What Is Personal Information?
As a Canadian publisher, Indireads is subject to Canada’s privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “Act”). This Act covers the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by an organization in the course of any commercial activity. “Personal information” is defined in the Act as “information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.”
Simple terms: “Personal” information can potentially identify who you are.
What Is the Scope of This Privacy Policy?
This Privacy Policy addresses our policies and procedures relating to our customers and users.
This Privacy Policy is intended to assist you in understanding Indireads’ policies and procedures relating to our management of personal information and is applicable to Indireads and the Indireads’ website at www.indireads.com
Simple Terms: This document will teach you what info we collect and how we use it.
Personal Information Collected by Indireads
Indireads collects personal information that is voluntarily provided by you when you order a product, enter a contest or sweepstakes, answer our polls or surveys, register as a member on our website, sign up for newsletters, or communicate with us by mail, telephone or electronically. The type of information we collect and maintain may include your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, gender, date of birth, purchase history, credit card number, complaints about our products or services, a record of promotions offered to you, and your reading preferences, such as favorite authors and themes. Personal information is collected so that we can serve you better through enhanced products, customer service and promotional efforts of interest to you. This type of information is collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the form of consent required by the Act and its use is limited to the objectives for which it was collected.
Simple terms: This is the info we collect when you buy from us. You have control over how we use that information.
Consent Required by the Act
The Act provides that the form of your consent can vary from implied consent to express consent, depending upon the circumstances and the sensitivity of the type of information collected. Express consent occurs when you take an action to express consent (e.g. tick a box allowing to contact you); Implied consent occurs when we can reasonably conclude that you have given your consent by some action (e.g. by giving us your name and contact information so that we may send the books you have ordered) or inaction (e.g. by not exercising your opt-out privilege). In general, Indireads will rely on your implied consent to collect, use and disclose identifying information about you, except if such information can be considered sensitive, in which case we will obtain your express opt-in consent to collect, use and disclose this information.
We reserve the right to collect, use and disclose your personal information without consent where required or permitted by law.
Simple terms: We need to get your permission before we can collect and use your information.
Why Does Indireads Collect Personal Information?
Indireads collects personal information for the following reasons:
- To ensure that we have your correct contact information in order to provide you with the products or services you have requested, send correspondence, solicit your opinion on our products and services, process payments and make promotional offers for products similar to the ones you have already ordered and that we believe will be of interest to you;
- To gain an understanding of your interests so that we can develop better products and services for you;
- To properly investigate and respond to any complaints about our products or services;
- To determine customer eligibility for our products and services;
- To maintain a list of individuals who have indicated to us that they do not want to be contacted by Indireads or any other companies, so that such requests can be honored;
- To transfer information (name and mailing address) to other reputable companies who may have a product or service of interest to you, except the information of those customers who indicate to us that they do not wish to be contacted by such companies.
Simple terms: We collect information from you because we need it to serve you better.
What Kind of Personal Information Does Indireads Disclose, to Whom and Why?
- Upon Consent, to Third Parties for Their Marketing Purposes:With your prior consent, Indireads does on occasion make your name and mailing address available to reputable third parties who may want to use this personal information for their marketing purposes. Indireads does not disclose this personal information unless you first consent. Consent is obtained by providing you with an opportunity to opt-out from having this information disclosed to third parties for those purposes. At times, third party marketers may ask us to provide certain information about our customers relating to purchase history, geography, age range, income range and dwelling type. This type of information is disclosed on an aggregate basis.
Information is shared only with third parties who provide assurances that the information will be used for legitimate business purposes and in a manner that complies with applicable industry guidelines and privacy legislation. For example, when renting lists of our Canadian customers to third party marketers, we require that they comply with the Act and Canadian marketing industry guidelines on privacy. Similarly, when renting lists of our U.S. customers, we require compliance with U.S. marketing industry guidelines on privacy and any privacy legislation.
Simple terms: If we have obtained your permission, we may share information with other marketing partners.
- To Third Parties To Perform Processing and Other Specialized Services:At times, Indireads may use outside organizations to perform specialized services such as self-publishing, prize fulfillment of our sweepstakes and skill contests, collection of overdue accounts and the provision of various marketing services, including, but not limited to, telemarketing, research and list processing. As a result, certain personal information may be provided to or stored with third party service providers in other countries, including the United States of America and, accordingly, may be available to the governments of such other countries (including the United States government) under a lawful order made in that country. These service providers are only given the information needed to perform those services and they are bound contractually to protect the privacy and security of your information and to limit the use of your information to the service being provided.
Simple terms: We may need to share with companies that provide services to us, e.g. companies that process payments. They are required by contract to use this info only to provide the service, and nothing beyond that.
- To Third Parties in the Event of Legal Reasons:We advise you that we may have to disclose personal information to the government or other legal or regulatory authorities if so ordered by a court of law or for other legal reasons.
Simple terms: We will share information with the govt of the govt needs us to do so.
- To a Third Party in the Event Indireads Is for Sale or Is Sold:If Indireads was ever for sale, prospective buyers would need to have access to Indireads’s customer lists and various databases as part of the due diligence process. In this event, Indireads would only provide such access under terms of a strict confidentiality agreement.
As well, in the event Indireads was ever sold, your personal information would be transferred to the purchasing company so that you could continue to receive the books and services you had requested and so that the purposes behind collecting your personal information outlined above could continue to be maintained.
Simple terms: If a company is looking to buy Indireads, they may need to access information to verify facts about the company.
How Long Does Indireads Retain Personal Information?
We keep your information only for a period reasonably necessary to meet the purposes for which it was collected or to comply with any legal requirements, including statutory retention periods. Then we will erase or make anonymous any personal information that is no longer required for a specific purpose or legal requirement.
Simple terms: We retain the information you provide, for 3 years.
What Security Measures Does Indireads Have in Place To Safeguard Personal Information?
Indireads has implemented physical, electronic and administrative measures to protect your information from error, loss or unauthorized access. For example, we use industry-standard efforts, such as passwords, firewalls and Secure Socket Layers, to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information contained on our computer systems. In addition, our employees and any third parties are contractually bound to protect the confidentiality of your information and access is restricted to those with a need to know the information to carry out the identified purpose. In the unlikely event unauthorized access and use of your credit card occurs, Indireads has a credit card guarantee. If you are using a credit card, your liability for any unauthorized use will usually be limited to $50.00 by your financial institution or credit card provider. We will reimburse you up to a maximum of $50.00, provided the fraudulent use of your card was not through your own fault but was a result of purchases made from Indireads. In this event, you must notify your credit card provider in accordance with their notification requirements and ask them to notify us that you are being held liable.
Simple terms: We promise to work hard to keep your info safe, and to restrict who can access it.
Cookies and Other Tracking Methods
Cookies are small pieces of information stored on your hard drive, not on our websites. We use cookies, or, in a limited number of cases, IP addresses for a number of reasons. First, cookies allow you to store your password without having to constantly reenter it. Second, cookies help us tailor messages that better match your needs and interests. Third, cookies allow us to better understand how users in general use our sites, which in turn helps us to focus our resources on features that are most popular with our users. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but some parts of our sites may not work properly if you do.
Note: Indireads may place advertising and/or links on our sites that originate from outside advertisers. In some cases, if you click on or view these ads, a cookie may be assigned by the advertisers. Indireads does not control these cookies nor is it responsible for any marketing or other use of your name by the advertisers. We encourage you to investigate and ask questions before disclosing information to third parties.
Non-personal Information
Non-personal or aggregated information is information that cannot be associated with or traced back to a specific person. When you browse our websites, for example, we do not collect any personally identifiable information about you, but we do gather information about the number of people who are viewing each page so that we can learn what features are the most popular. We also use this data, both aggregated and personally identifiable, to personalize and enhance your onsite experience by displaying content and marketing messages we believe will be of interest to you. We disclose aggregated information about our websites to third parties.
In addition, to help us better understand our markets, we may gather demographic information for analytical purposes on an aggregate basis. This information is not kept, used or disclosed at the individual level, but may be disclosed to third parties on an aggregate basis.
Online Policy Regarding Privacy of Children
As and when Indireads starts or operates a website which may appeal directly to children under the age of 18, we will have customized online privacy policies available on those sites which will address our information practices specific to those sites.
With respect to Indireads.com, we do not believe that this website appeals directly to children under the age of 18 and we discourage children under this age from using this site. On this website, we require that users submit their birth dates when they are joining the site as a member; visitors under 18 will not be able to sign up. Birth date information is never shared with third parties.
Comments
You should be aware that when you voluntarily disclose personal information when making comments, that information can be collected and used by others and may result in unsolicited messages (spam) from other Internet users. We do not bear any responsibility for any actions or policies of third parties and we cannot guarantee that this personal information will be kept confidential. For more information, please go to our Membership Agreement .
Tell-a-Friend E-mails
If you use our referral service to tell a friend about our site or product offering, you will be asked to provide your name, e-mail address and your friend’s e-mail address. You may also add any comments to the e-mail message. We use your name and e-mail address only to let your friend know who sent the e-mail. We use the friend’s e-mail address for purposes of transmitting your e-mail. We do not collect or retain any of the information provided by you when you use this referral service in our database or any other place and do not use it for any other purpose.
How To Contact Indireads Regarding Your Personal Information
You have control over how we collect, use and disclose your information and we provide you with many opportunities to exercise this control, even after you have provided your consent to these uses.
On our Indireads.com membership registration page, we provide you with the opportunity to expressly consent to the sharing of your e-mail address with third parties for their marketing purposes. If you are a registered user of Indireads.com you can access and update your online personal information by clicking on the account info link. You can also opt out of Members-Only Deals and third party e-mails by unchecking the boxes at the bottom of the page. You can change your subscriptions to our newsletters at any time by clicking on the profile page link at the bottom of each newsletter. You may choose not to receive e-mail, even after granting permission, by unsubscribing.
Customer Service Department and Chief Privacy Officer Contact Information
If you have any questions or comments about Indireads’s Privacy Policy or would like to advise us how you would like your personal information not to be used, please us at the address or phone number listed below:
Mail:
In Canada: 2 Rean Drive, Suite 1202, Toronto ON M2K 3B8
Attention: Privacy Customer Service Representative
If, after contacting our Customer Service Representatives, your concerns or questions have not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can contact Indireads’s Chief Privacy Officer in writing via mail or fax:
Indireads Incorporated
225 Duncan Mill Road
Don Mills, Ontario
M3B 3K9
Attention: Chief Privacy Officer
If the issue is still not resolved to your satisfaction, you may file a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Acceptance of Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy outlines the information usage practices of Indireads. By submitting your personal information to Indireads, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not submit your personal information to us. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of this policy at any time. If at some point in the future there is a change to our information usage practices that affects your personal information, you will be able to opt out of this information usage by contacting Customer Service. We will also post the changes in our Privacy Policy at least 30 days prior to a change. You should also check this Privacy Policy for changes. Your continued use of our websites, products or services following the effective date of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes, subject to your continuing right to notify us at any time as to how you would like us to treat your personal information.