Privacy Policy

Media Edge Communications – Privacy Policy

This privacy policy was last amended January 2015.

This is the main privacy policy for www.mediaedge.ca and for certain services provided through all other websites and applications owned and operated by Media Edge Communications Inc. (“Media Edge”). There may be other policies that apply to certain services that we provide, or we may link to third parties who may have their own policies. Please read these when you register or subscribe for these services, or visit a third party website or application.

Media Edge is always working to offer new products and services to users and may from time to time need to update this Privacy Policy. If there is any material change, Media Edge will notify users through messaging on the applicable websites and applications for a reasonable period of time. Please read this privacy policy carefully and check back periodically for updates.

Overview

The following sets out what you need to know about our personal information handling practices at Media Edge.

Personal information we might collect from you and why.

  • Account information such as name, address, postal code, email address and phone number. This information is used to fulfill your request for information, products and services, provide relevant advertising, administer contests or promotions you enter and respond to your enquiries.
  • Subscriber id and passwords so that you may access your account information and services.
  • Collect credit card or banking information if required to complete a sale.
  • Usage information such as product or service preferences, purchase history, time spent and other customer engagement information to better understand your preferences and help us develop better products and services.
  • If you choose to provide it to us, supplementary information such as company name, the industry you work in, your current position, information as it applies to you and your industry, and customer satisfaction information.
  • Social media identifiers including both personal and non-personally identifying information you may provide by using social media sharing and log-in features. You can control what information you share through some social networking sites’ privacy settings.
  • If you speak with one of our representatives on the telephone these calls may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.

We assume you have given us implied consent for some uses:

  • By purchasing any of our products or using any of our services, we assume you consent to receive the products and services and information relevant to them including service notifications, personalized content and services, relevant advertising, and other communications regarding our products, services, promotions and loyalty programs.

Uses you can explicitly consent to:

  • You may opt-in to receive additional services such specialized email newsletters or marketing communications from our advertisers based on your areas of interest. Please visit our Customer Preference Centre to take advantage of these services from Media Edge. Your email address is not shared with our advertisers.
  • We are currently updating our Customer Preference Centre to include editing capabilities for supplemental information. In the meantime, please send email to circulation@mediaedge.ca with your request.

Value you may receive:

  • Media Edge relies on customer information and insight to improve our products and services and to make our websites and applications easier to navigate.
  • It also helps us customize your experience by delivering content, messages and advertising that are relevant to you.

What you can do if you wish to withdraw your consent or change your personal information:

  • If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from editorial, or marketing services email communications from Media Edge please email circulation@mediaedge.cawith your request. You may also click the unsubscribe link provided in the footer of all non-essential communication from Media Edge. You must call Customer Service to provide an alternate method of contacting you should you wish to unsubscribe from certain email services we consider essential to your service such as billing notices, delivery notices, or password reset requests.
  • If you wish to make a change to your supplementary information or remove your consent regarding Media Edge’s use of your supplementary information, please send email to circulation@mediaedge.ca and include Supplementary Information in the subject line or call Customer Service at 416-512-8186.
  • You may manage your editorial newsletters, advertiser marketing offer consents and see what is available to you from Media Edge in our Customer Preference Centre.
  • You may update your account information by visiting our Customer Preference Centre.
  • Information you provided to Media Edge through social network integration features, such as Facebook Connect, Twitter, or LinkedIn are governed by the terms of that particular service, and may not automatically be updated by the underlying service in Media Edge’s records.

Contacting Media Edge regarding your privacy:

We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns you have about your privacy or this privacy policy. If you have concerns, you may contact Media Edge’s Privacy Officer in writing at circulation@mediaedge.ca or as follows:

Media Edge Communications Privacy Officer
Media Edge Communications
5255 Yonge Street, Suite 1000
Toronto, ON
M2N 6P4

What is not covered by this policy?

  • Information that is not personally identifiable such as type of browser or operating system you are using, your network, our web pages you have visited, other web pages you have visited before and after visiting ours, type of device, general location information and other similar types of anonymous or de-identified information may be collected and used by us and third parties including advertisers.
  • Aggregate data that cannot be associated with a specific person, such as demographic statistics about Media Edge’s customers, or number of visitors and average time spent on a website.
  • Personal Information for Editorial Purposes — as you may expect, information collected for editorial purposes, whether or not it is considered “personal”, is exempt from the requirements of Canadian law and is not covered by this policy. Business contact information including the name, title, business address and telephone number of an employee of an organization, publicly available information such as an individual’s name and address when listed in or made available through a directory, or any other information or circumstance that falls outside the scope of or is exempted by applicable privacy legislation.

Additional Information

The following sets out some additional detail about Media Edge’s business practices as it pertains to your personal information.

  1. Media Edge may collect personal information using the following means:
  • When you become a subscriber
  • When you register for any of Media Edge’s services or sign-up for special features, or contests
  • By using cookies and similar technologies when you visit our online properties
  • By conduction survey, quizzes

(a) Cookies and Similar Technologies

Like most websites, Media Edge relies on cookies and other commonly used technologies to provide website functionality and to deliver the best experience for our users. We use these technologies to collect information about the usage of our site and to offer users advertising that is relevant to them based on how they use the site. By using Media Edge sites, you give us and trusted third parties on our websites consent to collect Usage Information using cookies and similar technologies and to use it for the purposes specified below.

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files containing a unique identifier that are placed in your browser in order to store information about your web browsing and usage of a Media Edge website (“Cookie Data”). Cookies are used by Media Edge to collect and store usage information such as:

  • Anonymized user IDs for logged in Registered Users and Subscribers
  • Device IP Address (which does not reveal your identity)
  • Usage Data such as the number of page views, frequency of visits, time spent on a particular page and other similar statistics pertaining to your use of our website and services.

If you wish to disable cookies, please see How to Disable Cookies below. Please note that for technical reasons a Media Edge website with the “Ad Choices” program must rely on cookies to enable some of the essential functionality. If you disable cookies, your “Ad Choices” preference will not be registered and some elements of the website may not function correctly. Also, please note that if you navigate away from a Media Edge website by, for example, clicking on an advertising link, other parties may also place a cookie in your browser. Media Edge does not control the activities of other parties and is not responsible for their practices.

(b) Registration Information

If you choose to become a registered user, we will ask you to provide us with basic account information such as your name, email address, country, and postal code. We may also ask you supplementary information, such as company name, the industry you work in, your current position, information as it applies to you and your industry, and customer satisfaction information. If you choose to provide it, we use supplementary information for internal purposes such as making improvements to our website and analytics. We use account information and supplementary information to offer you personalized content, promotions of Media Edge’s services, and to deliver to you relevant advertising. Please note that you can always withdraw your consent to the continued use of your supplementary information.

(c) Subscription Information

If you choose to subscribe to a product or service of Media Edge, we will ask you to provide information to complete the sale including name, email, address, telephone number and billing information. We will use your subscription information for internal purposes such as making improvements to our website and analytics, and to communicate with you about your subscription and to offer products and services that may be of interest to you.

(d) Mobile Browsing

When you access Media Edge on your mobile device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computer, using a web browser or Media Edge app, we collect similar usage information as we do on other devices. Some mobile devices can transmit location data but Media Edge is not able to access that information without your express consent. If you choose to share location data with Media Edge, you will be able to turn off such data collection at any time by accessing the privacy settings of your mobile device.

(e) Contests, Promotions, Surveys and Marketing Communications

If you choose to enter a contest or promotion sponsored or co-sponsored by Media Edge, to fill out a survey, or to sign up for a newsletter or similar marketing communication we will ask you to provide us with contact and identifying information necessary for us to fulfill your request. This information may include email, name, and any other information as the case may require. Media Edge will disclose to you if our co-sponsors will have access to the information you provide to us. However, if information is collected by a third party only, the collection, use and disclosure will be subject to notice and privacy policy of that third party.

(f) Social Media

Media Edge sites may integrate a number of third party social media platforms to make your experience on our sites more convenient. For example, you may seamlessly log in to our sites by using your existing social media profile such as Facebook or LinkedIn. If you do so, the social media platform will provide Media Edge with your Social Media Identifier and any additional information that you have consented to being shared with the outside parties. For example, with your consent, the social media platform can provide us with your personal information to auto-fill a registration form. Information that is provided to Media Edge by the social media platform is subject to the privacy policy of that particular service.

  1. How information may be used

Media Edge uses the information we collect for the following purposes:

Fulfill your Request:

To fulfill your request for services. For example, if you want to purchase a subscription to a Media Edge magazine, we will ask you for your name and delivery address.

User Authentication:

To help us make your experience on our website more convenient. For example, we may rely on cookie data to detect when a registered user or a subscriber who has previously signed in visits the site again.

Personalized Content and Services:

To help you discover our best articles, to provide you with a more interactive service, and to make you personalized offers for Media Edge products. For example, we may suggest content and products that are more relevant to your interests and/or occupation. We will also suggest content based on your usage data.

Relevant Advertising:

To help us make advertisements more relevant to groups of similar users on our websites. Media Edge delivers two kinds of relevant advertising. One is based only on your activity on our site and any information you chose to disclose to us with consent to be used for advertising purposes (“first-party relevant advertising”). The other is based on your activity across different sites on the Internet and is commonly referred as online behavioural advertising (“OBA”).

Internal Analytics:

To understand how users interact with our website, to improve the operation and performance of Media Edge products and services, to develop new products and services, to detect fraud, and to improve security.

Communicate Offers and Promotions:

To communicate with you about Media Edge’s offers and promotions. You can withdraw your consent to specific types of email communications by clicking on the “Unsubscribe” link provided at the bottom of the email message. Note that you will continue to receive communications that directly pertain to your services.

Other administrative reasons:

If you provide a complaint to Media Edge or send a request to customer service, we will keep the relevant information for the purpose of investigating your complaint or request and responding to you. If you are a freelancer we may collect your social insurance number for tax reporting purposes and other information required to enter into a contract with and pay you. We generally use your personal information for the purposes of managing, administering, collecting or enforcing your accounts, maintaining business records for a reasonable time and generally managing and administering our business and meeting all relevant Canadian and international regulatory, legal, insurance, audit, security and processing requirements.

  1. Security and Disclosure

Media Edge takes steps to hold your information securely:

Media Edge has put in place reasonable physical, electronic, contractual and managerial measures to protect the information we collect from loss, theft, and unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification.

Information stored abroad:

In some cases Media Edge will disclose personal information to service providers to perform activities outside of Canada on our behalf. Your personal information may also be transferred outside of Canada for storage and processing. As a result, secure storage, use and access to your personal information may be subject to the laws of those countries.

Other disclosures:

Media Edge may disclose your personal information to our affiliates for administrative purposes. Media Edge may disclose your personal information to third parties if you have violated our terms of service or conditions of purchase, or if we need to comply with applicable laws and lawful governmental requests, other legal and regulatory authorities or for other legal reasons. Media Edge may disclose your personal information on a confidential basis to parties connected with any contemplated or actual financing, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets.

  1. How to disable cookies?

Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but offer a number of ways to control cookie preferences. Typically, users can:

  1. Disable all cookies (not recommended)
  2. Require approval each time a website attempts to place a cookie
  3. Remove cookies manually or have them deleted automatically after a certain period

For step-by-step instructions on how to modify cookie preferences, please consult your browser’s support documentation.

The user should understand that while Media Edge does not require a user to use cookies, for technical reasons, certain services will not function if a user sets his/her browser to not accept cookies.

  1. Media Edge websites and applications