Privacy Policy

This policy applies to the public LCM Site, including business and place listings, Explore, News, Jobs, Digital Editions, QR-connected pages, advertising inquiries and related public pages. A third-party website or service reached through LCM is governed by that provider’s own privacy practices.

An advertising inquiry may include your contact name, business or organization name, email address, optional phone number, optional location or service area, optional business category, selected advertising interests and message. We also store the submission source and time, and authorized administrators may add internal follow-up, read or status information. Please avoid including sensitive personal information unless it is necessary for your request.

The general Contact form prepares a message in your chosen email application. It does not submit that message to the Site’s inquiry database.

Our first-party analytics may record pages and routes viewed; entry and last page; timestamps; approximate engaged time; meaningful clicks and actions; the Site area or interaction zone used; normalized click position within a selected control where available; scroll milestones; business, article, source-link, job and Digital Edition interactions; device class; browser; operating system; and referral or campaign information.

LCM creates random first-party visitor and session identifiers. The visitor identifier is kept in browser local storage and the session identifier in session storage. They help measure sessions, recognize repeat use on the same browser, avoid duplicate counts and understand journeys through the Site. These identifiers are pseudonymous: LCM does not use them to identify an ordinary visitor by name. LCM’s first-party analytics uses this browser storage rather than a marketing cookie. Hosting, security and protected Admin authentication may use cookies or similar session mechanisms that are necessary to provide and protect those services.

LCM analytics is not designed to collect passwords, authentication secrets, keystrokes, arbitrary form text before submission, precise GPS location, camera or microphone recordings, full-screen or session video recordings, invasive browser fingerprinting, raw page or DOM dumps, or sensitive personal information for analytics. The application does not retain raw IP addresses as permanent analytics identities. Hosting and security infrastructure may process IP addresses as needed for network delivery, security and abuse prevention.

We may record the referring origin, UTM source, medium and campaign values, and QR or campaign identifiers associated with a visit. This helps LCM understand how visitors reach content and measure printed, digital and advertising campaigns. LCM stores the referring origin rather than a full referring page path in normal analytics.

Explore analytics may record search terms, result counts, category filters, result and marker selections, and summaries of zoom, pan and fullscreen activity. A map-pan summary may include a rounded map centre. This describes an area that a visitor chose to explore; it does not establish where the visitor lives and is not precise GPS tracking.

We use information to operate and secure the Site; respond to inquiries; evaluate and provide advertising, listing or partnership services; maintain reasonable business follow-up; understand Site use; improve navigation and content; measure content, business and campaign performance; produce aggregate reporting; assess QR and advertising effectiveness; diagnose errors; maintain reliability; detect abuse; and meet applicable legal or operational obligations.

We collect, use and disclose personal information for the purposes described here and seek consent where required. You choose whether to submit an inquiry and what optional details to provide. You can clear or restrict local and session storage through your browser settings, although doing so may reduce continuity in analytics. An advertising inquiry is not unlimited consent to receive marketing messages.

Information may be processed by providers supporting managed Site hosting, database and media storage, security and, when configured, inquiry email delivery. Public map tiles use OpenStreetMap, while directions may open Google Maps or another navigation application. Clicking a business website, phone link, job application destination, article source or other external link puts you in contact with that provider and its privacy practices. Service-provider processing may occur in Canada or other jurisdictions where those providers operate.

LCM may provide a business, advertiser or sponsor with aggregate performance information such as profile views, website, phone or directions clicks, offer interactions, QR visits, traffic sources and engagement trends. Ordinary business reports do not disclose raw individual browsing trails, pseudonymous visitor identifiers or raw IP histories. LCM does not sell ordinary visitor or inquiry personal information.

We retain detailed analytics only as reasonably needed for operational review and reporting, and may retain session summaries or aggregate measurements for longer. Inquiry records are kept as reasonably necessary to respond, follow up, maintain business records and meet legal, accounting or operational requirements. Because the current system does not promise a fixed automatic deletion date, we do not state one.

LCM uses safeguards appropriate to the information, including restricted Admin access, server-side authorization for protected Admin and analytics endpoints, controlled access to inquiries, input validation and managed infrastructure. No Internet system can guarantee perfect security.

You may ask what personal information LCM holds about you, request correction, request deletion where appropriate, withdraw consent where applicable, or raise a question or complaint about how information is used or disclosed. Email localconnectionmedia@gmail.com. We may request reasonable information to verify a request and may retain information where permitted or required by law.

LCM is a general local-information Site and is not directed to children or designed to intentionally collect sensitive information from them. A parent or guardian who believes a child provided personal information may contact us.

We may update this policy as the Site, our services, business practices or legal requirements change. The “Last updated” date identifies the current version. Questions can be sent to localconnectionmedia@gmail.com. You can also read our Terms of Use.