Data Privacy Day 2016

It’s Data Privacy Day! As a Privacy by Design Ambassador, we are always committed to going the extra mile when it comes to protecting participants’ privacy and ensuring organizations engaging through PlaceSpeak fulfil their legal obligations.

Organizations’ legal obligations

Does your participant data need to be stored on Canadian servers? For example, in British Columbia, under Section 30.1 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, public bodies (such as local and provincial governments, and associated ministries) must store and access data on secure Canadian servers. A similar law exists in Nova Scotia. PlaceSpeak only uses Canadian servers so you can be sure the information you gather complies with the law.

“A public body must ensure that personal information in its custody or under its control is stored only in Canada and accessed only in Canada, unless one of the following applies.”

Privacy by Design

By placing participant privacy first PlaceSpeak is also the leading civic engagement platform when it comes to allowing organizations to legitimately engage with authenticated participants. We understand that authentication and privacy are key in online engagement and avoiding the trap of meaningless anonymity will ensure legitimate feedback data. PlaceSpeak’s platform enables citizens to feel comfortable sharing their location and personal information so you are confident all engagement and feedback comes from real people. This is achieved by placing privacy at the beginning of every step in the engagement process.

• We are not a market research company or social network. The personal information of our participants is never sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company, advertisers, or third parties.
• All information is stored on secure servers. We ask for minimal information required for an accurate geo-verification process and it is all stored on secure servers throughout its lifecycle.
• Privacy by default. When participants sign up they have the strictest privacy levels set by default
• Authenticated anonymity. When topics are sensitive, participants can opt to maintain their privacy by not sharing their name publicly. However you can be confident it is a real person because they have been authenticated through PlaceSpeak’s unique geo-verification technology.

The above are just a few of the ways the PlaceSpeak helps organizations and participants promote and protect privacy during any engagement.

If you are interested in reading more about privacy, read our interview with Dr. Ann Cavoukian. Dr Cavoukian is the Executive Director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University and listed on “The Power 50: Canada’s Most Powerful Business People” in 2014 and 2016.