauga, ON L5N 2W5

Your right to access or correct your personal information is subject to applicable legal restrictions.

When does LC disclose your personal information?

LC shares your personal information only with employees who require such information to establish, manage and maintain our relationship with you. However, should you register on the Web site and participate in the Lymphoma Community you shall be permitted to share certain information with others in the Lymphoma Community, friends and people in your networks – while providing you with controls that restrict other third parties from accessing your story entries and other User Content. Your privacy settings are intended to allow you to make informed choices about who has access to your information.

LC uses reasonable efforts to limit access to the social networking information by third-party search engine “crawlers” (e.g., Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask). Other circumstances in which certain personal information may be disclosed or accessible to third parties include the following:

  • Personal information may be transferred between the operator of the Web site and third-party agents or service providers engaged to provide web management, hosting or other services on our behalf in connection with the Web site. We take reasonable measures to ensure that your personal information that may be collected, used, disclosed or otherwise processed by these service providers on our behalf is protected and not used or disclosed for purposes other than as directed by LC, subject to legal requirements applicable to those organizations.
  • We may generally disclose personal information as necessary to meet legal and regulatory, insurance, audit, processing and security requirements. We may otherwise disclose personal information with your consent, or as permitted or required by law.

 

Accuracy of Information

LC aims to ensure that any personal information provided is accurate, complete and current as required for the purposes for which the information is used.

Retention of Personal Information

LC keeps personal information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the program, service or event and the nature of the information. For example, we generally keep financial information for six years, in accordance with CRA rules and regulations. The retention period may extend beyond your relationship with us. When your personal information is no longer required for LC purposes, the information is either physically destroyed or deleted.

Data Security

LC uses reasonable measures to protect our users’ personal information. Information provided to our Web site is located on a secured server behind a firewall. Authorized employees and agents of LC who require access to your personal information in order to fulfill their job requirements will have access to your personal information.

Although we allow you to set privacy options that are designed to limit access to your User Content, and have designed a security framework to implement these options, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you may choose to share your User Content and other personal information.

Links to Other Web sites from lymphoma.ca

LC provides links to other Web sites that LC believes may be of interest to you. As LC has no control over the content of any of these Web sites, these links may be updated or deleted as LC deems appropriate.

Please be aware that LC is not responsible for the privacy practices or accuracy of other Web sites that we link to. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that requests personal information from you.

Inquiries and Requests for Access

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, or would like to access your personal information, please contact our office. Please note that as we cannot guarantee the security of Internet mail, all formal requests to access personal information should be made in writing.

Policy Updates

We reserve the right to update this policy at any time. If a material change is made to the policy, we will e-mail all registered users at the e-mail address provided at time of registration.