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Website Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 2 July, 2024

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before using this platform.

Accessible Media Inc. (“AMI”, “we”, “us” and “our”) respects the privacy of all of our users and is committed to protecting such privacy in accordance with this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).

The Privacy Policy explains the ways in which we collect, use and disclose your Personal Information (as defined below). It applies to any Personal Information that is collected by us, whether it is collected over the telephone, in writing, or electronically via any website, mobile app or other digital platform on which this Privacy Policy appears (the “Platform”).

Any Personal Information you provide will be treated with care and will not be collected, used or disclosed, except as provided for by this Privacy Policy or as otherwise permitted by law.

We urge you to read this Privacy Policy carefully and to check back periodically as this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies, websites, apps or other digital platforms which are not owned or controlled by AMI.

ACCEPTANCE OF PRIVACY POLICY

Your access to and use of the Platform is subject to the Platform’s Terms of Use, of which the Privacy Policy forms a part, and all applicable laws. By accessing and using the Platform, you accept the Privacy Policy and consent to its terms, as well as any other terms that are described to you when your Personal Information is collected. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms and conditions, please do not access or use the features of this Platform.

As noted above, the Privacy Policy is subject to change. By continuing to access and use the Platform, you agree to the terms of the then current Privacy Policy, as amended.

CONSENT

AMI will generally seek your consent for the collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information at the time of collection, except as required or permitted by applicable law.

Your consent can be withdrawn at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. You may contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@ami.ca if you wish to withdraw consent for our collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information. Please note that if you choose to withdraw your consent, AMI may not be able to provide you with certain services.

INFORMATION COLLECTED

In the course of operating the Platform, we may collect two types of information about our users: Personal Information and Technical Information.

(a) Personal Information

“Personal Information” is information about an identifiable individual. Personal Information includes but is not limited to your name, residential address, telephone number and e-mail address. Business contact information such as the name, title, work address, work email address or work telephone number of a business or professional person or an employee of an organization is generally not considered to be Personal Information.

We only collect Personal Information for the purposes of establishing, managing and maintaining our relationship with you, unless we are required or permitted by law to collect additional information. Personal Information is collected by us when you choose to provide it to us when registering for an AMI service, such as:

  • If you choose to subscribe to one of our services, we may require certain contact information in order to create an account that will be described to you at the time of your subscription.
  • If you enter one of our contests or promotions, we will collect your contact information and other information required for the contest entry as described in the applicable contest rules.
  • If you choose to receive our newsletter, offers or other updates, we will need your full name and email address.
  • If you choose to sign up for our research panel or to participate in one of our surveys, we will need your full name, residential address, phone number, email address, whether you identify as being blind, partially-sighted or living with vision loss, and any other personal information you choose to share with us.

If you choose to contact any of our customer service representatives, we may keep a record of your contact information and any personal information you choose to share in that correspondence so that we may fully address the subject matter. Generally, Personal Information is collected by us only when you directly provide it to us, such as when you provide us with your contact information or send us a question or comment, when you meet with us in person, or when you phone us with an inquiry. However, we may also receive Personal Information from our business partners and other third parties, provided that such third parties confirm to us that you have permitted them to share such information.

(b) Technical Information

When you use our Platform (including through your computer or mobile device), we gather certain technical information (“Technical Information”) automatically and store it in log files. This information includes Internet Protocol addresses (“IP Addresses”), unique device or mobile identifiers, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream data, log-in times, duration of time spent on our Platform, or navigation of our Platform while logged in. For example, our web servers may automatically collect Technical Information which is provided through your browser or stored on a cookie or through a web beacon when you choose to visit the Platform (as described below).

This Technical Information is of an anonymous nature. Aggregate and anonymized information, such as demographic statistics of our users (e.g., average age or geographical allocation of our users), number of visitors and average time spent on the Platform, is also considered Technical Information.

As described more fully below, Technical Information is used on an aggregate basis and in a non-personally identifiable form, including: (i) for Platform and system administrative purposes; (ii) to improve the Platform; (iii) to conduct internal reviews of the number of visitors to the Platform; (iv) to help us better understand visitors’ use of our Platform; (v) to respond to specific requests from our visitors; and (vi) to protect the security or integrity of our Platform when necessary.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal Information may be used by us for the following purposes:

  • To provide you with the services and information you have requested from us, including your use of the Platform. We may from time to time use your Personal Information to contact you about changes, enhancements or similar notices related to our services.
  • If you indicated that you were interested in receiving our newsletter, offers or information about AMI, we may send you such information electronically, such as by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe to such electronic communications, follow the directions posted at the bottom of the email or electronic communication.
  • If you enter a contest or other promotion offered on a Platform, we may, under the rules of the contest/promotion, use your name and certain other information to administer the contest/promotion, such as contacting, announcing and promoting the winners of the contest/promotion.
  • AMI may also use Personal Information if we have reasonable grounds to believe the information could be useful when investigating a contravention of a federal, provincial or foreign law or in order to protect or defend a legal interest, to investigate any violations of our Terms of Use.

We may also use your Personal Information to compile statistics about the use of our Platform, and may use both manual and automated systems, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to analyze your Personal Information and Technical Information to improve our Platform, personalize your experience, automate certain aspects of the Platform, aggregate, de-identify or anonymize your information, provide you with certain features, and protect the safety and security of our Platform. However, these uses will not allow you to be personally identified.

Your Personal Information shall not be used for purposes other than those described above, except with your consent or as required or authorized by law.

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will not sell or rent your Personal Information to anyone.

We will only disclose your Personal Information to third parties in the following circumstances:

  • where you have specifically given us your consent to disclose your Personal Information for a designated purpose;
  • to third parties who are acting on our behalf as our service providers, solely to enable us to more efficiently provide you with our services. These include our email marketing provider; web, video, livestream and podcast content hosting providers; accessibility quality assurance tools provider; sign-up provider for our Research Panel; and content listings providers. Such entities act under strict contractual controls, requiring them to maintain the confidentiality of all such Personal Information and to use such information solely for purposes related to the provision of our services;
  • to social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram) if you click on links to those platforms from our Platform;
  • to analytics providers, Google Analytics and JW Player, that we provide with de-identified information about how you interact with our Platform. More information about the use of Google Analytics for these analytical purposes can be obtained by visiting Google’s privacy policy here and Google’s currently available opt-out options are available here. For more information about JW Player, please refer to the privacy policy available here.
  • as may be set out in the terms and conditions applicable to an AMI service, to facilitate the provision of such service, such as fulfilling legal requirements;
  • as required by law, including by an order of any court, institution or body with jurisdiction or authority to compel the production of information, or in order to protect or defend a legal interest;
  • to enforce our rights arising from any contracts between you and us, and, if applicable, for billing and collection; or
  • in connection with any contemplated or actual sale, merger or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets, or as part of a corporate reorganization or other change in corporate control, including for the purposes of determining whether to proceed with such transaction, in accordance with applicable law.

When Personal Information that has been collected is to be used for a purpose that we have not previously identified, we will obtain your consent for the new purpose, unless the new purpose is required or permitted by law.

USE OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Technical Information is collected or derived by us in the course of operating the Platform. For example, our web servers may automatically collect Technical Information which is provided through your browser or stored on a cookie or through a web beacon when you choose to visit the Platform.

Some information (for example, your location or preferred means of communication) is collected when you voluntarily provide it. Unless combined with Personal Information, this information does not identify you personally.

Technical Information is used generally by AMI to monitor and improve the operation of the Platform, to perform statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our users, to measure user demographics and interests regarding our services, to describe our services to third parties such as prospective business partners and to analyze how and where best to use our resources. No Personal Information will be disclosed during these activities.

AMI may also use Technical Information to inform our sponsors and advertisers as to the performance of a particular sponsorship (such as a contest) or advertisement. In such case we may disclose to those third-party sponsors and advertisers the overall aggregate demographics available regarding, for example, who participated in a contest or who saw and “clicked” on an advertisement. No Personal Information will be disclosed to these sponsors and advertisers as part of this process; only information in an anonymous, aggregate form will be disclosed.

(a) IP addresses

An IP Address is the unique number that is assigned to every direct Internet access point. Many IP Addresses can generally be associated with certain Internet service providers or large organizations. IP Addresses do not contain any Personal Information. When you, through your browser, request a web page or similar Internet information from another computer on the Internet, your browser automatically provides that computer with an IP address to which it will send the requested information.

Whenever you access our Platform, your browser automatically provides our computers with your IP Address, to which our computers will send the requested information. Each such request is logged by our computers with information including the IP Address of the computer that requested the page and is stored by our computers as needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

AMI may use your IP Address to display more appropriate and relevant content and advertising such as content and advertising based on your geographic area. Aggregate information derived from IP Addresses may be reported by AMI to our advertisers and partners. For example, AMI may report to our advertisers the estimated total number of users accessing a particular AMI Platform from a specific province.

AMI may use your IP Address to facilitate the diagnoses and remedy of a technical problem on our Platform reported by you or our technical team.

(b) Cookies

A “cookie” is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred (through your browser) from a website to the hard drive of your computer. The cookie identifies your browser but will not let a website know any Personal Information about you, such as your name and address. Since cookies are only text files, they cannot run on your computer, search your computer for other information, or transmit any information to anyone.

AMI may use cookies to:

  • monitor usage and improve the operation and performance of the Platform and make the Platform easier and more convenient to use. For example, cookies help us remember who you are through your browser settings so that we can offer and provide more personalized services (e.g. language preference). Cookies also allow us to save passwords (where applicable) and preferences for you so that you will not have to re-enter them the next time you visit the Platform;
  • measure aggregate user traffic and demographic statistics related to the Platform and advertisements (e.g., number of users, average time spent, average age and similar statistics). This information helps us to better understand when to update, change or offer new services and provides us with details as to the performance of third party advertisements and content. This information may be reported, in aggregate form only, to our current and prospective sponsors, advertisers and business partners. No Personal Information will be disclosed in such reports; and
  • serve advertisements provided by AMI and/or third party advertising providers used by AMI.

Cookies are used on many major web sites. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can reset your browser either to notify you when you have received a cookie, or to refuse to accept cookies. For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies on your browser, visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/. You should understand that while AMI does not require you to use cookies, certain aspects of our Platform may not function properly if you set your browser to not accept cookies.

(c) Web beacons, pixel tags, clear GIFs or other similar technologies

The Platform may contain electronic images known as “web beacons”, sometimes called single-pixel gifs, pixel tags, clear GIFs or other similar technologies that allow AMI to count users who have visited Platform pages and to deliver co-branded services. These technologies may be used in connection with some parts of our Platform and HTML-formatted e-mail messages.

These technologies are not used to access your Personal Information; they are a technique used to compile aggregated statistics about Platform usage. They collect only a limited set of information including a cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page on which they reside. Certain parts of the Platform may also contain web beacons placed there by our advertising partners or web analytics service providers to help AMI determine the effectiveness of our Internet advertising campaigns.

They may be used to, among other things, track the actions of Platform users and e-mail recipients, measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about our Platform usage and response rates.

SPECIAL NOTE TO PARENTS

We do not knowingly track, collect, use or disclose the Personal Information of children under the age of 13, without the consent of a parent or guardian. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected Personal Information of a child under the age of 13 without parental or guardian consent, we will delete that information from our systems. If you are under 13 years of age, please do not submit or post any Personal Information on the Platform, without the consent of your parent or guardian.

LINKS TO OTHER PLATFORMS

The Platform may contain links to other websites, mobile apps or other digital platforms operated by third parties. While we try to link only to third party websites, apps and platforms that share our high standards and respect for privacy, please understand that we are not responsible for the content of, or the privacy practices employed by, other companies or platforms. This Privacy Policy applies only to the AMI Platforms on which this Privacy Policy is posted. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each digital platform visited before using those platforms or disclosing any Personal Information to third parties.

SECURITY, RETENTION & DISPOSAL OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. AMI takes technical, contractual, administrative, and physical security steps to protect Personal Information that you provide to us. We instruct our employees with access to your Personal Information that it is to be used only in adherence with the principles set forth in this Privacy Policy and applicable laws.

While AMI employs advanced data encryption technology when interfacing with our users, third party service providers and other partners, you should be aware that there is a residual risk in transmitting any data electronically. Despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable and no method of data transmission can be guaranteed against any interception or other type of misuse. This risk is inherent in all Internet dealings. You should be aware of this before you provide your Personal Information through the Platform.

You can help protect the security of your Personal Information as well. For instance, where are you required to create an account, you should never give out your password, since this is what is used to access your account or registration information. Also remember to log out of your account and close your browser window when you finish using the Platform or surfing the web, so that other people using the same computer won't have access to your information.

AMI will keep Personal Information only for as long as it remains necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. We use secure means of disposing of Personal Information. Note that we will retain Personal Information to the extent necessary to send or not send you marketing communications in accordance with your marketing preferences, which you can change at any time as described below under the “Your Privacy Rights” heading. Under some circumstances we may anonymize your Personal Information so that at all times it is reasonable to expect in the circumstances that it permanently and irreversibly no longer allows you to be directly or indirectly identified. We reserve the right to use such anonymized information for any serious and legitimate purpose without further notice to you or your consent, as permitted by applicable law.

PROCESSING AND STORAGE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Your Personal Information may be transferred to, processed and/or stored in a foreign jurisdiction outside of the jurisdiction in which it was originally collected. As a result, your Personal Information may be subject to the laws of such foreign jurisdiction and may be accessible without notice to you by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such foreign jurisdiction. You can obtain more information about our policies and practices with respect to the use of non-Canadian service providers by contacting us as described below under the “Questions and Further Information” heading.

  • Updating Your Personal Information. We want to make sure that the Personal Information that we have collected about you is accurate, complete, and current. However, we will not routinely update this information, unless it is necessary for us to do so to fulfill the purposes for which we collected the Personal Information. Since we generally rely on you to inform us if there have been any changes to the Personal Information we have collected about you, please let us know if any of this information has changed.
  • Access to and Correction of Personal Information. If you have any questions about the accuracy of the Personal Information that we have collected about you, you can have access to that Personal Information in order to verify and update it, unless we are permitted or required under applicable laws to refuse your access to such Personal Information.
  • Withdrawal of Consent. Where you have provided your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information, you may have the legal right to withdraw your consent under certain circumstances. Please note that if you withdraw your consent we may not be able to provide you with a particular product or service. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you make your decision.
  • Unsubscribe from Marketing and Promotional Communications. If you are receiving our marketing and promotional electronic communications, you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” option in any electronic marketing communication (e.g. email) you receive or by contacting us as set out below under the “Contact Us” heading. Please note that if you unsubscribe from marketing communications, we may still send you transactional emails or emails about your account and use of our Platform.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

AMI may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be effective when notice of such change is posted on the Platform. Please check this Privacy Policy regularly for updates by checking the “Last Updated” date at the top of this document.

YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

You have the right to request the access and correction of the personal information we hold about you in accordance with the laws applicable in the province or territory where you reside. If you have an account on our Platform, you may have the ability to view and modify certain information in your account (e.g., your contact information) through the account setting page or a similar option provided on the Platform. You can otherwise exercise your rights by contacting us at the email or postal address provided below under the “Questions and Further Information” heading.

QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION

We are accountable for all Personal Information in our custody and control and have designated a Privacy Officer, who is ultimately accountable for the handling of all Personal Information in our custody and/or control and for ensuring that the principles described in this Privacy Policy are being complied with. We make information about our privacy policies and practices readily available. If you have any concerns, complaints, or if you would like further information regarding our privacy policies or practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at: privacy@ami.ca