Privacy Statement for SmokersHelpline.ca and Text Support

Collection of Your Personal Information

Information you provide us

The information you provide us will be used to provide smoking cessation services to you and for ongoing research and program evaluation of our services.

On SmokersHelpline.ca

We collect personal information which you supply to us voluntarily by registering with and using SmokersHelpline.ca. This could include but is not limited to information that you provide on SmokersHelpline.ca when you:

1. register and create your membership profile;
2. complete exercises or answer assessment questions;
3. post content to the Online Community;
4. use the quit date function to report a quit date;
5. request to receive support by text;
6. request to receive a call from a Smokers’ Helpline Quit Coach; and/or
7. register for a challenge, contest or other promotional service.

Smokers’ Helpline’s Online Community provides a forum in which you may share your experiences with quitting smoking or tobacco use and connect over the internet with other people on a quit journey. It may be possible to view content on the Online Community without registration. In order to contribute and interact on the Online Community, however, one needs to register.

When you join SmokersHelpline.ca, you will be required to create a user profile and provide us with your first, last name and your email address (in order that we can communicate with you), your date of birth and gender (for reporting and evaluation purposes), your postal code (for reporting and evaluation purposes and in order that we can identify from which province you are visiting), a password, and a chosen, unique “username”.

No one else will be able to post to the site using your username. You will be known to others on the site only by your username, unless you otherwise identify yourself. When you create your username, we encourage you to select a “pen” or “nick” name or a pseudonym that does not include identifying personal information.

You submit and contribute to the Online Community at your own discretion. Keep in mind that most content you post on the Online Community will be available to the general public. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal information in a publicly-available forum such as the Online Community.

Please also keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifying information or personally sensitive data through the Smokers’ Helpline Online Community, this information may be collected and used by others and CCS is not responsible for those uses.

Also, please remember that any information posted publicly on a social network (for example the comments you post in discussion forums) becomes public information that can be searched by Internet search engines such as Google.

Any improper collection or misuse of information provided on the Online Community is a violation of the SmokersHelpline.ca Terms of Use and should be reported to SmokersHelpline@ontario.cancer.ca.

Information automatically collected

 

Usage tracking
SmokersHelpline.ca may automatically record some general information about your visit in order for CCS to engage in web statistical analysis using Google Analytics or similar tools. We want to make sure our site is useful to visitors and make the most efficient use of our marketing efforts through targeted advertising. This information may include the:

• internet domain for your internet service provider, such as “company.com” or “service.ca” and the IP address of the computer you are using to access CCS’s website;
• type of browser you are using, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome;
• type of operating system you are using such as Windows or Apple MacOS;
• date and time of the visit to our site, the pages of our site that were visited, and the address of the previous website you were visiting if you linked to us from another website;
• age category, gender, and affinity interests as determined by demographic and interest reports available through Google Analytics.

We make no attempt to link this information with the identity of individuals visiting SmokersHelpline.ca. If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the cookies; by disabling JavaScript within your browser; or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On.

Data collected for web analytics purposes may be processed in any country where Google operates servers, and thus may be subject to the governing legislation of that country.

Cookies
We also use "cookies" that identify you as a return visitor and which can help us tailor information to suit your individual preferences. A cookie is a small text file that a website can send to your browser, which may then store the cookie on your hard drive. The goal is to save you time next time you visit, provide you with a more meaningful visit, and measure website activity. Cookies in and of themselves cannot be used to reveal your identity. Many browsers, however, allow you to disable cookie collection if you wish, or inform you when a cookie is being stored on your hard drive.

Targeted advertising
As you interact with SmokersHelpline.ca, third party advertising partners may use cookies that we place on your computer, tracking pixels, web beacons and similar technologies to identify you as a visitor to our websites, and present you with targeted ads to help us promote Smokers’ Helpline and the Canadian Cancer Society. You can opt-out of the use of your information for select ad targeting by visiting this site: http://youradchoices.ca/choices, and also by setting up “Do Not Track” options available through your browser. 

When you are not on SmokersHelpline.ca
Smokers’ Helpline’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the internet. Social media account(s) are public and are not hosted on CCS’s servers. Users who choose to interact with Smokers’ Helpline via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications used to access them.

 

By SMS (i.e. Short Message Service-Text Messaging and/or CHAT)

We also collect personal information which you supply to us voluntarily by registering and using Smokers’ Helpline Text Support. This could include but is not limited to information that you provide by Short Message Service (SMS) or text message when you: 
1. register to receive support by text;
2. report a quit date;
3. text a response to automated questions;
4. text a key word; and/or
5. exchange text messages with a Smokers’ Helpline Quit Coach.

Use of Your Personal Information

CCS collects and uses your personal information for the following purposes:

1. to deliver services you have requested
2. to administer personalized settings and content depending on your user profile and the options you have selected
3. to respond to your requests, inquiries, comments and suggestions and maintain records of correspondence with us
4. to control and administer access to and use of SmokersHelpline.ca and its features
5. to maintain the security of the Website and verify and control access to your account
6. to engage in research, evaluation and reporting

We deploy content targeted to you based on information in your user profile. For example, the content of support emails or automated text messages may be customized based on your quit date or other variables.

We use the information we collect about you to determine the success of our platforms and ways to improve our service. We may need to access your user information to keep our services running. This includes troubleshooting technical support issues. For example, if you report a problem with the site, we may access your user information to identify the web browser you are using or to reproduce a problem you have reported. We may also periodically run reports to determine how many people are online or registered for text support, what features they are using, and what the general characteristics of our users are. For example, we may run a report to show us how many users have set quit dates or how many users have registered in a given period. Developing an effective smoking cessation program by text or online is an ongoing effort. Throughout the process of improving SmokersHelpline.ca and our Text Support, we will perform a variety of analyses to answer questions about how users like you use our site. We use this information internally and will never release personal information to outside marketers.

Your email address may be used to:

1. send you emails to support your quit smoking process
2. contact you for clarification of your comments on the Website’s Online Community
3. contact you for research and evaluation purposes
4. provide you with notices about changes to the service or new programs being offered through Smokers’ Helpline or by our cessation partners
5. provide you with information about Canadian Cancer Society

You may opt-out of receiving emails at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” option provided in every email, by adjusting your email preferences on your “My Account” page, or by calling Smokers’ Helpline for assistance at 1-877-513-5333.

Your telephone number, which is optional to share with CCS, may be used to:

1. call you if you specifically opt-in to receive a call from a Smokers’ Helpline Quit Coach and provide your telephone number
2. send you automated text messages if you specifically opt-in to receive support by SMS (standard text messaging and data rates apply) and either provide your mobile telephone number on SmokersHelpline.ca or text IQUIT to 123456 from your mobile phone
3. call you to notify you if you are chosen as potential prize winner in a contest or challenge to which you specifically opt-in and provide your telephone number
4. at your request to respond to your inquiries where you provide your telephone number
5. at your request to have a conversation by text message where you have texted CHAT to 123456
6. contact you for research and evaluation purposes

You can opt-out of receiving calls from Smokers’ Helpline by informing any Smokers’ Helpline staff who calls you, or by calling Smokers’ Helpline at 1-877-513-5333.

You can opt-out of receiving supportive text messages at any time by texting STOP to 123456, or by calling Smokers’ Helpline for assistance at 1-877-513-5333.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

As a general rule, all information concerning users of SmokersHelpline.ca and our Text Support is held by CCS in strict confidence and, except in limited circumstances, is not revealed to anyone else unless expressly or implicitly authorized by users.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information with outside organizations however, there are, a few exceptions.

We may provide personal information to outside suppliers or contractors from whom we obtain services to the extent that such independent contractors or service providers require access to such information in order to perform services, evaluation and research in connection with Smokers’ Helpline Services. All external suppliers are bound by contracts to handle your information in a confidential and secure manner.

We sometimes share aggregate information with our contractors, researchers, funders or other appropriate agencies for reporting or research purposes. This information does not include anything that could be used to identify you. For instance, we may generate summary reports showing the number of users of different ages, genders and education levels, or we may prepare reports on how many users have set a quit date or completed certain exercises. While aggregate information about results may be publicized, individuals would not be identifiable.

Security of Your Personal Information

In operating SmokersHelpline.ca and our Text Support, CCS secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. CCS secures the personally identifying information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secured environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.

Employees and contractors engaged in the operation of the Website and Text Support are trained to respect the information that they access in the course of working with CCS. For example, if you report a technical problem, while the technical person solving the problem may see information such as your quit date, he or she would never pass that information along to anyone else unless it is necessary to solve the problem.

Links to Other Websites from SmokersHelpline.ca

Smokers’ Helpline and registered users of the SmokersHelpline.ca Online Community may provide links to other websites that may collect data from you or your computer. Please be aware that if you choose to leave our site via a link, CCS assumes no responsibility for the privacy practices or the content of other websites. We encourage you to review the privacy statements of websites you may move to from Smokers’Helpline.ca so that you can understand how those websites collect, use and share your personal information.

Evolving Practices

This statement is in effect as of April 8, 2018. The development of CCS’s procedures for protection of personal information is an ongoing process. Due to changes in technology and legal requirements and other reasons, CCS will from time to time review and revise this statement. New versions of this statement will be posted here. Accordingly, when you use Smokers’ Helpline Online you should check the date of this statement and review any changes since the last version.

Important Information

Beyond this Privacy Statement, you can learn more about how CCS protects your privacy by reading CCS’s complete Privacy Policy.

Smokers' Helpline was built based on evidence for clients 18 years or older. Having said that, it is recognized that content we provide may offer value to those under the age of 18. We encourage and support the efforts of parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s internet and telephone usage and to caution them regarding providing personal information.

Accessing, Changing or Removing Information

On SmokersHelpline.ca

Access and control over most personal information on SmokersHelpline.ca is readily edited through the “My Account” page. You may modify your profile information at any time by logging into your account.

Users who wish to deactivate their SmokersHelpline.ca account may do so by contacting us by emailing SmokersHelpline@ontario.cancer.ca or by calling Smokers’ Helpline at 1-877-513-5333.

Removed information may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time. Please know that, even after deactivation of your account some data, such as activities completed or smoking profile information, may remain in our system.

Also, please know that some activities you have completed are not stored in your account. For example, other members may still be able to see your posts even after your account is deactivated.

For Text Support

Text Support users who wish to add or change their quit date can text QUITDATE to 123456. Text Support users who wish to stop receiving text messages may do so by texting STOP to 123456

Facebook Data Deletion

Smokers’ Helpline and Talk Tobacco use a Facebook login app and we do not save your personal data in our server. Please use these instructions to delete the gathered Facebook data:

Facebook Data Deletion Instructions

How to Contact Us

You may contact Smokers’ Helpline with questions, assistance modifying your communications preferences (i.e. opting-out of receiving emails, texts or calls) or to deactivate your SmokersHelpline.ca account by emailing SmokersHelpline@ontario.cancer.ca or by calling Smokers’ Helpline at 1-877-513-5333.

If you have any questions about the Canadian Cancer Society Privacy Policy or would like to request access to or correction of your personal information, please contact:

Privacy Officer
Canadian Cancer Society
55 St. Clair Ave West, Suite 500
Toronto, ON - M4V 2Y7
E-mail: privacy@cancer.ca