Privacy Policy

1.Why do we collect personal information?

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When you become a client of Mountain West Studios, we will request personal information from you for the purpose of providing the photographic services that are requested of us by your school.

2. What sort of personal information do we collect?

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In preparation for school day photos, Mountain West Studios collects certain personal information of children under the age of 16 from participating schools or school districts. This information may include a student’s first and last name, student number, school grade, home room. We rely on the participating school or school district to have obtained the appropriate consent to collect this information and disclose it to us. We limit our collection and use of this information to only that which is necessary for the purpose authorized by the participating school or school district. Participating schools and school districts ultimately decide what personal information is shared with us. Their approach to sharing this information is set out in their respective privacy policies.

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In addition to using this information to assist us in providing you with our services, we will use this information for our own data records (both to ensure accuracy and to prevent fraud) and we may share this information with your school or School Board to ensure that their records are accurate.

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We want to keep your school’s information up-to-date, accurate and relevant for its intended use.  We rely on you to let us know if your school address, telephone number or other information you provide us changes, so that we may provide your parents and students with the best possible service.

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In providing our services, we may require payment information from you (such as a credit card number, although collected by a third-party service, such as Chase or Square) so that we can process your Mountain West purchases. We do not collect payment card information. If you make an online payment using a credit card or debit card, you are connected directly to our online payment processing service provider and your payment card information is collected and processed by that service provider. No credit card information is stored on any system used by Mountain West Studios or sent electronically using Mountain West Studios email.

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Like most websites and other Internet-based services, we may collect certain technical and device information about the use of our Website. Such information may include Internet Protocol (IP) address, information about your device, browser and operating system, and the date and time of your visit.

Cookies

A “cookie” is a small data file stored by your web browser on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies are necessary to use our website. A cookie allows our web server to balance customer traffic on our website to enhance performance of the service. After you end your session, the cookie from the web server will remain on your computer until you manually delete it. No personal information is stored on this cookie.

 

Disabling Cookies

Accepting cookies through your web browser is your personal choice. However, if you choose not to accept cookies or, you choose to disable cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of our website’s features.

 

Social Media Plug-Ins

Mountain West Studios may also use so-called “social media plug-ins” on its Sites. An example of a social media plug-in is a so-called “like button”. Social media organizations such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter provide such plug-ins for use on Sites. Pages of a Site that contain such a social plug-in, allow the user’s browser to connect directly to the social media organization’s servers. Via such plug-ins, the social media organizations may receive the information that you have visited our Sites even if you do not have a profile or are not currently logged in.

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This information (including your IP address) will be transferred from your browser directly to a server of the respective social media organization and stored there. If you are logged in to one of the social media organizations’ services, the providers may allocate your visit of the Sites to your account with such organization. Interactions with plug-ins such as a “like button” are sent directly to the social media organization’s servers and stored there. The information is also stored in the social media organization’s network and published on your account with that organization. The purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing of your data by the providers as well as your relevant rights and setting options for the protection of your privacy can be found in the privacy notices of the social media organizations.

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The following are some of the major social media organizations whose plug-ins may be used on Mountain West Studios sites, along with informational links regarding these plug-ins: 

 

Facebook is operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. An overview of Facebook plugins and their appearance can be found here: developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins

 

Twitter is operated by Twitter Inc, 1355 Market St, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. An overview of the Twitter buttons and their appearance can be found here: about.twitter.com/en_us/company/brand-resources.html

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Instagram is operated by Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. An overview of the Instagram buttons and their appearance can be found here: help.instagram.com

3. How we use and to whom we disclose your personal information.

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At Mountain West Studios, we will not share your personal information with anyone else (other than your school or School Board) without your prior consent. We may also provide your contact information to delivery service providers solely for the purpose of having your purchases delivered to your home. We will not share your payment information with anyone without your permission except the relevant credit card carrier or financial institution we use to verify your payment information. We do not use the information we collect to provide advertising of third-party products and services or targeted advertising of company products and services across third party websites or service offerings.

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We may use your personal information and other information:

•    to provide our products and services and to support you in the use of our products and services;
•    to contact you relating to our products and services;
•    to respond to inquiries and other requests;
•    to develop and improve our products and services;
•    to communicate with you about products and services that we think may be of interest to you

 

We may, in rare circumstances, be compelled to disclose your information to the proper authorities if permitted or required by law. For example:

•    if a government institution exercises its legal authority to compel us to disclose such information.
•    where we have reasonable grounds to believe that the information would assist in the investigation of unlawful activity.
•    to comply with a warrant or subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction or other person or entity with the authority to compel production of information.
•    to comply with court rules regarding the production of records and information.
•    to our legal counsel.

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4. How do we protect your personal information?

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We will not collect personal information from you for any purpose unrelated to our business. In storing and using your information, we will use our best efforts to safeguard your information and will endeavour to ensure that your information is not used by our service providers in a manner that is not inconsistent with our Privacy Policy. We will keep your personal information only as long as is required for our purposes. When we no longer require your personal information, we will archive those records on our secure servers located in our head offices in Burnaby, B.C.. for parents to access (or delete if requested by the parent.)

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•    Our hiring procedures include criminal record checks for all new photographers and Territory Managers, as well as rigorous checks of both personal and work references.
•    Only employees who agree to and sign off on our privacy agreements, and who require access to student information in the course of performing their daily tasks, will be given access to such information.
•    Multiple layers of security access are in place with respect to company and customer information. Our processing lab in Burnaby is equipped with coded entry systems, security cameras and monitored alarm systems. All computers are password-protected and student information, once received from schools, is stored on-location in computers that are protected from the internet using both a hardware and software firewall.
•    It is our strict policy that employees are not to release information concerning a customer to a third party without the customer’s consent in writing. In the case of minors, written consent from the parent or guardian is required.
•    Student and client contact details are used to create products or services for schools, or for providing information on how to order photography products.
•    Job processing is done in-house without engagement of external employees or contractors which enables Mountain West Studios to have full control over sensitive information.
•    Each year a document destruction company is engaged to destroy any sensitive Information to be discarded; Mountain West Studios is provided with written certification of the destruction of such information.

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In case of a breach of security safeguards involving personal information, we will:
•    Determine whether the breach creates a risk of significant harm to the individual.
•    Notify the affected individual (parent or guardian), associated school Board and school and any other organization or government institution that can reduce the risk or mitigate the harm from the breach.
•    Keep a record of the breach in accordance with our legal obligations.

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5. Access to your own information

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You have the right to access, update and correct inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody or control.  To access your personal information, a request must be submitted in writing to us (please see contact information below).  We will respond to your request for access or information within a reasonable time.  We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.

 

6. Customer Options for receiving email communication

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Our goal is to inform you about our products and services, including special promotions and coupon codes. We use an opt-in standard for promotional e-mail messages. If you are contacted and do not wish to receive further information, you may “unsubscribe” at any time. If contacted by e-mail, the email will include an “unsubscribe” feature. We will act promptly to honour your request.  Please be aware that, even if you have opted out of receiving marketing communications from us, we may still contact you for transactional purposes such as order updates, schedule changes and appointment reminders.

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7. Obtaining Your Consent

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In some cases we will ask you specifically for your consent in providing your personal information. In other circumstances, your consent will be implied. For instance, when we are engaged by your school or school board to provide photographic services, your school or school board may send us your personal information. In that case, your consent is implied through your relationship with your school or school board. You may withdraw previously granted consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information at any time by contacting us using the contact information in the "Contact Us" section below. Before we implement the withdrawal of consent, however, we may require proof of your identity.

8. Contact information and resources

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We at Mountain West Studios are committed to providing you with the highest quality of service while treating you with respect and courtesy. If you wish to contact us regarding our Privacy Policy or the manner in which we have collected, handled, used or stored your personal information, please contact us at:

 

Mountain West Studios Ltd.
6869 Merritt Avenue
Burnaby, BC V5J4R5
Attention: Privacy Officer
Tel: 604-433-0551
privacyofficer@mountainwest.ca

 

We will promptly address your concerns when we receive your inquiry.

 

To read more about Canadian privacy laws, please contact the Canadian Privacy Commissioner at 1-800-282-1376, or visit their website, www.priv.gc.ca

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