Snowbec
Snowbec Privacy Policy
Version of November 4, 2026. Version française
This policy explains what personal information Snowbec collects, why, who sees it, how long it is kept and how to exercise your rights. It applies to the Snowbec management website and to the Snowbec mobile app for drivers. It is separate from the terms of use. The French version of this policy governs.
Summary
- Snowbec is a snow-removal management tool. A snow-removal business (the "contractor") uses it to manage its customers, employees and operations.
- The contractor is responsible for its customers' and employees' information. NorthBec Technologies Inc. processes it on the contractor's behalf, under a written contract.
- The driver app uses the phone's GPS only between "Démarrer ma route" (Start my route) and "Terminer ma route" (Finish my route). Outside a route, nothing is tracked.
- GPS positions are deleted automatically 12 months after the operation ends, and stop photos 24 months after.
- No advertising, no analytics or tracking tools, no sale of information.
- Your information is hosted in Québec, by OVHcloud, in Beauharnois.
1. Who we are
Snowbec is a product of NorthBec Technologies Inc., a Québec company.
- Email for privacy and support: contact@nordbec.ca
In this policy, "we" means NorthBec Technologies Inc.
2. Who is responsible for your information
Roles depend on who you are.
| You are… | Responsible for your information | NorthBec's role |
|---|---|---|
| A contractor or a user of the Snowbec website (owner, dispatcher) | NorthBec | Responsible: we manage your account and subscription. |
| A driver or an employee of a contractor | Your employer, the contractor | Service provider: we process your information for your employer, on its instructions. |
| A customer of a contractor (address cleared of snow) | The contractor | Service provider, as above. |
As a service provider, we act under a written contract with each contractor. That contract sets out the confidentiality measures, limits the use of the information to the service and requires its destruction at the end of the contract (section 18.3 of the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector). We do not use this information for our own purposes.
If you are a driver or a customer of a contractor, please send your questions and requests to that contractor first. If you write to us, we forward your request to the contractor and help it answer (see Access and deletion of your data).
3. Person in charge of the protection of personal information
At NorthBec, the person in charge of the protection of personal information is the President of NorthBec Technologies Inc.
Email: contact@nordbec.ca
Each contractor also has its own person in charge for its employees' and customers' information.
4. What we collect and why
4.1 The Snowbec website (contractors)
| Information | Where it comes from | Why |
|---|---|---|
| User account: name, email, password (stored with irreversible hashing), role (owner or dispatcher), two-factor authentication settings and passkeys | The user | Sign-in and account protection |
| Session: IP address, browser type, time of last activity | The browser | Account security |
| Company: name, depot address, time zone, season dates | The contractor | Route calculation |
| Contractor's customers: name, phone, email, notes; for each site: address, service point, instructions, hazards, site plan drawn on the aerial photo | The contractor | Planning and doing the snow removal |
| Employees: name, phone, email, crew colour, usual vehicle, starting point, notes | The contractor | Forming crews and sending them their routes |
| Vehicles: name, type, licence plate, notes | The contractor | Choosing the right path (a tractor avoids highways) |
| Operations: routes, stops, status of each stop, event log, end-of-operation report (stops done, problems, duration, kilometres per crew), CSV export | Snowbec, from users' and drivers' actions | Tracking the work and keeping proof of service |
To find an address, Snowbec first searches a local copy of the Adresses Québec database. If the address is not there, our server sends the typed text to the Government of Québec's Adresses Québec geocoding service (see section 7).
4.2 The driver app
When the phone is paired. The driver enters a code provided by the employer. The app sends that code, the phone's name as set on the device (often "iPhone", the model name or the name given by its owner; otherwise, the model), the operating system (iOS or Android) and the version of the location notice shown to the driver. The server records that version with the time. It returns the driver's name, phone number, crew colour and the company name. The sign-in key is kept in the phone's secure storage.
During a route only (between "Démarrer ma route" and "Terminer ma route"):
- GPS position: latitude, longitude, accuracy, speed, heading, altitude and time. A reading is taken about every 15 metres and, when stationary, at least once a minute when the phone allows it;
- the phone's battery level, with each position;
- a flag marking a simulated position (simulator or mock-location app), so it is never taken for a real truck;
- the position at the time of each "Arrivé" (Arrived), "Terminé" (Done) or "Problème" (Problem) action.
When the driver chooses:
- route actions: start (with the version of the location notice), arrival, stop done, problem (with a reason code), finish, abandon (with a reason), passenger mode;
- a free-text note and a photo of a stop. Photos are taken with the camera, inside the app. The app has no access to the phone's photo library. The camera is also used to read the pairing QR code; that image is not sent.
Read on the phone but not sent by the app: the phone's brand and the Android version (to show the right battery advice), the permission status, the result of the 60-second GPS test and the app version. As with any app, the phone's system adds a short technical description (system and network library type) to each connection, which our technical logs may keep (section 4.3).
Received by the phone: the driver's route, with customers' names, phone numbers and addresses, instructions and site plans. This data stays on the phone during the route and is erased when the driver signs out of the company.
What the app does not do: it does not track location outside a route, never asks for "Always" location access, does not use the microphone, does not read contacts, and contains no advertising, analytics or third-party crash-reporting tool.
4.3 Technical logs
Our servers keep technical logs (IP address, date, requested address, errors) for security and troubleshooting.
4.4 Cookies
The Snowbec website only uses necessary cookies: the session, cross-site request forgery protection and two display preferences (light or dark theme, side menu open or closed). No advertising or analytics cookies.
5. Driver location
Snowbec uses a technology that can locate a person: the phone's GPS. This is how it works (section 8.1 of the Act).
- The driver is told first. The app shows a notice explaining the tracking before it asks for location permission. Snowbec records the version of that notice and the time, when the phone is paired and when each route starts.
- It is off by default. The driver turns it on by tapping "Démarrer ma route". It stops at "Terminer ma route", when the route is abandoned, when the contractor ends the operation or withdraws the route, and when the phone is signed out of the company.
- It is visible. On Android, a "Snowbec — route en cours" (route in progress) notification stays on screen while the position is shared. On iPhone, a blue indicator shows it.
- If the app is closed during a route (phone restart, force-quit), tracking resumes the next time the app is opened, as long as the route is not finished.
- Who sees the position: the owner and dispatchers of the driver's company, in the control room: live position, route path, location of each stop marked done or problem, battery level and signal loss. Other companies using Snowbec never see it.
- What the employer can derive from it: the end-of-operation report gives each crew's duration and kilometres. Snowbec does not rate drivers and makes no automated decision about them.
- How long: GPS positions are deleted automatically 12 months after the operation ends (section 8).
- Refusing: the driver can refuse or withdraw location permission in the phone's settings. Without it, the app still opens and shows the route, the stops and their instructions. Only « Démarrer ma route » (start my route) asks for the permission, because the position is used during the route. If you do not want to be located, talk to your employer.
We do not reuse positions for our own purposes. We do not sell them or share them with anyone other than the contractor.
6. Who has access to the information
- At the contractor: its website users (owner and dispatchers) see their own company's information only. The driver sees their own route.
- At NorthBec: only the people who need it to operate, secure or support the service, at the contractor's request or for an incident.
- Stop photos are never public. They are served only to signed-in users of the company concerned.
7. External services and communication outside Québec
| Service | What it receives | Where |
|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud, Snowbec's hosting provider | All service data: server, database, photos and backups. Communications are encrypted (HTTPS). | Québec (Beauharnois data centre) |
| Adresses Québec (Government of Québec) | The text of an address typed by a website user, sent by our server, when it is not in our local copy | Québec |
| Navigation app chosen by the driver (Google Maps, Waze or Apple Maps) | The stop's destination (its coordinates), only when the driver taps "Naviguer" (Navigate). That app then applies its own policy. | Outside Québec |
| Apple App Store and Google Play | Nothing from us. They distribute the app under their own policies. | — |
The service does not send automatic emails for now. Before it does (address verification, forgotten password), we will add the email provider to this table.
The base map (tiles, fonts and icons) and the aerial photo of sites are served by our own server: no other service sees the device's IP address or the map area displayed, which follows the driver during a route. The base map covers the Montréal and South Shore region; elsewhere, the map has no background.
Base map: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL licence), © OpenMapTiles (CC BY 4.0); style derived from Positron (© OpenMapTiles, © CARTO, CC BY 4.0); Noto Sans font (SIL OFL 1.1).
8. Retention and destruction
When information is no longer needed, we destroy it. The periods are as follows.
| Information | Period |
|---|---|
| Driver GPS positions (recorded path, last known position) | Deleted automatically 12 months after the operation ends |
| Stop photos | Deleted automatically 24 months after the operation ends. On the website, the stop then shows « Photo supprimée (conservation de 24 mois) » (photo deleted, 24-month retention). |
| Proof of service: operations, routes, stops (status, time, notes, phone position at "Arrivé", "Terminé" or "Problème") and the operation log | Kept while the contractor is a Snowbec customer, then deleted 90 days after its account is closed |
| User accounts, customers, sites, employees and vehicles of the company | During the subscription, then deleted 90 days after the account is closed. Before closing, the contractor can ask for a copy of its data. |
| Version of the location notice accepted by a driver, and its time | With the employee's record, and deleted with it |
| A phone's sign-in key | Revoked when the driver signs out of the company, when the employer pairs another phone, deactivates the employee or removes them from the team |
| Technical logs | Replaced as they rotate; the web server's access log is kept 14 days |
| Backups | Replaced as they rotate, at most 14 days on the server. Deleted information may remain in a backup until the end of that rotation. |
A contractor's account is closed on written request to contact@nordbec.ca.
If a contractor uses information to make a decision about a person, it must keep it for at least one year after the decision (section 11). It can then ask us to suspend the destruction of that data.
On the phone, the upload queue, pending photos, the route and the aerial photos are erased when the driver signs out of the company (Diagnostic › "Se déconnecter de l'entreprise"). Uninstalling the app erases its data. On iPhone, the sign-in key may remain in the system keychain after uninstalling: sign the phone out of the company first, or ask your employer to pair another phone, which deactivates the old one.
9. Security
- All communications use HTTPS. The production app refuses any unencrypted connection.
- Passwords are stored with irreversible hashing. Two-factor authentication and passkeys are available.
- On the phone, the sign-in key is kept in the system's secure storage (Keychain on iPhone, Keystore on Android).
- Each company is isolated from the others; automated tests check that no data crosses from one company to another.
- Photos are stored outside any public folder.
- The operation log cannot be altered afterwards.
10. Your rights
You can:
- access your personal information and receive a copy;
- have it corrected if it is inaccurate, incomplete or ambiguous;
- withdraw your consent, for example by refusing location in the phone's settings or by signing the phone out of the company;
- receive the information collected from you, such as your positions and stops, in a structured, commonly used format, or have it sent to a person you designate (portability);
- know who has access to your information and how long it is kept.
How: write to the person in charge at the contractor concerned or to contact@nordbec.ca. The steps are on the Access and deletion of your data page. We answer within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm your identity.
Complaint: if you are not satisfied with our answer, you can file a complaint with the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec: https://www.cai.gouv.qc.ca
11. Confidentiality incidents
If an incident affects personal information (unauthorized access or communication, loss), we promptly take measures to reduce the risk of harm. When the incident affects a contractor's information, we notify the contractor without delay and give it the facts so that it can notify the Commission d'accès à l'information and the people concerned if the risk of harm is serious. We keep a register of all incidents.
12. Public bodies
If a municipality or another public body uses Snowbec, its information falls under the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information. A specific agreement then applies.
13. Minors
Snowbec is intended for businesses and their employees. We do not knowingly collect information about children.
14. Changes
If we change this policy, we update the version date at the top of the page. If the change is significant, we also notify contractors by email and drivers in the app.
15. Contact us
NorthBec Technologies Inc.
Person in charge of the protection of personal information: the President of NorthBec Technologies Inc.
Email: contact@nordbec.ca
Support: Help for drivers and contractors