Privacy Policy
Applicability
This Privacy Statement outlines the general policy of Smart Growth Solutions when it comes to the relevant collection, processing, storage and/or distribution of personal information of its website users, employees, contractors and agents as well as existing or potential clients. For the purposes of this Privacy Statement, Smart Growth Solutions shall apply this statement anywhere and anytime, even if there is no active online interaction regarding the collection, processing, use and/or proper disposal of personal information. The terms “you” and “your” as used in this Privacy Statement pertain to all individuals stated in the foregoing sentence.
This Privacy Statement explains how we manage well your information and keeps your information in respect of which confidentiality is preserved. This does not however cover any information obtained to which all this is focused on Smart Growth Solutions commercial activities about Smart Growth Solutions
Third party sites may be accessed through our websites. Such sites are operated solely by third parties, and Smart Growth Solutionsis not responsible for their maintenance. While we take care in choosing third party sites that we link to, since these sites do not fall under the purview of this Privacy Statement, we accept no responsibility for their content or for their privacy policies. Every website you access should have its own privacy policy and we recommend you dense it.
The site, www.smartgrowthsolutions.ca , is not meant for individuals other than those who reside in Canada and the United States and are above eighteen (18) years of age.
With regards to users of the websites, by using our website(s) you do accept the terms of this Privacy Statement.
If there is any contradiction regarding the content of this Privacy Statement and that of an existing Agreement for Services between Smart Growth Solutions and any of its clients, then this Privacy Statement will always take precedence in the resolution of the issue.
What is personal information?
Personal information means any information that can help identify an individual, which could include, but not be limited to, any of these:
- Characteristics; such as race, nationality, age and whether a person is married or single.
- Particulars on dark personal life and contact details as well as numbers including sin and work id numbers.
- Assets; most recent employment status, personnel records, previous borrowing history and loan applications, including future employment plans.
- Pertinent data about a given individual’s schooling, occupations and their pay/expenses.
- Health history records of a patient.
- Social perception, judgments and attitudes.
The 10 principles of privacy
This Privacy Policy is subject to the 10 principles enumerated below:
1. Accountability
2. Identifying purpose – which answers the question why we collect information
3. Consent
4. Limiting collection
5. Limiting use, disclosure and retention
6. Accuracy
7. Protecting safeguarding all personal information
8. Openness – keeping you updated
9. Providing individual access
10. Compliance challenge
Updates to this Privacy Policy shall be made wherever possible if any changes in our privacy practices with respect to your personal information. We reserve the right to add, modify, or remove portions of this Privacy Statement to the extent permitted by law whenever we consider it appropriate. You may find the date of last modification of the Privacy Statement by checking the date marked as “last revised” at the bottom of this Privacy Statement. Effective dates of these changes to the Privacy statement include all information collected from the “last revised” date forward as well as any information that is contained under the control of Smart Growth Solutions at that time.
1. ACCOUNTABILITY
Smart Growth Solutions is charged with keeping and safeguarding any information in its possession about the individuals. For more information about how we handle your personal details in Smart Growth Solutions, you may use the Contact Form at the bottom of this page to reach our Privacy Officer(s). Our Privacy Officer(s), along with Smart Growth Solutions’s Legal Advisors, is/are tasked with reviewing how Smart Growth Solutions manages and processes personal data, including this Privacy Statement, which should always be current. From time to time, specific Privacy Statement duties may be delegated by our Privacy Officer(s) to other members of the Smart Growth Solutions staff.
2. IDENTIFYING PURPOSE – REASONS FOR HAVING THE PERSONAL INFORMATION
When it comes to our websites, we may collect the information below about you:
- Information that you provide by filling in forms or submitting resumes on our site, or customer sites which Smart Growth Solutions operates for recruitment purposes. This includes the information collected when the user registers to use the site, when the user makes a request to subscribe to the service, upload content or request additional services. Also, we may ask you for the information when you enter any contest or promotion sponsored by Smart Growth Solutions and/or when you file a complaint regarding the site.
- In case you write to us, we may maintain the record of such correspondence.
- Sometimes we may invite you to participate in such a survey which is conducted solely for the purpose of research – it is up to you whether you will answer or not.
- Particulars of purchases made or other services rendered through our website.
- Particulars of your visits to our site such as traffic data, geographic location, IP addresses, logs and other communication data whether or not these are necessary for our billing systems or other purposes, and the resources that you access.
In broader terms, we collect personal data for the following reasons:
- for marketing or transactional purposes and to effect the transaction requested;
- for creating a service or product and notifying customers on availability of the same, and for example, improvement of the service or product where applicable;
- for enabling you to enjoy certain interactive aspects of our service, at your discretion;
- for planning and conducting Smart Growth Solutions business and activities which includes matters concerning human resources management;
- for the purposes of ensuring that our site is optimized for the best viewing experience on you as well as your system; and/or
- for compliance with laws and policies.
In other occasions, the collection and usage of personal information might be warranted.
It is our policy to inform you of the purposes for which personal information about you will be processed at the point of collecting the information, or beforehand. We will restrict our collections of data so as only to include what is required for the stated purpose or purposes and we will use the data only for those stated purposes. Where it is in our interests to process your personal data for a purpose that has not been given previously, we shall explain this new purpose to you before we process your personal data for this new purpose and shall ask for your agreement in relation to this new purpose.
If you pay for our services via our website(s) or telephone using a credit card, please note that your credit card details shall be used only for the processing of credit cards.
3. THE CONSENT
At the moment of the collection or in advance we will reach your consent to use your personal information in a clear and comprehensible language. This being the case, we will first consider the type of personal information required, the purpose of its use and the manner of contact with you before deciding on the active caste of the given form of consent (for example direct vs implied, written, oral, electronic). It’s upon you to decide what personal information can be given to us.
We will inform you of the alternatives to consent to the collection, processing, storage, and distribution as well as the subsequent withdrawal of such consent and your choices recorded in writing will be followed (unless otherwise determined by the law or undertakings). It should however be noted that not giving these consents may affect the type of services available to you. For instance, if you are seeking technical assistance, and refuse to provide certain details, we may be unable to verify your credentials as a registered user and may have to turn down your request for assistance. So too, in case you are a customer of our products and you ask us to erase your name from our customer base such requests will terminate the information through email or otherwise for technical assistance like version upgrade notices.
4. LIMITING COLLECTION
We collect and process information by fair and lawful means. Personal information, if collected and or processed, shall be done for one or more specific, limited purpose(s) and within the limits of this Privacy Statement.
Our websites, just like many other commercial websites, use a basic technology referred to as a “cookie” to aid in gathering data about the usage patterns of these websites. The term “cookie” refers to a small unit of information which a website is capable of sending to one’s browser for storage in a person’s computer system may be used to identify the person’s computer anonymously as a tag but not the user. While using our sites, to enhance our service, we may use cookies for a number of reasons including but not limited to: (i) recognizing the user’s browser as one that has previously visited the sites; and (ii) storing and recalling any preferences that the user may have entered during his or her prior visits to the sites. Cookies assist in making the experience to our sites more “user friendly”. Cookies cannot obtain any other information stored in your computer or access your email. It is only Smart Growth Solutions who can use our cookies to identify you. Any information which may be collected from you by means of a cookie will be subject to this Privacy Policy. However, you may configure the settings of your web browser in a manner that you will be informed whenever a cookie is received by the web browser, thereby allowing you to choose whether to accept a cookie or not. Please note that in case you do not want to accept cookies, you may not be able to access some Smart Growth Solutions services that enlist you.
5. RESTRICTION TO USE, REVEAL AND STORAGE
a. Purpose limitation: Your Personal data will be processed solely for the identified purpose(s) (except in the case of other legally overriding obligations or undertakings). We will address you before it is proposed, the new purpose to use your personal information for a purpose previously unmentioned and acquire your consent in respect to that purpose before proceeding to use your personal information for that purpose.
b. Third party disclosure: In no circumstances do we sell customer lists or any other personal information to third parties; however, there are some unavoidable types of disclosure of your personal information which may occur as a result of us conducting business in a normal course of activities, including for example, to our partners, consultants and suppliers (collectively, our “service providers”), but only: (i) if they undertake to comply with this Privacy Statement; and, (ii) for the purpose that is equal to the provided business services or support to Smart Growth Solutions. Furthermore, in case of pending or completed buy-out, share acquisition (including but not limited to debt collection, liquidation, repossession or other forms of internal take-over), leasing, joining or amalgamating with other companies, or any other of taking over the control, still providing the same services to you from a third party as from Smart Growth Solutions, Smart Growth Solutions reserves the right to share and/or assign your private details with some other entity. And if your personal information is ever shared with another entity, we will only allow this other entity to use your personal information for Smart Growth Solutions’s purposes, which may include disclosing your personal information to third parties but only after informing you or as permitted by the applicable privacy laws. In providing your personal information you consent to placing that information in the hands of third parties under the conditions stated above.
c. Contests and surveys: From time to time, we may invite you to take part in contests and surveys accessible on our websites. The data collected in the course of these contests and surveys could be linked to specific customer accounts and utilized by us to enhance your customer journey. This kind of data will in turn only be made available to our contractors as aggregate information.
d. Opting out: Unless you opt out , For avoidance of doubt, we may include in any unsolicited marketing and promotional mailings, including electronic ones, information on goods or services that you voluntarily provided us with. In the case you do not wish to receive such mailings from us, at any timeyou may simply “opt-out” by checking the appropriate block on the original submission form or notifying the Privacy Officer (see Section 1 above).
e. Message boards: Our Websites may from time to time include message boards, community forums, chatrooms or other such like communities (each a “Community”). We do not regularly monitor and do not provide any support for any Community. In our sole discretion, we may modify, suspend or terminate any Community, without any prior notification. We further reserve the right (but not the obligation) in our sole discretion to pre-screen any content, including but not limited to, any software codes, texts, pictures, photographs or any other graphics (“Posted Material”), submitted to any Community, and use, delete, refuse, support, or move such content. You alone shall be responsible for the assessment of Posted Material present in comment sections of a Community. In the event that you utilize any Posted Material, the entire risk associated with such use is assumed by you. You are fully responsible for any Submitted Material which is seen fit to be submitted by you in these communities. The Company shall not be liable for any content appearing in those communities for any purpose. All Posted Material will be regarded as Non-Confidential Information. Any reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise in any Posted Material shall not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation of such product by Smart Growth Solutions. The views of the authors of Submitted Materials do not necessarily express or reflect the view of Smart Growth Solutions and shall not be used in any advertising materials or for the purpose of endorsing or disapproving of any products.
While uploading Posted Material, you warrant and represent that (a) you are the copyright owner of such Posted Material or the copyright owner of such Posted Material has authorized you to use such Posted Material in the manner and for the purpose of its use at the Smart Growth Solutions websites and otherwise within this Privacy Statement (b) you possess the rights needed to permit the above mentioned licenses and (c) that whenever such Posted Material includes a person, such person has granted permission for the use of the Posted Material in the manner outlined in this Privacy Statement. By submitting Posted Material, you are and Smart Growth Solutions makes to all members of the Community and to the general public only, under this Privacy Statement, a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free license to use the Posted Materials: to perform, display, reproduce, edit, distribute, transmit, and the like, your Posted Material substantively without attributing to the Posted Material your name. The licenses granted to Posted Material above shall cease as of the time you delete all such Posted Material from the Community, however, such cessation shall not alter any licenses granted prior to your deletion of those materials. Smart Growth Solutions or any other member of the Community shall not pay any compensation for any utilization of your Posted Material.
f. Legal concerns: Pursuant to paragraph (a), we may be obligated or required by a competent authority, such as the court in the territories where we operate, to reveal personal data that we possess about other individuals. Hence, it may not be possible for us to inform you about the existence of such an event, the responsible entity, the details and timing of the information which was processed, or which events occurred.
g. Some time later, retaining personal data that is unreasonably longer than what is appropriate for the purpose of collection is the Within borders provided and defended by the law, Smart Growth Solutions shall do its best to ensure that the timeframe for the retention of personal data shall not go beyond the stipulated purposes for which the data was collected other than as specifically agreed with you. Should you ask for the Smart Growth Solutions personal data which is presently in its possession to be erased, kindly do so by contacting info@smartgrowthsolutions.ca . Reasonable steps will be taken to allow deletion of your personal data upon a demand. The actual erasure of any personal data directed to Smart Growth Solutions should be completed within one year period starting since receipt of a removal request by Smart Growth Solutions. Where customer personal information is submitted through the Smart Growth Solutions software for the benefit of an Smart Growth Solutions customer (such as a job application provided via a Smart Growth Solutions supported site), it is first necessary to approach the Smart Growth Solutions client and demand the removal of such information if in their possession. The action of eradicating customer supplied personal data from Smart Growth Solutions will start once the client has requested the removal of such data and will take a full year to conclude.
6. PRECISENESS OF DATA RELATING TO THE CLIENT
We make it a point to suggest to you that all the information you give us should be checked for its veracity. In as much as new personal information is pertinent to the purposes for which it was first collected, we will take reasonable measures to maintain your personal information true and current with information that you provide. Should you notice any inaccuracies in the details we hold about your person, please reach out to the Privacy Officer as soon as possible (in writing or through email – refer to Section 1 above) and we will rectify the records accordingly.
7. PROTECTING THE INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONAL INFORMATION
We apply security measures that are appropriate to the level of sensitivity as well as the specific type of personal data that is being safeguarded from for instance loss or theft, and from unauthorized access, use, modification, disclosure, and destruction. In general, our protective measures consist of:
- physical measures, for instance, locking filing cabinets or restricting access to certain locations;
- organizational measures, such as the use of security passes or ensuring access to personal data is on a need-to-know basis;
- technical measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, simple passwords, and cryptography; and
- policies and procedures, including reversed disposal of invasive information.
Any personal information we get from you may be sent to a location beyond the boundaries of the United States of America, Canada or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), and stored there. This could include employees or workers for our suppliers or service providers located outside the EEA. Such personnel may carry out various tasks relating to your order, processes regarding payment details and rendering of other services. You thus consent to such transfer of personal information through submission of such information.
In instances when service providers are given personal information to render services on our behalf, we will use commercially reasonable means to procure compliance with this Privacy Statement from such entities or individuals. We will disclose to them only such information that is necessary for the services which they are contracted for. Commercially reasonable efforts will be made to cause them to adhere to this Privacy Statement. But if they do not, you agree that we will not be responsible to you for any such failure by a service provider.
8. OPACITY – ENSURING YOU KNOW EVERYTHING
We strive to be transparent about our policies and procedures regarding the management of personal information.
9. GIVING INDIVIDUAL ACCESS
To receive a copy of the personal data which we hold about you, please write to our Privacy Officer (Section 1 above) enclosing proof of identity and appropriate evidence of your right to access such information. You have the right to understand how your personal data was collected, how it is being used and whether it has been shared with anyone else (not including any sharing with government agencies or our service providers as a part of regular business operations).
In the event that you believe there is any incorrect information contained in your personal records, please notify us forthwith (by telephone, facsimile, postal service or email) and we shall rectify the inaccuracies if they exist.
From time to time we may deny your request for access to certain personal information in our possession or control. For instance, this may happen if access to you is likely to lead to the disclosure of information about another individual and that information cannot be removed or the third party cannot be given permission to such a disclosure and it is inappropriate for us to capitulate to the request. In addition, a request may also be denied if the relevant information was gathered during the course of an ongoing investigation in relation to the legal proceedings or there are other legal restrictions in place that prevent the information being divulged such as a confidentiality clause. If we refuse your request for access, we will write to you explaining the grounds on which we have refused so that you know whether you wish to dispute such determination.
10. CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your privacy or our adherence with this Privacy Statement, please contact the Privacy Officer (refer to Section 1 above). We shall look into the matter and get back to you with a response within a reasonable time period. Kindly make sure to state your full name and physical address, your communication preference, the nature of your inquiry, and all pertinent information, including prior correspondence with us, if any. If our response to your concerns does not satisfy you, we shall offer you information on other complaint mechanisms that may be open to you.