Privacy Policy

Updated July 5, 2023

Introduction

We understand how important it is to protect your privacy and maintain the confidentiality of our current and future subscribers, members, partners and website visitors,managing and securing the information we collect when we transact and communicate over the phone, the internet, by email, or in person.

Any personal information provided to SOHO is collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Federal Privacy Act and Canada’s Anti Spam Legislation, Bill C 28.  We are committed to respecting your privacy and will continue to take measures to help protect the privacy of personal information held by SOHO.

By accessing or using the Website, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Statement. If you do not consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Statement, do not access the Website or provide us with any personal information.

Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement explains SOHO’s practices regarding personal information of our members, subscribers, prospective members and other visitors to this website (the “Website”), as well as those who have transactions with us through telephone, Internet, and other means of communications.

Your Personal Information We Collect

SOHO may collect personal information such as (but not limited to) name, email, address, telephone number, business information (i.e. company name, job title, type of business) for the following purposes:

• To manage and administer the SOHO membership and the services provided to our members, subscribers and website visitors
• To process payment for membership, products and services that you have chosen to purchase
• To inform you about certain promotions, offers and programs
• In the event you are registering for an event (in-person or virtual), you complete a form or you make a request for a product or service offered by SOHO or our participating partners and advertisers
• In the event that you download any documents (i.e. whitepapers)
• In the event you purchase a product or service from SOHO
• In the event you contact us for support or any other inquiries
• In the event that you apply for employment, contract work or becoming a partner with SOHO
• In the event you engage with us through third party social media platforms and application where you may allow us to access information associated with your social media account(s) to confirm your identity and to personalize your experience on our website
• In the event that we ask you to update your personal information to ensure we have accurate information about you

Sharing of Personal Information

SOHO does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. SOHO may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party.

At your request and with your consent (by filling out a form, by telephone, email or in-person) we may connect you with specific third party providers to the products, services and programs that we offer. The personal information that the third party receives is limited to only the information held by us that they need in order to respond to your request or render their services to us and/or to facilitate your participation in the program. 

We will disclose personal information: If a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order legally authorizes us or requires us to do so; As necessary to our service providers that help us with our business operations; If necessary to protect the safety or security of users of the Website, to detect and prevent fraud or abusive behaviour, or when otherwise required or permitted by law to protect our rights and those of our members; or in the event that we sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the business to an affiliate, successor or assign to another third party entity.

Accessing your personal information

You are entitled to access the personal information collected and held by us. You can access your personal information by making a written request to us. We will generally respond to your request for information within thirty days, unless, for reasons beyond our control, a longer response time is necessary, in which case, you will be advised accordingly.

How long do we hold personal information?

We retain your personal information for so long as is necessary up to a maximum of seven years or longer if legally required.  When no longer required, we will destroy, erase or de-personalize the information.

How we communicate with you

We communicate with our members and subscribers primarily by email, online advertising, and at times by telephone.  As a member or subscriber you will receive email communications from us to facilitate your membership and subscription services and advise you of programs and services that we offer. If you wish to opt out of receiving future promotional emails from us, you may do so by contacting us directly at memberservices@soho.ca or by clicking the unsubscribe mechanism attached to our emails. Please allow us up to ten business days for us to process your request. Note that if you unsubscribe from certain of our emails, we may still contact you by email about your membership and billings, or as otherwise permitted by law. 

When you make an inquiry through our website, by email or other means for a product or service offered by any of our third partners, you may be contacted directly by the partner or we may also provide your contact information to specific partners to contact you via email or telephone with offers that we think will be of value to you.

Third Party Links

Our Website may contain links to external websites and provided to you as a convenience. This Privacy Statement only applies to personal information that we collect and use on or through the Website. Third party links are not under our control and we are not responsible or liable for the content or activities of any linked websites, or for the privacy practices of third parties. We strongly recommend that you review a third party’s privacy policy before disclosing any personal information to the third party. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our Website and welcome any feedback you may have about third party websites that are linked through our Website.  You can email memberservices@soho.ca.

Cookies

Cookies are used on the SOHO website to allow our servers to recognize your computer when you visit the site. The cookies do not collect or contain personal information about you. Here is the list of information that SOHO collects using cookies:

• Your IP address – we will make no attempt to link this address with the identity of individuals visiting the SOHO website;
• The length of each visit;
• The number of requests per visit;
• The type of operating system (Windows, Apple Mac etc.);
• The browser type (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.).

By keeping this data, the SOHO can fine-tune the sites based on user-activity trends.  You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most browsers automatically accept cookies; however you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the SOHO services or websites you visit.

Security

We are committed to ensuring the security of your personal information and may use passwords, encryption, firewalls, restricted employee access or other methods, at our discretion. We will use appropriate security measures when destroying your personal information such as shredding documents or deleting electronically stored information, at our discretion. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, you acknowledge and agree that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. We make no guarantee as to the absolute security of your personal information.

Disclaimer

As SOHO reserves the right to change or update this policy periodically, please check for changes regularly. Changes to the policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy, currency and reliability of the content. Portions of the database are updated daily; however, at any time, some details may not yet reflect recent changes. If this occurs, please contact SOHO at memberservices@soho.ca.