Data Policy

This Data Policy explains how WatchDawg ("WatchDawg," "we," "us," or "our") uses information generated through the WatchDawg mobile application, website, and related services (collectively, the "Service"), including how information may be analyzed, aggregated, de-identified, incorporated into analytics, and used in commercial or institutional data products.

This Data Policy should be read together with our:

• Privacy Policy;
• Terms & Conditions; and
• Reporting Guidelines.

Our Privacy Policy governs our collection, use, disclosure, retention, and protection of personal information.

This Data Policy provides additional detail concerning WatchDawg's use of report information, analytical information, aggregated information, de-identified information, and data products.

Nothing in this Data Policy authorizes WatchDawg to collect, use, sell, license, or disclose personal information in a manner prohibited by applicable law or applicable application marketplace requirements.

1. Purpose of This Policy

WatchDawg is designed to transform community-submitted observations into useful community safety information.

Reports submitted through WatchDawg may contribute to:

• community safety maps;
• incident statistics;
• geographic trends;
• temporal trends;
• category trends;
• aggregated dashboards;
• analytical reports;
• pattern identification;
• research;
• community planning;
• organizational decision-making; and
• enterprise or institutional data products.

WatchDawg may offer some of these analytical products or services commercially.

Our commercial data model is intended to focus on aggregated, statistical, public-report, trend-based, or appropriately de-identified information, rather than the sale of private user account information.

2. Categories of Information

Information processed through WatchDawg may include the following categories.

Account Information

When a user creates or maintains a WatchDawg account, we collect limited account information, including:

• email address, used for account creation, authentication, account management, security, and essential service-related communications;
• province, used for geographic analytics and to understand and assess user adoption and usage trends across Canada;
• date of birth, used for age attestation and to determine whether the user meets WatchDawg's minimum age requirement of 16;
• account identifier;
• account role;
• account status;
• account creation information;
• account authentication information;
• policy acceptance records; and
• moderation or enforcement status, where applicable.

Email addresses, provinces, dates of birth, authentication information, and other private account information are not displayed as part of public WatchDawg reports.

Report Information

Report information may include:

• report category;
• written description;
• geographic coordinates;
• community, neighbourhood, municipality, or area;
• incident date and time;
• report submission date and time;
• vehicle information;
• licence plate information;
• direction of travel;
• distinguishing characteristics;
• property information;
• damage indicators;
• police-contact status;
• other structured report fields; and
• associated report identifiers.

Private Report Information

Certain information may be collected for administrative, verification, operational, or analytical purposes while remaining private.

For example, a police occurrence or reference number submitted through a field designated as private is not intended to be publicly displayed.

Private report information is treated differently from public report information and is not automatically included in commercial data products.

Media

Reports may contain:

• photographs;
• videos; and
• information visible or audible within submitted media.

Media may contain personal information relating to the reporting user or other individuals.

Location Information

WatchDawg may process:

• locations manually selected by users;
• report latitude and longitude;
• neighbourhood or municipal information; and
• device location where a user expressly enables a location-based feature.

Device location obtained through device permissions is treated differently from a location intentionally submitted as part of a public report.

Technical and Usage Information

We may process technical or usage information such as:

• device type;
• browser type;
• operating system;
• application version;
• IP address;
• diagnostic information;
• security events;
• feature usage;
• timestamps; and
• aggregated platform activity.

Moderation Information

Moderation-related information may include:

• flags;
• complaint reasons;
• moderation classifications;
• administrative decisions;
• content-removal history;
• warnings;
• suspensions; and
• records reasonably necessary to enforce WatchDawg policies.

3. Public and Private Information

WatchDawg distinguishes between information intentionally submitted for public display and information collected or designated for private use.

Public Report Information

Information entered into public report fields may be displayed through WatchDawg and may contribute to analytical and data products.

Depending on the report, this may include:

• category;
• description;
• location;
• date and time;
• vehicle information;
• relevant property information; and
• submitted media.

Users should not submit information into public fields that they do not intend to make available through the Service.

Private Information

Private information may include:

• account email addresses;
• province;
• date of birth;
• authentication information;
• private account identifiers;
• private device-location information;
• private police occurrence numbers;
• private support communications;
• non-public moderation information; and
• other information specifically identified as private.

Private information is not treated as publicly available merely because it is stored by WatchDawg.

4. How WatchDawg Uses Data

WatchDawg may process information to:

• operate the Service;
• display community reports;
• provide maps and geographic features;
• update reports in real time or near real time;
• authenticate and administer accounts;
• use email addresses for account creation, authentication, account management, security, and essential service communications;
• use province information to measure geographic adoption and usage trends across Canada;
• use date of birth for age attestation and to determine whether users meet WatchDawg's minimum age requirement of 16;
• maintain security;
• prevent abuse;
• moderate content;
• investigate reports or complaints;
• identify potentially related reports;
• identify geographic or temporal patterns;
• generate statistics;
• develop dashboards;
• improve WatchDawg;
• measure platform usage;
• develop new features;
• conduct research;
• support community safety analysis;
• create aggregated or de-identified datasets;
• create enterprise and institutional services; and
• comply with applicable legal obligations.

5. Community Safety Analytics

WatchDawg may analyze reports individually and collectively to identify patterns such as:

• increases or decreases in particular report categories;
• concentration of reports within an area;
• changes over time;
• recurring locations;
• time-of-day patterns;
• vehicle-related trends;
• property-related trends;
• frequently reported incident types; and
• other statistical relationships.

Analytics indicate patterns within submitted data.

They do not necessarily establish:

• actual crime rates;
• verified police statistics;
• that a crime occurred;
• that every report is accurate;
• that reported incidents are connected; or
• that any individual is responsible for wrongdoing.

WatchDawg should therefore not be interpreted as an official crime-record database unless expressly stated otherwise.

6. Aggregated Data

WatchDawg may combine information from multiple reports, users, locations, or periods to produce aggregated information.

Examples include:

• number of reports in a neighbourhood;
• percentage of reports by category;
• week-over-week changes;
• time-of-day distributions;
• geographic heat maps;
• municipal trends;
• regional trends; and
• platform-wide statistics.

Aggregated information may be used internally or provided to third parties where lawful.

7. De-Identified Data

WatchDawg may create de-identified information by removing, generalizing, separating, masking, or otherwise modifying information so that it does not reasonably identify an individual.

Depending on the circumstances, de-identification may include:

• removing account identifiers;
• removing email addresses;
• removing private account information;
• generalizing geographic information;
• removing unnecessary personal identifiers;
• grouping information across multiple reports;
• replacing direct identifiers with non-identifying values; and
• reducing precision where necessary.

The degree of de-identification used will depend on the nature of the information, intended use, and risk of re-identification.

8. No Attempt to Re-Identify De-Identified Data

WatchDawg does not represent de-identified information as anonymous unless we reasonably believe the information has been processed so that individuals cannot reasonably be identified using available means.

Recipients of de-identified WatchDawg datasets may be contractually prohibited from:

• attempting to re-identify users;
• combining datasets for the purpose of identifying individuals;
• reconstructing user profiles;
• contacting individuals based on de-identified data; or
• using the information for surveillance or individualized enforcement.

WatchDawg may terminate data access where these restrictions are violated.

9. Commercial Data Products

WatchDawg may develop and offer paid products or services using information derived from the Service.

These may include:

• dashboards;
• heat maps;
• trend reports;
• geographic analytics;
• statistical summaries;
• historical trends;
• report-category analysis;
• community safety indicators;
• data exports;
• research products;
• analytical tools;
• customized reports; and
• access to enterprise analytics functionality.

Potential customers may include:

• municipalities;
• police services;
• emergency services;
• public agencies;
• community organizations;
• researchers;
• educational institutions;
• property organizations;
• businesses; and
• other organizations with a legitimate use for WatchDawg analytics.

10. Commercialization of Data

WatchDawg may charge fees for access to aggregated, statistical, trend-based, public-report, or appropriately de-identified information and analytical services.

This may include:

• licensing datasets;
• selling analytical reports;
• charging for dashboard access;
• providing subscriptions to enterprise analytics;
• providing customized research; or
• providing data-analysis services.

Payment for access to such products does not mean that WatchDawg is selling users' private account information.

11. Information We Do Not Sell as Personal Data

WatchDawg does not sell the following information as personal information:

• user email addresses;
• dates of birth;
• account passwords or authentication credentials;
• private account information;
• precise device location obtained through operating-system location permissions;
• private police occurrence numbers;
• private communications with WatchDawg;
• private moderation records; or
• other non-public personal or sensitive user information.

WatchDawg does not sell personal or sensitive user data to data brokers or advertisers for targeted advertising.

WatchDawg will not make a private user identity available merely because an enterprise customer purchases analytics or data services.

Province-level information may contribute to aggregated statistics concerning WatchDawg adoption and usage across Canada but is not sold as a means of identifying individual account holders.

12. Public Report Information in Data Products

Information intentionally submitted into the public portion of a WatchDawg report may form part of WatchDawg's maps, analytics, statistics, research, and data products.

Where appropriate, WatchDawg may:

• reproduce public report information;
• classify it;
• analyze it;
• aggregate it;
• summarize it;
• generalize its location;
• extract statistical information from it; or
• incorporate it into a derived analytical product.

WatchDawg may further de-identify or aggregate public report information before providing it to enterprise or institutional customers.

13. Licence Plates and Other Identifying Report Details

Licence plates, images of individuals, precise residential locations, and similar report details may themselves constitute personal information depending on context.

WatchDawg will therefore not treat such information as automatically eligible for unrestricted commercial sale merely because a user submitted it within a public report.

Where identifying details are included in analytical products, WatchDawg will consider:

• the purpose of the product;
• whether the information is necessary;
• the sensitivity of the information;
• the intended recipient;
• applicable consent requirements;
• applicable law;
• platform requirements; and
• whether aggregation, redaction, or de-identification is appropriate.

14. Police Occurrence Numbers

Police occurrence or reference numbers submitted through fields designated as private:

• are not displayed publicly;
• are not sold as part of commercial datasets;
• are not provided to enterprise customers merely because they purchase access to WatchDawg data; and
• are used only for legitimate purposes identified by WatchDawg and permitted by applicable law.

Providing an occurrence number does not establish that a WatchDawg report has been verified by police.

15. Device Location Data

Location information obtained from your device through an operating-system permission, such as a "My Location" feature, is used for the purpose disclosed when permission is requested.

WatchDawg does not sell precise device location data.

Device location obtained through a permission is not automatically converted into an enterprise data product simply because you use WatchDawg.

If WatchDawg wishes to materially expand the purpose for which such information is used, we will obtain additional consent where required.

16. Artificial Intelligence and Automated Analysis

WatchDawg may use artificial intelligence or other automated systems for:

• similarity analysis;
• content moderation;
• classification;
• categorization;
• trend detection;
• data organization;
• fraud or abuse detection; and
• analytical assistance.

Information may be processed by third-party AI or technology service providers where necessary to provide these functions.

Where personal information is disclosed to a third-party provider, the disclosure will be addressed in our Privacy Policy and handled in accordance with applicable privacy requirements.

Automated outputs may contain errors and should not be treated as verified findings.

17. Similarity Matching

WatchDawg may compare reports to identify potentially similar characteristics, such as:

• location;
• time;
• category;
• descriptions;
• vehicle information;
• incident characteristics; or
• other structured information.

Similarity does not establish that:

• the same person was involved;
• the same vehicle was involved;
• the incidents were connected;
• an offence occurred; or
• anyone committed wrongdoing.

Similarity results are analytical indicators only.

18. Enterprise Access

Enterprise or institutional customers may receive access to analytical tools or datasets appropriate to their service level and permitted use.

Depending on the product, enterprise users may be able to:

• view geographic trends;
• filter reports;
• compare periods;
• analyze categories;
• view heat maps;
• review aggregated statistics;
• export permitted information; and
• create reports based on WatchDawg analytics.

Enterprise access does not automatically provide access to private user account data.

In particular, purchasing enterprise access does not by itself provide access to individual users' email addresses, provinces, dates of birth, authentication information, or other private account information.

19. Restrictions on Enterprise Customers

WatchDawg may require enterprise or institutional customers to agree that WatchDawg information will not be used to:

• identify anonymous or de-identified users;
• harass individuals;
• discriminate unlawfully;
• conduct unlawful surveillance;
• create unauthorized consumer profiles;
• determine guilt solely from WatchDawg reports;
• misrepresent WatchDawg reports as verified police information;
• contact reporting users without authorization; or
• use the information for a purpose prohibited by applicable law.

Additional restrictions may appear in enterprise contracts.

20. Law-Enforcement Customers

A police service may purchase or receive access to WatchDawg analytics in the same manner as another authorized enterprise customer, subject to applicable terms and law.

The fact that a police service has access to WatchDawg does not mean:

• every report has been filed with police;
• police monitor every report;
• police have verified every report;
• every report will be investigated; or
• WatchDawg is acting as a police reporting system.

Requests by police or other authorities for non-public personal information are handled separately in accordance with applicable law and our Privacy Policy.

21. Research

WatchDawg may use aggregated or appropriately de-identified information for internal or external research.

Research may involve:

• community safety patterns;
• reporting behaviour;
• geographic trends;
• platform effectiveness;
• emerging incident types;
• public policy;
• community planning; or
• other legitimate research purposes.

Where personal information would be involved, WatchDawg will address applicable consent and privacy requirements separately.

22. Advertising

WatchDawg does not currently use private account information or sensitive user information for targeted advertising.

We do not sell private personal information to advertisers for the purpose of building advertising profiles.

If WatchDawg introduces materially different advertising practices in the future, we will update applicable disclosures and obtain additional consent where required.

23. Service Providers

WatchDawg may provide information to service providers that perform functions on our behalf, such as:

• hosting;
• database infrastructure;
• authentication;
• mapping;
• geocoding;
• artificial intelligence;
• moderation;
• analytics;
• communications;
• security; and
• technical support.

Service providers receive only information reasonably necessary to perform their functions.

Some service providers may process or store information outside Canada, including in the United States.

Where they process personal information on WatchDawg's behalf, we expect appropriate safeguards and contractual or other protections appropriate to the circumstances.

A service provider processing information on our behalf is different from an enterprise customer purchasing WatchDawg analytics.

24. Consent

Where applicable law requires consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, WatchDawg seeks consent appropriate to the sensitivity of the information and the context.

Creating a WatchDawg account does not constitute unlimited consent to every future use of personal information.

Where a use or disclosure:

• is materially different from what users would reasonably expect;
• involves sensitive personal information;
• creates a meaningful risk of harm; or
• is not necessary to provide the Service,

WatchDawg may provide additional notice, obtain express consent, or provide a meaningful choice as required by applicable law.

25. Essential and Optional Processing

Certain information processing is necessary to operate WatchDawg.

For example, WatchDawg may need to process information to:

• create and authenticate an account;
• determine whether a user satisfies the minimum age requirement;
• store a report;
• display a report submitted for public display;
• secure the Service;
• moderate objectionable content; or
• provide requested map functionality.

Other uses may be optional.

Where applicable law requires a choice concerning an optional use, WatchDawg will provide one rather than requiring consent as a condition of access to unrelated functionality.

26. Withdrawal of Consent

You may withdraw consent to eligible processing by:

• changing applicable settings;
• disabling device permissions;
• deleting eligible information;
• deleting your account; or
• contacting WatchDawg.

Withdrawal may prevent WatchDawg from providing features that depend on the information concerned.

Withdrawal does not invalidate processing that lawfully occurred before consent was withdrawn.

Information that has been irreversibly aggregated or de-identified may no longer be associated with your account and may therefore be incapable of being withdrawn or deleted on an individual basis.

27. Account Deletion

Users may request account deletion through the process described in our Privacy Policy.

Upon deletion, eligible personal information will be deleted or de-identified subject to lawful retention requirements.

WatchDawg may retain:

• information required by law;
• limited security records;
• moderation or abuse-prevention records where reasonably necessary;
• information necessary to establish or defend legal rights;
• information contained in backups until overwritten; and
• irreversibly aggregated or de-identified information.

Public reports may be deleted, de-identified, or disassociated from an account in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law.

28. Report Deletion and Derived Analytics

Deleting a report may remove the report from active public display.

However, deletion may not require WatchDawg to reconstruct or delete historical statistics or analytical products that were previously created from multiple reports and no longer reasonably identify the reporting user.

For example, if a deleted report previously contributed one count to an aggregated monthly statistic, WatchDawg may not be able or required to recalculate every historical aggregate where the retained result contains no personal information.

29. Retention

WatchDawg retains identifiable data only for as long as reasonably necessary for its identified purposes or as permitted or required by law.

Retention periods may differ depending on the information.

Generally:

• active account information is retained while an account remains active;
• active reports are retained while they remain available through the Service;
• media is generally retained with the associated report;
• logs are retained for reasonable operational and security periods;
• moderation information may be retained to prevent abuse or enforce policy;
• legally required records may be retained for applicable statutory periods; and
• aggregated or irreversibly de-identified information may be retained for longer periods.

30. Data Quality

WatchDawg analytics depend substantially on community-submitted information.

As a result, datasets may contain:

• incomplete reports;
• inaccurate observations;
• duplicate events;
• inconsistent categorization;
• reporting bias;
• geographic bias;
• differences in community participation; or
• other limitations.

WatchDawg does not represent community-submitted data as a complete measure of all incidents occurring within an area.

Enterprise and research users should account for these limitations when interpreting WatchDawg analytics.

31. No Official Crime Statistics

Unless expressly identified as coming from an official source, WatchDawg data should not be described as official crime statistics.

WatchDawg primarily measures what users report through WatchDawg, which may differ materially from:

• police-reported crime;
• calls for service;
• charges;
• convictions;
• emergency-service statistics; or
• actual prevalence of an activity.

This distinction applies to both consumer and enterprise users.

32. Security

WatchDawg uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of information under our control.

Measures may include:

• encryption in transit;
• access controls;
• authentication;
• restricted administrative permissions;
• infrastructure security;
• logging;
• monitoring; and
• service-provider safeguards.

No system can guarantee absolute security.

33. Cross-Border Processing

WatchDawg uses third-party technology and infrastructure providers to operate the Service. Data, including personal information, may be stored or processed outside Canada, including in the United States.

Cross-border processing may occur through providers of hosting, database infrastructure, authentication, application infrastructure, artificial intelligence, analytics, communications, security, or other technical services.

Information processed or stored outside Canada may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is processed or stored and may be accessible to courts, law-enforcement agencies, or governmental authorities in accordance with applicable law.

Cross-border processing does not remove WatchDawg's responsibility for personal information under its control. Where a service provider processes personal information on WatchDawg's behalf, WatchDawg uses or expects contractual, administrative, organizational, technical, or other safeguards appropriate to the circumstances and sensitivity of the information.

34. Children's Data and Age Attestation

WatchDawg is not intended for users under 16, and individuals under 16 are not permitted to create a WatchDawg account.

WatchDawg collects a user's date of birth during account registration for age-attestation purposes, including to determine whether the user satisfies WatchDawg's minimum age requirement of 16.

Date of birth is treated as private account information. It is not displayed publicly and is not provided to enterprise customers merely because they purchase WatchDawg analytics or data services.

We do not knowingly use information collected from children under 16 to create commercial data products.

If we learn that an underage user has provided personal information contrary to our policies, we may delete the account and associated personal information, subject to lawful retention requirements.

35. Changes to Data Practices

WatchDawg may update this Data Policy as the Service evolves.

We will not rely solely on a previously accepted version of this Policy to introduce a materially new use or disclosure of personal information where applicable law requires additional notice, choice, or consent.

Material changes will be communicated where reasonably appropriate.

The "Last Updated" date at the beginning of this Policy indicates when it was most recently revised.

36. Relationship to the Privacy Policy

The Privacy Policy governs personal information.

If this Data Policy conflicts with the Privacy Policy regarding the treatment of personal information, the Privacy Policy will govern to the extent necessary to comply with applicable privacy law.

Nothing in this Data Policy reduces a privacy right or protection provided by applicable law.

37. Contact

Questions about WatchDawg's data practices, enterprise data products, or this Data Policy may be directed to:

WatchDawg

Email: support@watchdawg.ca

Website: www.watchdawg.ca

Privacy requests concerning access, correction, consent, or deletion should be directed to the Privacy Officer identified in our Privacy Policy.