Privacy notice
What Northline Economics collects, why, who receives it, how long it is kept and what you can do about it. This notice describes what the service does now, and says so where a feature is switched off.
Effective November 9, 2026
Who is responsible
Northline, operating as Northline Economics, is responsible for the personal information collected through this site. Questions and requests go to Hamza Abdi, Owner & Privacy Officer, at contact@canadianeconomicatlas.com.
The free public launch: what this site does today
- Reading the site. You do not need an account. Requests pass through Cloudflare's network and reach servers run by DigitalOcean in Toronto. The application writes a request log: the network address the request came through, the time, the method, the page path without its query string, the status and the size. It also uses your network address to apply rate limits; those records are stored only as a hash, and are cleared from time to time once they are more than 7 days old. Cloudflare and DigitalOcean keep their own technical logs under their own terms.
- Your browser. The site sets a small number of cookies and keeps some preferences in your browser's own storage. Preferences such as your watchlist stay in your browser and are not sent to Northline. The cookie and tracking disclosure lists them all.
- Measurement. Only if you allow it, Google Analytics records the pages you open (without query strings), how you arrived, your device and browser type, an approximate location, and the names of a few steps such as sending a service request. It never receives your name, email address or what you type into a form. Until you choose, and if you choose No thanks, nothing is sent to Google. The cookie disclosure has the details. The application also keeps counts of events such as sign-ups, with nothing that identifies a person.
- If you write to us. If you email us, your address and your message reach our Google Workspace mailbox, and we use them only to answer you.
Service requests (open now)
The request form at /custom-research is open. If you send it, we store what you enter (your name, email address and, if you give them, your role and a phone number; your organization, its type, where it is based and its industry; the service, the problem or objective, and any engagement model, intended use, white-label or confidentiality need, place, scope, deadline or budget you mention; how you found Northline, if you say; how you would like us to reply) with the time, the wording you agreed to and the page of this site you came from (its path only), in Northline's database, so that a person can read it and reply. The administrators can see it, and they keep a short record of their contacts with you about it (the date, how, and a summary). If you send the same request twice, it is kept once. When email alerts are switched on, the details are also emailed to Northline's business inbox and the administrators, and a short automatic confirmation goes to the address you gave, through the email provider. We use a request only to answer it and, if work follows, to deliver it, not for marketing. Please do not send confidential information in a first message.
Sponsorship inquiries at /advertise-with-us are stored and used the same way. If a research project goes ahead, its documents and correspondence are kept in Google Workspace.
Intelligence Studio
Studio workspaces are saved in your own browser and are not sent to Northline.
AI features
AI features are switched off: nothing you enter is sent to an AI service. This notice will be updated before any is switched on.
What we do not collect
Northline takes no card payments and holds no card details: research clients pay by invoice. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking.
Why we use it
- To run the site and keep it secure, including rate limits and checks against abuse.
- To answer you when you write to us or send an inquiry.
- With your consent, to measure visits with Google Analytics.
Who receives it
We share personal information only with the service providers below, as far as each needs it to do its job, or where the law requires it.
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | Hosts the application and its database in Toronto | Everything this notice says is stored on our servers |
| Cloudflare | Carries traffic to the hosting platform and screens automated traffic | Your network address and the details of each request |
| Brevo | Delivers email the application sends: sign-in links, request confirmations and, once it starts, the Brief. Brevo adds to each message a small image that tells it whether the message was opened, and its own unsubscribe link | Your email address and the message, and whether and when the message was opened |
| Google Analytics (Google LLC) | Measures visits, only if you allow it | The pages you open without query strings, your device and browser type, an approximate location and the names of a few steps; never your name, email address or form text |
| Google Workspace | Our mailbox, and the files for client projects | What you send us by email, and project documents |
Some of these providers are based outside Canada or may process information outside Canada, and information held there can be subject to the laws of those places. DigitalOcean, a United States company, runs Northline's servers and database in Toronto. Cloudflare, also based in the United States, carries traffic through its worldwide network. Brevo, based in France, delivers email, and Google, based in the United States, provides Analytics and our mailbox. To ask about our policies and practices for these providers, write to our privacy officer at contact@canadianeconomicatlas.com.
How long we keep it
| Record | How long |
|---|---|
| Request logs | Held in the hosting platform's log stream for the period DigitalOcean sets. Northline keeps no copy of its own |
| Rate-limit records | Stored only as a hash, and cleared from time to time once more than 7 days old |
| Requests that do not lead to work | 12 months after our last contact with you, then erased |
| Requests that lead to work, and correspondence about the project | 24 months after the project is completed, then erased (invoices are kept as below) |
| Copies of email sent | As long as the request or project they belong to. Sign-in links are removed from the copy once sent |
| Administrator audit log | 12 months, then deleted automatically |
| Do-not-mail list | Until the entry is lifted, so that a bounced or complaining address is not mailed again |
| Invoice records, including invoices for research orders | 6 years, or longer where tax law requires it |
| Backups | The hosting provider takes a full backup of the database daily and can restore it to any point in the previous 7 days |
Apart from the rate-limit records and the administrator audit log, which are deleted automatically, we erase records at the end of these periods ourselves.
Your choices and rights
- You can ask for access to your personal information, ask us to correct it, or withdraw a consent, by writing to contact@canadianeconomicatlas.com. We may need to confirm who you are first, and we will reply within the time the law sets.
Security
Connections to the site use HTTPS. No system is completely secure. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we will tell you and the regulator as the law requires.
Children
Northline is written for adults and is not directed at children.
Changes to this notice
We will post any change here with a new effective date, and update this notice before a feature that collects new information opens.
Questions and complaints
Write to contact@canadianeconomicatlas.com. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may be able to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, or the privacy regulator where you live.