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This policy is for visitors/users and companies to our Websites (www.viewsheard.com, www.viewsheard.org and www.viewsheard.co.uk) and any apps available for use (regardless of the device you are using) and sets out information about our Privacy Policy. Please note that when we use the terms ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ we’re referring to Views Heard.
The intention of this Privacy Policy is to inform you on how we handle your personal data. We collect this data responsibly, legally and with your knowledge; through information you’ve consented to provide us by contacting Views Heard, to the cookie choices you accept. Further cookie information is available in the ‘Cookie information’ section in this policy, and in our Cookie Notice.
First of all, what is personal data? Your personal data is any information relating to you and from which you can be identified. In this policy the terms ‘data’ and ‘information’ are used interchangeably.
In this Privacy Policy, we will explain:
This Privacy Policy applies to any information you consent to provide us either through email, or through contact on the Websites. It also applies to any data we may collect when you access our Websites through the use of cookies.
This Privacy Policy is only in relation to Views Heard. Where we may have links to and from external/third-party websites (including without limit advertisers, sponsors, websites, social media, information relating to the article/review/how-to guide and other published posts and embedded content) it should be understood that they will have their own policies, separate from ours. Please check any external/third-party policies before clicking on any links, buttons and/or submitting any personal data to them, we do not accept any responsibility or liability for them, their policies or procedures. This also applies if reaching us from any external/third-party websites. Should you access these external sites through any link to our Websites you acknowledge, understand and accept that you do so at your own risk and by your own choice.
Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we at Views Heard are the data controller of any information you should choose to share with us. This means:
Should you have any questions regarding data protection please contact us by email at concerns@viewsheard.com with the subject title ‘Data protection’. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
To continue to comply with data regulations and to reflect any alterations to our Websites we reserve the right to make any changes to this policy. Any changes will be posted in our ‘Privacy Policy’ with the date of amendment. Please regularly check our policy for any changes.
This Privacy Policy was completed on the 24th of March 2022.
We consider consent to be a positive opt-in, meaning it’s your active choice to provide us any personal data. This may include but without limit through email, forms, and cookie preferences.
It is your right not to give consent, to later withdraw it or to request access, erasure and changes to your data, this is explained further down in our policy under the section ‘Your data protection rights’
When contacting ourselves including without limit either in regards to a query, suggestion, complaint, copyright permission, submission, register of interest, etc you consent to provide us all or any of the following:
We may also collect data about out visitors using cookies, IP addresses, location data and device identification (a distinct number connected with a smartphone or hand-held device). This can inform us about:
These are very dependent on your choice of cookies.
For more information about cookies and how we use them, please see the section ‘Cookie Information’ shown below, or check out our cool Cookie Notice.
General enquiries and complaints
When contacting us regarding queries or complaints you may have, we request your name and email address, this will be kept along with the content of your email in order to respond appropriately and to help assist you in any way we can. Your details will not be used for marketing, or shared with any third parties.
Safeguarding adults report form
If staff or volunteers become aware of you or another adult being at risk of harm, abuse or neglect we will take measures to try to help. We will record and report any concerns, and may request further details with your consent, this may include contact details; name, address, email, telephone number and relationship to the accused party.
This can be both within our staff and volunteers, or with the users/visitors to Views Heard.
Submissions
When sending a submission for publication and the consideration of being published we will request your name, email address, author bio & picture, title, summary and content of your submission, sources, media links, copyright permissions and attribution details. Further materials may be required depending on the status of your submission.
In the case of any submissions being pursued for publication or have been published, we will also store any editing, verification and publication records. An automatic form entry ID number will be assigned to each submission.
Any feedback requested and provided will be kept and stored.
Images
If you have given us permission to publish your image(s), or have given permission via the user submitting them, these images may be placed on our Websites, along with the chosen attribution details including any social media/website links. Any content you send to us including attachments, contact details, copyright permission and other materials will be kept for recording purposes, further correspondence or in relation to publication.
Copyright permission
If we have contacted you regarding copyright permission of your image(s), we may keep a record of your correspondence including:
If we have used images from other websites, who provide permission for their use, we may keep a record of:
Artists/Illustrators/Designers/Photographers
Should you have contacted us in regards to registering your interest in producing accompanying images for articles/reviews/etc at Views Heard, and/or should we publish or have published any of your images, we may keep a record of:
We may use this information for:
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
Your consent. You’ve given clear consent for your personal data to be processed for a specific purpose
You’re able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us at concerns@viewsheard.com please use the subject title ‘Withdraw Consent’. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
Legitimate Interest – we may process consented personal data and cookies on the basis of a legitimate interest, to manage requests and correspondence from you, identify and prevent fraudulent behaviour, maintain functionality of Websites, editing and verification, publication records, data analytics, usage trends and improvement of services.
Publication/Social Media
If you send a submission to Views Heard you consent for your submission to be published on our Websites. We may also share your submission on our social media platforms to promote your work and draw attention to our Websites content. If published, the content of your submission along with your name, author bio & picture (optional), attachments including images, image attribution details, and any further materials sent in relation may be published on our Websites.
Safeguarding
Where we have concerns regarding your safety or that of another, we may share details from our Safeguarding Adults Report Form with the relevant authorities and/or emergency services.
Legal proceedings
We may disclose your information where we are allowed by law to protect or enforce our rights or the rights of others, including copyright, and for the prevention and detection of crime, such as fraud.
Disclosure of personal information
In order to provide user/visitor support – such as withdrawing consent, changes, erasure, access of personal data, correspondence and complaints – we may have to disclose personal information in order to verify the request.
Editing
To assist in the editing and verification of your submission; title, summary, content, sources, media link(s), images, attribution details and automatic form entry ID number will be shared with staff and volunteer editors.
Images
Image(s) and attribution details submitted for publication may be published on our Websites.
In sourcing a suitable image to help accompany your submission – we may need to share the title of your work and the topic area. We will not disclose any further details or personal identifying data.
Advertisers/Sponsorships
We will not share specific personal data, but may share anonymous data collected by analytical/performance cookies such as information about our Websites traffic including website numbers, number of returning visitors, popular pages, main devices used and geographical locations.
Data transfers
The use of long-term data such as submissions, attachments, copyright permission, images, attribution details, complaints, feedback, necessary correspondence and contact data will be transferred from email providers to online storage drives, both of these will be GDPR compliant. Online storage drives may also transfer data to email providers.
Data may also be transferred to encrypted hard drives to protect against loss, or unauthorised use and/or unlawful processing.
International transfers
Data storage and processing servers held outside of the UK, will require international transfers. Any company used has been checked for GDPR compliance.
In relation to donations, our online payment provider is situated outside of the UK, with a data protection agreement in place. The UK International Data Transfer Addendum is also incorporated into the agreements.
Analytical/Performance data may be run through companies situated outside of the UK. No personal identifying data will be used.
Functionality
We may share analytics/performance cookies with any third-party suppliers or consultants regarding the maintenance and improvement of the Websites. For example, providing monthly visiting figures to improve upload speeds, or locations receiving high traffic in order to look at language accessibility.
We may also need to provide anonymous details regarding the numbers of submissions received by Views Heard to improve our Websites functionality.
We may also publish anonymous details including cookies for trend and statistical reports.
No personal identifying details will be shared.
All data is stored electronically, and we strive to use companies and providers that are GDPR compliant; from email providers, website server and online storage drives, using encrypted and restricted access. However, no one can promise 100% security, if someone is we’d be interested in knowing. But we take care to choose companies who go above and beyond the standard safeguards. Furthermore, we will look to keep your personal data secure with deterrents such as legal measures and technical safeguards.
Data may also be transferred to encrypted hard drives to protect against loss, or unauthorised and/or unlawful processing.
Personal information will only be retained in line with its requirement and original purpose, and will be deleted after this. The retention period may be extended; if the purpose is still on-going; in completing communication; legal requirement.
Only authorised personnel will have access to your personal data, while anonymised data from cookies such as traffic figures may be shared with third-parties in order to improve or maintain our services.
If you request your personal information to be erased or it is no longer required, we will securely erase it from our email providers, storage and hard drives within an expected and reasonable time frame. Please see the below section ‘Your data protection rights’ for further information on your data rights.
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
It is your right to exercise any of the data protection rights, including the right to see if we hold any personal information that relates to you. You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. These requests must be made in writing to concerns@viewsheard.com please use the subject title ‘Data Protection’. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
To help us process any request you may make, please provide us information that may help us identify your records, such as the contact name and email address originally provided.
All donations our processed by our online payment provider, Stripe, who require your personal details in order to process your donation payment. These personal details include contact details (name and email address) and payment choice (credit/debit card details). It is therefore your responsibility to confirm the accuracy of your payment details.
Your payment details are transferred from our Websites to our online payment provider who processes the details. The online payment provider will have their own terms and conditions, and privacy policy, which you should refer to before making any donation to ensure you’re happy with how they will collect, store and process your details. The online payment provider complies with the security standards of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) which was created by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, JCB and American Express. We do not accept liability or responsibility for the online payment provider’s policies and procedures.
At Views Heard we have disabled the storing of user details (IP address & user agent) from our donations page, believing donations should be treated as the gift they are intended to be. In order for payments to be processed we can see the name provided, email address, date of donation, amount donated, postcode, transaction ID (this is automatically provided after payment) and card details; card name, issuer & type e.g. Visa/Mastercard/American Express/Discover, expiry date, and the last four digits of the card.
Should you request a refund, please email us at concerns@viewsheard.com along with the following information; name, email address, date of donation, amount donated, and the reason for your refund. In some cases we may request additional payment details such as postcode, card name, issuer & type, expiry date, and the last four digits of the card, but we will never request full card details and will never request your card verification code – do not give these out. We will only request the necessary details to process a refund request, but please be aware any refund request must be made within 90-days from the date of your donation. We may share this data with our online payment provider in order to process any refund requests. Please be aware some payment methods may not support refunds, and may require additional information, or can only be refunded through the original payment method (card) used. Please also note that where refunds are possible, refunding times may vary depending on the payment used.
Any data sent to us in regards to a requested refund will be stored in-line with our Privacy Policy. Please see the section ‘How we store your personal information’ for further details.
We do not intentionally aim our services to children under the age of 18. We do not accept submissions from those under 18. We do not process personal data relating to anyone under the age of 18.
If you are a parent or guardian of child under the age of 18, and believe they may have provided personal information to our Websites, for example, but not limited to, having sent a submission for publication, please let us know so that we may find and erase any personal information received. You can contact us at concerns@viewsheard.com – please use the subject title ‘Children’s Data’. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
If you are a company and have been in contact with us, you may consent to provide us the following:
We will only have data you have consented to provide us. This data will only be retained in-line with its original requirement, unless an extended retention period is permitted and required; by yourself; in completing its intended purpose; or by law. Your data will be stored on GDPR compliant email providers and online storage drives, using encrypted and restricted access.
Data may also be transferred to encrypted hard drives to protect against loss, or unauthorised and/or unlawful processing.
If you request your business information to be erased or it is no longer required, we will securely erase it from our email providers, storage and hard drives within an expected and reasonable time frame.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases for processing this information are:
Your consent. You’re able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us at concerns@viewsheard.com please use the subject title ‘withdraw consent’. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
Contractual obligations – where the processing of information is necessary for the contractual agreement.
Legitimate Interest – we may process consented data and cookies on the basis of a legitimate interest.
When using our Websites we may collect information using cookies or similar technologies, for the purpose of this section we will use the word ‘cookies’ for simplicity. Please be aware that our ‘Cookie Notice’ may have further cookie information.
Cookie information we may collect:
But what are cookies? Despite its name they’re not chocolate-chip delights, but a small text file containing information that a website transfers to user’s/visitor’s computer, tablet or mobile devices for record-keeping purposes and to allow us to analyse our Websites – so as to improve our service and to personalise your experience. It does this by telling us about our Websites traffic, for example what parts people visit on our Websites, approximately where from, and returning visits. This gives us knowledge on how people use our site, the effectiveness of ads and web searches, basic functionality, and how to provide better Websites.
There are two types of cookies; persistent cookies – these are activated and reactivated every time you visit a part of a website that created this cookie and remain on your device for a specified time. The other cookie is a session cookie –which only activate when you open a browser window and delete when you close it, they exist to allow a link between your actions and the Websites.
There are also considered to be different functions of cookies;
Strictly Necessary Cookies – are considered essential in browsing websites; allowing them to perform their basic functions such as navigation. Help the websites to load quickly and effectively. They’re not used for marketing purposes or to track your online browsing history.
If you wish to make a donation, our online payment provider sets cookies to help process payments, and for the use of fraud prevention.
ReCAPTCHA – Please be aware that any use of forms on the Websites, including but not limited to donations, volunteer expression form, submissions, report, and contact, use Google’s ReCAPTCHA to protect against spammers, and does this through the use of cookies. Google RECAPTCHA has its own policies separate from our own which we ask you to read before clicking on any link, button and/or submitting any personal data to them. Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Analytics/Performance Cookies – collect statistical data and are taken to analyse how people use the Websites. This helps us to improve user/visitor performance of the Websites. These cookies collect traffic data – number of users/visitors, length of the visit, where people go on the Websites and an approximate location of where they visit from. We may on occasion use an independent analytics company to look at these cookies – at which time a third-party company may set these. Embedded YouTube videos also uses these cookies to register anonymous statistical data.
Functional Cookies – personalised customisation and remembering your saved preferences. For example, this can be remembering your earlier language preference etc.
Targeting/Advertising Cookies – these allow tailored advertisements and the monitoring of their effectiveness. These cookies may track your search history etc to produce more personalised adverts. For the use of YouTube videos, placed within our Website, YouTube requires the use of advertising cookies. These are used to store users’ video preferences and register a unique ID to store data on YouTube videos the user has seen. Further details on Google’s cookies (which include YouTube), can be found here.
Any adverts that appear on our Websites do not use advertising cookies, and are instead display advertisements only, with a link to the external advertiser’s/sponsor’s site. It should be understood though that the advertiser/sponsor will have their own policies; privacy policy, cookie notice, terms and conditions, separate from our own and which we ask you to read before clicking on any link, button and/or submitting any personal data to them. We do not accept liability or responsibility for their policies or procedures.
Social Media Cookies – we have included social media plugins to enable you to share content on Views Heard with friends and networks across social media services. Should you click on their respective buttons these social media companies may collect and store your personal data in line with their own privacy policy and cookie notice, which are separate from our own and which we do not accept any responsibility or liability for. Please check their policies before you click on any link, button and/or submit any personal data.
Although we receive no data on which articles have been clicked, we do receive statistical reports on the use of these plugins.
Please be aware that any social media links and websites including but not limited to authors, image owners/creators, artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, authors etc will have their own privacy policy and cookie notice separate from our own. Please refer to their policies before you click on any link. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these social media accounts, platforms and websites.
Please note our Websites include embedded content from external/third-party websites which may, if you click on them collect and store your personal data in line with their privacy policy and cookie notice, which is separate from our own. We accept no responsibility or liability for these policies or procedures, and ask that you read them before clicking on any link, button and/or submit any personal data to them.
Sharing cookie information
We will not share specific personal data, but may share anonymous data collected by analytical/ performance cookies such as information about our Websites traffic including site numbers, number of returning visitors, popular pages, main devices used, and geographical locations. This may be shared for; advertisement/sponsorship purposes; the maintenance or improvement of the Websites; reports; usage trends; third-party suppliers or consultants regarding the support of our Websites.
We will not share any personal identifying details with third-parties.
How do I control my cookies?
When first-visiting Views Heard you will be presented with a cookies banner – a pop-up that asks you to ‘accept’, ‘reject’ or manage ‘settings’ – allowing you to choose your cookie preference.
Should you decide to change your preferences later through your browsing session, you can click on the Cookie Notice “C” tab on your screen. This will display the consent notice again enabling you to change your preferences or withdraw your consent entirely.
Should you accept all or some of the cookies, but wish to later change this, you can erase, block or allow cookies from the settings in your browser control.
You can also manage your cookies by:
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at concerns@viewsheard.com please use the subject title ‘Complaint’ to help us process any concerns you may have. (Please note we do not accept any submissions sent to this email address, and any received will be subsequently deleted.)
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
Courtesy of Parsoa Khorsand on Unsplash
Attribution is important to us. If you feel any details are incorrect, or are the owner of the attributed material and would like it removed, please contact us. Please see our Terms of Use for more details on copyright.
