This page talks about how we process your interactions with this website and how we use and protect any information deriving from your use of this website. The information is presented in a detailed form to engender your confidence in the transparency and necessity of how we use this information.
The security of your data and transactions is of prime importance to us. To this end, we have striven to implement the recommendations and requirements, and the spirit, of two pieces of European legislation designed to protect citizens, entities and their data:
- The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a legal framework governing the use of personal data across all European states which came into law on 25th May 2018.
- The Directive on privacy and electronic communications, also known as the ePrivacy Directive and commonly known as the ‘cookie law’. The original 2002 directive has been revised to bring it into line with the GDPR.
Athough the United Kingdom will be leaving the European Union on 29th March 2019, the UK government has stated its intention that both directives should remain on the UK statute.
Browsing the website
In order to browse and view the content of this site, we do not require you to register with us, or to log in or to give us any personal details, so you can be assured of your security and anonymity.
Your name and email address
You do not need to provide us with your name or email address in order to benefit from the majority of the features of this website. However, they may be requested in certain areas of the website as discussed below.
We will NEVER pass on your name or email address to any third party unless required to do so under the terms of any law or statute.
- Contact us – the ‘Contact us’ form asks for your name. You may choose whether you want to also enter your email address. If you require a response from us, the email address must be provided. We will not use your name and email address to contact you in any way that is not connected with the content of your message to us and any related subsequent messages (unless you tick the ‘Keep me updated’ box as described below). Under GDPR, if we use your details in this way to respond to your message, it is within the scope of ‘explicit consent’ and the emails will be deleted within 6 months of the last communication in a related exchange of emails.
- Blogs – if you want to post articles in the ‘blog’ section of the website, or comment on another website visitor’s blog post, you are required to register and log in. To register, your name and email address is required in case the content should breach one or more laws. The ‘User name‘ you choose to enter may be displayed to any visitor to the site so you may choose to use a pseudonym. The email address you provide will NOT be displayed and will be held only in a database associated with the message you post. We will not use your name and email address to contact you in any way that is not connected with the content of the website. When you register as a ‘user’, in terms of GDPR, you are giving ‘explicit consent’ for us to ‘process’ your name, email address and the content. Our ‘processing’ will be limited to storing the details in a database and displaying the user name and the content (but NOT the email address) to any other visitor of the site and sending you occasional emails when new data is added to the site. You can request that we de-register you as a user via the ‘Contact us‘ page of this site and your name and email address will be immediately deleted from our database, however, the content of any article you have already posted will remain on the site. You can remain a ‘user’ but still request us to not send you any occasional emails about updates to the website; you can do this via the ‘Contact us‘ page or by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link in any emails we send you.
- ‘Keep me updated’ – if you choose the ‘Stay updated’ menu option, or if you tick the ‘Keep me updated’ box on other pages where you are required to enter your email addess, you are giving ‘explicit consent’ for us to ‘process’ your name and email address. Our ‘processing’ will be limited to storing the details in a database and periodically sending you an email giving details of some significant news event related to the website. We will not pass on your name or email address to any third party. The name and email address will continue to be ‘processed’ as described until such time as you inform us that you no longer wish to subscribe to this information, either by sending us a message via the ‘Contact us‘ page of this site or by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe‘ link included in each email we send you. Upon receiving your instruction, your name and email address will be deleted from the database immediately.
Use of cookies
The use of cookies is an essential element of this website’s operation. Cookies are pieces of information that your Internet browser, e.g. Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge etc., stores on your computer so that we can read them every time you visit us.
This site uses some cookies to remember your preferences. Other cookies are used to make your browsing experience more pleasurable.
If you have any concerns, you can delete the cookies associated with this website at any time by selecting the menu option ‘etc>delete cookies’. The next time you visit the site, new cookies will be created which you can of course delete when you’ve finished browsing.
Your ‘explicit consent’ to our use of cookies is given when you click the OK button of the ‘Cookies, ePrivacy and GDPR’ panel displayed when you visit the site for the first time, or subsequently if you choose the menu option to delete cookies (the ‘consent received’ cookie is also one of those deleted).
Some other, third-party cookies are also stored as described below.
| Cookie name | Source | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| tc_consent | this site | Created when the visitor clicks the ‘Cookies, ePrivacy and GDPR’ panel button to consent to use of cookies and data. It holds the date when consent was given. The cookie self-deletes 5 years after its last access if not explicitly deleted by the visitor. |
| tc_delete | this site | This cookie has a very short life span and is created only when the visitor selects to delete all cookies. It has a synchronising role in deleting other cookies and is set to self-delete 20 seconds after its creation. |
| tc_dle, tc_dlf, tc_dlm, tc_dln, tc_dlp, tc_dlu | this site | These cookies are created when the visitor requests a download of the free e-book. They control the different phases of the download. They have a lifespan of just i5 minutes before self-deleting unless explicitly deleted sooner by the visitor. |
| tc_olr | this site | This cookie controls the facility which allows the on-line reading of the e-book directly from the website. The cookie self-deletes 5 years after its last access if not explicitly deleted by the visitor. |
| tc_prefs | this site | Holds default or visitor-defined preferences for the appearance of the site. This cookie is not currently used but is reserved for future use. The cookie self-deletes 5 years after its last access if not explicitly deleted by the visitor. |
| tc_visited | this site | Created when the visitor first visits the site (possibly after having previously deleted cookies). It holds the date of that first visit. The cookie self-deletes 5 years after its last access if not explicitly deleted by the visitor. |
| DYNSRV | TSOHost | The website is hosted on a server farm operated by the UK organisation TSOHost. This cookie assists TSOHost in load balancing requests so that the server farm is able to provide the fastest possible response to web requests. |