Privacy Policy

Effective Date: November 24, 2024

1.Introduction

In the digital age, safeguarding personal data is of paramount importance. At the Thompson-Nicola Conservation Collaborative (TNCC) we are dedicated to upholding your privacy and protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy is designed to explain how we gather, utilize, disclose, and safeguard your personal data when you access and use our website at https://tnccollaborative.org. Your use of our website implies your consent to the practices detailed herein.

2. Information We Collect

  • 2.1. Personal Information: We may collect personal information that you willingly provide when utilizing our services, including but not limited to:
    • Name: To personalize your experience.
    • Email Address: To communicate with you and send updates.
    • Postal Address: When necessary for specific services.
    • Phone Number: To contact you, if required.
    • Any other data: You may provide voluntarily, such as preferences, comments or user-generated content.
      • Comments: When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/ . After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
      • Media: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

This information might be collected during event registration, subscription to newsletters, posting comments, or when you contact us.

  • 2.2. Automatically Collected Information: When you access our website, certain information is automatically collected, including:
    • IP Address: For security and analytics.
    • Browser Type: To optimize your browsing experience.
    • Operating System: To ensure compatibility.
    • Referring URLs: To understand how you found our website.
    • Pages Visited: For site improvement and analytics.

This data helps us enhance our website and improve your user experience.

3. How We Use Your Information

We employ your data for various purposes, including:

  • 3.1. Providing and Enhancing Services: We use your personal information to deliver the services you request and continually enhance your experience on our website.
  • 3.2. Personalization: We may personalize your website experience based on the data we collect to make your interactions more relevant and enjoyable.

  • 3.3. Communication: Your contact information allows us to respond to your inquiries, provide updates, and engage with you when necessary.

  • 3.4. Analytics and Security: We monitor and analyze usage patterns to bolster our website’s functionality and security.

4. Data Security Measures

The security of your data is a top priority. We implement robust security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include encryption, access controls, and regular security assessments.

5. Sharing of Information

We do not sell, trade, or transfer your personal information to third parties without your consent. However, we may share your data with trusted service providers who assist us in operating our website, subject to strict confidentiality agreements (e.g., visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service). We may also disclose your personal information if required by law, subpoena, or court order.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) by a website. They are widely used to enhance your browsing experience, enable website functionality, and provide analytics about website usage. Our website may utilize cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing behavior. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings.

The cookies and tracking technologies we use may include the following categories of cookies:

  • 6.1. Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the operation of our website. They allow you to navigate and use features, such as accessing secure areas of the site.
  • 6.2. Analytics Cookies: These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously. This data helps us improve website functionality and user experience.
  • 6.3. Performance Cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors use our site, such as which pages are most frequently visited. They help us optimize the site’s performance.
  • 6.4. Third-Party Cookies: Some cookies are set by third-party services we use on our site, such as embedded videos or social media sharing features. These cookies may track your activity across other websites.
  • 6.5. Session and Persistent Cookies: If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

8. Your Rights

  • 8.1. Access: You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. Feel free to contact us for a copy of your data.

  • 8.2. Correction: If you believe the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you can request corrections.

  • 8.3. Deletion: You can request the deletion of your personal information.

  • 8.4. Objection: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information for certain purposes, such as direct marketing.

  • 8.5. Data Portability: You can request your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.

  • 8.6. If You Have an Account: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

9. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may periodically update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. Significant changes will be communicated by posting the revised Privacy Policy on our website.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at info@tnccollaborative.org.