Ethics Policy
As an independent news magazine reporting fact-based stories and information of interest and importance to residents, visitors and businesses of Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, our mission is to inform and educate readers.
Second Opinion QB adheres to the ethical guidelines established by The Canadian Association of Journalists and to the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists which espouses these principles:
- Seek truth and report it: Ethical Journalism should be accurate and fair. Ethical journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
- Act independently: The highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public.
- Be accountable: Ethical journalism means taking responsibility for one’s work and explaining one’s decisions to the public.
- Minimize harm: Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect.
We serve the public interest, and put the needs of our readers at the forefront of our newsgathering and reporting decisions. This sometimes conflicts with various public and private interests. We do not show our completed reports to sources before they are published or broadcast, unless the practice is required to verify facts. Doing so might invite prior restraint and challenge our independence as reporters.
Privacy Policy
We value your privacy and never share your personal information for use by third parties.
Information Collection
We track how our visitors use this site so that we can understand what of our content people like and don’t like. We may also collect personal information about you via your registration for email newsletters and letters to the editor.
We will not release your name, email address or any other personal information to anyone outside Second Opinion QB without your consent, unless we are under a legal order to do so, or there is an emergency involving danger to a person or property.
If you chose to provide your personally identifiable information for the purposes of a third-party contest, survey or email newsletter, your consent shall be deemed to be given for the release of your personally identifiable information with regard to that third party only, in addition to Second Opinion QB. Only authorized employees or consultants of Second Opinion QB are allowed access to personal information about you. Any employee or consultant who violates our privacy and security policies is subject to disciplinary action, including legal, as deemed appropriate.
We occasionally have service contractors, third party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures that perform functions on our behalf, including but not limited to website hosting (and credit card processing where applicable). They have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of the data. They are restricted from using or altering this data in anyway other than to provide the requested services to Second Opinion QB.
Please note that any information you share in public areas of Second Opinion QB, such as Letters to the Editor, becomes public and therefore this Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you choose to make public. We encourage visitors to Second Opinion QB to be cautious about what they disclose and that they not post any personal information that they expect to keep private. Personally Identifiable Information is information that can be used to contact you or determine your specific identity. If other information is linked to this information, it also becomes Personally Identifiable Information.
Use and Disclosure of Anonymous Information
Anonymous Information is any information other than Personally Identifiable Information, including aggregate information derived from Personally Identifiable Information.
Second Opinion QB may use this information: to improve the Second Opinion QB website and service; to monitor traffic and general usage patterns, and for other general business purposes; and to inform the website’s publishers of what content is most appealing to readers.
Cookies
A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a website’s servers and stored on your computer. Each website can send its own cookies to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) most browsers only permit a website to access the cookies that the same website has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.
Second Opinion QB may use cookies to identify you as a repeat visitor or customer of the website, to maintain session information for logged in users, and to track usage trends and patterns in order to better understand and improve areas of our website.
You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but you may not be able to take full advantage of our site’s features.
All computers and servers on the internet use IP addresses to recognize and communicate with each other. We collect IP addresses to administer and analyze our site and report aggregate, non-personal information (such as how many visitors we have). When you call up our site on your computer, our servers enter the IP address of that computer into a log. To maintain our users’ anonymity, we do not associate IP addresses with records containing personal information.
We do not and cannot use cookies or IP address tracking to retrieve personal information from your computer.
Links to Other Sites
Second Opinion QB provides links and pointers to websites maintained by other organizations. Our website provides these links as a convenience to users, but it does not operate or control such sites. Second Opinion QB also disclaims any responsibility for the information on those sites and any products or services offered there, and cannot vouch for the privacy policies of such sites. Second Opinion QB does not make any warranties or representations that any linked sites, or this site, will function without error or interruption, that defects will be corrected, or that the sites and their servers are free of viruses and other problems that can harm your computer.
Opt Out
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.
Security
Second Opinion QB employs a number of security methods designed to prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure correct use of information. Your personal data will be stored within a database that is located behind a firewall for added security.
Our website uses specialist security software. This helps to ensure data breaches do not occur and our website and data are protected against hacking attempts and intrusion. The security software never stores any sensitive, personally identifiable information in any cookie at any time.
No data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, while we try to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. We are not liable for the illegal acts of any third party.
We do not encrypt normal web sessions, however any transmission to the Second Opinion QB website or service of credit card information uses SSL encryption to help protect the data.
Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability
Although we take reasonable steps to prevent the introduction of viruses, worms, or other destructive materials and programs to our site, we do not guarantee or warrant that our site or materials that may be downloaded from our site are free from such destructive features. We are not liable for any damages or harm attributable to such features. We are not liable for any claim, loss or injury based on errors or omissions, interruptions or other inaccuracies in our site, nor for any claim, loss or injury that results from your use of this site or your breach of any provision of this Agreement.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Second Opinion QB may change its Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any changes regarding disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information to third parties, we will post notice of the new policy on this Privacy Policy page.
Questions
If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy or our use of your information, please email editor [at] secondopinionqb.ca Mailing address: Second Opinion QB, P.O. Box 639, Qualicum Beach, BC V9K 1T2