Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Philosophy
At David Schaeffer Engineering Ltd., trust, support, and reliability are core to our guiding principles.
Read through this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) so you understand how we use, share, secure, and
store your data.
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- Our Policy
- Scope and application
- Agreeing to the terms of our Privacy Policy
- What information do we collect?
- How we collect your information
- How we use your information
- Security and risks
- Opting out
- Account deletion
- Governing law
- Notification of Privacy Policy changes
- Addressing your inquiries and concerns
1. Our Policy
This is the Privacy Policy of the website www.dsel.ca (the “Website”), operated by David Schaeffer
Engineering Ltd., herein also referred to as “DSEL”, “we”, “us”, “our”, and our related products and
services (collectively, with the Website, the “Services”). It describes the information that we collect from
you as part of the normal operation of our Services, and how we use and disclose this information.
“you” and “Users” refer to you, our customers, and anyone who engages with our Services.
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means information that: (a) can identify
an individual directly; or (b) is information about an identifiable individual. This does not include
information that is used solely for the purpose of communicating or facilitating communication with an
individual in relation to their employment, business, or profession.
2. Scope and application
DSEL is a builder-oriented consulting firm that provides innovative engineering solutions to land owners
and developers.
3. Agreeing to the terms of our Privacy Policy
By visiting and making use of the Services, you are in agreement with this Privacy Policy, meaning you
expressly consent to the information handling practices in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This
Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to our Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”).
Providing Personal Information or authorizing a third party to disclose Personal Information to us
signifies your consent to DSEL’s collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information in accordance
with this Privacy Policy.
You have the right to withdraw your consent from us collecting and using your Personal Information, but
this may limit our ability to provide you with our Services or products, if applicable.
4. What information do we collect?
Our primary purpose when collecting Personal Information is to provide the Services and features
expected from us by our Users, to achieve optimal operation of our business and to improve the quality
of their interactions by creating customized experiences. The type of Personal Information we collect is
reasonably connected to these purposes. For any information that is not reasonably connected to the
reason you reached out to DSEL, you may opt out of the information handling practice. Please see
Section 9 below for instructions on how to opt out.
The type of information that may be collected includes but is not limited to:
a. Contact information: this information allows us to identify you as well as send you materials. It
lets us communicate with you for instructions and requests. Typical information includes your
name, general geographic location (country, province/state, and city), telephone number, and
email address;
b. Profile information: includes your website account username and password (if one exists),
preferences, feedback, and survey responses;
c. Marketing and communications information: includes communication preferences and your
preferences in receiving marketing from us and third parties;
d. Computer information: this includes information like device type, device identifier, IP address,
MAC address, location, browser type, operating system, duration of use, user behaviour, length
of time spent on the services, and frequency of use; and
e. Other information you voluntarily provide to us, our employees, or our contractors.
Information will be collected by fair and lawful means. We will not take more information than we need,
and you decide how and what you want to share
5. How we collect your information
Personal Information may be collected in a number of ways, including through our Website, in person,
by mail, by email, from our applications or other software, and from third parties whom you have
authorized to disclose Personal Information to us.
In general, you can browse the Website without telling us who you are or revealing any Personal
Information about yourself. A Membership is only available to and issued to select David Schaeffer
Engineering Ltd. personnel. We require certain information from you in order to fulfill service features
and functionality, verify your identity, and provide a safe experience for all parties. Information
collected includes, but is not limited to, identifying information, contact information, preferences and
settings, and other attributes that will be indicated to you at the time of collection.
You do not have to use the Services if you do not want to disclose your information. You have the right
to refuse to provide us with information by disengaging from the feature or offering that is making the
request.
We do however automatically track certain information about the navigational behaviour of Users on
our Services. This information may include the URL that referred you to our Website, the pages and
features on our Website you are viewing or engaging with, your device and browser information, and
your IP address. We only use this information for internal research to better understand the needs and
interests of our visitors, assess our growth, get demographics insight, and improve the overall quality
and integrity of our community. Information can be obtained through one of the following ways:
a. Cookies
We rely on the use of “Cookies” to adequately serve our Users. Cookies are small files stored on
your device through your browser, and the data kept in them can be retrieved from a website
you are visiting in order to remember something about you on a subsequent visit. We use
cookies solely to authenticate Members returning to the Website, and to correlate them to their
ongoing or previous activity session. We do not put any Personal Information about you in the
Cookies we store on your device, or use Cookies to track your activities elsewhere.
You may refuse to accept Cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to
refuse the setting of Cookies. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access
certain parts of our Website. By accepting Cookies and continuing to visit or use our Website,
you are agreeing to the use of Cookies and similar technologies for the purposes we describe in
this Privacy Policy.
b. Third-party metrics and analytics
We use third-party metric and analytic services (such as Google Analytics) on certain pages or
features of the Services to help us understand and analyse visitor traffic, measure the promotional effectiveness and efficacy of our features, offerings, and marketing campaigns. We
also use these tools to identify pitfalls, shortcomings, and areas of our operations in need of
improvement, and to view the overall performance and ranking of our online presence. These
tools might store Cookies on your device at their discretion. We sometimes use surveys or other
forms provided by a third party. It is possible that when engaged, the third-party provider might
collect information or store a Cookie. We never explicitly provide information that we have
collected about you to any third parties, with the exception of our Payment Processors and
related integrations, for the purposes of facilitating, completing, and managing transactions. We
recognize your right to employ the use of programs that may block our use of any third-party
tools.
c. Social media
If you post a review, make a comment, or otherwise submit Personal Information on a public
forum such as social media accounts or public forums on our Services, your communications
may be viewable by the public.
6. How we use your information
We collect and use Personal Information for reasons such as those below. For any uses of information
that are not reasonably connected to the reason you reached out to DSEL, you may opt out of the
information handling practice. Please see Section 9 below for instructions on how to opt out:
a. Members: in general, information you enter on the Website is available to staff or to whom you
give access to your account;
b. Business and website operations: to administer and protect our business and the Services,
including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting, and
hosting of data;
c. Marketing and advertising: to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to analyze
Service usage, to improve our content and product offerings, and to customize the Services and
the Website’s content and layout. Doing so helps us improve the Services and better tailor the
Services to meet your needs, in order to provide you with a smooth, efficient, safe, and
customized experience while using the Services. We may also administer surveys, contests,
draws, raffles, offer tailored content, and other promotional materials to you based on your
interests;
d. Regulatory requirements: complying generally with all laws and applicable regulatory
requirements;
e. Subsidiaries, affiliates, and service providers: we may from time to time use the services of
affiliates, subsidiaries, and unrelated service providers in the operation of business, and may
disclose Personal Information to them in the course of our use of their services. For example, we
may use the services of third-party hosting companies to host the operation of the Website. This may involve the hosting of data, including Personal Information, on servers operated by those
hosting companies. We take care to use only service providers that we believe are reputable
and able to live up to our and your expectations, including about the handling of confidential
information;
f. Feedback and outreach: on occasion we use email addresses or other contact information to
contact our Users to ask them for their input on our Services, to forward to them media
opportunities, provide them with updates on their activity within the DSEL marketplace, and
even to invite them to dinner; and
g. Business development and market research: we use data to understand demographics,
interests, usage patterns, other characteristics of Users, and to track and analyze trends and
patterns.
We will obtain your consent before proceeding with any other purpose not identified in this Privacy
Policy.
DSEL may disclose your Personal Information: (a) to any governmental authority as part of an
investigation to determine our compliance with any applicable law, rule, or regulation (including privacy
laws, rules, and regulations); (b) in response to a court order, subpoena, discovery request, or other
lawful judicial or administrative proceeding; (c) as otherwise required under any applicable law, rule, or
regulation; and (d) in good faith, to protect or defend the rights or property of DSEL and other Members.
In the instances described above we may be required to share your Personal Information with or
without your consent. In limited circumstances, we may be legally prohibited from advising you that
your information was shared in this way.
Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document only addresses the use and
disclosure of Personal Information we collect from you. Since we do not control the information use,
collection, or disclosure policies of third parties, you are subject to their privacy policies. If the third
party does not sufficiently respond to your inquiries, please let us know immediately.
7. Security and risks
DSEL makes reasonable efforts to ensure the security of information on our system through the use of
technology, operations, and physical security measures. In addition, our employees and contractors
understand the importance of keeping your information private. All employees and contractors are
expected to maintain the confidentiality of Personal Information.
Despite security measures, online storage and online communications are not entirely secure. The risks
associated with a breach of the safeguards depends on the nature and sensitivity of the information at
issue and could include targeted phishing schemes, identify theft and fraud. We encourage all
individuals to provide only the information they are comfortable with providing a third party, keep
watch for communications that are suspicious, and report any suspicious activity to us as soon as
possible.
The Website may contain links to other websites. DSEL is not responsible for the privacy practices of
other websites. We encourage you to be cautious when you leave our Website and to read the privacy
statements of every website that collects Personal Information.
8. Opting-out
If you wish to opt out of any of our information handling practices, please contact us at privacy@dsel.ca.
Subject to certain limited exceptions, we will opt you out of those information handling practices.
9. Account deletion
When a Member chooses to close an account, we will remove your information from our marketing and
billing systems. This will ensure that there are no further mailings or billings directed towards the
canceled User.
Furthermore, if you wish to have us delete all your data held on our servers, please contact us at the
support contact information listed below and posted on the Website. We will ensure to remove all data
without breaking accepted accounting principles for other connected DSEL accounts. This document will
evolve as these new methods become more defined and tested for permanent account deletion. Users
wishing to be notified when this development is complete can indicate their wishes via privacy@dsel.ca.
10. Governing law
This Privacy Policy and all related matters shall be interpreted and construed in accordance with the
laws of the Province of Ontario and the applicable federal laws of Canada.
11. Notification of Privacy Policy changes
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any
material changes, we will notify you by email (sent to the e-mail address specified in your account) or by
means of a notice on our Website. We encourage you to periodically review our Website for the latest
information on our privacy practices. If at any point you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy
Policy, you must not use the Website or our Services.
12. Addressing your inquiries and concerns
It is our goal to make our privacy practices easy to understand. If you have questions, concerns or if you
would like more detailed information, please email us at privacy@dsel.ca or alternatively, please contact
us by mail at:
David Schaeffer Engineering Ltd.
600 Alden Road, Suite 606
Markham, ON L3R 0E7