Privacy Policy

Privacy Protection Legislation

The Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) has developed this Privacy Policy in accordance with its responsibilities under provincial and federal privacy legislation. See the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.

ASET's activities stretch beyond the province of Alberta as it is also responsible for certifying and overseeing professional technicians and technologists in the Northwest Territories. These activities fall under the jurisdiction of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act of Canada. See the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Personal Information Policy

This Privacy Policy addresses two broad issues:

• the way ASET collects, uses, discloses and protects personal information, and
• the right of individuals to have access to personal information about themselves and, if necessary, to have the information corrected.

ASET and its employees will protect your personal information in accordance with the 10 Principles of Privacy set out in provincial and federal privacy legislation.

1. Accountability: The organization is responsible for personal information under its control and has designated the CEO as its Privacy Officer, who is the individual accountable for the organization's compliance with the following principles.
2. Identifying purposes: The purposes for which personal information is collected shall be identified by ASET at or before the time the information is collected.
3. Consent: The knowledge and consent of the individual are required for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, except where inappropriate. Consent to disclose is not required under very limited circumstances set out in privacy legislation and/or if such disclosure breaches the right to privacy of a third party.
4. Limiting collection: The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by ASET. Information shall be collected by fair and lawful means.
5. Limiting use, disclosure and retention: Personal information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.
6. Accuracy: Personal information will be as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.
7. Safeguards: Personal information shall be protected by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
8. Openness: ASET will make readily available to individuals specific information about its policies and practices relating to the management of personal information.
9. Individual access: Upon request, an individual will be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of his or her personal information and will be given access to that information. An individual will be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate.
10. Challenging compliance: An individual is able to address a challenge concerning compliance with the above principles to the ASET Privacy Officer.

If you wish to update or correct your contact information, you may do so online or by contacting the ASET office.

Third Party Mailings

On occasion, membership mailing address information is made available to approved group membership benefit providers. The one-time-use agreements are strictly limited by contract for specific ASET-approved promotions. ASET only approves benefit promotions that have been determined to be of value for the membership as a whole. Member e-mail addresses are never provided to any outside company or person and are only used by ASET to communicate directly with you.

If you do not want ANY benefit provider to mail information to you directly, check the 'NO OUTSIDE MAILING' box on your annual update form, or email the Communications Department, and we will mark your file for exclusion from these mailings.  By withdrawing your consent, please understand this may affect the provision of benefits and services to which you may otherwise be entitled as an ASET member.

Website Privacy Statement

The Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) considers the privacy of its members to be of utmost importance and works to protect that privacy. ASET wishes to build trust and confidence in visitors to the ASET website by promoting the principles of disclosure and informed consent.

ASET uses the following information and privacy practices in the administration of its site:

Information this site gathers/tracks: Members and non-members of ASET can visit the ASET website anonymously to view general information about how and why technology professionals are certified. We do maintain server logs and web logs which automatically collect and log the Internet Protocol (IP) address of all incoming traffic to our website. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals or corporations visiting our site. This information will not be disclosed except if required by court order in a criminal investigation and to cooperate in investigations of unlawful activities which would threaten the security of the ASET website and network properties.

If personal information is provided voluntarily through online registration, online order forms for publications or services available from ASET, this information is protected under the Personal Information Protection Act of Alberta. This means that, at the point of collection, you will be informed that your personal information is being collected, the purpose for which it is being collected and that you have a right of access to the information.

Members-only site registration: Members wishing to access their own information or to participate in member-only services are required to register. The members-only features of the website are tied directly to the ASET database and are secured using the latest technologies and practices available. "Session cookies" are utilized while the user is accessing the site and are automatically removed from the server when the session expires. Personal information (i.e. information required to make a password change/address update) is transmitted in an encrypted format and is not stored in cookies.

Membership roster: As a public service, ASET provides a Membership Roster on its website. The publicly available membership roster helps ASET ensure that individuals using the designations have met the criteria for use and are signatory to the obligations of professional certification. This service is designed in such a way that individual names can be checked and no personal information is disclosed beyond the individual's name, certification level and city. Members may chose to opt out of roster publishing by contacting the ASET Privacy Officer (see left).

Note: the designations of Certified Technician (C.Tech.), Certified Engineering Technologist (C.E.T.), Registered Engineering Technologist (R.E.T.), and Professional Technologist (P.Tech.) are copyright protected.

Use of the information this site gathers/tracks: ASET uses the information it gathers on site activity to analyze use of the ASET website, in order to plan site enhancements and measure overall site effectiveness.

Links to other sites: This website contains links to other sites. ASET is not responsible for the content and the privacy practices of other websites and encourage you to examine each site's privacy policy and make your own decisions regarding the accuracy, reliability and correctness of material and information found.

Access to Records

1. Request to Access Records
   1. Upon the written request of an individual, ASET shall provide the applicant with access to records held by it that are related to the application with the following identifying information redacted:
      1. Personal information of any references shall be redacted;
      2. SME/FR identifying names shall be redacted.
   2. An individual may request access to their record by completing the Access to Record Request form and submitting by email to [email protected].
   3. Individuals requesting access to their personal information may ask for a copy of, or access to, a record containing the personal information. If ASET cannot grant access to a record, ASET will create a copy for the requester if the following conditions are met:
      1. The copy can be created using ASET's normal computer hardware and software and technical expertise;
      2. Doing so will not unreasonably interfere with ASET's operations.
   4. ASET may refuse access to a record if the information:
      1. Is legally protected; the record or any information in the record is subject to a legal privilege that restricts disclosure of the record or the information, as the case may be;
      2. Cannot be separated from the personal information of another individual;
      3. Is confidential, commercial, and not unreasonable to withhold;
      4. Is collected during an investigation, review, or mediation;
      5. May present a risk to the public welfare if disclosed or could undermine the integrity of the registration process.
   5. An applicant has a right of access to that part of a record that can reasonably be severed from the part to which the applicant does not have a right of access by reason of subsection c above.
   6. ASET has 45 days (as outlined by PIPA) to respond to an access to information request but will make every endeavor to respond within 5-10 business days. If more time is needed, ASET will provide written notice before the 45 day expiry.

2. Request Correction of Personal Records
   1. To request a correction of the individual’s own information, a request must be made in writing.

3. ASET Membership Records Retention Policy
   1. ASET retains electronic files for active members indefinitely. ASET will retain membership records of former members for 7 years from the date of the membership lapse, after which point these records will be destroyed in accordance with this Policy.