PRIVACY MANIFESTO
At Politikos Research, we believe that privacy is a fundamental right. Because we are based in Prince Edward Island, our approach to privacy is governed by Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PIPEDA creates minimum standards for how we handle personal information. Politikos Research aims to meet or exceed these standards in our day-to-day operations. This Privacy Manifesto explains how.
Purpose of and limits to collection
PIPEDA defines personal information as information about an identifiable individual. That means information that could be used to identify a person, either all by itself or in combination with other information.
We only collect personal information under two very limited circumstances:
When it is necessary to establish or maintain a business relationship, such as writing down the name and phone number of customers or suppliers; and,
When we are engaged by clients to analyze personal information that they have collected, or to collect it on their behalf.
We collect only that information which is reasonably necessary to accomplish the purpose for which it was collected. When working on behalf of clients, we always prefer to use anonymous or de-identified data, rather than personal information; when we do analyze or collect personal information, we keep our use of that personal information to a minimum and we ensure that we do not retain any of that personal information after we have completed our work.
We don’t send mass marketing emails. We correspond with current, former, and prospective clients and other interested parties when we have a pre-existing relationship or when we have a reasonable belief that they consent to receiving such correspondence (such as displaying their contact information on their organization’s website).
Because we run a website, and because we like learning things from data, we collect non-identifiable information about traffic to our website using cookies and similar technologies. Some of this information is collected on our behalf by third parties such as Squarespace or Google and may be subject to their privacy policies. We limit the implementation of such technologies on our site so that we never collect information about an identifiable individual.
Consent
If we collect personal information from you as part of a business relationship, it’s because you actively gave it to us - for example, by communicating with us by email or telephone - or we received it from somebody else who reasonably believed that you would be interested in our services. That means that we only collect personal information when you actively consent or when either we or somebody else has a reasonable belief in your consent.
When we collect personal information on behalf of a client, we only do so after we explain why we are collecting that information. We also collect the information in a way that is voluntary on your part, and requires you to actively provide the information to us. For example, we often collect email addresses in order to administer prize draws associated with participating in a survey. When we do, we explain why we are collecting your email address. You have a choice whether or not to give us that information, and if you decide to do so, you need to write your email address into a survey response. We don’t collect personal information automatically or without your knowledge.
You can withdraw your consent at any time, except in cases where doing so would prevent us from executing a contract with you. When you notify us in writing that you are withdrawing consent for us to collect your personal information, we will dispose of all the information about you that is under our control. We may need you to provide us with enough detail about you to confirm your identity and make sure that we don’t miss any relevant information during this process.
Limited use & disclosure
We don’t collect personal information for any purpose other than what we list above. We never disclose personal information about our clients or others with whom we have a business relationship to anyone unless required by law, or unless asked to do so by the person themselves. We never disclose personal information that we analyze or collect on behalf of clients to any third party unless required by law, or asked to do so by the client - and even then, only when doing so is consistent with our commitment to privacy.
Retention
PIPEDA requires that we retain personal information for only as long as we need it. For clients with whom we have a business relationship, we retain your contact information in our business records so that we can respond effectively to any future inquiries from you. For personal information that we collect either from or on behalf of clients, we dispose of all personal information once we have completed the research project. We only retain anonymous or de-identified information in case the client wishes to engage in follow-up analysis.
Accuracy & Access
We want our records to be accurate and complete, so please let us know if we’ve got something wrong! You may contact us at knowledge@politikosresearch.ca to request a copy of the personal information that we have about you, and to notify us of errors and inaccuracies.
Safeguards
We store personal information in secure, encrypted computer systems that we operate ourselves, or that are operated by organizations with whom we have a business relationship and whose applicable privacy and security policies we judge to be at least as stringent as our own. We also enforce administrative controls within Politikos Research to make sure that only authorized members of the team have access to personal information. Most of all, though, we limit the risk of unauthorized access by limiting the personal information that we collect.
Compliance
Written policy is one thing; actual practice can sometimes be another. If you think that we are not upholding our commitment to privacy as a fundamental right in any aspect of our operations, let us know: Write to us at knowledge@politikosresearch.ca. If you have questions about how we are processing your personal information, ask us! If you think we’re doing something wrong, tell us! If you’re dissatisfied with our answers or think that we are falling short of our obligations under PIPEDA, you can also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.