Privacy Policy

Updated September 2014

Hitachi High-Tech Canada, Inc., an Ontario corporation ("HTC," "us" or "we") is committed to protecting your privacy and providing a secure online experience for our users and customers.

By using https://www.hitachi-hightech.com/ca/en/ (the "Website"), you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Because we gather certain types of information about and from you, our users and customers, you should understand the terms and conditions surrounding the collection and use of this information. This Privacy Policy discloses what information we gather, how we use it, how to correct or change it, and what steps we take to safeguard personal information provided to us both online and offline. Please read the complete Privacy Policy below, as well as our Terms of Use, and contact us if you have any questions.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?

You can visit our Website, read materials, and browse products and other company information without giving us any personal information—that is, information that identifies you as an individual ("Personal Information"). In order to provide users and customers with the most efficient and enhanced personalized service and attention, and to accommodate certain requests, we request information about you in certain circumstances and collect certain information automatically.

We collect Personal Information that you volunteer to us (such as your name, e-mail address, home address, phone number, and/or similar information), when you make purchases or request information about products, support or training.

We may also automatically collect your IP and referring Website addresses, browser type, and domain name. This information, which does not identify you as an individual, helps facilitate your online experience on our Website. In addition, we use cookies to track usage patterns on our Website and to control the display of ads, as well as to offer other functionalities. You can turn off cookies, but that will affect your online experience. Please see below for more detail on cookies.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH COLLECTED INFORMATION?

We use information you provide to fulfill your requests and improve our Website, products and services. We may, from time to time, produce reports for advertisers, affiliated parties, sponsors and vendors containing anonymous, aggregate information about our users and customers, such as demographic, age and online usage information. This information allows us to provide content and information that is most relevant to our users. We do not include any Personal Information of our users in these reports.

From time to time, we may also establish business relationships with other persons or entities (including entities affiliated with HTC) that we believe to be trustworthy and whose privacy policies are generally consistent with our privacy policy ("Choice Partners"). In such cases we might share and cross-reference information, including Personal Information about you that will enable our Choice Partners to contact you regarding products and services that you might find of interest. We encourage you to visit the websites of these Choice Partners and evaluate their privacy policies for yourselves. If you would prefer that we not share your Personal Information with our Choice Partners, you may opt-out by contacting us via our online contact form.

We also use collected information to evaluate and administer our products and services, fulfill customer requests, respond to any future problems, such as difficulties in navigating our Website or accessing certain features, and to gauge user trends to determine what products and services are most popular with users.

As in any transaction, when you purchase products from HTC, your credit card company will necessarily receive all relevant information about the name of the vendor, item(s) purchased, date, total cost and other information necessary to process the transaction. HTC will not otherwise provide any Personal Information to your credit card company without your permission. We and our technical and fulfillment agents, partners and consultants follow carefully prescribed procedures to safeguard credit card data in connection with your transactions and adhere to certain legal requirements.

HOW DO WE SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal Information is available to HTC and the technical and fulfillment agents, partners and consultants who make our Website, products and services available to you. Anonymous information is available to our advertisers, sponsors and promotional and business partners. We share your Personal Information with third parties only as described below.

Website hosting firms, technical and database consultants, advertising agencies, order processing partners, and Choice Partners may have access to Personal Information in the course of making our products and services available. All companies working for and with HTC must comply with our privacy policies, and are not permitted to sell your information to third parties or to use it except as authorized by us and you, or as permitted or required by law.

We share anonymous, aggregate demographic information and anonymous information obtained from cookies and similar technologies, with our advertisers, sponsors, promotional and business partners, and participating vendors. No Personal Information is disclosed to any of these third parties in providing these reports.

We may share your e-mail address and certain other general characteristics about you with our Choice Partners, unless you opt-out of our sharing this information at any time, by contacting us via our online contact form.

Otherwise, your e-mail address is not shared with third parties unless you agree, by opting-in, to receive information from third parties. In other words, we may extend e-mail offers to users or customers on behalf of our business partners about a particular product or service that may be of interest to you, but only if you have indicated that you would like to receive these offers. If you wish to receive such offers, we will not share or disclose your name or e-mail address to those business partners, but will send you the information or offers on their behalf. Of course, you may opt out of receiving these offers at any time.

Our affiliates and third-party service providers may be located outside of Canada. We require affiliates and third-party service providers who receive your Personal Information from us to provide your Personal Information with a comparable level of protection. However, your Personal Information will also be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

We reserve the right to use or disclose any information without notice or consent for the following purposes: as needed to satisfy any law, regulation or legal request; to conduct investigations of consumer complaints or possible breaches of law or contract; to protect the integrity of our Website and our property; to protect the safety of our visitors or others; to fulfill your requests; or to cooperate in any legal investigation.

HOW DO WE USE COOKIES?

Your Web browser offers so-called "cookies" which, if you allow their use, store small amounts of data on your computer when you visit a website. Cookies do not contain any Personal Information about you and therefore cannot be used to identify you personally. However, cookies assist us in tracking which of our features you like best and make it easier to use our Website. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying your browser. Our Website is viewable even if you disable the cookie function on your browser. However, if you disable cookies, some advanced and customized features or offerings will not be available to you.

WHAT ABOUT THIRD-PARTY ADVERTISERS?

Some of the content displayed on our Website is provided by outside companies. This content may create cookies and may also contain web beacons or similar technologies, which are small files that allow advertisers and other content providers to know when a web page or portion thereof has been loaded. Unlike cookies and web beacons used by HTC in content we control on our Website, we do not have access to information collected from cookies or web beacons received in connection with third-party content. While we use third parties which we believe are reputable to serve some or all of the content placed within our Website, third parties may use information (not including Personal Information) about your visits to our Website and other Websites to assist in serving their third-party content to you. They may also share anonymous information with their clients such as the date/time of the content shown, the specific content shown, the IP address and other similar information.

HOW CAN YOU CONTROL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We believe that choice in how and when you are contacted is key to customer satisfaction. Therefore, we offer several ways for you to update your contact information and/or change your preferences.

1. You may unsubscribe to any of our online e-mail updates by following the unsubscribe instructions in the body of any e-mail message.
2. You may write to us and update your contact information or ask that we not share your personal contact information with third parties by contacting us online. In those instances, we will retain your information in a "do not promote" file in our database.
3. You may also contact us via our online contact form.

We will take commercially reasonable steps to implement your opt-out requests promptly; but you may still receive promotional information from us by mail for up to 60 days due to printing and mailing schedules, and up to 10 days for e-mail. You may also continue to receive information from those third parties to whom your information was previously disclosed.

DO NOT TRACK NOTICE

HTC does not track its users and customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising and therefore does not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals. You should be aware that some third party sites do keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you.

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We incorporate standard industry practices internally and with our service providers, which we believe suits the degree of sensitivity of the information involved to maintain the security of your Personal Information and to avoid its disclosure except as described in this Privacy Policy.

Although we have implemented systems and procedures to secure the data maintained by us, security during Internet transmissions can never be assured. Our policy is to limit access to Personal Information to those HTC employees or agents with a specific need to access or retrieve this information. We store data on multiple service systems, in controlled environments. To maintain security, we conduct internal reviews of our security measures on a regular basis. Remember, however, that any Personal Information you post on the internet is available to anyone.

CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

None of the information on the Website is intended for the use of children under 13, and HTC does not knowingly register any person or accept information from any person under the age of 13.

CHANGES IN CORPORATE STRUCTURE

In developing our business, we may engage in the sale of certain assets and the company itself, or parts of it, may be sold, merged or otherwise transferred. In such transactions and changes in ownership, user information, whether Personal Information or otherwise, may be reviewed by potential buyers, and may constitute one of the transferred assets in a completed transaction. In such cases, user information will continue to be used for the same purposes for which it was originally collected. In the case of such a transfer, HTC will notify affected users in accordance with the procedure for changing this Privacy Policy described below.

VISITORS AND CUSTOMERS OUTSIDE CANADA

Our Website and the servers that make this Website available worldwide are located in the United States. The Internet laws in the United States govern all matters relating to this Website. Any information you provide in subscribing to our Website or registering or ordering at our Website will be transferred to the United States. By visiting our Website and submitting information, you authorize this transfer, processing and use.

HTC has various affiliates whose direct collection of data, and use of that data, are not covered by this Privacy Policy, and HTC makes no representations with respect to such collection or use of data by these affiliates.

YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS

Under California Civil Code sections 1798.83 and 1798.84, California residents are entitled to ask us for a notice describing what categories of Personal Information HTC shares with third parties or corporate affiliates for those third parties or corporate affiliates' direct marketing purposes. That notice will identify the categories of information shared and will include a list of the third parties and affiliates with which it was shared, along with their names and addresses. If you are a California resident and would like a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to the following address:

Hitachi High-Tech Canada, Inc.
89 Galaxy Blvd., Suite 14
Toronto, ON M9W 6A4, CANADA
Attention: General Affairs

In your request, please specify that you want a "Your HTC California Privacy Rights Notice". Please allow at least 30 days for a response.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy as necessary to protect our users and to comply with a changing environment. We recommend that you check the Privacy Policy when you visit our Website to be sure that you are aware of and understand our current policy. If we make material changes to this policy, or in how we use or collect your Personal Information, we will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change. We will not make any retroactive material changes in how we handle previously collected Personal Information unless you allow us to do so, or unless we are legally required to do so, and in such a case we will e-mail registered Website visitors information on material changes to this Privacy Policy.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us online. Please include the URL of the Website involved in your request.

Or you can contact us by mail at:

Hitachi High-Tech Canada, Inc.
89 Galaxy Blvd., Suite 14
Toronto, ON M9W 6A4, CANADA
Attention: General Affairs