We will not knowingly post any personal information aside from what is described as follows:

Church Staff will have their names, office email addresses, and office phone numbers and other church related contact information provided as necessary on the web site.

Elders, trustees, other members of the Unified Board, church sponsored or church lead group leaders may have there name and position posted to the web site from time to time in conjunction to their role and responsibilities, or when they are a contact for some group or activity listed on the website.

Contact will normally be through the church ‘contact us’ feature provided on the website. St. Mark’s United Church will provide church based email addresses for those leaders who will need them. General inquiries will be forwarded through the church office protecting personal information. Should an elder, trustee, other members or leader of a church sponsored group give us, in writing, their permission to list other personal contact information, such as personal phone numbers or personal email address, these may be listed on the website, but this is not encouraged.

In general the following shall be the policy for posting images:
A. No photo or other digital image of anyone will be posted to the website without permission.
B. Photos will usually be of people in public spaces, at public events.
C. We will not knowingly post anything that will be embarrassing, objectionable or hurtful to anyone in the photo.
D. We do not use the names of children or youth with photos.
E. We will only use full names of adults with permission and then only when the context warrants it.
F. We will provide credit for a particular photo if requested by the photographer, and we will honour any copyright wishes or restrictions.
G. No child or youth’s photo or other digital image will be posted to the website. The exception to this will be public or large group photos such as services, receptions, dinners, events and other activities which may identify the group activity but not identify any individual.
H. If anyone objects to an image seen on the website for reasons that it reveals something personal, contains an image of them selves or their children, is embarrassing or in some way is personally objectionable, the image will be removed upon request.

Youth and children will never have their full names posted to the website. When identified, youth and children will, at most, be identified only through their first name, and then, only with written permission from a parent or guardian.

Web Space for Community Groups

We have provided space on our website for community groups (Westside Preschool Co-Op, Guides, Scouts, AA, etc.), who use St. Mark’s United Church for their activities, to provide information about their group. We understand that these groups may have their own policies and in the event of a conflict between St. Mark’s United Church Website Policy, and the policy of the community group, the stricter shall apply.

Intellectual Property

We will respect the intellectual property of others. All technology, logos, artwork, and text of our website will be checked for copyright ownership; and where material is under copyright we will seek permission of the copyright holder to use their material prior to its use on our website.

We encourage members of the congregation, church groups, and staff to submit original works (stories, photographs, articles, etc.) for publication to our website. Material submitted for publication to our website must: a. meet the requirements of St. Mark’s United Church Website Policy b. be reviewed by a website publisher prior to uploading to the site.

When submitted material does not meet the requirements of St. Mark’s United Church Website Policy it will be returned with a brief explanation as to why it does not meet the requirements. The website publisher is not responsible for editing material submitted so that it complies.

All submittals of original works will accredited to the creator, except when the creator is a child; in which the submission must be made by the parent or guardian on behalf of the child, and we will only use the child’s first name in identifying the creator of the original work. Should the creator wish not to be identified we will honour that request.

All original works published on the St. Mark’s website will remain the property of the creator, and we will remove any original work upon request from the creator.

Log Files

St. Mark’s United Church collects and uses the information contained within an automatically generated log of all traffic on our website. The information collected includes IP addresses, browser types, plug-ins available, page views, city/province/country of the visitor, and cookie information. We use this information in an aggregate form to calculate overall site traffic patterns, to analyse user trends, and to administer the website. Individual traffic patterns will not be disclosed to any third party.

Cookies

When you a visit a website, the server for that site may automatically set a cookie on your computer. A cookie is a small text file that is stored by your browser on your computer’s hard drive. Many sites, including St. Mark’s United Church website, use cookies to track traffic flows and patterns for statistical purposes. Cookies are also used to remember user preferences, such as font display size. A St. Mark’s United Church website cookie does not identify you in any way, just the computer used. The default setting for most browsers is to automatically accept cookies. You may configure your browser to accept all cookies, to notify you when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last option means that certain personalized services may not be unavailable.

Links to Other Websites

This privacy policy applies only to this website which is owned and administered by the St. Mark’s United Church. This site contains hyperlinks to other websites. St. Mark’s United Church is in no way responsible and cannot guarantee the content or privacy of other sites linked to http://www.stmarksunited.ca.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or concerns about the way we use personal data, please forward your question to: info@stmarksunited.ca