1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy describes the policies and procedures of Markham Industries (“Markham Industries,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of your information when you (a) use our website at https://codepaper.us/markham-metal (the “Service”), and (b) sell scrap metal at our Ontario location. It explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how it is protected, how long we keep it, and who we may share it with.

By using the Service or by transacting with us in person, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

2. Information We Collect — Website

2.1 Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor's IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

2.2 Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

2.3 Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login persists for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies are removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

2.4 Embedded Content from Other Websites

Pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

2.5 Password Resets

If you request a password reset, your IP address is included in the reset email.

2.6 In-Person Transactions — Information Collected at Our Location

When you sell scrap metal at our location, we collect the following information directly from you:

• Full legal name (first, middle, last)
• Current residential address
• Type and number of government-issued identification (driver's licence or provincial ID), and its expiry date
• Phone number
• Vehicle licence plate (if applicable to the transaction)
• Details of the transaction, including date, time, and material sold

We check the date of birth printed on your identification at the time of scanning, solely to confirm you are 18 years of age or older. Your date of birth itself is not recorded or retained — only the result of this check.

We do not collect, extract, or store other information encoded on your identification document, including physical descriptors such as height, weight, eye colour, gender, hair colour, organ donor status, or licence restriction codes. Our scanning system is configured to extract only the fields listed above and to discard all other data present on the barcode.

3. How We Use Your Information

3.1 Website

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service; this may involve your comment data being sent outside of Canada for processing.

3.2 In-Person Transaction Information

We collect and use in-person transaction information for the following purposes:

• To identify sellers of scrap metal and verify eligibility to transact, as required by law;
• To create and maintain a transaction register, as mandated by applicable municipal licensing bylaws governing scrap metal and salvage dealers;
• To assist law enforcement and municipal licensing authorities in the prevention, investigation, and recovery of stolen property;
• To detect and prevent fraudulent transactions;
• To meet our contractual, legal, and regulatory obligations; and
• To manage our general business operations.

We do not use in-person transaction information for marketing purposes, and we do not sell this information to third parties.

4. Legal Authority for In-Person Collection

Collection of government identification is normally restricted under Canadian privacy law. The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada require that collection of identifiers such as a driver's licence number be limited to circumstances where a specific statutory mandate applies. For our Ontario operations, that mandate is provided by applicable municipal licensing bylaws governing scrap metal and salvage dealers in the municipality where the transaction occurs.

Because this authority is a narrow exception to general privacy law, we limit our in-person collection to only the fields named in the applicable municipal bylaw for the location where your transaction takes place.

5. Consent

In-person transactions: If our records show you have not sold to us before, a notice is displayed on our point-of-sale screen after your first ID scan, describing what information will be collected and why. You confirm your consent by presenting your identification for a second scan after this notice is shown; we verify that the same identification is used for both scans so that consent is confirmed by you personally. We record the date and time your consent was given, and which version of this notice was displayed to you, together with your customer record.

If you do not wish to consent, please tell a member of staff. We will be unable to complete a scrap metal purchase transaction with you without this information, as collection is a condition of the transaction under applicable law.

Website: By using the Service, You consent to the collection and use of information as described in this Privacy Policy.

6. Sharing and Disclosure of Your Information

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

• Automated spam detection: visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
• With Your consent: for any other purpose with Your consent.
• With law enforcement or municipal licensing/bylaw officers: upon a lawful request in connection with the investigation or prevention of theft, or the enforcement of applicable scrap metal licensing bylaws.
• As required by law, court order, or legal process.
• With Our service providers who process in-person transaction data on Our behalf strictly for the purposes described in this policy, under obligations of confidentiality.

We do not sell, rent, or use in-person transaction information for marketing or advertising purposes.

7. Retention of Your Information

Website — Comments: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

Website — Registered Users: For users that register on our website (if any), we store the personal information they provide in their user profile for as long as their account remains active.

In-Person Transaction Information: We retain personal information collected in person only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy and to meet our statutory recordkeeping obligations. For our Ontario location, this is 1 to 2 years from the date of transaction, as specified by the applicable municipal licensing bylaw. Once this retention period has expired and no ongoing legal, regulatory, or business purpose requires continued retention, we securely destroy or anonymize the applicable records.

8. Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in processing are located, including third-party services such as spam detection and comment-avatar lookups (Gravatar). This means Your information may be transferred to, and maintained on, computers located outside of Your province or country, where data protection laws may differ.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy, followed by Your submission of such information, represents Your agreement to that transfer. The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure Your data is treated securely.

9. How We Protect Your Information

• Encryption: Identification numbers collected in person are encrypted at rest using industry-standard encryption (AES-256) and are never stored in plain, readable form.
• Front-counter display: Identification numbers and addresses are not displayed in full on any customer-facing or cashier-facing screen; only partially masked versions are shown once identification has been scanned.
• System access: Full, unmasked identification numbers are accessible only to authorized personnel for the purposes described in this policy, including compliance, audit, and lawful law enforcement or municipal licensing requests.
• Data storage: Personal information is stored in a secured database with access restricted to authorized personnel and systems.

No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

10. Children's Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13, and We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us.

Separately, in-person transactions require that sellers be 18 years of age or older, verified as described in Section 3.

11. Links to Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content and links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third-party link, You will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites or services.

12. Your Rights

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes — including in-person transaction records described in Section 7. To make a request, or if you have questions about this policy, please contact us using the information in Section 14.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and, where appropriate, via email or a prominent notice on Our Service prior to the change becoming effective. The "Last Reviewed" date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last updated. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact: