Army.ca Privacy Statement

Revision History

Publication Date: 22 April 2021
Updated: 23 May 2021 - Updated mailing list removal procedure
Updated: 03 Nov 2021 - Added COPPA Information
Updated: 22 Nov 2021 - Added Usage Collection Information
Updated: 05 Oct 2021 - Removed Mailing List Information
Updated: 17 Mar 2021 - Updated Advertising Information
Updated: 23 Oct 2021 - Updated to reflect Army.ca site name
Updated: 19 Dec 2020 - Users under 12 are no longer permitted
Updated: 05 Nov 2021 - Updated to reflect new software and practices

General

Army.ca respects your privacy. That's why we have created this Privacy Statement to explain how and why we collect certain information online, and how we use that information. This statement also explains how you can prevent collection of certain information about yourself, if you choose. Please take a few moments to read our Privacy Statement. This statement applies to information we collect from visitors to the Army.ca Web site.

Right to Change Policy

As Army.ca is constantly innovating and enhancing the services it provides to its users, this Privacy Statement will also continue to change to match the services we make available. As such, we reserve the right to change this statement to match the services we provide. If we make any material change to this statement, we will change the date at the top of this statement to reflect the effective date of the change. When you visit our site or use our services, we encourage you to check the date of this Privacy Statement to ensure you are aware of any updates.

However, regardless of how this Privacy Statement may change or evolve over time, Army.ca will not collect or maintain your private and personally identifiable information without your consent. Further, if you consent to give us your personal information, we will keep it confidential and will not sell, license or disclose your personal information to any third party without your consent, unless we are compelled to do so under the law or to comply with a court order.

Contact for Privacy Inquiries

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement or other questions about privacy on the Army.ca site, please contact:

Registration on Our Site

Army.ca requires users to register, should they wish to participate. In order to register, you must provide us with a username (which does not have to be your real name), password and a valid e-mail address. This allows us to protect our community from abusive postings and provides a verifiable point of contact should legal questions arise. At any time, you have the ability to keep your e-mail address hidden from other users by selecting that option within your user profile.

Types of Information Collected

Generally, you are free to browse the Army.ca site without submitting any personal information. We do not collect any of your personal information (such as a name, address or e-mail address) when you visit the Army.ca site, unless you register or have registered to use one of our services or otherwise agree to submit to us such information. As part of such processes, you have the opportunity to decline notifications from us regarding information from Army.ca. If this option is not present, then it will be assumed that you do not wish to be contacted with this type of information. Types of information collected on specific services on the Army.ca site are described in more detail below.

Army.ca collects the following information voluntarily from all users (including children) who choose to register at this site as a member. Some of this information must be provided in order to register, while other items are optional.

To register as a member the following information is mandatory:

• A User ID. This may be a user-chosen "nickname" or a person's real first name, last name, or any combination thereof. We do not allow members to use identities that we deem offensive.
• A user-chosen password to access the site. This password can not be accessed by any other user or site administrator. It is stored on the server as a one-way hash, and cannot be reasonably reversed to the original password. We encourage users to choose a password other than that used for other personal Internet or non-Internet applications or use.
• An e-mail address. A user may enter any e-mail address they choose when they register as a member. This can be a e-mail address provided by their Internet Service Provider, a web-based e-mail address provided by services such as Hotmail.com, Geocities.com, GMail.com, or any other such provider, or any other e-mail address held by the user.

When a user registers they choose an option of whether or not to allow others to have access to their e-mail address. A user may choose to reveal their e-mail address if they wish to receive e-mail messages from other users. Or, a person may choose to protect their privacy by not allowing others to have access to their e-mail address.

Also, a user may choose to allow Administrators to send them e-mail messages. Administrators may also send e-mail to members regarding changes at this site or other news deemed important, though this is not a normal practice. We normally do not contact members unless circumstances require it. If a user has chosen to allow us to contact them via e-mail and later wishes to withdraw consent to do so, they can edit their profile and un-select the option allowing us to contact them. To do so, visit http://army.ca/forums/index.php?action=profile

The operators of Army.ca do not sell our members' e-mail addresses or make them available to any other parties.

Optional information is made available to other bulletin or message board users to foster a sense of community. If you have any concerns about providing this information, simply leave the fields blank and your registration will still be processed. When a person registers as a member, the following information is optional:

• Birthday
• Location where a member lives (City, Province, or Country)
• Occupation
• URL of a member's web site
• Any personal interests that the member may wish to share with others
• A picture, avatar or image, that may be used to "represent" the member
• Military unit
• Rank
• MOC (military occupation code)
• Rank
• Custom title
• Gender
• Age
• Local time
• Language
• Other notes about the member
• Instant messenger IDs such as those from MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! etc.
• Personal Signature (A small message that will appear at the bottom of messages that the member posts on this site)

All of the above information is collected on our registration page at http://army.ca/forums/index.php?action=register. The manner of collecting this information is that the user must enter the information by electronically filling in the boxes on the on-line registration form.

In addition to the information entered by the user, certain usage statistics are also collected, and optionally, publicly displayed. The user may decline to have their usage information publicly displayed, by editing their profile. Typically, these usage statistics display who has logged on to the site in the last hour, and who has viewed specific forum topics.

Army.ca does not require any member to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in any activities on this web site.

Cookies

Army.ca uses browser cookies to facilitate your experience with our services. These cookies are pieces of information that our server sends to your browser which it can then store on your hard drive. If you choose to accept these cookies, they enable us to recognize that your browser has previously visited and used our site, services and, based on your browser's previous visits, assist us with tailoring the information and content you view. An example of the customization allowed by the use of such cookies is to retain your username and password so you don't have to re-enter them each time you visit the site. These cookies do not collect, store or maintain your private, personally identifiable information. You do not have to accept these cookies to visit or use the Army.ca site, and you can choose to refuse our cookie, delete our cookie from your hard drive or turn off the Army.ca cookie at any time.

Technical Support

Any personal information you provide to us in the course of obtaining technical support, or asking other questions about Army.ca will be used only for the purposes for which it was submitted. We may store the information, but we will not use it for any other purposes or disclose it to any third parties.

Use and Disclosure of Your Information

Army.ca uses the personal information it collects from forms you fill out on our site or in our service registrations to:

1. Allow users to access and use our services;
2. Supply users with installation instructions, download, access or use information, and technical support information;
3. Provide users of services on our site with information about enhancements and service changes; and
4. Improve our services by using statistical analysis and evaluation of user data.

We use the anonymous information we collect from the other methods described above, such as cookie information, to collect broad demographic information about user trends, count the number of users of our services, and to continue to enhance and improve our services.

We do not and will not disclose your private, personally identifiable information to any third party for any purpose without your prior consent. However, Army.ca reserves the right to disclose your personal information if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that such action is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, respond to claims, or to protect the rights, property or safety of the site owner, users or the public.

All reasonable care is taken by our staff in handling your personal information to ensure its security both offline and online. It is our policy to destroy server access and any personal information provided during the technical support process upon completion of the technical support incident.

Changing or Updating Personal Information

If you would like to update or change your user profile on our message boards, just click here.

If you have questions regarding your information, you can contact our Chief Privacy Officer at [email protected].

Postings on Message Boards

It is important for you to remain aware that when you provide personal information (e.g., last name, address, phone number) in a posting on any message board, that information is available to any other person or user having access and use of that message board, and may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. For that reason, we discourage you from offering any personally identifying information within a posting to any message board.

Army.ca & The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

As part of our compliance with US and international Law: The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act/Rule, it is necessary for us to obtain parental permission for all children under the age of 13 to register as a member.

Army.ca is a site dedicated to The Canadian Army and we are glad to encourage the next generation of Canadians to take an active interest. Army.ca is primarily targeted at adults, and as a result, we do not permit the registration of users under 12 years old.

Army.ca is not necessarily a "family friendly" site, due to the nature of some of the topics discussed. However, we strive to ensure that children are not exposed to objectionable material. Unfortunately, we can not be responsible for content posted on our site that is objectionable. We allow the posting of army related information, digital images and links to other web sites. Our policy is that no pornographic or otherwise offensive material is allowed on the site. (We also run a profanity filter which eliminates some common profanities, although this is somewhat limited in it's effectiveness.)

It is possible though for a user to post material in violation of these rules. We have Administrators and Moderators who make a "best effort" attempt to review all content posted on our site at various times every day. When a violating post is noted it is removed or modified to remove objectionable material. While we attempt to remove such material as soon as possible, it does not prevent any user from being exposed to an offensive post prior to it being detected and removed or modified. The chances of this are minimized because a person must become a registered member before they can post any material on the site.

If a member posts objectionable material, these recourses will be used based on the nature of the offense:

• A user may be contacted via electronic mail to engage in conversation with Administrators regarding the matter.
• A user may be suspended from posting messages until such time as agreement is reached between Administrators and the member regarding acceptable content.
• Administrators may cancel a user's membership.

We do not use personal information for any reasons other than to identify messages posted on this web site and to communicate with our members. We do not actively use personal information in marketing ventures. This site contains only military related advertising on it's general pages. We do not allow advertising for anything pornographic or otherwise controversial or extreme. We carry advertisements only for businesses that we believe to be honest and reputable. We do not carry advertisements that ask a user to spend money on speculative ventures such as lotteries, gambling, or "get rich quick" schemes. A parent may also e-mail [email protected] for a list of all businesses advertising on Army.ca at any specific time, as well as information about they type of business that they are engaged in.

Any personal information that a child posts on this site is the responsibility of the parent. We ask that parents advise their children regarding issues of privacy, and their personal family practices on-line. We advise our members to use careful discretion regarding personal information, and not to give out any personal information that is not necessary in the use of our web site. We are not responsible if a child voluntarily reveals their name, address, or other personal information to other users in our message board forums.

A parent may view all posts made by their child on Army.ca if they know the child's User ID. To view your child's posts, visit http://army.ca/forums/index.php?action=search;advanced and enter your child's User ID or membership number. Click on "Search," and the posts made by the child will be displayed. The parent may click on any of the links to see not only the posts made by the child, but also the interactions with other users in regards to the child's posts.

The parent or child may delete any of the posts made by the child if they know the child's User ID and password. Follow the instructions above to find the child's posts. If the parent finds a message or content in a message that should not be present, they may edit the message to remove, change, or add information, or, delete the message entirely. To do this, the parent (or child) should locate the message and note the small icons directly above the individual message, and just to the right of the date and time of the post. The icon with the paper, pencil and the word "modify" allows you to edit a message. You may only edit messages posted by you or your child and you must know the password.

If you have problems with this process or you believe that someone has interacted inappropriately with your child on this web site, e-mail [email protected] at once. Please provide specific details of the problem and copy the URL (the page's web address) from the top of your web browser and paste it into your message so we may find the exact page quickly.

If you, as a parent or legal guardian, want to have your child's membership in Army.ca terminated, e-mail [email protected] and provide the child's User ID and password for confirmation. We would appreciate any details as to your objection of your child's participation if you feel that Army.ca is an unhealthy environment for any reason.

The Administrator and Chief Privacy Officer is the principal operator of this web site and has access to any personal information collected from children:

Mike Bobbitt
PO Box 412
Munster, ON
Canada

E-Mail: [email protected]

If your child is already a member of Army.ca, e-mail [email protected] if you wish to know what information we have gathered about or from your child. You must include your child's Army.ca User ID or e-mail address used to register on our site so we can properly identify them from our database of members.

In order to protect the privacy of Army.ca members, proof of guardianship may be required prior to furnising any information.