Privacy Policy

Vernier Canada
Privacy Notice

Last Updated June 25, 2020

At Vernier Canada, we value your privacy and we understand the need to protect and safeguard your sensitive information. This privacy notice (the “Privacy Notice”) constitutes an agreement between you and Vernier Canada and its affiliates, corporate parent(s), and subsidiaries (collectively, “Vernier,” “VCA,” “us,” “our,” or “we”) while accessing and using www.verniercanada.ca and other websites we own or operate (collectively, the “Site”), our mobile applications (the “App”), software, or other products and services we offer (collectively, with the App, the “Software”), and is governed by and part of our Terms of Use. Any terms defined in the Terms of Use have the same meaning when used in this Privacy Notice.

Your privacy is important, and we encourage you to read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand the information we collect and what we do with it.

This Site is Intended for Educators, not Students. VCA develops and offers educational Software. VCA markets its Software to educators and their schools, school districts and other organizations (collectively, “Schools”). As such, this Site is not intended for students or children under 16 years of age. If you are under age 16, please do not provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name. If the VCA learns we have collected or received Personal Information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe that we might have received information from or about a child under 16, please contact us [email protected].

Consent. By accessing the Site, registering with VCA, downloading or installing the Software, or submitting information to VCA in any manner, you consent to this Privacy Notice and the collection and use of information as described herein. We will take reasonable steps to notify you and confirm that you agree at different stages of collecting your information. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, you may not be able to access or benefit from certain portions of this Site or our Software.

Consent for Students. Each School that uses our Software initiates student access to the Software and agrees to be fully responsible for all student, instructor and other end user’s use of the Software. Each School that provides our Software to students provides consent for the students’ use of the Software, including collection of Personal Information as described in this Privacy Notice, and is responsible for determining and obtaining any additional consent for students, including parental consent, that may be required by applicable privacy laws. Please note that Software published VCA does not collect any Personal Information from students or instructors, nor does it include any advertising.

Scope. This Privacy Notice applies to information we collect from individuals who visit the Site, submit information to VCA, register with VCA, download or install the Software, use the App, communicate with us in any manner, from third parties, and by other means over the course of your use of our Services. This Privacy Notice does not apply to information collected by us through applications or content, including any other websites, not operated by VCA. Software and services that VCA distributes or promotes, but did not develop, is governed by the privacy policy of its respective developer.

Personal Information. As used in this Privacy Notice, “Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual consumer or device, such as:

• Identifiers (e.g., name, address, telephone number, email address, username);
• Sensitive Personal Information (e.g. state identification number, financial information);
• Protected classification information (e.g. age, citizenship, sex, veteran or military status);
• Biometric information (e.g. keystroke dynamics, behavioral or biological characteristics);
• Internet or other similar activity (e.g. browsing history);
• Employment-related information (e.g. current or past employment);
• Non-public educational information, including information protected under the Privacy Act; and
• Commercial information (e.g. products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies).

Personal Information does not include (a) publicly available information; (b) aggregate information, meaning data about a group or category of services or users from which individual identities and other Personal Information has been removed; or (c) de-identified information that cannot be easily linked back to the individual.

Lawful Basis. We will only collect your Personal Information (a) when applicable, with your consent; (b) if we have a legitimate interest in doing so; or (c) as authorized or required by law. We will limit the collection of Personal Information to that which is reasonable and necessary. If we collect or use your Personal Information based on your consent, we will also notify you of any changes and will request your further consent as needed.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

The types of Personal Information we collect about you and the manner of collection depends on how you interact with VCA, including the portions of our Site and which of our Software offerings you use. We may collect Personal Information (i) directly from you, (ii) from a School with which you are affiliated in our role as a service provider, (iii) from other third parties, or (iv) automatically from your use of the Site or Software.

Information collected directly from you, with your consent. We collect Personal Information directly from you with your consent when you communicate with Vernier online, by email, telephone or other means. More specifically, we collect:

• Contact information when you contact VCA via an online form, email, or by phone in order to request information about our Software, sign up for our mailing list or request a demo of our Software. This includes identifiers like your name, email address, and telephone number. We may also collect the name of your School and any other information that you choose to provide to us.
• Registration information you provide when you create an account on the Site to place orders, post on our forum, or download Software or other resources we offer. When you register, we collect your name, email address, School address, a password, and payment information, such as your debit/credit card number and billing address.
• Payment information when you make a purchase on the Site, by email, phone or fax. We process all payments via a PCI-compliant payment processor.
• Information you submit to us as a registered user through your account, including information related to your account, and communications you submit related to the Software, your purchases or other interactive features of the Site.
• Information you provide to us when you call VCA for customer support, such as your name and School name or other information as needed to assist you with your inquiry. We will collect the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to assist you.

We will not collect any of the above Personal Information from you unless you provide it to us voluntarily. If you do not want your Personal Information collected, please do not submit it to us.

Information we collect as a service provider with a legitimate interest. When we act in our capacity as a service provider to Schools, we may collect Personal Information from Software end users as needed to provide our Software, technical support, or other resources or customer services. The Personal Information we may collect in our capacity as a service provider may include:

• Information a Software end user provides to us when calling VCA for Software support or for other customer service questions, such as name, School name, email address, and phone number. We will collect the minimum amount of Personal Information necessary to assist a caller with their inquiry.
• Technical information about a Software end user’s device, such as device ID, IP address, browser type and operating system, transfers to VCA’s servers when Software end users install or use the Software on their device.

Vernier Canada makes every effort to minimize the scope of Personal Information we collect from Software end users. Note that our Software does not collect Personal Information about end users or transmit data to VCA regarding Software use or content created using the Software. We will only use the Personal Information that we collect about Software end users in our capacity as a service provider as permitted by our agreement with the School or for other purposes as permitted by law.

Information We Collect From Other Persons, with a legitimate interest. We may collect Personal Information about you from other persons in order to provide, offer, or advertise our Software. More specifically, we may collect contact information for educators and key personnel at Schools identified as prospective customers that we obtain from marketing companies, professional associations, or educational resource companies. We may combine this information with Personal Information we previously collected about you or your School. We collect and use this information for our own marketing purposes and in accordance with applicable law. You have the right to opt out of VCA’s marketing communications at any time.

Information collected from you automatically, with a legitimate interest. Vernier collects internet and other similar network activity, as well as anonymous information, from your use of the Site to achieve our legitimate interest of maintaining and improving the design, content and performance of the Site and our Software. The information we collect in this manner may include:

• Log Files. VCA uses Google Analytics™ to research the usage of the Site. We collect technical information from your device including the date and time of the visit, the type of browser used, the type of operating system used, and aggregate information regarding what pages users of the Site access or visit. IP address information is stored for one year in case of security incidents. All other log data is stored for 26 months to allow us to see trends. We also track pages visited and emails opened by Site visitors. This information allows VCA to ensure that our Site will appear and function appropriately on your computer, and to conduct our own analyses and research to improve our Software, services, and content.
• App User Content. If an App user chooses to include or embed Personal Information into a video uploaded via the App, we may collect that Personal Information. VCA does not intend or wish to collect any Personal Information that an App user may choose to include or embed in a video or other App user content, and VCA is not responsible for the collection, processing, storage or use of such Personal Information. If we learn that we have collected Personal Information in this manner, we reserve the right to delete it. To avoid loss of data, App users should save video files locally or in a cloud-based location.
• Caller Identification. If you call us for customer service, VCA will automatically collect and store any caller identification information generated to our phone system.
• Cookies. Like most commercial websites, we use cookies to track use of our Site and the App. Please read our Cookie Notice for more information about how we use cookies.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use the Personal Information we collect for the purposes described at the time of collection and for other purposes with your consent and as permitted by law. Depending on your interactions with VCA, we may use your Personal Information for the following purposes.

To provide your School with Vernier Software. We use the Personal Information we collect directly from you to provide your School with the Software, resources, and customer support. In doing so, we may use your Personal Information to:

• Respond to your inquiries about the Software or our company, communicate with your Schools, instructors and, in some cases, students about their use of the Software, and to provide customer support.
• Tailor the content and information that we may send or display to you, such as providing you with information about workshops near your School or offering your School personalized help and instructions for the use of our Software.
• Maintain accurate records.

As a service provider, to support the use of Vernier Software. We use the Personal Information we collect in our capacity as a service provider to provide your School’s instructors, students and other Software end users with technical support and, in some cases, to fulfill other customer service purposes. In doing so, we may use your Personal Information to:

• Provide technical support or other customer service support by telephone, mail, email, or other means.
• Identify necessary modifications to the Site or Software to improve the function or user experience for Software end users.
• Support the safe and appropriate use of the Software by Schools and Software end users.

To improve the Site and the Software. VCA is constantly working to improve our Site and Software to achieve our legitimate interest of supporting Schools and instructors in their efforts to educate students. Toward that legitimate interest, we may use the information we collect from your or your use of the Site or Software, including Personal Information, to:

• Analyze how Site visitors access, use and navigate the Site, both on an aggregated and individualized basis.
• Evaluate use of our Site using automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to help us understand Site visitors’ behavior, view technology trends, improve usability, and test functionality.
• Support our internal development, diagnostics, and corrective efforts.

For our direct marketing efforts. We may also use your Personal Information to communicate with you about our Software and other offerings that may be of interest to you in order to achieve our legitimate interest of direct marketing. As part of our direct marketing efforts, we may:

• Send you email you news, newsletters, and email marketing materials.
• Send you our catalogues by email or mail.
• Determine relevant advertising, including advertising on social media and other third party websites.
• Evaluate the success of our advertising campaigns through third party channels (including our online targeted advertising and offline promotional campaigns).

We will only send you marketing communications in ways that are compatible with your communication choices

For other purposes as permitted by law. In addition to the specific uses and purposes described above, we might use information that we collect about you, including Personal Information, to:

• Comply with law, regulation, legal process or court order.
• Support our general business operations, as permitted by law.
• Investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person or violations of our Terms of Service or this Privacy Notice.
• Protect our rights and property, and the users of our Site or Software.
• For other purposes with your consent.

SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION

As permitted by applicable law, we may share your Personal Information as follows:

Our Service Providers. Vendors that provide VCA with various services (collectively, “Service Providers”) may have access to your Personal Information while they are performing their contractual obligations. These Service Providers include but are not limited to companies that provide VCA with certain marketing campaign services, data analytics, and payment processing services. We prohibit our Service Providers from selling or disclosing the Personal Information we provide, and we require all Service Providers to maintain confidentiality standards that are reasonable to ensure the security of your Personal Information.

Other Third Parties. As permitted by applicable law, we may disclose information to third parties in the following circumstances:

• To comply with federal, state, or local law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process, or if we have a good faith belief that disclosure is necessary to comply with a civil, criminal, or regulatory inquiry, investigation, subpoena, or summons by federal, state, or local authorities.
• When we believe it is appropriate in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use or this Privacy Notice, or to exercise or defend our legal claims.
• In the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of a portion of our assets—any Personal Information you provide us may be a part of the assets transferred. We may also share certain of your Personal Information with lenders, auditors, and third party advisors, including attorneys and consultants.
• In any case where we have obtained your prior consent.

Aggregated and De-Identified Information. We reserve the right to share aggregate, anonymized, or de-identified information about any individuals with non-affiliated entities for research, product development, marketing, or other purposes, without restriction.

CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

VCA provides you the ability to exercise certain controls and choices regarding our collection, use and sharing of your information. Depending on where you reside, your options to control your Personal Information may include:

• Changing your preferences for how and about what we communicate with you.
• Choosing whether to receive marketing communications from us, including promotions, surveys, and information about products and services that may be of interest to you.
• Correcting, updating, and deleting the Personal Information in your account. Please note that copies of information that you have updated, modified or deleted may remain viewable in cached and archived pages of the Site or App for a period of time.
• Controlling how the cookies we use interact with your browser.
• Requesting access to the Personal Information we hold about you and that we amend or delete it.

At any time, you may exercise any of these controls and choices, express concerns, lodge a complaint, or obtain additional information about the use of your Personal Information, or your students’ or children’s personal information, by contacting us at [email protected] or 1-800-376-4210.

Do Not Track. Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed below.

Marketing E-Mails. If you wish to be removed from our mailing list, simply write to us at [email protected], and we will remove you immediately. Please be sure to include your full name, email address, mailing address, and specifically what information you do not want to receive. You can also modify or limit the communications we send to you by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any of our marketing emails. If you opt-out of receiving promotional emails, we may still send you emails about your account or any services you have requested or received from us.

DATA SECURITY

It is VCA policy to treat your Personal Information with complete confidentiality. We employ reasonable and appropriate safeguards both online and offline to maintain the security, confidentiality, and integrity of information that we collect about you. VCA maintains internal policies to govern the collection, processing and handling of data, and restricts access to data to those employees who require such access to perform their job functions. We educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and customer privacy through standard operating procedures. We also maintain physical, electronic and procedural security measures to safeguard your non-public Personal Information. Personal Information is securely stored on our internal and cloud-based systems and is only accessible to our server administrators, technical support team and front office as needed to fulfill their respective roles. Our data storage systems are protected by reasonable and appropriate safeguards including strong encryption for content delivery and passwords. We update and test our technology to improve the protection of our information about you and to assure the integrity of that information.

Please note that no transmission of data over the internet is 100 percent secure. While we employ reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not defeat those measures or use non-public Personal Information for improper purposes. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site, our services, or for actions of third parties. The safety and security of your information also depends on you, and you are responsible for keeping your password confidential. Remember to log off your account and close your browser window when you have finished your visit. This is to ensure that others cannot access your account, especially if you are sharing a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place. All internet users should take care with how they handle and disclose their Personal Information.

Third-party Websites and Advertising. We may provide links to third-party websites from our Site as a service to our Site visitors, but we have no ability to control, and we are not responsible for, the privacy and data collection, use, and disclosure practices of third-party websites. When you click on links that take you to external websites, you will be subject to their privacy notices and practices and not ours. We encourage you to review and understand the privacy notices of such websites before providing them with any information.

Social Networking. If you access our Site from a social networking site (e.g., Facebook or Twitter), or if you otherwise agree to associate your account with us with a social networking site, we may also receive Personal Information about you from such social networking site. Our receipt of your Personal Information via a social networking site is governed by the terms of use and privacy notice of the social networking site. We may retain this information with the information we collect from you directly.