Personal Information Protection Policy

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The policy described here applies to students attending New York Tech's Vancouver campus in British Columbia, Canada.

Part of New York Institute of Technology's commitment to providing students with exceptional service involves the collection, use, and disclosure of some of their personal information. Protecting students' personal information is one of New York Tech's highest priorities.

While New York Tech has always respected its students' privacy and safeguarded their personal information, the college has strengthened its commitment to protecting personal information as a result of British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2004. PIPA sets ground rules for how businesses and not-for-profit organizations in British Columbia may collect, use, and disclose personal information.

New York Tech will inform students of why and how their personal information is collected, used, and disclosed; obtain their consent, when required; and only handle their personal information in a manner that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

This Personal Information Protection Policy, in compliance with PIPA, outlines the principles and practices New York Tech follows to protect students' personal information. The college's privacy commitment includes ensuring the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of students' personal information and allowing them to request access to, and correction of, their personal information.

Policy 1 – Collecting Personal Information

  1. Unless the purposes for collecting personal information are obvious and the student voluntarily provides his or her personal information for those purposes, we will communicate the purposes for which personal information is being collected, either orally or in writing, before or at the time of collection.
  2. We will only collect student information that is necessary to identify the student and comply with federal reporting requirements.

Policy 2 – Consent

  1. We will obtain students consent to collect, use or disclose personal information (except where, as noted below, we are authorized to do so without consent).
  2. Consent can be provided orally, in writing, electronically, through an authorized representative or it can be implied where the purpose for collecting using or disclosing the personal information would be considered obvious and the student voluntarily provides personal information for that purpose.
  3. Consent may also be implied where a student is given notice and a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of his or her personal information being made available to the public.
  4. Subject to certain exceptions students can withhold or withdraw their consent for New York Tech to use their personal information in certain ways. A student's decision to withhold or withdraw their consent to certain uses of personal information may restrict our ability to provide a particular service or product. If so, we will explain the situation to assist the student in making the decision.
  5. We may collect, use or disclose personal information without the student's knowledge or consent in the following limited circumstances:
    • When the collection, use or disclosure of personal information is permitted or required by law;
    • In an emergency that threatens an individual's life, health, or personal security;
    • When the personal information is considered "Directory Information" as defined by the College;
    • When we require legal advice from a lawyer;
    • To comply with subpoenas or federal and state laws in the United States;
    • To protect ourselves from fraud;
    • To investigate an anticipated breach of an agreement or a contravention of law.

Policy 3 – Using and Disclosing Personal Information

  1. New York Tech designates student's personal information as "Directory Information" pursuant laws, and may disclose or release the information without written consent from the student.

Policy 4 – Retaining Personal Information

  1. New York Tech will retain student personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the identified purposes or a legal or business purpose.

Policy 5 – Ensuring Accuracy of Personal Information

  1. We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that students' personal information is accurate and complete where it may be used to make a decision about the student or disclosed to another organization.
  2. Students may request correction to their personal information in order to ensure its accuracy and completeness. A request to correct personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information and the correction being sought.
  3. If the personal information is demonstrated to be inaccurate or incomplete, we will correct the information as required and send the corrected information to any organization to which we disclosed the personal information in the previous year. If the correction is not made, we will note the students' correction request in the file.

Policy 6 – Securing Personal Information

  1. We are committed to ensuring the security of students' personal information in order to protect it from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification or disposal or similar risks.
  2. The following security measures will be followed to ensure that students' personal information is appropriately protected: Paper records are stored in locked file cabinets; offices where personal information is held are locked and secured after business hours; access to personal information is limited to authorized employees; user IDs, passwords, encryption, firewalls are employed to protect records stored in electronic format;
  3. We will use appropriate security measures when destroying students' personal information such as shredding paper documents and deleting electronically stored information.
  4. We will continually review and update our security policies and controls as technology changes to ensure ongoing personal information security.

Policy 7 – Providing Students Access to Personal Information

  1. Students have a right to access their personal information.
  2. A request to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information being sought.
  3. Upon request, we will also tell students how we use their personal information and to whom it has been disclosed if applicable.
  4. We will make the requested information available within 30 business days, or provide written notice of an extension where additional time is required to fulfill the request.
  5. A minimal fee may be charged for providing access to personal information. Where a fee may apply, we will inform the student of the cost and request further direction from the student on whether or not we should proceed with the request.
  6. If a request is refused in full or in part, we will notify the student in writing, providing the reasons for refusal and the recourse available to the student.

Policy 8 – Questions and Complaints: The Role of the Privacy Officer or Designated Individual

  1. The Privacy Officer is responsible for ensuring New York Tech compliance with this policy and the Personal Information Protection Act.
  2. Students should direct any complaints, concerns or questions regarding New York Tech's compliance in writing to the Registrar at New York Tech, Privacy Officer. If the Privacy Officer is unable to resolve the concern, the student may also write to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia. Contact information for New York Tech's Privacy Officer:

    New York Institute of Technology
    Office of the Registrar
    Northern Boulevard
    Old Westbury, NY
    11568-8000
    USA