Grits Abroad
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Legal Notice & Privacy Policy

Legal NoticePrivacy Policy

Privacy Policy

This policy explains which personal data we process when you visit this website, contact us or join Grits Abroad, and what rights you have.

1. Controller

The controller is Grits Abroad. You will find the full contact details in the Legal Notice above.

Email: info@gritsabroad.ca

2. Hosting

This website is hosted on servers in Vienna, Austria, within the European Union.

Each time you visit the website, the server automatically records technical data in log files: your IP address, date and time of access, the page requested, the referring page, your browser and operating system. We need this data to deliver the website and to keep it secure. The log files are deleted automatically after a short period.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the secure and reliable operation of the website. We have concluded a data processing agreement with our hosting provider.

3. Security services: Cloudflare and Wordfence

We use the network of Cloudflare, Inc., 101 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, to deliver this website quickly and to protect it against attacks. Requests to this website pass through Cloudflare's network, which processes your IP address and technical data about your browser for this purpose.

Cloudflare is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is a fast and secure website.

We also use the security plugin Wordfence by Defiant, Inc., 800 5th Ave Ste 4100, Seattle, WA 98104, USA. Wordfence protects the website against attacks and spam. To do this, it processes your IP address, the pages you request and technical data about your browser, and may compare IP addresses with Defiant’s lists of known threats. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is a secure website.

4. Fonts and icons

All fonts and icons on this website are stored on our own server. Your browser does not connect to Google Fonts or any other external font or icon provider.

5. Contact form and email

If you contact us via the contact form or by email, we process the data you provide (name, email address and message) to answer your request. Messages from the contact form are sent to our team by email.

To keep out spam, the form contains a hidden field that only automated programs fill in. Messages caught this way are discarded. We do not use any external spam-protection service for this.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR. We delete your data once your request has been fully dealt with, unless we are required to keep it.

6. Joining Grits Abroad

If you join through our membership form, we process:

  • your name, email address, whether you are a Canadian citizen, and the country (and, if you wish, city) you live in,
  • the Grits Abroad key issues that matter to you,
  • whether you would like to volunteer, and if so your availability and skills,
  • optional information: how you heard about us, your LinkedIn profile and any further information you give us.

Because Grits Abroad is a group of Canadian Liberals, your membership reveals your political views. These are a special category of personal data under Art. 9(1) GDPR. We therefore process your data only with your explicit consent, which you give by checking the consent box in the form.

We use your data only to manage your membership, to invite you to meetings and events, and to contact you about the work of Grits Abroad. The form is sent to our team by email. Your data is not stored with Google or any other form provider.

Legal basis: Art. 9(2)(a) and Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent) and Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (membership). You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing info@gritsabroad.ca. We then end your membership and delete your data, unless we are required to keep it.

7. Cookies

We do not use tracking or advertising cookies. This website only sets technically necessary cookies:

  • pll_language stores the language you have chosen, for up to one year.
  • __cf_bm is set by Cloudflare to tell people apart from bots and to protect the website against attacks. It is deleted after 30 minutes.
  • Login cookies are set only for editors who log in to manage the website.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. These cookies are required for the website to work as you expect.

8. Social media

We link to our profiles on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok. These are simple links. No data is sent to these platforms until you click a link. After that, the privacy policy of the respective platform applies.

We also run our own profiles on these platforms. When you visit them, the platform processes your data under its own privacy policy. For our Facebook and Instagram pages, we and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, Ireland, are jointly responsible for certain processing (Art. 26 GDPR). Meta has taken on primary responsibility for informing you and for handling your rights. You are also welcome to contact us.

9. Transfers outside the European Union

Where data is transferred to the USA (Cloudflare, Wordfence), the transfer is based on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework or on the standard contractual clauses of the European Commission. Our team members live in several countries, including Canada and Hong Kong. Where they need to read your message to answer it, this is based on Art. 49(1)(b) GDPR. Where they need your membership data to manage your membership, this is based on your explicit consent (Art. 49(1)(a) GDPR), which you give in the membership form.

10. Your rights

You have the right to:

  • access the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15 GDPR),
  • have incorrect data corrected (Art. 16 GDPR),
  • have your data deleted (Art. 17 GDPR),
  • restrict processing (Art. 18 GDPR),
  • receive your data in a portable format (Art. 20 GDPR),
  • object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21 GDPR),
  • withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR).

To exercise your rights, write to info@gritsabroad.ca. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the country where you live.

11. Security

This website uses TLS encryption. You can recognize an encrypted connection by “https://” and the lock symbol in your browser.

Last updated: November 2026