At Accountizer we take your privacy seriously. We make our best efforts to ensure the privacy of everyone who accesses and uses the Accountizer platform and other related services (the “Platform”) and only collect and use your personal data as described in this Privacy Policy.
This Privacy Policy details how we comply with our obligations under the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and how we address the 10 fair information principles identified under the PIPEDA.
YOU ARE STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TO READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY AND ENSURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND IT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE PRIVACY POLICY YOU SHOULD STOP USING THE PLATFORM IMMEDIATELY.
We collect personal and non-personal data from you when you access and use the Platform. Personal data is any data that can directly or indirectly identify a person such as your name, email address, job title, and date of birth. Non-personal data is data that does not contain any information that can be used to identify a natural person. Non-personal data also includes aggregated and de- identified data, provided that it is not possible to re-identify a person.
Subject to the following, we do not collect any personal data from you:
When you create an account with us we ask you to share certain information about yourself, including full name, email address, location, photo, professional qualifications, and certain biographical information (you decide what information you share). You can also share other information at your sole discretion which may contain information about your work experience, educational background, professional achievements, etc.
As you start receiving service orders and delivering them your job history is created on our
Platform. This may include your earnings, job reviews and related attachments. This information will be visible to anyone accessing and/or using the Platform.
When you get in touch with us through our email or submit an inquiry through our site’s Contact page we may collect such information as your name, email address, and anything else you decide to share with us.
When our users use the chat feature of our Platform, we collect and store your chat communication information for future reference.
When you contact us through our social media pages (including following us, or mentioning us in your posts) we see your personal information such as your name, user ID, job title, profile photo and any other information you choose to share with us in your communication with us. This information is stored with the appropriate social media platform and is subject to their applicable privacy policy and terms and conditions.
To make the Platform more useful to you, our servers (hosted by a third-party service provider) collect certain information from you. This includes your browser type, operating system, IP address and a date/time stamp for your visit.
When you visit the Platform, view content provided by us, and use the Platform we automatically collect and store certain information in log files. This includes your IP address, URL, referral URL, exit URL, browser software, operating system, date/time, requests type to our Platform and error responses returned by our Platform.
In limited circumstances, we use cookies and other similar technologies (collectively “cookies”). These cookies are used by us for limited purposes. While a cookie may not directly identify you, it, however, could, if combined with other data. Please note that we do not combine any data in order to identify you.
When we collect any personal data, it will be processed and stored securely. We will comply with our obligations and safeguard your rights under the applicable laws at all times. We process your data for the following purposes.
We collect your data to allow you to use the services provided through our Platform, including advertising, providing, or receiving payment for your services, or to search, get matched with, and receive professional services (This includes the presentation of user profiles of our experts on our Platform that will be accessible to everyone visiting our Platform).
We collect your contact information to be able to facilitate the workflow and communication between you and us.
We will process your personal data in order to get back to you in order to answer your questions or feedback which we assume is the reason why you contact us using our email address, Contact page or social media pages.
The reason for collecting non-personal data is necessary for the technical operation of the Platform and will not be used in any way to personally identify you and will only be used to give you a better user experience when using the Platform.
We will not share any of your personal data with any third parties for any purposes, subject to the following exceptions:
We use third-party service providers which have access to or otherwise host your data. We try our best to ensure that these service providers do not make use of your data for any secondary purposes other than our instructions. Currently, we use the following categories of third-party tools:
Hosting service provider (currently we use DigitalOcean’s data center located in Toronto, Canada);
Payment processor (currently we use Stripe for processing payments. We don't store any credit card information on our side);
Email management (we currently use Zoho for email delivery service);
AI tools (we currently use OpenAI and WriteSonic for our AI expert recommendation feature);
Work management platforms (such as Monday.com, Wrike, Slack and Asana) - to facilitate the workflow and communication;
Messaging platforms (such as WhatsApp) for urgent communication matters;
Graphic design tools (such as Canva) to design our social media posts;
If we ever sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or assets, your data may be transferred to a third party. Any new owner of our business may continue to use your data in the same way that we have used it, as specified in this Privacy Policy (i.e. to communicate with you).
In some limited circumstances, we may be legally required to share certain data, which may rarely include your personal data, if we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal obligations, a court order, or the instructions of a government authority.
Your personal information, such as your name, qualifications, and areas of expertise, will be visible to other users and visitors of the Platform. This visibility helps to facilitate connections and engagements within our community. Additionally, we may share your profile on our social media pages for marketing and promotional purposes to further enhance your visibility and opportunities within our network. This sharing helps to amplify your reach and can lead to more engagement opportunities through our Platform.
We use service providers (described above in detail) located outside of Canada (including the USA) to carry out certain operations during the normal course of business. Consequently, your personal information may be transferred to another country where it would be subject to the laws
of that country. In order to ensure the security of your personal data we sign binding contracts with some of these service providers and require them to have certain measures in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information. These contracts also ensure that your information is not used for purposes other than those for which it was collected.
In some cases, we are not able to determine how your personal data is collected and used by some third-party tools. If you have any doubts about how our third-party service providers collect and process your personal information, please read their privacy policies.
You have the following rights in relation to our collection, use and processing of your personal data.
For more information about how we use your personal data or how to exercise your rights, please contact our DPO.
We will retain your personal information only as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or for a longer period as may be required by applicable laws.
We do not intentionally collect or process any personal information from children under thirteen
(13). We may, however, collect technical information required for delivering our services and for supporting our internal operations. If you are a parent or a legal guardian and you believe that we have unknowingly collected your children’s personal information you may contact our DPO.
We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software to encrypt the information you enter on our Platform in order to protect its security during transmission to and from our Platform. When storing personal information, we protect its security by encryption and pseudonymization of critical data.
We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. We also apply access restrictions to your personal data by our employees. Furthermore, we ensure to educate and train our employees about the importance of privacy and data protection on a continuous basis.
Despite the fact that we take all these measures to maintain the safety and security of your personal information, you should note that no transmission over the Internet can ever be guaranteed to be secure. Therefore, we cannot fully guarantee the security of any personal information that you transfer over the Internet to us, and you do so at your own risk.
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time, at our sole discretion. This may be necessary, for example, in order to reflect changes in the laws and regulations we are bound by, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.
Any changes will immediately be posted on our Platform and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of our Platform following the alterations. We recommend that you check our Privacy Policy regularly in order to keep up-to-date.
The General Data Protection Regulation of the EU and the UK (collectively the “GDPR”) gives the EU/UK residents certain rights when their personal data is being collected and processed. At Accountizer, we are committed to comply with the GDPR.
As a resident of the EU/UK you have the rights accorded to you under the Chapter 3 of the GDPR, and we always work to uphold these rights. For more information about how to exercise your rights under the GDPR, please contact our DPO.
If you are a resident of the EU/UK, you should know that when you access and use the Platform your data, including your personal data, as described in this Privacy Policy will be transferred to outside the EU/UK.
Residents of California have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
If you are a California resident, you may request that we disclose to you the following information covering the 12 months preceding your request:
The categories of personal information that we have collected about you and the categories of sources from which we collected such personal information
The business or commercial purposes for collecting such personal information
The categories of personal information about you that we have disclosed to third parties for a business purpose and the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed such personal information
You, as a resident of California may contact us by writing to our DPO to obtain copies of any personal information that may have been collected or stored about you, and request its correction or deletion as may be required and permitted by law. That said, you should also be aware that there may exist legal or other reasons that we may have to decline to honor your request. For example, in cases if we cannot verify your identity or confirm that the personal information that we maintain relates to you, or if we cannot verify that you have the authority to make a request on behalf of another individual.
As a California resident, you have the right to empower an authorized agent to submit requests on your behalf. We will need your authorized agent to confirm his/her authority by written authorization.
We do not and will never sell or trade any personal information collected from you for monetary value. Therefore, you do not need to opt out in order to prevent the sale or trading of personal data.
Please be advised that currently we do not respond to “Do Not Track” requests. You should be aware that we allow third party behavioral tracking on our website.
Regardless of your location, any questions, comments, and requests regarding this Privacy Policy are welcome and should be addressed to our Privacy Officer (also referred to as the DPO in this Privacy Policy), Moataz Shokry, at m.shokry@accountizer.ca Communication can also be addressed to 347 Jane St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6S3Z3