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Sony Corporate is the company responsible for the Sony Group's Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) business

Privacy Code

Privacy Policy - Updated 10/23

The effective date of this Privacy Policy is September 2023.

At Sony of Canada Ltd. ("Sony Canada"), we are committed to respecting and protecting your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy covers all data collection, use and sharing by Sony Canada in any medium, online, mobile, or offline. These channels are referred to in this Privacy Policy as the "Sony Canada Properties." The Sony Canada Properties offer different features and functionality, and some of the data collection, use, and sharing practices described below may not be applicable for certain Sony Canada Properties. By using the Sony Canada Properties, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Sony Canada Properties or submit any personal information.

Table of Contents:

Privacy Details

Information That We Collect or Receive

We collect or receive information from and about you in various ways, as described below.

Information You Provide to Us

We collect the information that you provide to us, such as when you enter it through the features of a Sony Canada Property or sign up for a Sony Canada promotion or contest. Depending on the transaction or Sony Canada Property you are using, such information might include information that could reasonably be used to identify you personally, alone or in combination with other information. ("Personal Information"). Personal Information includes but is not limited to your name, contact information and billing information. We will treat information as Personal Information where required by applicable law.

We collect information directly from you through our business processes, such as:

  • Registration or account creation, where we ask you to provide information, such as:
    • Contact info (e.g., name, email or mailing address, or phone number);
    • Account administration info (e.g., user name, password, or security questions and answers);
    • Billing info (e.g., credit card or other payment number, billing address);
    • Demographic and location information, such as your gender, age, date of birth or postal code;
    • Information about your past purchases or other transactions;
    • Product or device related information, such as mobile service provider;
    • Preference information such as saved settings, entertainment and marketing preferences.
  • Employment applications, where you submit information, such as your gender, date of birth, education, occupation or work history.
  • Purchase processes, where we may ask you to provide your name and billing information;
  • Technical and customer support processes, where we may ask you to provide contact information and information related to the issue about which you are contacting us, such as customer support contact history and unique hardware or software identifiers;
  • Providing you services at our retail stores;
  • Creation of products and services that you request, where we may ask for your photos and related information or in connection with various Social Features, where you may provide your photos, videos, and related information, as described more fully below;
  • Providing you with financing for Sony Canada products, where, in addition to the other kinds of information described above, we may ask you for financial information; and
  • Offering you the opportunity to submit product reviews, service feedback surveys or contest entries, where we may ask you for your name, voice and/or likeness, among other information.
  • In accordance with applicable law, with your explicit consent as required, we may also collect information related to your physical behavior or health, or voice recognition and utterance data when using a voice command, or biometric information, such as a voice authentication or fingerprint, for authentication purposes.

Information You Provide To Us via Social Features

Some of the Sony Canada Properties offer community forums or other interactive features, including social gaming and social media applications, where you can communicate with others or the public ("Social Features"). We may collect the information you enter when you use these Social Features, including Personal Information, your posts or communications, and your friend lists.

Functionality on the Sony Canada Properties may also permit a variety of interactions with third-party websites, features or applications. For example, you may be able to "like" a product or "share" content on or to other websites or use your account with a third-party to login to a Sony Canada Property. When you choose to participate in a third-party application or feature, you may be linking your activity on the Sony Canada Properties with that third-party service and you may be authorizing us to collect (or the third-party to share) information about you, including Personal Information. The third-party may allow you to remove the application or feature, in which case we will no longer collect information about you through the application or feature, but we may retain the information previously collected. In addition, we may receive information about you if other users of a third-party website give us access to their profiles and you are one of their "connections" or information about you is otherwise accessible through your "connections" web page, profile page, or similar page on a social networking or other third-party website or interactive service.

If you post information on a third-party platform that refers to Sony Canada, a Sony Canada product or service, or the Sony Canada Properties (e.g., by using a Twitter hashtag associated with Sony Canada in your tweet), your post, user name and/or profile picture associated with the applicable social media account may be collected by us and published on the Sony Canada Properties in accordance with the terms of that third-party, or we may contact you via that channel.

Information We Automatically Collect

We, and any applicable third-party analytics, content, advertising or other service providers may automatically or passively collect information about your use of the Sony Canada Properties. Data and metadata collected in this manner may include:

  • Your browsing and other activity on or across the Sony Canada Properties, as well as third-party websites and apps, and usage data. This may include, among other things, your Internet Protocol (IP) address or other device identifier, browser and operating system information, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit web pages and clickstream data, including all of the pages and places you visit within a Sony Canada Property and any actions you take while using a Sony Canada Property;
  • Your network connected hardware (e.g., computer, television or mobile device) or software data, such as a unique device identifier, IMEI number, model, version, MAC address, device or session ID, error related data and configuration, functionality, and performance data;
  • Your physical or geographic location data, ranging from country or region, to latitude and longitude, to city (based on IP address), to GPS coordinates, depending upon the situation;
  • Advertising data, such as display frequency, duration, location, viewing software, or identifier, and information relating to your preferences and advertisements you act upon;
  • Your email address, email metadata, and information regarding your actions taken in connection with emails from Sony Canada (such as whether you open the email or click a link in the email); and
  • Your username, user ID and/or account identifier.

We may use technologies, currently existing or developed in the future, to collect such information, and we may use third parties to perform these services on our behalf. Those technologies may include the following:

  • Cookies. A cookie is a data file placed on a device when it is used to visit the Sony Canada Properties or otherwise access Sony Canada content online. Cookies may be used for many purposes, including, but not limited to, remembering you and your preferences, tracking your visits to our web pages, identifying and providing updates for software on your device, monitoring content that you are downloading, streaming, or otherwise accessing, and for displaying offers related to your prior activity on a Sony Canada Property. A Flash cookie is a data file placed on a device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that may be built into or downloaded by you onto your device. Flash cookies may be used for various purposes, including, but not limited to, enabling a Flash feature and remembering your preferences. For more information about the privacy choices Adobe offers, see Your Choices and Controls.
  • Web Beacons. Small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as "1x1 GIFs" or "clear GIFs") may be included in our web pages and email messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a web page or email can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including but not limited to, count visitors to a Sony Canada Property, to monitor how users navigate the Sony Canada Properties, to count how many of our emails were actually opened, or to count how many particular links were actually viewed.
  • Embedded Scripts. An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Sony Canada Properties, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your device from our web server or a third-party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the Sony Canada Properties, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.
  • Session Replay. Session replay technology, also referred to as session playback or user experience (UX) replay, collects information regarding and tracks your interactions with a website or application. It then transforms those logged user events (such as mouse movements, clicks, page visits, scrolling, tapping, etc.) into a reproduction of what you actually did on the website or application. We use session replays for quality control, customer service, fraud prevention and security, and marketing purposes. Our session replay technology is owned and operated by a third party who acts as our service provider. The information collected by this technology may be collected and stored by our third-party service provider for the purpose of providing service to us.

Information We Receive From Third Parties

We may supplement and/or combine the information that we collect with information that we obtain from third parties. For example:

  • If you link your Sony Canada account to your social media accounts, accounts with other Sony-branded entities, or otherwise provide us with access to your account on a third-party service, we may receive data from the providers of those accounts;
  • Some third parties may provide us or our third-party service providers with information regarding the physical location of the device used to access the Sony Canada Properties;
  • If you are on another website and you opt-in to receive information from us, that website may forward to us your e-mail address and other information about you so that we may contact you as requested;
  • If other users give us access to their profiles on a third-party website or application, we may receive information about you if you are one of their connections or information about you is otherwise accessible through their profile;
  • If you apply for or are issued a SonyCard or other branded Sony Canada payment card, the bank that manages our co-brand card program may provide us with information about you.

Information Use

We use non-Personal Information without restriction to the extent permitted by law.

We use your Personal Information in a number of ways, as described in this section and elsewhere in this Privacy Policy. We use the information we collect, including your Personal Information, for the purpose for which it was collected. For example, we use your information to operate and deliver products, services, and content; perform administrative functions; complete business processes (including technical requests and customer service inquiries); and notify you as may be necessary. In addition, we may use your Personal Information and other information:

  • To send you product, service or warranty information;
  • To better understand our customers and the users of the Sony Canada Properties and to understand and improve our operations and performance;
  • With your consent, to send you marketing communications from us or others;
  • To provide you with targeted and contextual advertising and offers both within Sony Canada Properties and elsewhere online, including social media sites and other websites;
  • To perform analytics, research, surveys, and product analysis and development, including demographic studies for marketing, sales, or product development;
  • To enable us to link your accounts and usage information between and amongst Sony Canada and various Sony entities;
  • To tailor the Sony Canada Properties, advertising, promotions and communications to deliver a better or new experience to you;
  • For security and fraud detection purposes; and
  • As disclosed at the time you provide your information, for purposes described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, and for purposes for which we have obtained your consent.

Information Sharing and Disclosures

Information We Share

We may share your information, including your Personal Information, with our affiliated companies and third parties as disclosed at the time you provide your information, with your consent, as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, and as follows:

  • Service Providers to Sony Canada. With persons or companies we retain to carry out services for us or to provide support to us. Our service providers include data hosting vendors, email vendors, advertising and marketing vendors, data analysis vendors, social media companies, sweepstakes and rebate vendors, customer service and support vendors, and product registration vendors. Please note that some of our customer service processes, including chatbots and call/chat monitoring and recording, are operated by third-party service providers. Content you provide to us by any channel may be sent to and stored by our third-party service providers for the purpose of providing service to us.
  • Law Enforcement, Judicial, Administrative, or Regulatory Disclosures. To comply with a legal obligation, at the request of a government entity conducting an investigation, or when we believe that the law requires disclosure or that disclosure is appropriate to protect or enforce the rights, property, safety, or security of ourselves or others.
  • Business Transfers. In connection with the sale of the applicable business, a portion of the business, or certain stock and/or assets, or a corporate merger, consolidation, restructuring, or other corporate change including but not limited to, during the course of any due diligence process.
  • Sony. With our Sony affiliated companies for any purpose, including but not limited to providing you with content, products, or services; business development; community administration or development; to support various business processes; security; research and development; to enable us to link your accounts and usage information between and amongst certain Sony Canada Properties; and to contact you about products, services or other offerings that may be of interest to you. Sony affiliates will handle your information in accordance with their own privacy policies, the terms of which may be different than this Privacy Policy.
  • Other Third Parties. With your consent, with other non-affiliated third parties for various purposes, such as:
    • Third parties with whom we are jointly delivering services or features, such as a contest, promotion or advertising ("Promotion(s)"). Sony Canada may offer a Promotion that requires registration and if you choose to enter, your Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties in connection with the administration of the contest, such as in connection with winner selection or prize fulfillment. Sony Canada will obtain your separate opt-in consent to receive commercial electronic messages when we administer a Promotion; or
    • Third parties who may contact you about products, services or other offerings that may be of interest to you.

Information You Share

When you use the Social Features, certain elements of your Personal Information and certain information about your use of the Sony Canada Properties may be accessible to other users of the Sony Canada Properties and to the public. For example: when you post a product review, your username, your hometown, and any photos or videos you elect to submit as part of the review will be visible to the public. We may also publicly display information derived from your activity on the Sony Canada Properties.

If you choose to "share" content or to otherwise post information from or via a Sony Canada Property to a third-party website, feature or application, that information will become public and the third-party website may have access to information about you and your use of the Sony Canada Property. Likewise, other users may use these same features to share information about you.

We are not responsible for how you use or publish personal data through these or similar features, or how third parties use the features to share information.

Advertising, Analytics and Similar Third-Party Services

We may use third-party analytics service providers to evaluate and provide us with information about the use of the Sony Canada Properties and viewing of our content. Ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors, analytics service providers and/or similar third parties may set and access their own cookies, web beacons and embedded scripts on your device, may collect, set and use unique or non-unique identifiers, and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you.

We and our network advertisers may target advertisements and offers to you, both on the Sony Canada Properties and elsewhere online (including social media sites and other websites), based on your visits to the Sony Canada Properties and other websites and online services. Cookies, web beacons, and other technologies, including those set by third-party network advertisers, may be used to, among other things, target advertisements, limit the number of times you see the same advertisements, conduct research regarding the usefulness of certain advertisements to you, track how our users interact with the Sony Canada Properties, link various devices you may use, and learn more about users. We may share information about visitors to the Sony Canada Properties with third-party companies for the same purposes.

We may use a variety of companies to serve advertisements. Some of these third parties may collect personal information from you over time when you visit the Sony Canada Properties or other websites and services. We and those third parties may use your personal information to develop audiences for our digital marketing and advertising. This Privacy Policy does not cover any use of information that such third parties may have collected themselves from you.

Your Choices and Controls

You have certain choices about how your Personal Information is collected and used. Where required by applicable law, you can access, amend or have your Personal Information deleted from our active database(s) by contacting us as described in the "How to Contact Us About this Privacy Policy" section below. In some cases, your choices to change or delete information you provide may affect our ability to deliver our products, services or the Sony Canada Properties.

You can choose whether or not to receive certain communications from us, through the following mechanisms:

  • Commercial Electronic Messages: Sony Canada complies with the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation and will only send commercial electronic messages to you with your consent (express or implied). You may unsubscribe from receiving commercial electronic messages at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link included in an e-mail message. Please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your account or your use of the Sony Canada Properties or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, and these transactional account messages and other non-commercial messages may not be affected by your choice to unsubscribe from commercial communications.
  • Customer Preferences: In some cases, you can manage communication preferences for certain Sony Canada Properties in your account settings or preferences page.

You also have the following choices:

To manage your cookie preferences on the Sony Canada Properties, please refer to the 'Manage Cookies' link in the cookie banner or footer of the applicable website. You may be able to disable cookies or to adjust your Flash privacy settings by visiting Adobe's website privacy settings page at www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager06.html. If you choose to disable cookies or to adjust your Flash privacy settings on your device, some features of our Sony Canada Properties may not function properly.

Some Sony Canada Properties may use Adobe Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Adobe that includes session cookies and beacons. If you do not wish to allow your session visit information on the relevant Sony Canada Property to be aggregated and analyzed by us, you may visit www.adobe.com/privacy/opt-out.html

Some Sony Canada Properties may use Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze your use of the relevant Sony Canada Property, to create reports about the relevant Sony Canada Property activities for us and to provide further services associated with the use of the relevant Sony Canada Property and the Internet. Furthermore, Google may transfer such non-personally identifiable information to third parties. You can opt out of interest-based ads by Google at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

You may also be able to opt out of certain targeted advertising by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada's consumer opt-out page for behavioral advertising at www.youradchoices.ca/choices. To learn more about interest-based advertising, tracking technologies, and how to opt out, you can visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices

Your browser settings may allow you to automatically transmit a "Do Not Track" signal to websites and online services you visit. However, there is no consensus among industry participants as to what "Do Not Track" means in this context. Like many websites and online services, the Sony Canada Properties currently do not alter their practices when they receive a "Do Not Track" signal from a visitor's browser. To find out more about "Do Not Track" you may wish to visit www.allaboutdnt.com Global Privacy Signals. Global Privacy Control (('GPC') ) is a technical specification in your browser settings that you can use to automatically inform websites of your privacy preferences with regard to third-party online tracking. To find out more about and to set up GPC, please visit https://globalprivacycontrol.org/#about

These opt-outs may be device specific and may not work on all devices. Please be aware that if you choose to block cookies, some advertising preferences that are dependent on cookies may not be able to be respected. Also, know that even if you opt out of targeted online advertising, you will continue to receive generic ads online.

Children

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the collection of Personal Information from visitors to Sony Canada Properties who are under the age of 16 ("Child" or "Children"). Sony Canada does not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 16. If we are notified that a Child has submitted Personal Information to us through any Sony Canada Property, we will delete that Child's Personal Information.

Consent to Cross-Border Transfer of Information

Please be aware that information we collect, including but not limited to Personal Information, may be transferred to, processed and stored in the United States, Japan, across Canada and in other jurisdictions around the world and, as such, courts, law enforcement, and other authorities in these jurisdictions may, in certain circumstances, be entitled to access your Personal Information. Any such transfers will be to Sony Canada affiliates and to contractors that agree to substantially the same terms to protect Personal Information. By using the Sony Canada Properties or providing us with any information through the Sony Canada Properties, you consent to the transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, Japan, across Canada, and in other countries around the world, jurisdictions in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen. Further, courts, law enforcement, and other authorities in countries/regions outside your residence may be entitled to access Collected Data upon its transfer. . We have taken reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information will not be used for purposes not relevant to the purpose for which it was collected or communicated to service providers without your consent except when required or permitted by law.

Third-Party Links; Sony Content Found Outside the Sony Canada Properties

The Sony Canada Properties may contain links to websites, features and functionality controlled by third parties, including but not limited to those operated by other Sony Affiliates and social-networking services. In addition, Sony Canada widgets or other Sony Canada content may be included on web pages and websites that are not associated with a Sony Canada Property. We have no control over the privacy practices of the third-party websites or services to which we link or that include our widgets or other content. Those websites and services may automatically collect information about your visit to their sites and may use their own tracking technologies, including but not limited to, cookies. Those websites and services are subject to the privacy policies of the third parties that control those websites, and not this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to check the privacy policies of such third-party websites and services before using them or disclosing any Personal Information to them.

Security and Retention

Unless otherwise required by law, we are not responsible for monitoring or recording any activity on the Sony Canada Properties, including communications, although we reserve the right to do so.

To help protect you and others, we monitor the use of the Sony Canada Properties, and we use the Personal Information and other information we collect, in order to: identify fraudulent activities and transactions; prevent abuse of and investigate and/or seek prosecution for any potential threats to or misuse of the Sony Canada Properties; investigate violations of or enforce the applicable Sony Canada Properties, Terms of Use and/or this Privacy Policy; and otherwise to protect the rights and property of Sony, its affiliates, partners, and customers. Monitoring may result in the collection and analysis of online activity or communications through the Sony Canada Properties. If you do not consent to these conditions, you must discontinue your use of the Sony Canada Properties.

We seek to maintain reasonable security measures designed to help protect your information (including Personal Information) against unauthorized or accidental disclosure, access, misuse, loss, or alteration. There is no such thing as perfect security. Although we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.

We may retain information about you as long as it is necessary for us to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. In addition, we may retain your information for an additional period as is permitted or required to, among other things, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Where and when required by applicable law, we shall delete your information. Even if we delete your information from active databases, the information may remain on backup or storage media.

Changes to this Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy at any time. We will post any revisions to this Privacy Policy on the Sony Canada Properties, and the changes are effective when we post them (or on such date as indicated in the updated policy). By continuing to access or use the Sony Canada Properties after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy. If we make a material change to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting a notice of the change on the Sony Canada Properties, as relevant, and we may, in our discretion, contact you through the Sony Canada Properties or via any of your contact information we have on file. Please check this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any changes. However, we will not make material changes to how we use your previously collected Personal Information unless you consent to the new or revised Privacy Policy or generally to such uses.

Additional Information About Certain Sony Canada Properties

When you use certain Sony Canada Properties, you may be subject to additional privacy notices that are provided to you at that time. In the event of a conflict between the terms of this Privacy Policy and the terms of any additional privacy notices provided, the terms of the additional privacy notices will control unless they expressly state otherwise.

Your Rights

Subject to certain exceptions, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

  • Right to Access. Request information about our data processing activities, namely what personal information was collected from you and how process it. You may ask us to clarify the categories of persons that have access to your personal information and the applicable retention period for that information.
  • Right to Rectify. Request rectification of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.

Exercising your rights: If you wish to exercise your right(s), please: submit your request here: Sony Canada Data Request ; or you may call us at: 1-888-494-7669.

For requests to access your personal information, we will require a signed declaration under penalty of perjury that you are the consumer whose personal information is the subject of the request.

Additional Information for Residents in Québec

This notice sets forth disclosures and rights for consumers residing in Québec regarding their personal information, as required by the Québec's Data Privacy Law 25.

Profiling: With your consent, we may use technologies which collect information about your use of the Sony Canada Properties that may enable us to develop a profile of your interests or preferences.

Location Tracking: We may use technologies which collect information about your general location, such as the country in which you are located; however, we do not track your location without your consent.

Consumer Rights:

Subject to certain exceptions, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

  • Right to Access and Request Information On Data Processing. Request information about our data processing activities, namely what personal information was collected from you and how we process it. You may ask us to clarify the categories of persons that have access to your personal information and the applicable retention period for that information.
  • Right to Rectify. Request rectification of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
  • Rights Regarding the Use of Automated Decision-making. You have the right to request that we tell you if we use your personal information to render a decision based exclusively on automated processing of such information and additional information about such processing. However, Sony Canada does not use personal information to render any decisions based exclusively on an automated processing of such information.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent. Withdraw that your consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of personal information at any time. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Exercising your rights: If you are a Québec resident and wish to exercise your right(s), please: submit your request here: Sony Canada Data Request ; or you may call us at: 1-888-494-7669.

For requests to access, in order to have us provide specific pieces of information, we will require a signed declaration under penalty of perjury that you are the consumer whose personal information is the subject of the request. All Sony Canada personnel handling personal information will be subject to a duty of confidentiality and to ensure that all personal information is handled in accordance with standard security measures.

Contact Information for Sony Canada's Privacy Officer is available in the Section below, How to Contact Us about this Privacy Policy.

How to Contact Us about this Privacy Policy

For further information on our Privacy Policy, including inquiries, complaints, or disputes related to the collection and use of your information; please write to us at Sony of Canada Ltd., Attn: Privacy Officer, Law Department, 2235 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M2J 5B5, email us at privacy@am.sony.com, or call our dedicated privacy line toll-free (within Canada): 1-888-494-7669