Who we are
We are a local community organisation which publishes a local community newsletter. This website ( http://www.villagenews.org.uk ) is the web version of our paper newsletter.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
By browsing and using our website you agree to this policy governing your use of the website. If you do not accept this policy, you must not use our website. This policy applies only to this website and not to other websites to which we provide links. These websites are not subject to our privacy policy. You are advised to read the privacy policy of such other websites.
We may change our privacy policy from time to time without notification and you should regularly review this policy when you visit our site.
How we use your personal information gained from emails or our contact forms
In order to provide the services you want, and to allow you to experience a more personalised service when you revisit us, we need to know your interests. We find these out by asking you, by reading your comments and by looking at which are the most popular areas of our site.
If you submit a story, advertisement or other submission for publication in the Village News, we will publish your name and contact details with the story. If you do not wish for this information to be published, please advise us when you submit to use. Other than submission for publication, we will only collect personal information from you (such as name, address, telephone number, email address etc) that you have provided voluntarily to us either by completing registration or enquiry forms or sending emails to us. Please do not submit your personal data to us if you do not wish us to collect it. If you enter a contest or promotion we ask for your name, address and e-mail address. This is so we can run the contest effectively and tell you if you have won.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
We may use your IP address in order to track visits to the website and to stack visitors interests and to ensure the security of the website.
Who we share your data with
We will only use your personal information in the legitimate work of the Village News. Any personal information will be kept confidential and secure and only shared with a third party where there is a legal requirement to do so, where you have submitted an item for publication in the Village News or where you have given explicit permission.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. Emails may also be kept indefinitely.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, or if you have sent emails to us, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Additional information
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. No data transmission over the internet can be entirely secure, and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information and/or use of our site. However we use our reasonable endeavours to protect the security of your personal information from unauthorised access.
In addition to our safeguards your personal information is protected in the UK by the Data Protection Act. This provides that the information which we hold about you should be processed fairly and lawfully and should be accurate, relevant and not excessive. The information should, where necessary, be kept up to date and not retained for longer than is necessary. Please help us to keep your personal information accurate by keeping us updated of your details. We do not use any profiling or automated decision making.