COOKIE POLICY

Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy.

NorthStar Utilities Solutions (also referred to as "we", "us", and "our") respects the online privacy of its members and other visitors ("you") to www.northstarutilities.com (the "Site").

This Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy (the "Policy") describes the information we collect through the use of cookies and similar technologies, how and why we use cookies and similar technologies, how our third party business partners use cookies and similar technologies, and ways you can opt out of using cookies and similar technologies.  Our Privacy Policy, of which this Policy is part, is available here, and provides further information about our privacy practices.

WHAT IS A COOKIE?

A "cookie" is a small file created by a web server that can be stored on a user's device for use either during a particular ("session" cookie) or future ("persistent" cookie) browsing session.  This file may include information about internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), URLs of any referring or exited webpages, operating system, and/or date and time stamps. 

NorthStar Utilities Solutions uses cookies to enable certain website functions, develop web browsing analytics, store and track your preferences, and enable the delivery of advertising and marketing, when applicable.  For example, we track the number of “hits” or visits to our Websites, the most popular times of day and sections visited, and the range of devices and browsers most commonly used to view the Websites.  NorthStar Utilities Solutions does not sell any of this information to third parties.

First-Party Cookies

First-party cookies are set by the website you are visiting, and they can only be read by that site.  Certain features of our Website use session, persistent, and flash cookies.

"Session" cookies are temporarily stored on your hard drive and only last until they expire at the end of your browsing session or after a set time period.  Our Website's session cookies are set to expire after your browsing session and are required for log in to access secure areas of the Website and to process e-commerce transactions.  "Permanent" cookies remain stored on a user's hard drive until they expire or are deleted by a user.  We use permanent browser cookies on our Website for login purposes and to recover certain preferences set for use by you during repeated visits to our Website.  They are set to time out within 36 months. 

We use local stored objects (or "flash" cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as browser cookies.

Third Party Cookies

You also may encounter third party cookies on our Website.  Third Party Cookies are cookies that are stored on your web browser by a party other than NorthStar Utilities Solutions and may gather browsing activity (such as information you have entered or choices you have made) across numerous websites that you visit and across numerous browsing sessions.  These cookies also help improve how NorthStar Utilities Solutions’ Websites and services function and perform, customize your interaction with our Websites, and help provide more relevant messaging and marketing communications to you. NorthStar Utilities Solutions is currently using third party cookies to track and analyze usage. If you wish to delete Third Party Cookies, you should adjust your browser settings as described in the "CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION" section of this Policy.

If you like more detailed information about first party and third party cookies in use on or related to this Website, please contact us.  You also may learn more about internet advertising practices and related consumer resources at http://www.aboutads.info/consumers/ and http://youronlinechoices.eu/ (if you are located in Europe).

HOW DOES NORTHSTAR UTILTIES SOLUTIONS USE COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES?

Like most websites, as you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may passively collect information about your browsing activities using cookies and other automatic data collection technologies, such as Internet tags, or web beacons (clear gifs., pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs), and navigational data collection (log files, server logs, etc.), to improve website functionality and analytics. 

  • Web beacons: These are tiny graphics (sometimes called "clear GIFs" or "web pixels" with a unique identifier that are used to understand browsing activity.  In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, web beacons are rendered invisible on web pages when you open a page.

  • Social Widgets: These are buttons or icons provided by third-party social media providers that allow you to interact with those social media services when you view a web page or mobile app screen. These social widgets may collect browsing data, which may be received by the third party that provided the widget and are controlled by third parties.

  • UTM Codes: These are strings that can appear in a URL (the "Uniform Resource Locator", which is typically the http or https address entered to go to a web page) when a user moves from one web page or website to another, where the string can represent information about browsing, such as which advertisement, page, or publisher sent the user to the receiving website.

  • Application SDKs: These are mobile application third-party software development kits that are embedded in Apps (and are used in many mobile applications).  These app SDKs permit the collection of information about the App itself, activity in the App, and the device application on which the App is running.

The aggregate data collected by these passive technologies typically does not target any personally identifying information (PII) or other personal data, but personal information we store about you may be linked to information stored in and obtained from cookies in order to improve our marketing, analytics, or website functionality.

Location Information

We use tools that prevent us from collecting or maintaining your location information, including Google Analytics Anonymize IP, which interferes with collection and recording of your full IP address and anonymizes your IP address as soon as technically feasible by hiding part of the IP address. To learn more about the tool in use, visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en.

Google Analytics and Similar Technologies

In addition to cookies, there are other similar technologies used by NorthStar Utilities Solutions on the Site. 

We use Google Analytics and similar technologies (the “Analytics Technologies”) to collect and process statistical data about the number of people using our Website and to better understand how they find and use our web pages.  This does not include personally identifiable information, nor do we store or associate such analytics with personally identifiable information collected elsewhere. You may learn more about Google Analytics and the performance tracking cookies that it uses by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ as well as Google's restrictions on data use by visiting the Google Privacy Policy at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy.  To opt-out of Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout  and install the opt-out browser add-on feature.  For more details, visit the “Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on” page (located at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en). 

Google Analytics is certified compliance with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Other Third Party Technologies

Some third parties may use automated data collection technologies to collect information about you when you browse the internet.  The information they collect about your online browsing activities over time and across different websites and other online services may be associated with your personal information and used to provide you with targeted content.  We do not control these third parties' technologies or how they may be used.  If you have any questions about targeted content, you should contact the responsible party directly or consult their privacy policies.

CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

We provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us and have created ways to give you control over our use of your information. Most web browsers are set by default to accept cookies.  If you do not wish to receive cookies, you may set your browser to refuse all or some types of cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent by website tracking technologies and advertising. Note that, if the user declines the use of cookies, the user may not have access to the full benefits of the Website.

Please be aware that adjusting the Cookie Settings on our Website may not fully delete all of the cookies that have already been created.  To delete them, visit your web browser settings after you have changed your Cookie Settings on our Website.

Additional information is provided below about how to disable cookies or manage the cookie settings for the leading web browser providers:

For more information on how to modify your browser settings to block or filter cookies, visit http://www.aboutcookies.org/ or http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq/.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

It is our policy to post any changes we make to this Policy on this webpage. If we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we will notify you by posting on our Website home page as well or provide notification via email, if appropriate. The date this policy was last revised is identified at the top of this page. 

We encourage you to review this Policy from time to time to stayed informed about how we use cookies and other similar technologies.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions or comments about this Policy, please contact us using one of the methods listed below:

NorthStar Utilities Solutions
1 Antares Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K2E 8C4
(888) 847-7747 OR (613) 226-5511
marketing@northstarutilities.com