Personal Information and Privacy (adapted from Probus Canada's website)

While PROBUS is a non-political, non-sectarian, non-profit series of autonomous clubs with no commercial agenda, it does exist as an organization dedicated to providing fellowship and learning opportunities for its members.

The PROBUS Club of North York collects only basic contact information for the functioning of the club and such information is part of the membership application process. Such information, name, address, phone number, and e-mail address is generally in the Club's Membership Directory, accessible only by paid members with a password, and is not considered sensitive information by government legislation.

The Privacy Act of Canada applies only to government agencies. PIPEDA, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, applies only to organizations that engage in commercial activity. Neither act applies to PROBUS. There is no federal act that applies to non-commercial organizations such as PROBUS.

Basically, the government acts pertinent to privacy of information do not apply to a non-commercial, non-profit organization that collects “non-sensitive information”, i.e., name, address, and phone number. E-mail addresses are becoming the norm in contacting members. As well, e-mail addresses are very much in the public domain.