Government of Québec's confidentiality policy
Thank you for visiting the Québec Portal (Citizens) and for
reading this policy.
The Services for Citizens portal does not place permanent
cookies on your hard drive. Temporary cookies required for ASP
(Active Server Pages) navigation are, on the other hand, entered in
your computer’s random access memory. They are automatically
deleted when you leave the portal.
The portal also contains links to Web sites operated by other
government agencies and public and private organizations. Some of
these sites may place temporary or permanent cookies on visitors’
hard drives. For further information, please consult the privacy
policies for these Web sites.
No personal information is collected without the Netsurfer’s
prior consent.
Information exchanged automatically
You cannot be identified personally by means of information
exchanged automatically between our server and your computer. This
information is collected to meet the technological requirements for
Internet browsing and for statistical purposes.
You should be aware that as soon as you access the government
portal (www.gouv.qc.ca), information is automatically exchanged
between your computer and the Québec Portal server. This
information does not identify you personally. The following
information is exchanged:
- your internet domain name (e.g., “xcompagnie.com” if you use a
private Internet access account, or “university.edu” if you obtain
access via a university), your IP address (in general, an IP
address is a number assigned to your computer when it is connected
to the Internet, to enable error-free transmission of documents
intended for you);
- the type of browser and operating system used to access the
portal;
- the Web pages that you access;
- the address of the Web site that has transferred you to the
portal (“referring Web site”), if applicable.
The above information exchanges are necessary in order for the
portal server to send you files compatible with your computer. The
government also keeps information required to ascertain the number
of visitors, the pages visited most often, the technology used by
portal users, the referring Web sites and the countries of origin
of portal users.
If you send personal information
Under the Act respecting Access to documents held by public
bodies and the Protection of personal information, a department or
agency must collect personal information from you only if it needs
this information (section 64); it must also identify itself and
inform you (excerpt from section 65) :
- of the name and address of the public body on whose behalf the
information is being collected;
- of the use to which this information will be put;
- of the categories of persons who will have access to the
information;
- of the fact that a reply is obligatory, or that it is
optional;
- of the consequences for the person concerned or, as the case
may be, for the third person, in case of a refusal to reply;
- of the rights of access and correction provided by law.
Avoid sending personal information by e-mail. For security
purposes, never provide contact information (phone number, address,
etc.) in an e-mail message, especially your social insurance
number.
Québec Portal does not use e-mail to answer any questions
requiring the transmission of personal and confidential
information. Instead, we will try to reply to your message or
follow-up on your request by phone.
Electronic correspondence is processed according to the same
rules of confidentiality as regular correspondence. Rest assured,
therefore, of the discretion of Portal staff. All employees who may
have access to confidential information have been given special
training on confidential data and must comply with the rules
thereof.
Links to other Web sites
Québec Portal contains links to Web sites maintained by the
Government of Québec and other governments, as well as sites
belonging to private organizations. When you leave the portal,
a message informs you that you are leaving the government’s virtual
space and that subsequent information exchanges are subject to the
privacy polices of the sites that you access, not the Government of
Québec’s privacy policy.
Please feel free to submit any questions or comments, by
clicking Contact Us
at the top of your computer screen.
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