University of Manitoba Website Privacy Statement

The personal information collected by the University’s websites are not distributed to any private organizations or used for commercial marketing. Any personal information you provide to the University via its website is managed in accordance with FIPPA. Where a University of Manitoba website collects additional information, such as personal health information, a statement of purpose and/or specific privacy policies will be available. Please be sure to read these statements and privacy policies.

How is your information collected and used?

Information is collected on the University website through a variety of methods:

1. By University web servers
2. Via analytics services and tracking pixels running on University websites
3. By information provided voluntarily in e-mail and/or web forms

1) Information we collect by University of Manitoba web servers

University of Manitoba web servers automatically collect certain information about your visit to our website and log any links clicked on during your visit.

The following types of information are collected by the University’s web servers:

• Your Internet Protocol Address* (“IP Address”)
• Type of browser and operating system you used to access our website
• Screen resolution of your monitor
• Date and time you accessed our website
• Webpages you visited and the links you clicked while on the page
• Address of any external website from which you linked to the University’s website

* IP Addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (“ISP”) to all devices used to access the Internet. Your domain name or IP Address may identify you depending on the naming standards followed by your ISP.

The information collected by our web servers is used by University employees to help us make our websites more useful to you, our audience, by learning about the number of times our site is visited, by monitoring traffic patterns and monitoring the types of technology used when accessing our sites. We make no attempt to link the collected information to your identity as we do not track or record information about specific individuals and their visits.

2) Information we collect via Google Analytics 

The University uses Google Analytics to gather statistics on portions of its website. Google Analytics may employ cookies, a digital marker, to define user sessions.

A cookie is a small piece of text information that is sent to your browser when you access a website, such as ours. This text file contains important data that tells us how you are using our website. Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies for data analysis, which means that the cookies are linked to the University’s website domain(s), and the University will only use the collected data and cookies for aggregate statistical analysis related to your browsing behaviour. The cookie files allow us to provide you with personalized information on your future visits to our websites; they are not used for any other purpose. If you wish, you may change the settings on your web browser to deny cookies or to warn you when cookies will be deposited.

The following types of information may be collected via linked Google services including Google Analytics, Google Search console, Google Ads and Google Tag Manager:

• Hostname (a descriptive label that maps to an IP Address)
• Type of device, browser and operating system you used to access our website
• Screen resolution of your device
• Date and time you accessed our website
• Webpages you visited
• The address of any external website, source, or search engine from which you linked to the University’s website
• Search terms and behaviour within search results
• Location. Location is inferred based on IP address, which is then immediately discarded and not collected
• Type of request (For example, a request for a page or an event)
• Cookie values 
• Language encoding
• Actions taken while using our websites (For example, clicking on a button or submitting a form)
• Information associated with Google signals. Google signals are session data from sites and apps that Google associates with users who have signed in to their Google accounts, and who have turned on Ads Personalization

According to Google, the data collected cannot be altered or retrieved by services from other domains. If you choose, you can opt out by turning off cookies in the preferences settings in your browser. For more information on removing Ads Personalization in Google Analytics, please visit Google’s website.

The information collected by the analytics services is used by the University to improve our website as well as to provide University staff with the ability to better meet online content needs, improve our website, improve website search, and improve the University’s online visibility.

3) Information we collect via Pixels

The University of Manitoba uses third-party advertising pixels (such as Meta pixel) on our website. This is a piece of code that collects information on how users browse our website. Pixels work with cookies to build custom audiences, track conversions from ads and retarget to serve interest-based ads to users who have viewed our website. The information is anonymous, and UM does not have access to users' personal data.

To opt out of cookies on your browser: https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN

4) Information provided voluntarily in e-mail and web forms

The University’s websites do not automatically gather any personal information from you, such as your name, phone number or email address; this information is only obtained if you provide it voluntarily. Should you choose to provide us with your personal information, we will use that information to respond to your message and to help us get the information you have requested. This information may also be shared with our customer service representatives, webmaster, web administrator or other University employees as a means to continually improve customer service. This applies to services such as newsletter sign-up, image download, online surveys and other similar services. Forms may also automatically collect additional information about your submission, such as your IP address, browser language, and the date and time at which you submitted the form.

Examples of providing personal information voluntarily include contacting us via email, completing an online form, newsletter sign up, image download, online surveys and other similar services. Any form or page that collects personal information will include a Statement of Purpose, which will notify you of the specific use and/or disclosure of your information; therefore, it is important that you read the statement before completing any forms.

Information provided in online forms and newsletter sign-ups may be used for marketing purposes. If used, this data will be in an anonymized format. Use of this date enables the University to serve users with relevant advertisements on third-party sites, such as Meta or Google.

How is information disclosed?

The University of Manitoba will not sell, trade or disclose any identifiable user information derived from the use of an online service to third parties. Personal information will not be used or disclosed for any purpose other than as indicated in the Statement of Purpose, unless the disclosure is permitted under FIPPA and/or required under a legislation that supersedes FIPPA.

For example, the University will only provide personal information to copyright owners when required to by law. Unless specifically prohibited, the University will notify affected people in the event of an order compelling disclosure of personal information. For additional information on disclosure and the “Notice and Notice” regime, click here.

Security

For website security purposes, the University of Manitoba employs software programs to monitor network traffic that identifies unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

External websites

The University’s websites may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content and the privacy practices of external websites and encourage you to examine each website's privacy policy and disclaimers to make your own decisions regarding the accuracy, reliability and correctness of material and information found on those sites.

Third-party social media

The University’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the web. Social media accounts are public and not hosted on University servers. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them. The University uses services such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram and SoundCloud.

Additional information

For questions or comments regarding this policy, or for additional information about the administration of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, contact the University of Manitoba Access and Privacy Office.