FPBC Privacy Policy

Our privacy policy describes the information we collect via FPBC’s website and our registrant portal and how we collect and use that information.

Scope

Our privacy policy describes the information we collect via FPBC’s website and how we collect and use that information.

Personal information

Personal information is recorded information about an identifiable individual.

Personal information includes:

an individual’s name;
address;
birth date;
e-mail address; and
phone number.

Collection

FPBC is responsible for regulating the practice of professional forestry in BC.

FPBC collects personal information for the purpose of operating its registration, monitoring, enforcement, and information programs. FPBC is authorized to collect personal information via our registrant portal under section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), for the purposes described above.

When you send us electronic mail, we collect your e-mail address and your message so that we may reply to you. We recommend that sensitive personal information not be sent unencrypted over the Internet or by e-mail.

When you visit our website, the web server collects a small amount of information to facilitate its operation. For example, the website advanced search function collects information to remember the information you submitted for the search. We do not capture or store your IP address while you visit and use our website.

FPBC uses Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, which are all public, third-party social media providers. Personal information that you might provide to those providers are not hosted on our server. We recommend that our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube followers familiarize themselves with the social media provider’s terms of service and privacy policies.

Web analytics

FPBC uses Google Analytics, a third party service to analyze non-identifiable web traffic data with the purpose of improving the services we offer. FPBC does not own the data that is generated through Google Analytics. The collected data will not be shared with any other party for any other purpose. FPBC may collect the following information to assist us with improving the website:

the pages accessed on our site and links you clicked on;
the date and time you visited the site;
if you use our advanced search tool, the search terms you used;
the referring site (if any) through which you arrived at this site;
your operating system (e.g., Windows XP, Mac OS X);
the type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc.).

IP addresses are anonymized so that they cannot be used to identify individuals. Our web analytics will also respect any ‘do not track’ setting you might have set on your browser. Our website may use session cookies, which are stored in temporary memory and are not retained after you sign out or close the browser session.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file containing certain pieces of information that a website creates when you visit the site. It can track how and when you use a site, which site you visited immediately before, and it can store that information about you. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

There are two types of cookies, session cookies and persistent cookies. Our website may use session cookies, which are stored in temporary memory and are not retained after you sign out or close the browser session.

Use

FPBC only uses the personal information collected from the web site for the same purpose that it was collected. FPBC will not use your personal information for another purpose without your consent.

Sharing

FPBC may only disclose your personal information if it is done for the same purpose that it was collected. FPBC will not share your personal information for another purpose unless FPBC has your consent to do so. In limited circumstances that are outlined in Section 33 of FIPPA, FPBC may be required, or authorized, by law to disclose your personal information to another party.