This is the Moment’s Privacy Statement. We are based in Toronto, which means our privacy practices are governed by laws in Canada.
Read on for more information about how we manage your personal information through the projects we do. If you have any questions about this Statement or any other privacy practice at The Moment, please contact our Privacy Officer.
Collection
The Moment is a boutique design firm that works with people to create innovative solutions.
That means that a) we sometimes collect information that could identify you personally, and b) we sometimes use new and creative ways to connect and inspire people as clients, partners, or colleagues. We need the respect of our clients to be successful at both; we respect your privacy because we respect you. As partners. As clients. As people.
This policy statement is about any information in The Moment that could identify you and how we collect, use, manage, retain, or dispose of your information throughout the course of our business.
We collect personal information. Sometimes we collect it because you’ve offered it, sometimes because of the projects we’re doing with a partner, or sometimes because of our social media presence. Our collection, use, and retention of our information is purpose-driven, which means we only collect personal information for specific reasons—for example, a project.
When we collect any information that is personally identifiable we follow reasonable practices to make sure we take care of it for its entire lifecycle. We practice data-minimization and don’t collect it if we don’t need it. We de-identify personal information whenever we practicably can. We make sure that we’re collecting from reputable sources who—when needed—also affirm privacy-positive practices.
If we’ve collected personal information, we don’t share or disclose it unless we need to. If we do need to share information that identifies you, we do so carefully and according to clear rules or contracts.
You may choose to withdraw consent for our collection of personal information that identifies you. This may affect the services we provide—such as sending newsletters or promotions. Our collection and use patterns preserve your right to withdraw; we will not knowingly harm any relationship as a result of poor privacy practices.
Use
When we use your information, we do so carefully. We use encryption on our laptops and other security tools (like locked doors and locked drawers) when we have control of information that identifies you. We use trusted partners for our operations. We have access-restricted offices and we have strict procedures for managing accounts. We maintain vigilance when contracting-out or sourcing professional services and require that our partners or suppliers respect your personal information the same way we do.
Our staff are trained on our privacy commitments. We follow up every once in a while to make sure our commitments are being met.
Retention, Disclosure, Disposal
We don’t keep your information if we don’t have to, and if we do have to, we protect it. We encourage our partners to be careful about sharing personal information with us. We regularly affirm our commitment to careful management of personal information as part of our partnership agreements. That often includes compliance with professional regulation bodies of one kind or another. If you are curious, ask us which ones affect your information.
Sometimes we publish reports or study results. For example, we develop aggregate profiles that source qualitative and quantitative data. We take steps to de-identify personal information when we write and release these kinds of publications.
When we dispose of your personal information we do so with care.
Research
The Moment does conduct customer research on behalf of clients and partners. When we do this we sign contracts that follow a clear set of practices, which are agreed upon before the research begins. These contracts determine how we gather, use, keep, and dispose of any information that could identify you. We guide our practices by taking a whole-person view: formally through projects with Research Ethics Boards when needed; and, informally through our commitment to building trusting relationships.
Sustaining trust means that we also take a long-term view of our interactions with your privacy. We take steps to be responsible stewards of any personal information about you we have, and we take steps to make sure any partners we work with follow the same approach we do when they manage any information on our behalf. We manage our information so that we can apply controls and make clear decisions about any information that might identify you. For example, we often run project-by-project engagements, which makes it easier to control and protect any personal information we may have gathered through our projects on any specific account. Building and maintaining trust takes time and effort; we spend time and effort making sure that you are informed about the consent you give when we work with you.
Marketing
There are times when we use internet-based services to connect and engage with you. When we sign up for these services we choose ones that are well-established, or have demonstrated a similar commitment to privacy and security as we have.
Our marketing activities do use cookies and at times we will do analysis that involves IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Sometimes these types of data are considered personal; sometimes they are not. If you are concerned about whether our practice may affect your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer directly for more details—this is the kind of thing that we like to deal with in person.
Speaking of in-person, we also conduct public events such as Customer or Human Centred Design research where we interact with you and on occasion create a record. Sometimes these are initiated by The Moment, sometimes we run them on behalf of clients. Our clients engage us to learn about people’s lives and what’s important to them–what’s important to you. We often use media to share the stories we hear, for example, uploading a video we capture, posting a blog that we author, sharing some pictures that we take, or other means to inspire others past the walls of the event.
When we host or run these kinds of activities we make an effort to let people know what we’re doing and how you can make an informed decision concerning the content we capture and use. We also take steps at these kinds of events to help you understand what kinds of choices you might want to make about how much you share. We rely on trusting relationships to be effective in our area of expertise, and we always want to be responsive to your needs; please approach us directly at these events or indirectly afterwards to let us know if you have any questions, comments, or requests.
Finally, we also do pro-actively engage in connecting with existing clients and creating new clients. We use email, social media services, and other technology to create and maintain relationships. We respect your right to consent, and take steps to give you clear options that help your voice be heard.
Your Rights
You have the right to know how we manage any information we have that could identify you. We’re committed to making sure your rights are respected.
We will update this privacy statement from time to time. Please contact us if you have any comments, questions, or concerns. Or compliments. We like those, too.
We are The Moment and your privacy matters to us.