This policy tells you:

• what information we might collect about you
• how we might use that information
• when we might use your details to contact you
• what information of yours we might share with others
• your choices about the personal information you give us

This policy covers our services, specifically anything digital that is managed or delivered by Seefar. It also covers the content available from those services. This includes text, audio, video, images, software, metadata and open-source code, or anything made by people using our services.

Our services sometimes link to services run by others. Those providers have their own privacy and cookies policies – the information you give them will follow their policies and not ours.

Protecting information

We only seek information about you as part of our effort to improve our services and we design our data collection around this principle.

No service can be completely secure, so if you have any concern that information about you as been put at risk, please contact us.

Some of our services are developed, delivered or managed outside of the European Economic Area. Keep in mind that when you give us personal information it could be being transferred, stored or processed in a location outside the EEA.

Information we collect

When you interact with our services, we may ask you for your name and contact details, your professional affiliations and your professional interests.

We also collect some technical information from devices and web browsers you use to interact with our services. Examples may be:

• The ID of the device
• The ID of an app you are using
• The vendor IDIP (internet protocol) address

We also collect information on your activities outside of our services when you mention us. For example, you may mention us on LinkedIn or Twitter, and we may collect your LinkedIn name or Twitter handle.

Information retention

We only hold your information for as long as we are providing the services that you interacted with to provide it, or have a valid reason to keep it. We consider what type of information it is, the volume collected, how sensitive it might be and any legal requirements. We design our processes to delete your information when we no longer have to retain it.

How we use your information

We have to have a “lawful basis for processing” your information. Sometimes we may ask your permission for specific actions, such as when you subscribe to receiving notifications from us. Other times, when you would reasonably expect us to use your information, we don’t ask your permission, as long as the law agrees that it is fine to use.

We use your information to do these kinds of actions:

• To deliver our services and to provide you with information about our services
• To deal with your requests
• To personalise our services around your preferences and help us understand what kind of services you may use
• To contact you, for example to:
• Tell you about changes to this policy
• Respond to a contact or request you made to us
• Update you on our activities, in line with the preferences you have provided us
• Send you information such as new publications that match your interests

Sharing your information

We do not sell your personal information. We sometimes share it with others when:

• You post a comment that others can see
• We share personal information with other members of the Seefar group
• We use others to support our services. We often use other organisations to process your personal information on our behalf, for example to help us prepare emails to you in line with your preferences. We make sure that these other organisations have policies and provisions in place to protect your personal information that are at least as strong as ours.
• We are required by law.

Deleting your information

You can delete personal information about you by contacting us. Your personal information will be deleted within 5 working days. Keep in mind that we will keep a record of your interactions with our services, but it cannot be linked back to you.

Your rights

You have the right to request a copy of your personal information. You also have the right to ask us to correct personal information that is incorrect, to delete it, or to request that we use it for certain purposes. In some cases, we may not be able to help, for example if the law tells us that we cannot.

Cookies and tracking

Cookies are small collections of data that may be stored on your device when using our services. We use cookies and the other kinds of data we collect to help us to:

• Remember information about you and your preferences, so that you do not have to provide it repeatedly.
• To help us understand how people use our services, as part of our effort to improve those services.

A few elements of our services would not work without “strictly necessary cookies”. These are always enabled when you use our services.We will only use other cookies if you agree. Keep in mind that you may be hosting cookies from other organisations that track how you use our services. For example, you may get a social media company’s cookie when you see an option to share something on our website. You can turn off these cookies, but not through us.

Some cookies are deleted when you close our browser, website, or app. Others stay longer, sometimes forever, and are saved on your device so they’re there when you return.

When you first visit, we present a cookie policy and ask you to agree if we can use them. If you change your mind, stopping all cookies may mean you cannot use some of our services, or that some services may not work properly.

Contacting us about this policy

When you write in our contact form that your contact is intended for our Data Protection Officer, they will receive it.