Privacy Policy

1. Commitment to Privacy

Mortar North Studio ("we", "us", or "our") respects your personal privacy and is committed to maintaining robust standards of data protection. This Privacy Policy outlines our procedures regarding the collection, handling, storage, and safeguarding of information when you interact with canada-mortar.com (the "Platform").

Our practices comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) of Canada, the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and applicable international standards including the UK GDPR.

2. Data Controller Information

The entity responsible for the collection and processing of personal data on this Platform is:

3. Categories of Information We Collect

We believe in minimal data footprint collection. The data we collect falls into two principal categories:

A. Voluntarily Submitted Information

When you communicate with our Vancouver editorial desk via our contact form or subscribe to our newsletter bulletin, we collect:

• Your full name or chosen handle;
• Your email address;
• The subject line and specific message body submitted;
• Your explicit consent confirmation record.

B. Technical and Telemetry Data

When your browser accesses our pages, standard web server logs automatically record technical network information, including:

• Your truncated IP address (anonymized at the network edge);
• Browser type, engine version, and operating platform;
• Referring uniform resource locator (URL) and exit timestamps;
• Device category (desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone);
• First-party session continuity tokens (rtk_7i1) and interface configuration tokens (ui_ratio_hle).

4. Purpose and Legal Basis for Processing

Under PIPEDA and relevant data protection frameworks, we process your information under the following lawful grounds:

• Legitimate Interests: To deliver smooth site performance, detect security anomalies, prevent automated abuse, and maintain server infrastructure reliability;
• Consent: To dispatch requested newsletter bulletins and respond directly to inquiries submitted through our contact desk;
• Legal Compliance: To adhere to applicable statutory recordkeeping or Canadian regulatory mandates.

5. Data Retention & Storage Periods

Mortar North Studio retains personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected:

• Editorial Inquiries: Stored securely for up to twelve (12) months following resolution of the query to facilitate ongoing correspondence;
• Newsletter Dispatches: Maintained until you request removal or unsubscribe;
• Technical Server Access Logs: Automatically purged or permanently aggregated after thirty (30) days;
• Session Cookies: Session tokens automatically expire after thirty (30) days.

6. Information Sharing and Disclosure

Mortar North Studio does not sell, rent, lease, or monetize your personal information to third parties. We disclose data only in the following restricted scenarios:

• To trusted hosting infrastructure and cloud routing providers operating under strict data processing agreements and confidentiality obligations;
• When legally compelled by a Canadian court order, warrant, or statutory legal process;
• To protect the security, rights, property, or integrity of Mortar North Studio, our staff, and the public.

7. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your location and subject to Canadian PIPEDA or UK GDPR statutory provisions, you possess fundamental rights regarding your personal information, including:

• Right to Access: The right to request copies of the personal data held about you;
• Right to Rectification: The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal records;
• Right to Erasure: The right to request deletion of your personal records from our active databases;
• Right to Revoke Consent: The right to revoke previously granted consent at any time without impacting prior lawful processing;
• Right to Restrict Processing: The right to limit how your data is utilized under specific contested circumstances.

To exercise any of these statutory rights, please send a written request to editorial@canada-mortar.com. We will verify your identity and reply within thirty (30) days without charge.

8. Data Security Measures

We deploy modern technical and organizational security controls to protect information against unauthorized disclosure, alteration, loss, or destruction. All data transmission between your browser and our servers is secured using Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.3) encryption. Server access is restricted through least-privilege key authentication protocols.

9. Regulatory Oversight

If you have unresolved concerns regarding our data management practices, you have the right to lodge an inquiry with your national privacy supervisory authority, such as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) or the British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC).

10. Contacting Our Data Governance Officer