Privacy Policy
Doctors Eye Care Co-op Ltd. operating as Eye Recommend and its corporate affiliates (“Eye Recommend”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects and uphold your right to privacy and the protection of personal information.
Below are the current privacy policies for both Eye Recommend employees and Eye Recommend members.
LAST UPDATED: February, 2020
Doctors Eye Care Co-op Ltd. operating as Eye Recommend and its corporate affiliates (“Eye Recommend”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects and upholds your right to privacy and protection of your personal information while balancing such rights with our need to process your personal information to manage our business and deliver our services to you. We have developed this privacy policy (the “Policy”) to explain how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us.
SCOPE OF THE POLICY
This Policy describes our practices with respect to how we may collect, use, disclose, retain, dispose and otherwise process (collectively, “process”) your personal information when you use our website operated at www.eyerecommend.ca and other locations from time to time (the “Website”), and the services we provide through the Website or otherwise (collectively, the “Services”).
Our Website may contain links to other websites or Internet resources which are provided solely for your convenience and information. When you click on one of those links you are contacting another Internet resource. We have no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other Internet resources or their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of those other Internet resources to learn how they collect and use your personal information.
By using our Website or Service, or otherwise by choosing to provide us with your personal information, you acknowledge and consent to the processing of your personal information in Canada in accordance with this Policy and as may be further identified when the personal information is collected. If you are located or residing outside of Canada, please be aware that our Website and Service are intended for and directed to users in Canada, and the privacy laws and principles in Canada may differ and not offer the same level of protection as those in your location or residing country/region. Through your continued use of our Website or Service, you are transferring your personal information to Canada and you expressly consent to that transfer. We will use this consent as the legal basis for such data transfer, unless otherwise stated in this Policy.
If you do not consent to the processing of your personal information in accordance with this Policy, please do not access or continue to use any of the Website or Service or otherwise provide any personal information to us.
This Policy does not impose any limits on the collection, use or disclosure of business contact information or certain publicly available information. This Policy does not apply to our employees’ personal information or any anonymized information.
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect personal and non-personal information that you provide directly to us, such as when you sign up to receive communications from us, or when you otherwise communicate with us through our site or provide or post information to our site. For the purposes of this Policy, “personal information” means any identifiable information about an individual, which includes but is not limited to the individual’s name, age, gender, home address, phone number, personal e-mail address, etc.
Collection from Third Parties
We do not knowingly collect your personal information from a third party unless you consent or we are otherwise exempted, required or permitted by applicable laws to do so. For example, we may collect your personal information from the following third parties:
- your authorized representative(s);
- organization(s) that you previously consented to collect your personal information - for example, your Facebook user name if you “Like” us on Facebook; or
- public sources in which your personal information is publicly available.
If we collect your personal information from a third party, we will only process that information for the specific purpose for which it was provided to us in accordance with this Policy and the policy under which that information was collected.
INFORMATION COLLECTED THROUGH THE WEBSITE
When you visit the Website, we or our service providers that help us maintain and operate our Website may also automatically collect the following information relating to your access to and use of our Website through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies:
- your domain name;
- your browser type and operating system;
- your type of computer or mobile device;
- web pages you view;
- links you click;
- your IP address;
- the length of time you visit our websites; and
- the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to our website.
This helps us understand how visitors browse our Website, so that we can make their browsing experience better. We may combine this information with other information that we have collected about you, including, where applicable, your name, and other personal information.
We may use various technological methods to track the patterns of users accessing and using our Website, including some or all of the methods described below.
Log Data
We may collect information that your web browser sends whenever you visit our Website ("Log Data"). This Log Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics.
In addition, we may use third party automated devices and applications (such as Google Analytics) that collect, monitor and analyze this type of information in order to evaluate usage of our site and increase our Service's functionality. We also may use other analytic means to evaluate our services. We use these tools to help us improve our services, performance and user experiences. These entities may use cookies and other tracking technologies to perform their services. You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize the Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings page. Google also recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for your web browser. Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page.
Cookies
Cookies are files with small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer's hard drive. We use "cookies" to collect information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service or use all of the features of our Website. If you do not instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent, your consent to our use of your personal information may be implied.
Web Beacons
Web beacons are small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of websites. We may use web beacons to analyze the traffic patterns on our Website, such as the frequency with which our users visit various parts of our Website. These technical methods may involve the transmission of information either directly to us or to another party authorized by us to collect information on our behalf. We may also use these technical methods in HTML e-mails that we send to determine whether you have opened those e-mails or clicked on links in the e-mails. The information from use of these technical methods may be collected in a form that is not personally identifying.
Click Stream Data
When you use, read, browse or download information from our Website, we or our service providers may also collect information such as the date, time and duration of a visit, information about your location, the pages accessed, the IP address of your computer, and any information downloaded.
Behavioral Remarketing
Eye Recommend uses remarketing services to advertise on third party web sites to you after you visited our Website. We, and our third party vendors, use cookies to inform, optimize and serve ads based on your past visits to our Website. In certain circumstances, your implied consent to our accessing, using or disclosing may be provided if you do not instruct your web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is sent or if you do not opt out of Google Analytics or other services, as indicated below.
Third-Party Advertisement Networks
We may use third parties such as network advertisers to serve advertisements on our Website and on third-party websites or other media (e.g., social networking platforms). This lets us and these third parties to target advertisements to you for products and services in which you might be interested. Third-party advertisement network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), Flash LSOs and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize advertising content to you. These third-party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party’s specific privacy policy and not by this Policy. We may provide these third-party advertisers with information, including Personal Information, about you.
Users may opt out of many third-party advertisement networks. For example, you may go to the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (“DAA Canada”) Consumer Choice Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by DAA Canada companies. You may also go to the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Consumer Opt-Out Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and their choices regarding having information used by NAI members.
Opting out from one or more companies listed on the DAA Canada Consumer Choice Page or the NAI Consumer Opt-Out Page will opt you out from receiving or seeing those companies’ delivery of interest-based content or advertisements, but it does not mean you will no longer receive any advertising through our Website or on other websites. You may continue to receive advertisements, for example, based on the particular website that you are viewing (i.e., contextually based ads). Also, if your browsers are configured to reject cookies when you opt out on the DAA Canada or NAI websites, your opt out may not be effective. Additional information is available on the DAA Canada’s website at http://youradchoices.ca/ or the NAI’s website at www.networkadvertising.org.
Third-Party Content and Social Media Links
Some of the content on our Website may include applications made available by third parties, which could include social media buttons or links that allow you to share content or links to our Website through the relevant third-party applications. These third-party applications themselves may facilitate the collection of information by those third parties, through your interaction with the applications, and sometimes even if you do not interact directly with them. We are not responsible for the technical operation of these applications or the collection and use practices of the relevant third parties. Please visit the relevant third-party websites to understand their privacy practices and options they may make available to you in relation to their collection of your personal information.
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect, use and disclose personal information as permitted or required by law and for the following purposes:
- to verify your identity;
- to identify your preferences;
- provide, operate, maintain and improve our Website, the Service and the information we provide through our Website;
- better understand how users access and use our Website, both on an aggregated and individualized basis, in order to improve our Website and the Service, and to respond to user preferences;
- provide personal information to third-party suppliers of products and services (as discussed in more detail below);
- to manage or transfer our assets or liabilities, for example, in the case of an acquisition or merger, the provision of security for a credit facility or the change of a supplier of products or services;
- to protect us, yourself and others from fraud and error and to safeguard our business interests and legal rights;
- to comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
- to distribute to third parties including contractors, consultants, web hosting providers, advertising agencies, financial institutions, payment processors, lawyers, financial institutions and government licensing bodies for any of the purposes set out above.
The collections, uses and disclosures listed above, which are not exhaustive, are a necessary part of your relationship with us. By providing such personal information to us, you consent to us using and disclosing that information for these purposes.
We may also collect, use and disclose your personal information to communicate with you for the purposes to which you have consented or as otherwise required or permitted by law. You may instruct us to stop using or sharing your personal information for this purpose at any time by providing written notification as described in this Policy, or by such other means as we may make available.
We may use aggregated, non-identifiable information about the users of our Website for promotional, advertising, research and other commercial purposes, and we may use, license and sell such aggregated data as we see fit. We will not sell your personal information to third parties.
CONSENT
When your personal information is to be used for a purpose not previously identified, we will disclose that the new purpose to you before such use, and we will seek your consent unless the use is authorized or required by law. In some cases, we can use your personal information without your consent (see below). You can provide consent orally, in writing, electronically or through an authorized representative. You provide implied consent where our purpose for collecting using or disclosing your personal information would be considered obvious or reasonable in the circumstances. Consent may also be implied where you have notice and a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of having your personal information used for mail-outs, marketing or fundraising and you do not opt-out.
You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal, contractual and other restrictions, provided that you give us reasonable notice of withdrawal of consent
We may process your personal information without your consent, when and to the extent permitted to do us under applicable laws.
SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will not share any personal information that we collect with any third parties or websites, except as indicated in this Policy. All personal information you provide to us will be used solely for the purposes described in this Policy, or for any other purpose that you have consented to. We will retain your personal information for the time necessary to fulfill the identified purposes or as long as it is necessary for a legal or business purpose.
If you give us permission to send you marketing emails then we may use your email for that purpose, but we will not sell or distribute your email address to any other website or list.
We will destroy, erase or make anonymous documents or other records containing personal information as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the original purpose is no longer being served by retaining the information and retention is no longer necessary for a legal or business purpose. We will take due care when destroying personal information so as to prevent unauthorized access to the information.
ACCURACY
We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that your personal information is accurate and complete.
You may request correction to your personal information to ensure its accuracy and completeness. A request must be in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify your personal information and the correction being sought. If you demonstrate the inaccuracy or incompleteness of your personal information, we will change the information as required. If appropriate, we will send the amended information to third parties to whom the information has been disclosed.
If a challenge regarding the accuracy of your personal information is not resolved to your satisfaction, we will annotate the personal information under our control with a note that the correction was requested but not made.
EXCEPTIONS TO NON-DISCLOSURE
Disclosure permitted by Law or in relation to Transactions
We may disclose your personal information to a third party without your consent if permitted or required by applicable law. For clarity, we will disclose your personal information where required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that such action is necessary to comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement or to protect the security or integrity of our Website and Service.
We may also disclose your personal information, in accordance with applicable law, in connection with a corporate re-organization, a merger or amalgamation with another entity, or a sale of all or a substantial portion of our assets provided that the disclosed information continues to be used solely for the purposes permitted by this privacy policy by the entity acquiring the information.
Given the nature of cloud services, personal information may be stored outside Canada, anywhere in the world, and may be accessible to foreign courts, law enforcement and national security authorities in the jurisdiction(s) where it is transferred or stored.
Service Providers
We may employ Third Party Processors to facilitate our Website and Service, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Website and Service related services, or to assist us in analyzing how our Website and Service is used. These Third Party Processors have access to your personal information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
SECURITY
We are committed to ensuring the security of your personal information and may use passwords, encryption, firewalls, restricted employee access or other methods, in our discretion. We will use appropriate security measures when destroying your personal information such as shredding documents or deleting electronically stored information, in our discretion.
The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but please note that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. Please note that confidentiality and security are not assured when information is transmitted through e-mail or other wireless communication.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER
Your information, including personal information, may be transferred to, and maintained on, computer servers located outside of your province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Our Website may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.
CHILDREN'S PRIVACY
Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 ("Minor"). We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from Minors. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from Minors without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the revised Policy on our Website. You are advised to review this Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Policy are effective when they are posted on our Website. If we make any material changes to this Policy, we will notify you either through the email address you have provided us, or by placing a prominent notice on our Website.
CONTACT US
Please direct any inquiries, complaints or questions regarding this Policy to admin@eyerecommend.ca, with the subject line: Privacy Policy.