Privacy and terms

Terms of use of the City of Mississauga website

The City of Mississauga (“the City”) attempts to keep the information on this Internet website current, accurate and complete but reliance upon any materials on this site shall be at your sole risk. All such information should be verified independently before being used or relied on. The City assumes no responsibility for any damages arising out of the use of this site.

The materials on the City’s website are provided “as is”. The City does not make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, non-infringement or reliability of the use of the materials on this website or otherwise relating to these materials or on any sites linked to this site. Links or references to other websites or organizations do not imply endorsement or approval by the City of Mississauga.

By using this website you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms of Use. The City reserves the right to change or modify this site at any time without notice.

Conditions of use

The text, images, data, live or archived audio recordings, live or archived video recordings, multimedia clips, streaming media and other communications (the “Materials”) are provided by The Corporation of the City of Mississauga (“Mississauga”) and/or its licensors and may be subject to the rights of third parties. Materials are the property of or licensed to Mississauga and are protected by intellectual property laws and regulations including relating to copyrights, trade-marks, trade-names, internet domain names, and other proprietary rights.

Access to and use of the Materials are subject to the acceptance of the following covenants, terms and conditions:

  1. Users may download one copy of the Materials for the sole purpose of non-commercial personal or private use or study if and only if all copyright and ownership notices contained on the Materials are retained and displayed together with the URL www.mississauga.ca or the URL displayed in connection with the Material.
  2. In the event that the Materials are cited as having third party rights, the Users shall ensure that they obtain the express written permission of the owner of that copyright before making use of the Materials and shall ensure that ownership is cited.
  3. The User shall not in any way alter, manipulate or modify the Materials or otherwise distort the Materials. The User hereby indemnifies Mississauga, and/or its licensors for any actions, damages, costs, losses or claims brought or assessed against it for any inappropriate use of the Materials.
  4. In the event that the User wishes to make use of the Materials in any other way than is permitted herein, express written permission must be obtained. The right is reserved to deny such requested access, at the owner entity’s sole discretion.

Social Media Terms of Use

The City of Mississauga recognizes that social media platforms are important for communicating and engaging with residents. By visiting, contacting or contributing to any of our social media channels, the user agrees to the following Terms of Use. Social media providers also have their own Terms of Use which should be carefully reviewed and which the user is subject to.

Please also see the social media provider’s Terms of Use for their minimum age requirements. If you are under the age of 18, the City requires that you have your parent or legal guardian review and accept these terms on your behalf, as a condition of visiting and contributing to City social media.

The City reserves the right to delete comments and/or block users that engage in inappropriate conduct including but not limited to the following:

  • Comments not respectful of other users on social media, or made in breach of confidence
  • Posting, encouraging, or encouraging others to post any messages or materials that are illegal, fraudulent, dangerous, violent, abusive, harassing, defamatory, sexual, offensive, libellous, hateful, incite hatred or violence, are discriminatory based on a protected ground in the Ontario Human Rights Code, compromise public safety, or encourage same, including encouraging any illegal activities such as defamation, fraud, breaching privacy, copyright, or intellectual property rights
  • Messages containing or leading to spam, a virus or malware, or posted for commercial purposes including advertisement, endorsement, selling or soliciting
  • Impersonating or falsely claiming to represent another party. Posting or spreading misinformation or misleading information
  • Failing to protect others’ privacy. Unless the user has a person’s consent to do so, a user should not post the personal information of another, including but not limited to:
    • Name, address, email address, phone number
    • Identifying particulars such as a picture of someone’s face
    • Criminal, health, employment, financial or other similar natured information
    • Identifying numbers

Infringing on the intellectual property rights and copyrights of others, including failing to obtain the necessary permissions, licensing for the disclosure and/or usage of another’s representations, comments or information.

You agree that you shall comply with these terms and all applicable laws, and you are not barred from these services under the laws of Ontario or Canada. The City may not respond to posts that violate any of these rules and we may notify the social media provider of your violation.

Any person who accesses any social media channels associated with the City, is personally responsible and liable for his or her own actions and/or information they post or provide. This includes but is not limited to any collection, usage, or disclosure of the personal information or copyright of other parties without proper consents and in violation of the law. The City shall not be responsible or held liable. By copying or distributing material on City social media channels, the user represents that it has obtained all consents and complied with all laws necessary.

The City shall hold the user fully responsible for any suit, claim, demand, charge, action, expense, cost (including legal fees) or cause of action brought against the City by whomsoever in respect of any injury, damage or loss to person or property caused by or arising from, or in any way connected with the user’s usage and/or conduct on a social media channel associated with the City.

The City is not responsible or liable for any personal information or other information posted on public social media channels. All personal information posted is considered a record available to the general public in accordance with section 27 of The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“MFIPPA”). The City may collect such information if authorized by statute, for the purposes of law enforcement, or when necessary for the proper administration of a lawfully authorized activity in accordance with subsection 28(2) of MFIPPA, and under the authority of section 11(1) and 227(c) of the Municipal Act.

Be advised that social media platforms may contain a range of opinions and information which may not be accurate, complete, or current. Any use or reliance on any information shall be at your sole risk and should be verified by you before relying on it. The City is not responsible or liable for the accuracy of any material or information. The views expressed by users or others are their own and the City does not endorse or make any warranty, express or implied, as to any material found on social media. The City shall also assume no responsibility or liability for the security of any information posted and such information may not be secure as third parties, including organizations outside of Canada, may be able to obtain and store it.

The City may follow, retweet, or share content from the social media accounts of its partners or stakeholders. Being followed or liked by the City does not imply endorsement of any kind.

City social media accounts are intended to provide helpful information and resources. However, any information or response from the City should not be considered definitive advice.

Our social media accounts will be monitored during regular business hours, during which time City staff will attempt to respond to your questions or comments. However, depending on number of posts received, we cannot commit to responding to everyone.

This Terms of Service is subject to change without notice.

Questions or concerns about the City of Mississauga’s social media activity or the City’s social media policy can be addressed to social.media@mississauga.ca.

Web privacy statement

Overview

Most of the information accessible on the City’s website does not require you to identify yourself at all. You may access it anonymously. However, the City of Mississauga does collect personal information about you when you choose to provide it. We endeavour to collect only as much personal information as is absolutely necessary to assist you in conducting business with the City via the website.

The City of Mississauga endeavours to provide you with multiple service “channels” for conducting City business (e.g. walk-in, mail-in, fax-in, phone-in, etc.) in addition to the Web. If at any time you have concerns about using the Web channel to conduct your City business, you can rest assured that we will always provide you with an alternative (traditional) service channel as an option.

Purposes for which we collect personal information

We collect and retain personal information for the following purposes:

  • To process your requests for services, products or further information
  • To communicate with you regarding services or products that you have requested – for example to send you a statement or a receipt
  • To identify you if you have a query or concern about the service or product that you have requested
  • To advise you about changes to our web service offerings and of service interruptions
  • To meet legal and regulatory requirements
  • Correcting or updating personal information

If your personal information changes (e.g. name, address, postal code, telephone number, etc.), or you no longer desire our services, we will endeavour to provide a way to correct, update or remove this information. Details of how to do this are usually provided on the web page where the information is collected or displayed.

Use and disclosure of personal information

The City of Mississauga is the sole owner of the information collected on its site. We do not use or retain personal information that you provide to us for any secondary purposes unless we clearly notify you and gain your permission first. We will not sell, share, rent or otherwise disclose your personal information to any organization or individual outside the City of Mississauga unless we first notify you and ask your permission.

The exceptions to this policy of non-disclosure are stated below. The City may disclose your personal information:

  • To companies contracted to process your requests
  • For law enforcement purposes
  • For the purpose of acting in an emergency or in compassionate circumstances to facilitate contact with your next of kin or friend if you become injured or take ill

We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track clients’ movements, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information. We may occasionally report aggregated demographic information in the form of reports and statistics but this is not linked to any personal information that can be used to identify any individual person.

Some of the City’s sub-systems require the use of “cookies”. For example, we use cookies when you purchase goods or services over the Internet to save the contents of your “shopping basket” as you proceed from one screen to another. The City uses “session” cookies only (as opposed to “persistent” cookies). Session cookies are small files that are temporarily stored in your computer’s memory and are deleted when you leave the City’s website.

From time-to-time our site may request information from you via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you have a choice of whether or not to disclose the information requested. Survey information will be used solely for the purposes of monitoring and/or improving the use and satisfaction of this site. If you choose not to participate in surveys, you will still be able to use our site or request services or products from us.

Protection of personal information

The City of Mississauga takes every precaution to protect your personal information on the internet. We protect your account information by requiring you to enter a unique Login ID and password each time you want to access your account information. Your password should never be shared with anyone.

Questions about the collection of personal information should be directed to the City’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Coordinator. Email, phone and mail addresses can be found under exceptions.

The City uses SSL encryption technology to protect personal information (e.g. credit card numbers, etc.) during transmission. A security icon will appear in your browser window to indicate that you are using a secure site.

If you have any questions or concerns about the security of our website, you can send an email to it.webmaster@mississauga.ca.

Exceptions

There may be certain exceptions to the City’s Privacy Statement. Any and all exceptions will be clearly identified at the moment that information is being gathered.

For more information, or if you have questions or concerns, please contact the City’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Coordinator:

By email at: privacy.info@mississauga.ca

By telephone at: 905-896-5421

By mail at: Freedom of Information and Privacy Coordinator, Office of the City Clerk, City of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L5B 3C1

Notification of changes to the privacy statement

If we decide to change our privacy statement, we will post those changes on the City’s home page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under which circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

Links to other websites

The City’s website contains links to other sites (e.g. community links, business links, etc.). Please be aware that the City of Mississauga cannot be held responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. When you leave our site, we encourage you to read the privacy statement of each and every website that you visit before you provide any personal information. The City’s privacy statement applies solely to information collected on the City’s website.

Google Translate

Translations of text and webpages on the City of Mississauga website are performed by Google Translate. Google Translate is a free online language translation service which can translate text and web pages into different languages. Please note that not all text may be translated correctly or be translated at all.

You agree that when a translation is complete, you assume the risk of any inaccuracies, errors and omissions therein. You agree that the City of Mississauga shall NOT be held responsible or liable for any damages or losses that may result from your reliance upon or use of Google Translate.

If you have any questions about Google Translate, please read the Google Translate FAQs.

Google Calendar disclaimer

By using the Google Community Events Calendar (the “Calendar”), you agree that any Information such as suggestions, ideas, comments, or event details you send to City is non-confidential and you have all rights and consents to submit such Information. Furthermore, by submitting any solicited or unsolicited information using this Calendar, you grant City an irrevocable, royalty-free and unrestricted worldwide license to use, modify, reproduce, transmit, display, and distribute such Information for any purpose whatsoever to the extent permitted by law. You are responsible for the Information that you submit to City and you agree to defend, indemnify and hold City harmless for any and all claims related to you submission. City may update the Calendar from time to time. However, you agree that City does not guarantee or accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the Information on the Calendar.