Have you ever asked yourself, “how important is my personal information, and where is this kind of data being stored?” These are the kinds of questions that are asked when discussing data residency. Before diving deep into what data residency is, and its importance, let’s first break down what personal information is and its different types.
What is Personal Information?
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPCC) states that, according to The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), personally identifiable information (PII) is classified as “any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual.” According to the OPCC website, PII includes:
- Name, age, ID numbers (SIN), income.
- Social status, evaluations, opinions, disciplinary actions.
- employee files, credit score, employee files, loan records
Other types of information include Personal Health Information (PHI) which, according to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s Guide,
- Relates to the individual’s physical or mental condition, including family medical history; or
- Relates to the provision of health care to the individual; or
- Is a plan of service for the individual; or
- Relates to payments, or eligibility for health care or for coverage for health care; or
- Relates to the donation of any body part or bodily substance, or is derived from the testing or examination of any such body part or bodily substance; or
- Is the individual’s health number; or
- Identifies a health care provider or substitute decision-maker for the individual
Data Residency
Data residency, otherwise known as data localization, refers to the legal and administrative prerequisites forced on the geographic or physical location of an individual’s or organization’s data. In addition to addressing data storage, data residency also highlights how data is processed and creates conversation among legislators and citizens regarding data management and the safety of citizens’ data. When sensitive data is being managed, it’s vital that an organization’s data stays secure and locally stored. Companies and organizations could also qualify for various tax benefits based on what kind of data is being stored and where it resides. More importantly, the data being stored would be subjected to the laws and regulations of the country that stores it. While the Government of Canada does not have severe laws prohibiting companies or organizations from storing their data outside the country, numerous provinces have put up guidelines and regulations regarding the protection and handling of their resident’s data.
How Signority Can Help Secure Your Data?
Signority takes great pride in being the largest Canadian eSignature provider whose data centers are located in Canada. Signority’s main servers are in Montreal and we have ensured that our back servers are also located in Canada. This ensures two things. First, if one server location is affected by an outage, your documents will remain safe, secure, and accessible. Secondly, this ensures all our customer’s personal and private information is securely stored within Canadian borders, a key requirement ensuring our compliance with the PIPEDA and HIPAA acts, as well as the SOCIII, ISO270001, and PCI certificates. In addition to complying with Canada’s data residency laws, Signority follows strict security protocols when handling customer data.
On top of the many security features, Signority also offers products and services at a low price without compromising the quality of our customer service received or our product itself.
Now, ask yourself again, “how important is me and my client’s personal information, and where is this kind of data being stored?”