HELP US PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

Your privacy is very important to us, in order to protect it, your registration will not be approved if you use your real name or your email address as your user name. Admins reserve the right to change your user name to one of their choice. We recommend choosing a username that won’t identify you.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect and store only the minimum amount of information required to operate our website and respond to your queries.

Registration requires a valid email address, if you don't want to be identified by it, you can set one up without your real name. There are many free email address providers out there.

We may ask for other generic information to be able to help you, these are generic details that do not identify you personally.

When uploading images or documents, you must make sure to block out, blank out or obscure, any names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, reference numbers, photos of yourself, bar codes, etc.

Passwords

Your password is encrypted, so nobody can see it, not even the forum or server admins have access to passwords. 

COOKIES

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect generic log information and visitor journeys through the website. When you use our websites, information mey be collected automatically through cookies. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.

We use cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including: logging you in, keeping you signed in and sending notifications to you.

Cookies are essential for online communities like this to work. Although you can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser, our website features may not function as a result.

HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Any information provided by you will only be used for the purpose of your enquiries and will not be shared with any third parties. We do not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people except under the following circumstances:

* Upon receipt of a disclosure order or court order;

* To establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;

* Where required to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities and potential threats to the safety of any person, or as required by law.

We have a number of lawyers on board who volunteer for the group and also provide paid private consultations and legal services. They operate in accordance with their own policies and any information provided to them privately for the purpose of dealing with your case will not be shared to the forum admins.

How long we keep your personal information

We keep any information you provide us with, for as long as you are a forum member.

Requesting your personal information

You have the right to request to see the information we hold about you and, where applicable, to get it updated or amended. 

Removal of your personal information

You have the right ask us to remove your information from the database, however, this will also terminate your forum membership and you will no longer be able to get help from us.

Please note that any posts you have made are not personal information and will not be removed from the forum, other than in exceptional circumstances.

If you wish to obtain a copy of your details, to have them amended or removed from your database (and your membership terminated), please contact us.

Your right to complain

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about the way we handle your information or respond to your requests for access to your personal information or the exercise of your other rights under the GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018.

Their contact details are as follows:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

NOTIFICATIONS, COMMUNICATIONS AND EMAILS

You can subscribe or unsubscribe to topics, forums, resources, etc. as you wish. You can manage your notification and subscription preferences via your user control panel (profile page). 

We don't routinely send emails to our members unless they have chosen to receive email notifications. On occasion, we may email our members where we consider that we have to provide you with some important information.