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National Defence Privacy Notice

The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) are committed to providing websites that respect the privacy of visitors. This privacy notice summarizes the privacy practices for DND/CAF online activities.

All personal information collected by this institution is governed by the Privacy Act. This means that you will be informed of the purpose for which your personal information is being collected and how to exercise your right of access to that information.

Your Privacy and the Internet

The nature of the Internet is such that Web servers automatically collect certain information about a visit to a website, including the visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISP) to all devices used to access the Internet. Web servers automatically log the IP addresses of visitors to their sites. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, in certain circumstances, such as with the co-operation of an ISP for example, it could be used to identify an individual using the site. For this reason, the Government of Canada considers the IP address to be personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when visitor requests a Web page such as the page or pages visited, date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, DND/CAF does not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. DND/CAF would obtain this type of information only if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form. In such cases, how your personal information is handled will be provided in a Personal Information Collection Statement.

In cases where services are provided by organizations outside of the Government of Canada, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the Web server of the third-party service provider.

The DND/CAF employs software programs to monitor network traffic, and to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. These programs are also used to gather anonymous information such as statistics to improve the functionality of our websites. These software programs receive and record the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our website unless an attempt to damage the website has been detected.

The DND/CAF employs a fully automated Anti-Spam Filter to protect its employees and networks from spam. Incoming email messages that are flagged by the software as spam are deleted automatically by the technology without notification. The program is set to block email that is considered obvious spam because of its content (for example, pornographic, racist, get-rich-quick schemes, junk commercial solicitations) as determined by general industry best practice.

Questions or comments regarding this privacy policy, or the administration of the Privacy Act may be directed to the DND Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator by:

Email: ATIP-AIPRP@forces.gc.ca
Telephone: (613) 901-6720

Mail:
Director Access to Information and Privacy
National Defence Headquarters
Major-general George R. Pearkes Bldg.
101 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0K2

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by e-mail, by telephone at 1-800-282-1376 or visit their website.

Communicating with the Government of Canada

If you choose to send DND/CAF an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by DND/CAF in order to respond to your inquiry. The information you provide will only be shared with another government institution if your inquiry relates to that institution. DND/CAF does not use the information to create individual profiles nor does it disclose the information to anyone other than to those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response. Any disclosure of your personal information is in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with the Government of Canada are not secure unless it is specifically stated on a Web page. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not send sensitive personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number or your date of birth, through non-secure electronic means.

Personal information from emails or completed feedback forms is collected pursuant to the Privacy Act. Such information may be used for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes and is included in Personal Information Bank PSU 914 Public Communications.

Third-Party Social Media

DND/CAF use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the Web. Social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them.

Personal information that you provide to the Government of Canada via social media accounts is collected under the authority of the Privacy Act. This information is collected to capture conversations (e.g. questions and answers, comments, “likes”, retweets) between you and DND/CAF. It may be used to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Comments posted that violate Canadian law will be deleted and disclosed to law enforcement authorities. Comments that violate our rules of engagement will also be deleted. The personal information is included in Personal Information Bank PSU 938 Outreach Activities.

Improving your Experience on Government of Canada Websites

Digital Markers (including cookies)

A digital marker is a resource created by the visitors’ browser in order to remember certain pieces of information for the Web server to reference during the same or subsequent visit to the website. Examples of digital markers are “cookies” or HTML5 web storage. Some examples of what digital markers do are as follows:

DND/CAF uses sessional digital markers on some portions of its website. During your on-line visit, your browser exchanges data with DND/CAF’s Web server. The digital markers used do not allow DND/CAF to identify individuals.

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose. However, it may affect your ability to interact with DND/CAF’s website.

Cookies are also used as an integral part of the identification process for some of our online applications. This is for security purposes to determine that you are who you say you are and to provide you with your confidential account information during an online session. No personal information is kept in session cookies and they are stored only in your browser’s temporary (cache) memory. When you log out of your session, the cookie is no longer valid and is discarded when you close your browser.

Web Analytics

For the purpose of performing web analytics, ca-ciconline.com tracks certain types of information during visits to the website. For the purposes of the Privacy Act, this information is treated as personal information. When your computer or other device requests a ca-ciconline.com web page, information is collected for the purpose of web analytics. The type of information collected includes, but is not limited to:

DND/CAF may also use the personal information collected for non-administrative uses, such as communications and information technology statistics, audit and evaluations, content personalisation and testing, research, planning, and reporting. This personal information is not used for decision making processes about an individual or to profile individual visitors to ca-ciconline.com.

ca-ciconline.com carries out web analytics using services from the third-party service providers Adobe Systems Inc. (Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target) and Google Inc. (Google Analytics). These service providers are based in the United States of America (USA), which means that the personal information collected is transmitted outside of Canada and may be subject to USA laws, including the USA PATRIOT Act. In addition, Adobe and Google operate servers in other countries on which the web analytics data may be processed. Consequently, the data may be subject to the governing legislation of the country where it is processed. For Adobe Analytics, the Government of Canada has specified that personal information can only be stored on servers in Canada, the United States, the European Union, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland.

For more information about the privacy policies of these service providers, please visit their individual websites or use the following links:

To track visits to ca-ciconline.com for web analytics, both Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics require the use of digital markers (“cookies”). If you wish, you may opt out of having your visit tracked by:

If you change your browser settings to refuse cookies or disable JavaScript so that your ca-ciconline.com visit will not be tracked, no information will be collected but your visit may be affected in other ways, including making it difficult to access any secure services that require a username and password, such as My Service Canada Account and My VAC Account. If you use the opt-out cookie from Adobe and/or the browser add-ons Google, your ca-ciconline.com visit will not be affected.

To further protect information about visitors, ca-ciconline.com uses a feature from each service provider that hides part or all of the IP address of a visitor before it is stored.

Protecting the Security of Government of Canada Websites

DND/CAF employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the IP address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

This information is collected pursuant to section 161 of the Financial Administration Act. The information may be shared with appropriate law enforcement authorities if suspected criminal activities are detected. Such information may be used for network security related statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting and is included in Personal Information Bank PSU 939 Security Incidents.

Inquiring about these Practices

Any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you may have regarding the administration of the Privacy Act and privacy policies regarding DND/CAF Web presence may be directed to our Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator by email.

If you are not satisfied with DND/CAF response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.

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