Privacy policy
Last updated 2 November 2026
Who we are
Permit Gopher ("we"), PO Box 1012, Red Deer, AB T4N 6S5, operates this site. This policy explains how we handle personal information under Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).
Privacy contact: questions, access or correction requests, and complaints go to [email protected], or by mail to the address above, attention: Privacy Officer. Our Privacy Officer answers them.
What we collect, and why
- Your email address, when you create an account, subscribe, track an address, watch a neighbourhood or subscribe to a digest. We use it to sign you in, send what you asked for, and contact you about your account.
- Your consent record: the date and time, the form, the wording you agreed to when you ticked a consent box, and the internet (IP) address it came from. Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) requires us to be able to prove consent, so we keep it.
- Sign-in codes: a one-time code is stored only in scrambled (hashed) form and expires within minutes. We do not use passwords.
- Account details you give us, such as a company name, your main trade, saved searches, tracked addresses and alert settings, so the service works for you.
- Billing details: if you subscribe, Stripe takes your card on its own payment page. We receive a customer number, the plan and its status. We never see or store card numbers.
- A session cookie that keeps a signed-in device signed in for up to 30 days, and a security cookie that protects forms. We use no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies.
- Server logs: the time, page and result of each request, kept for security and troubleshooting.
- A record of your exports: when you download a CSV or PDF from the feed or we send you an alert, we record what it held (the filter and the number of permits), when, and which member of the account it was for, with a reference code that appears in it. We use this record to help you and to trace data passed on against our terms.
We collect only what the service needs, and we do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.
We send sign-in codes and account messages because you asked for them. Alerts, digests and any product news go only to people who gave express consent, and every such message identifies us, gives our mailing address and has an unsubscribe link. You can withdraw consent at any time; we act on it within 10 business days.
Where your information is stored, and who processes it
Our application and database run on a server in Toronto, Canada. We use these service providers, each only for the purpose shown:
| Provider | Purpose | Where it holds data |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | Hosts our server, database and backups | Canada (Toronto) |
| Brevo (France) | Sends our emails: sign-in codes, account messages and alerts. It receives your email address and the message we send. | European Union (France and Germany, with some storage in Belgium); its mail relays in other countries pass messages on without storing them |
| Stripe | Card payments, subscriptions, receipts and invoices | United States and other countries where Stripe operates |
| Cloudflare | Delivers the website securely and protects it from attacks; sees visitors' IP addresses | Worldwide network |
Where a provider stores or processes information outside Canada, it is subject to the laws of that country and may be disclosed to its authorities. You can ask our privacy contact about the way these providers handle personal information.
How long we keep it
Account information is kept while your account is open and deleted within 90 days after you close it, except billing records, which tax law requires us to keep for six years, and consent records, which we keep for three years after consent ends. Server logs are kept for up to 90 days. Export records are kept for 24 months from each export, including after an account is closed.
Your rights
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to close your account. Write to [email protected]; we answer within 45 days, as PIPA requires. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.
The property and permit records on this site
The address, permit and zoning information on our pages comes from municipal open data. We never show owner names, we withhold the names of individuals who apply for permits, and we never show phone numbers or email addresses from those records. If you believe a page shows personal information about you, tell us at [email protected] and we will check it promptly.
Changes
If we change this policy, we post the new version here with its date. If a change affects how we use information we already hold, we tell account holders by email first.