Privacy policy

Last update: March 6, 2024

1. Introduction

Welcome to SOCIA Development Inc. («we», «our», «us», «SOCIA», «the Company»). We respect your privacy and wish to protect your personal information. This privacy policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, how you can control its use, and the measures we take to ensure its security.

The terms « users » and « organizers » are used to refer to anyone who has an account on the platform, whether they are individuals or professionals.

This privacy policy applies to all data we collect when you use our services, which includes our website and our mobile application when available, or when you communicate with us.

Please note that you remain responsible for what you yourself post on the platform publicly or with other users (chat, comments, description). Thus, if you yourself voluntarily transmit personal information (for example, your address or phone number), we cannot be held responsible for the spread of this data.

2. The information we collect

3. Consent

We only collect, use, and share your personal data with your explicit consent.

How we obtain your consent

• When creating an account: when you create an account on our platform, we ask you to accept our privacy policy. By accepting, you give us consent to process your data as described in this policy.
• Policy update: if we make major changes to this policy, we will ask you to review and consent again.
• Specific services: for certain specific functionalities, such as accessing your contacts or photos, we will ask for separate consent to ensure you are fully informed.

You can withdraw your consent at any time. Please note that withdrawing consent does not compromise the legality of any processing carried out before the withdrawal.

4. How we use your information

Your information is used to provide, manage, and improve our services, personalize your experience, communicate with you, and ensure the security of our platform. Additionally, we may use this information to send you promotional offers and other information about the company, depending on your preferences.

We may also use your information to ensure compliance with all our regulations and various policies in place to prevent any unauthorized behavior.

5. Sharing information with third parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information with third parties for commercial purposes without your consent. However, in order to provide you with the products and services you have requested, we may share your personal information with trusted third parties, including: Stripe for secure payment processing, IAPHUB for integrated purchase management, and Sendgrid for sending automated emails.

SOCIA Development Inc. may call upon service providers for development, support, or security of its Platform, to facilitate and secure certain aspects. This includes email sending, conducting surveys, managing our advertisements, and a portion of the technical support potentially. They may access, process, and store information about you on our behalf and within the limits we have set, themselves having to keep your information confidential.

Regarding Stripe, the third party in charge of secure payments and a pioneer in its field, it is the only one to have access to your payment information. Indeed, we do not have access to this information on our side.

The collected information may be shared in response to an information request if we believe disclosure is required by law. This will also apply to any government entity or third parties, including the content of comments or messages, if applicable, if we believe disclosure complies with or is required by applicable law.

Using Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. («Google»), to help us understand how our users interact with our website. Google Analytics uses «cookies», which are text files placed on your computer, to collect standard information about user behavior anonymously.

a) Type of data collected

The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to Google. This information is then used to evaluate your use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity.

b) Use of data

We use Google Analytics statistical reports to understand how our users interact with our website, allowing us to improve its structure and content. This information is not used to target you with online advertisements.

c) Use of data by Google

Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You can find out more about how Google uses your data here https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US].

d) Opt-out

If you do not want your visit to our website to be tracked by Google Analytics, you can uninstall the «Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on» for your web browser https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

SOCIA also reserves the right to share your information with new third parties not listed in this section without notice as needed, but this policy will be updated accordingly as soon as information is shared with a new third party.

The Company may also share non-identifiable information, i.e. de-identified information.

6. Retrieval of your information from third parties

We may collect information from third parties with your consent, for example

• If you choose to connect to our Services via a social network such as Facebook (coming soon) or Gmail.
• Applications through which you might share the link of an activity.
• Photos from the gallery when you add photos to the platform, depending on the permissions you have given.
• Other publicly accessible sources.

The Company also reserves the right to retrieve information from new third parties not listed in this section without notice, depending on the needs, particularly in connection with advertising, but this policy will be updated accordingly as soon as information begins to be collected from new third parties.

7. Links to other sites

Our Platform may offer hyperlinks to other sites. The information exchanged on these sites is not subject to this Privacy Policy, but to those of the external sites concerned, if any. In such cases, we invite you to consult them before sharing your personal information.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of third-party sites or services.

8. Place of exercise

SOCIA is based in Quebec, Canada and is governed by the law in force in the country. The information collected is stored and processed exclusively in Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada.

9. Data security

The security of your data is crucial to us. That's why we take special care to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or deletion. All data exchanged, such as your account details, are encrypted using robust algorithms. Our team is competent and continues to train and apply best practices in terms of security.

It's also important to note that you are responsible for the complexity of the chosen password, its security, and confidentiality.

While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security but commit to implementing and maintaining the best industry security practices and standards to protect your data.

10. Contact information for the Privacy Officer

For any questions regarding the processing or updating of your personal information or to express any concerns in this regard, please contact us via the following email address: [email protected].

The privacy officer will contact you within thirty (30) days following the receipt of your email.

11. Retention of your information

We take measures to securely retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

We keep your personal data for a period of five (5) years to facilitate your connection to the platform, even some time after your last interaction. You can always request the deletion of your account through your settings. In this case, we will anonymize your personal data (for example, your email will become [email protected] in our systems) - see the Data Deletion Modalities section for more details.

12. Your rights

As a user, you have the right to request access, correction, deletion of your personal data, or restriction of their processing.

Once we have properly identified you, you can request to consult the personal information we hold about you, as allowed or required by law. In some cases, a written request from you may be necessary.

13. Accuracy and modification of your personal information

If there are changes to be made to your personal information, it is preferable to communicate with us quickly by email to keep your file and our databases up to date.

14. Data deletion modalities

We have adopted rigorous procedures regarding data deletion

• Deletion upon request: Users have the right to request the deletion of their data at any time. Once this request is received and validated, we commit to anonymizing all the user's personal information within 30 days. In this case, we will proceed to anonymize your personal data (for example, your email will become [email protected] in our systems) and we will delete your comments as well as your participations and activity proposals.
• Archives and backups: Deleted data may persist in our backups for a maximum period of 60 days, after which they are definitively deleted from the backups as well.
• Notification: Once the data is erased, we send a notification to the user to confirm that their request has been processed.

15. Data breach notification procedure

The security of your data is of paramount importance to us. Despite our efforts to protect your information, data breaches do occur. In the unfortunate event of such a situation, here's our procedure

• Identification and assessment: As soon as we become aware of a security incident, we immediately mobilize our security team to assess the scale, nature and origin of the breach. This step enables us to understand what data has potentially been exposed, and what steps need to be taken to remediate it.
• Remedial action: our team will take all necessary steps to secure the system, eliminate the threat and prevent future occurrences. This may include updating our systems, strengthening our security protocols and working with external experts if necessary.
• Notification to users: if we determine that the privacy incident may result in serious harm, we undertake to inform you of the situation as soon as possible. The notification will include a description of the breach, the type of data potentially exposed and the steps we have taken or recommend to take.
• Coordination with the authorities: depending on the seriousness of the violation and the regulations in force, we will work closely with the relevant authorities to ensure transparent and responsible management of the situation.
• Privacy policy update: following a security incident, we will review and, if necessary, update our privacy policy and practices to better protect your information in the future.

16. Verification process

We recognize the importance of ensuring that our procedures and privacy policy are consistently followed. As such, we have implemented a regular internal audit process. This process includes internal audits, ongoing training for our staff, checking the reliability of third parties with whom we collaborate, updating our policies and receiving feedback from users.

17. Limitations of this privacy policy

As previously mentioned, this privacy policy does not apply to information that you yourself have made public or shared with third parties via the application, nor to anonymized information.

18. Changes to our privacy policy

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently or when it is posted. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon publication on the website. The date at the top of this page will change with each update.

19. Contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, you can contact us at [email protected]