BetaKit Inc. (“BetaKit”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through compliance with all applicable privacy laws and regulations (“Privacy Laws”) and this privacy policy (“Policy”).
This Policy describes the types of personally identifying information we may collect or that you (“you” or “your”) may provide (“Personal Information”) on the betakit.com website (“Website”) and any of its related products and services, including but not limited to events, newsletters, podcasts, content made available for Patreon patrons and other content (collectively, together with the Website, the “Services”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that Personal Information. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Information and how you can access and update it.
By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. The terms of this Policy may change from time to time. If you continue to use our Website and Services after we make changes, you are consenting to the updated policy.
1. Automatic collection of information
When you open the Website, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends. This data may include information such as your device’s IP address, browser type, and version, operating system type and version, language preferences or the webpage you were visiting before you came to the Website and Services, pages of the Website and Services that you visit, the time spent on those pages, information you search for on the Website, access times and dates, your device type and location (if enabled on your device or derived from your IP address) and other statistics and information.
Information collected automatically is used for the purposes described in section 5 below, including identifying potential cases of abuse and establishing statistical information regarding the usage and traffic of the Website and Services. This statistical information is not otherwise aggregated in such a way that would identify any individual user of the system.
2. Consent
The form of consent required for the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information depends on what is reasonable in the circumstances. Consent may be express or implied from your actions. By using the Website and the Services, you are consenting to the use of your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.
If it is reasonable to do so, we will seek your consent to, or provide notice of, specific uses of your Personal Information at the time of collection. If express consent is required, we will provide you with an opportunity to affirmatively provide your consent, such as a check box.
3. Collection of Personal Information
You can access and use the Website and Services without telling us who you are or revealing any information by which someone could identify you as a specific, identifiable individual. If, however, you wish to use some of the features offered on the Website, you may be asked to provide certain Personal Information (for example, your name and e-mail address).
We collect and store any Personal Information you provide to us when you fill any forms on the Website.
We may receive Personal Information about you from third party sources, as permitted by law, such as marketing and data analytics databases.
If you register for our Website or Services using a third party platform (e.g. social media account), the third party platform may provide us with your social media identifier or handle and any additional information you authorize that third party platform to share, such as your email address or contact information. If you would like us to delete some or all of the Personal Information that you provide in these circumstances, please contact us, but please note that we may retain Personal Information needed to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or to continue to provide Services to you.
In general, you can choose not to provide us with your Personal Information, or withdraw your consent to our use of your Personal Information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of some of the features on the Website or other Services. Users who are uncertain about what Personal Information is mandatory to use our Services are welcome to contact us.
4. Privacy of children
We do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under the age of 18. If you are under the age of 18, please do not submit any Personal Information through the Website and Services. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 has provided Personal Information to us through the Website and Services, please contact us to request that we delete that child’s Personal Information from our Services.
We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce this Policy by instructing their children never to provide Personal Information through the Website and Services without their permission. We also ask that all parents and legal guardians overseeing the care of children take the necessary precautions to ensure that their children are instructed to never give out Personal Information online without their permission.
5. Use and disclosure of collected information
We may need to collect and use certain Personal Information about you for the following purposes. If you do not provide the Personal Information that we request, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or Services. Any of the Personal Information we collect from you may be used for the following purposes:
- Making the Website and Services available to you
- Running and operating the Website and Services
- Improving the quality of the Website and Services
- Meeting our legal obligations
- Delivering or developing products or Services
- Responding to inquiries and offering support
- Requesting user feedback
- Improving user experience
- Communicating with users, including but not limited to for the purpose of administering contests, surveys, promotions or events
- Providing personalized content and/or advertising
- Facilitating general management and administration of our business, including to meet regulatory, legal, insurance, audit, security and/or processing requirements
- Corporate reasons (including but not limited to contemplated or actual financing, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets)
We may also disclose any Personal Information we collect, use or receive if required or permitted by law in any applicable jurisdiction, such as to comply with a subpoena, lawful access request or similar legal process/request, and when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud or other potentially unlawful activity, or respond to a government request.
In the event we go through a business transition, such as a merger or acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your Personal Information will likely be among the assets transferred.
Through the Website or Services, we may offer you opportunities to engage in public activities, which are any actions you take that are designed to be visible to others, including comments, recommendations, reader reviews, ratings, classified listings, public user profiles or any other items that you submit.
If you choose to engage in public activities, you should be aware that any Personal Information you submit can be read, collected and used by other users. We are not responsible for the Personal Information you choose to make public and we have no responsibility to publish, take down, remove or edit any of your public activities or submissions. Public activities may be included in our RSS fees, APIs and other distribution formats and thus your public activities may appear on other websites, blogs or feeds. For more information, please see the applicable Terms and Conditions. When you share or recommend links to content on a third-party platform (including social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter) that action and any information you share will be subject to the privacy policy on that platform.
6. Service Providers
In connection with the purposes identified above, we may share your Personal Information with our affiliates, contracted companies, and service providers (collectively, “Service Providers”) we rely upon to assist in the operation of the Website and Services available to you. Some Service Providers may be located outside of Canada, including Service Providers that store, host and/or process our data, and as a result your Personal Information may be accessed by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of another jurisdiction.
Service Providers are not authorized to use or disclose your Personal Information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements. Service Providers are given the Personal Information they need only in order to perform their designated functions, and we do not authorize them to use or disclose any of the provided Personal Information for their own marketing or other purposes.
7. Retention of and access to information
We will retain and use your Personal Information for the period reasonably necessary to provide you with requested access to the Website and/or Services, to comply with our legal obligations, enforce our agreements, comply with our legal obligations or regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce this Policy or our Terms and Conditions, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. We may retain your information for a reasonable period for re-engagement purposes.
We may use any aggregated data derived from or incorporating your Personal Information after you update or delete it, but not in a manner that would identify you personally. Once we no longer reasonably require your Personal Information for the purposes described above, we securely dispose of it.
You have the right to access, update and correct any inaccuracies in your Personal Information in our custody, subject to limited exceptions under applicable law. You may always contact us to inquire about accessing, updating or correcting any Personal Information you have provided to us prior to it being disposed of.
8. Cookies
Our Website and Services use “cookies” to help personalize your online experience, to collect, store, and track information for security and personalization, to operate the Website and Services, and for statistical purposes. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. You can choose to decline some or all cookies through the settings on your web browser, but if you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the features of the Website and Services.
If you navigate away from our sites, for example, by clicking on an advertising or other link, other parties may also place a cookie in your browser. The use of such cookies are governed by the privacy policy of these third parties. We do not control, nor are we responsible for, the activities or practices of such other parties.
9. Data analytics
Our Website and Services may use third-party analytics tools that use cookies, web beacons, or other similar information-gathering technologies to collect standard internet activity and usage information. The information gathered is used to compile statistical reports on User activity such as how often Users visit our Website and Services, what pages they visit and for how long, etc. We use the information obtained from these analytics tools to monitor the performance and improve our Website and Services.
10. Advertisements and social media
We may display online advertisements and our advertisers may collect your Personal Information through your use of the Website and Services for the purpose of delivering tailored advertisements to the intended audience.
Online behavioural advertising involves tracking consumers’ online activities (including web pages you visit and content and advertisements you view), across sites and over time to deliver advertisements targeted to their inferred interests. Behavioural advertisers often use sophisticated algorithms to analyze the collected data, build detailed personal profiles of users, and assign them to various interest categories. Interest categories are used to present ads defined as relevant to users in those categories. If you opt-out of behavioural tracking, you will still receive advertising, it just won’t be tailored to your interests. Third parties such as ad-serving companies may assign cookies and other tracking technology directly on our digital properties. The information collected is used to deliver future targeted advertisements to you when you visit our digital properties and other third party sites in their network.
Our Website and Services may include social media features, such as the Facebook and Twitter buttons, “Share” buttons, etc. (collectively, “Social Media Features”). These Social Media Features may collect your IP address, what page you are visiting on our Website and Services, and may set a cookie to enable Social Media Features to function properly. Social Media Features are hosted either by their respective providers or directly on our Website and Services. Your interactions with these Social Media Features are governed by the privacy policy of their respective providers, and not our Privacy Policy.
11. Links to other resources
The Website and Services contain links to other resources that are not owned or controlled by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other resources or third parties. We encourage you to be aware when you leave the Website and Services and to read the privacy statements of each and every resource that may collect Personal Information.
12. Safeguards
We secure information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in an effort to protect against unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure of Personal Information in our control and custody. However, no data transmission over the Internet or wireless network can be guaranteed.
Therefore, while we strive to protect your Personal Information, you acknowledge that (i) there are security and privacy limitations of the Internet which are beyond our control; (ii) the security, integrity, and privacy of any and all information and data exchanged between you and the Website and Services cannot be guaranteed; and (iii) any such information and data may be viewed or tampered with in transit by a third party, despite best efforts.
In the event we become aware that the security of the Website and Services has been compromised or users’ Personal Information has been disclosed to unrelated third parties as a result of external activity, including, but not limited to, security attacks or fraud, we reserve the right to take reasonably appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, investigation and reporting, as well as notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. In the event of a data breach, we will make reasonable efforts to notify regulators and/or affected individuals in accordance with Privacy Laws.
13. Changes and amendments
We reserve the right to modify this Policy or its terms related to the Website and Services at any time at our discretion. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page.
An updated version of this Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Policy unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Website and Services after the effective date of the revised Policy (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes.
14. Acceptance of this Policy
You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Website and Services and submitting your Personal Information you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, you are not authorized to access or use the Website and Services.
15. Accessing, updating and deleting your Personal Information
Subject to the terms of this Policy and any other restrictions or exemptions provided under Privacy Laws, you may access, update and delete your Personal Information in our custody by:
- Updating or deleting your account information for the relevant Service;
- Updating your preferences if such option is provided by the relevant Service;
- Opting out of Google Analytics by visiting the Google Analytics opt-out page and installing the add-on for your browser;
- Opting out of the direct offers and advertisements by following the instructions at the bottom of the email or speaking with anyone who may contact you; or
- Contacting us using the information set out below.
Contacting us
If you have any questions regarding this Policy, the Personal Information we may hold about you, or to exercise your rights with respect to that information (including withdrawing your consent or changing your Personal Information), we encourage you to contact us using the details below:
info@betakit.com
Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests. Your request must provide sufficient information that allows us to verify that you are the person you are claiming to be or that you are the authorized representative of such person. If we receive your request from an authorized representative, we may request evidence that you have provided such an authorized representative with power of attorney or that the authorized representative otherwise has valid written authority to submit requests on your behalf.
You must include sufficient details to allow us to properly understand the request and respond to it. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information unless we first verify your identity or authority to make such a request and confirm that the Personal Information relates to you.
We will attempt to resolve complaints and disputes and make every reasonable effort to honour your wish to exercise your rights as quickly as possible.
This document was last updated on Thursday, December 15th 2022.