Privacy policy

(Last modified on April 26, 2021)

Introduction

Welcome to the Liberal Purchase Portal and e-commerce Services. We thank you for choosing to use the Portal. Data Sciences Inc. (the company that owns the Portal) takes your privacy and security of Personal Information very seriously. We have provided and will continue to provide a secure environment and this strict Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) that describes the limited ways your information is used and the limited access to such information.

Key Elements of this Policy

Here are the key elements of this Policy so you can know the important parts right away to make an informed decision about your consent for our collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information. You can find the details in the rest of the Policy.

Personal Information we collect from you, but only with your informed consent	What we do with it	Third parties we share it with
Contact information	Communicate with you about your purchase	Companies that store our data, and the Ontario Liberal Party
Billing information	Process the payments for your purchases	Companies that store our data and companies that process payments, specifically Shopify Payments

Definitions

This Policy covers several different situations, so please refer to the following definitions for clarification:

“Data Sciences” refers to Data Sciences Inc., a corporation in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Where the present Policy refers to “Data Sciences”, it may refer to Data Sciences and / or its affiliates, and their respective shareholders, officers, directors, employees, agents, partners, principals, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively “Representatives”), depending on the context. Any reference to “we”, “our”, or “us” in this Policy shall also refer to Data Sciences.

“Portal” refers to the Portal located at the URL digital.ontarioliberal.ca which is owned and operated by Data Sciences, and includes all subpages, present and future.

“Products” refers to any products or services that you can purchase through the Services on the Portal. Products include but are not limited to “Email Plans” which are a bundle of email deliveries to be used through the Liberalist platform, as more fully detailed in the Terms of Use.

“Services” are the e-commerce software services that Data Sciences has developed and / or licensed that allow you to purchase Products on the Portal, and related functionalities.

“Users” refers to anyone visiting the Portal or using the Services. In this Policy, a Portal visitor or Services User may also be referred to as “you”. When a Services User has made a purchase of a Product, they may be referred to as a “Purchaser”.

Additional definitions shall be made throughout this Policy, but they will be recognizable as they will be capitalized, bolded, and in quotation marks. Additional definitions may also be found in the Terms of Use, and will have the same meaning in this Policy as they do there. The definitions found in this Policy shall also apply to the Terms of Use.

Acceptance / Consent and Modifications

By visiting the Portal and / or using the Services (including but not limited to purchasing a Product, you agree to be bound by the terms of the Policy. By submitting Personal Information to us on the Portal, through the Services or via other means, you consent to Data Sciences’ collection, use and disclosure of such Personal Information (as that term is defined hereinbelow) in accordance with this Policy (as amended from time to time) and as permitted or required by law. If you do not agree to all the provisions contained in the Policy, you are not authorized to use the Portal or Services, and if you are making a purchase, you should not proceed with your purchase.

Data Sciences reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to modify or replace any of the Policy. Any changes to the Policy can be found at this URL. It is your responsibility to check the Policy periodically for changes. Your use of the Portal or the Services following the posting of any changes to the Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes. If there are any significant changes to the Policy that materially affect the way we treat your information, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you by posting a prominent notice on the Portal.

The Policy should be read in conjunction with the Terms of Use, as both these documents govern your use of the Portal and Services.

If you have any questions about the Policy or if you wish to inquire about and / or access any Personal Information Data Sciences holds about you, please contact:

Data Sciences Privacy Officer

privacy@datasciences.ca

or:

Data Sciences Privacy Officer

423, rue Saint-Nicolas, Suite 400

Montreal, QC

H2Y 2P4

If you have any questions about the Portal itself or the Products available on the Portal, or the treatment of your Personal Information once received by the Ontario Liberal Party, please contact the Ontario Liberal Party Help Desk.

What Does This Privacy Policy Cover?

This Policy covers the treatment of personally-identifiable information, i.e. any information that identifies an individual, or can be used in conjunction with other information to identify an individual (“Personal Information”) and other information gathered by Data Sciences when you are visiting the Portal and / or using the Services. This Policy also covers Data Sciences’ treatment of any Personal Information that Data Sciences may share with its partners or other third parties under very limited circumstances.

This Policy does not apply to the general practices and treatment of information (whether Personal or not) by third parties that Data Sciences does not own or control, including but not limited to any third-party website or services that you elect to access through the Portal or via a link from the Portal (“Third-Party Website”), or to individuals that Data Sciences does not manage or employ. While we attempt to facilitate access or link only to those Third-Party Websites that share our respect for your privacy, we cannot take responsibility for the content or privacy policies of those Third-Party Websites. We encourage you to carefully review the privacy policies of any Third-Party Website you access. We have named and provided links to the most important of these Third-Party Websites elsewhere in this Policy.

Finally, this Policy does not cover any Personal Information you send to Data Sciences via any non-secured, non-encrypted mode of communications such as email, instant messenger or other messaging service, or Twitter or any other social media, as communications via these methods may be subject to interception, loss, or alteration. While we welcome your comments and suggestions sent to us in this manner, we encourage you to carefully examine what Personal Information you send to Data Sciences via these methods.

No Collection of Personal Information as a Matter of Course

Data Sciences does not, as a matter of course, gather any of your Personal Information while you visit the Portal or are using the Services, unless you are asked to provide such information, for example by making a purchase of Products. Personal Information is only gathered with your informed consent. Where you have provided Personal Information, it will only be used for the stated purpose, as detailed more specifically in the next section.

Personal Information Collected and Its Uses

The following is an exhaustive list of Personal Information collected from you when you visit the Portal or use the Services and what we use it for. You acknowledge and agree that you are submitting this Personal Information with your informed consent.

“Contact Information”. You must provide your phone number and email address when purchasing Product(s). We use this Contact Information to send you confirmation about your purchase, and to communicate with you about your purchase.

“Billing Information”. As a Purchaser, you will be required to enter the following information in addition to your Contact Information in order to complete your order: your first name, last name, and billing address. This information is used to process the payment for your purchase once transferred to the Third-Party Payment Processor, as discussed in the Secured Payments section further below in this Policy.

“Credit Card Information”. Please note that your credit card number, expiry date, and card security (CVV) number are collected directly by the Third-Party Payment Processor for payment processing of your purchase of Products. For more details on the treatment of your Credit Card Information, please see the Secured Payments section further below in this Policy.

In addition to the functions and uses just described, Data Sciences may also use your Personal Information you have submitted in order to:

Perform general User and Purchaser support; and
Perform any functions as otherwise explicitly described to you at the time of your submission of your Personal Information.

Security of Information

We have implemented very strict technical and organisational procedures for ensuring that, by default, only the Personal Information which is necessary for each specific purpose of the processing are processed by us. These procedures prevent your Personal Information from being lost; or used or accessed in any unauthorised way.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable supervisory authority of a suspected data security breach where applicable data protection laws require us to do so, and within the time frame required by the applicable data protection law.

We use only industry best practices (physical, electronic and procedural) in keeping any data collected (including Personal Information) secure. In addition, we use third-party vendors and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to operate the E-Commerce Services, and these third parties have been selected for their high standards of security, both electronic and physical. For example, we use Amazon AWS, a recognized leader in secure data, for hosting of the Portal, Services and related data, and storage of data including Personal Information.

All information, including Personal Information, is transferred with encryption using Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) or Transport Layer Security (“TLS”), robust security standards for Internet data transfer and transactions. You can use your browser to check our valid SSL security certificates on the Portal.

Data Sciences currently uses Shopify for e-commerce and processing of secured credit card payments for payments for Products. Shopify is certified as a PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Service Provider Level 1, the highest-volume security level for credit card transaction companies. You can read more about Shopify’s PCI-DSS compliance on their website.

Non-disclosure of Personal Information to Third Parties

Except as provided in the next paragraphs and specified in the next two sections of this Policy, Data Sciences does not divulge any Personal Information gathered via the Portal or Services to third parties. Moreover, Data Sciences does not sell, rent, trade or license any Personal Information regarding its Portal Users or Purchasers to third parties. Only the Representatives of Data Sciences are responsible for the management and development of the Portal and Services, and only these individuals have access to the information collected there. These Representatives all have been instructed to comply with the Policy, and are under contractual obligations of non-disclosure.

Notwithstanding anything in the Policy to the contrary, we may share any information we have collected about you or that you have submitted (whether Personal Information or not): (1) in response to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish, protect, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims or demands; (2) if we believe it is necessary in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, fraud, or situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, or any violation of the Terms of Use; (3) if we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding situations that involve abuse of the Portal or Services infrastructure or the Internet in general (such as voluminous spamming, denial of service attacks, or attempts to compromise the security of the Portal or Services infrastructure or the Portal or Services generally); (4) to a parent company, subsidiaries, joint ventures, or other companies under common control with Data Sciences (in which case we will require such entities to honour this Policy); (5) if Data Sciences merges with another entity, is subject to a corporate reorganization, or sells or transfers all or part of its business, assets or shares (in which case we will require such entity to assume our obligations under this Policy, or inform you that you are covered by a new privacy policy).

Furthermore, any Personal Information requested by any government agency including but not limited to Elections Canada will be transferred to them, if such request complies with applicable law.

Transfer of Personal Information to Third Parties

Data Sciences uses certain “Third-Party Services” in order to augment the functionalities of the Portal and Services. When you submit Personal Information to us for the use of these functionalities you acknowledge and agree to the transfer of Personal Information to these Third-Party Services. The Third-Party Services used and the information sent to them and the purposes for their use are:

Amazon AWS. Your name and Contact Information is stored at Amazon AWS, so that it may be retrieved by us for the purposes outlined elsewhere in this Policy. Your Contact Information and Billing Information will be stored by Amazon AWS if you choose the “save this information for next time” option during the checkout process, in order to facilitate future purchases.

In addition to these Third-Party Services, we will transfer the name and Contact Information of a Purchaser to the Ontario Liberal Party so that they confirm the purchase and allow use of purchased Email Plans on Liberalist, and communicate with you about your Products if necessary, including to provide Purchaser support.

Secured Payments

Data Sciences currently uses the “Third-Party Payment Processor” Shopify Payments for processing of secured payments for purchases of Products. When you make a payment through the Services, your Billing Information is transferred securely via SSL from the Services to the Third-Party Payment Processor. All Credit Card Information is collected by the Third-Party Payment Processor, on their own secure servers. Data Sciences does not have access to any Credit Card Information, and no Credit Card Information is ever stored on servers controlled by Data Sciences. The Third-Party Payment Processor has our permission to store, on behalf of Data Sciences, the data pertaining to the executed transactions by Purchasers (including all Credit Card Information) with the goal of ensuring a secure method of payment and proof of purchase archive, allowing for the protection of Purchasers, and for follow-up as needed. This data may be used for validation purposes of Purchasers, and to trace any fraudulent activities if necessary. While Users can store Billing Information for future purchases, Credit Card Information is not available to Data Sciences.

Limited Gathering of Information for Statistical, Analytical and Security Purposes

Data Sciences may automatically collect certain information using third-party analytics programs and Shopify Analytics to help us understand how our Users use the Portal and Services, but none of this information identifies you personally. For example, each time you visit the Portal or use the Services, we automatically collect (as applicable) your IP address, browser and computer or device type, access times, the web page from which you came, the page(s) or content you access, and other related information. We use information collected in this manner only to better understand your needs and the needs of Portal visitors and Services Users in the aggregate. Data Sciences also makes use of information gathered for statistical purposes to keep track of the number of visits to the Portal, the specific pages on the Portal, and its Users (in the aggregate) with a view to introducing improvements to the Portal and Services.

Your IP address and other relevant information we collect using these programs may be used in order to trace any fraudulent or criminal activity, or any activity in violation of the Terms of Use.

Tracking Technology ("Cookies") and Related Technologies

Data Sciences uses tracking technology (“cookies” and related technology such as tags, pixels and web beacons) on the Portal and by visiting a Portal or using the Services you agree to their use. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer or device when you visit a wesbite, in order to track use of the site and to improve the user experience by storing certain data on your computer. The Services use “session cookies,” which improve your user experience by storing certain information from your current visit on your computer or device while you are making a purchase of Products.

Specifically, we use cookies for the following functions:

to keep track of Product(s) in your shopping cart and facilitate the purchase process;
to provide general internal and User analytics and to conduct research to improve the content of the Portal and Services using the analytics programs as described above in this Policy; and
to assist in identifying possible fraudulent activities.

Your browser can be set to refuse cookies or delete them after they have been stored. Please refer to your browser’s help section for instructions. Please note that deleting these cookies may reduce your user experience on the Services by requiring you to re-enter certain information, including information required to use the Services. Furthermore, deleting cookies may prevent certain functions from working at all. Data Sciences and its Representatives shall not be held responsible for any function that may not operate after you delete cookies, or any losses or damages (pecuniary or otherwise) arising from those functions not operating, or having reduced functionality.

Verification, Correction and Deletion of Personal Information

You have the right to: (i) verify what Personal Information Data Sciences holds about you; (ii) ask for your Personal Information to be corrected or updated; and (iii) withdraw your consent to the use by Data Sciences of your Personal Information and have it deleted from our records. If you wish to inquire about and verify and / or correct Personal Information Data Sciences holds about you, or if you wish to have all your Personal Information permanently deleted from our records, please contact us using the contact information further up in this Policy. Please note that deletion of your Personal Information may make it impossible for you to use the Services, or certain portions thereof, and Data Sciences and its Representatives accepts no responsibility for any damages, pecuniary or otherwise, resulting therefrom. If you request deletion of your Personal Information, Data Sciences reserves the right to retain some of your Personal Information for a reasonable time in order to satisfy our legal obligations or under a legal procedure of any sort.

Risks Associated with the Internet and Wireless Data Transmission

Despite Data Sciences’ best efforts to ensure that third parties will not access or obtain your Personal Information through your use of the Services or visiting the Portal, complete confidentiality and security cannot currently be guaranteed on the Internet and / or where data is transferred via digital wireless technology of any type. Communication via the Internet or wireless data transmission is subject to interception, loss, or alteration. You acknowledge and agree that Data Sciences and its Representatives cannot be held responsible for damages resulting from the transmission of confidential information or Personal Information in this manner and that such communications are at your own risk.

Compliance with Privacy Laws

This Policy and Data Sciences’ practices in general are designed to be in compliance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”, S.C. 2000, c. 5) and Quebec’s An Act Respecting the Protection Of Personal Information in the Private Sector (R.S.Q. c. P-39.1). If you have any questions regarding this compliance, please contact us using the contact information further up in this Policy.