General principles
The University of Waterloo is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals. To view University of Waterloo privacy guidelines and initiatives see the Information and Privacy website.
Personal information and privacy
The University of Waterloo Identity and Access Management (WatIAM) service relies on information provided from several authoritative sources including data maintained by the Registrar's Office, Graduate Studies, Human Resources, and Telephone Services, as well as manual additions by authorized individuals for visitors and guests.
Personal information collected (including gender, date of birth and four digits of the social insurance number) is used to distinguish individuals from one another and, where possible, to match individuals in their different roles. This information is required for identity management where each person is given a single unique identifier - their WatIAM username. The personal information collected is guarded with care, is not distributed to others, is only available to a very few responsible for identity management, and is expired when no longer required.
The WatIAM Campus People Directory can be searched for those who need to contact current members of the Waterloo community for University-related purposes. Note, the personal information required for identity management is not disclosed. Use of WatIAM for the purposes of solicitation of business, information, contributions, or other response from individuals listed in the Directory by mail, telephone, or other means is forbidden. Users may request that WatIAM not display this contact information however the University of Waterloo Statement on official student email address recommends that an accurate email address be tabled within WatIAM for University business purposes.
WatIAM provides to authorized individuals at Waterloo information required for the allocation and management of resources including computer accounts. This does not include the personal information noted above but will include identifying information including the student and/or Human Resources numbers as well as the individual's full name.
Questions?
Questions and concerns about the University of Waterloo approach to protecting personal information should be directed to the University of Waterloo privacy officer.