Privacy Policy
1. What information do we collect?
1.2. When you register with www.writeoutloud.net
1.3. When you login to www.writeoutloud.net
1.4. When you post to the site
1.5. When you enter competitions
1.6. When you order a book from us
1.9. When you use the chat facility
3. Accessing and updating your data
When you use www.writeoutloud.net we collect certain information about you. This document will tell you what data we collect about you, how we use it and how you can delete or access it.
1. What information do we collect?
This section explains what information we collect about you in different usage scenarios.
1.1. When you use the website
When you browse the website, our webserver will log your IP address, any information your browser supplies on its identity, and the pages on the site that you access.
We may also store cookies on your computer. Please see our Cookie Policy for further information.
When logged in, we use browser local storage facilities to hold information on which other users are logged in to the site for providing chat functionality. This cleared when you shut down the browser.
1.2. When you register with www.writeoutloud.net
When you register on the site using the registration form, we will collect and store your name and email address. We will collect your password and store it in encrypted form only.
If you register using a social media account (Facebook, Google or Twitter), then:
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Your Facebook identifier, name and email address provided by Facebook is stored when registering using your Facebook account.
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Your Google identifier, name and email address provided by Google is stored when registering using your Google account.
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Your Twitter identifier, Twitter screen name, user name and email address provided by Twitter is stored when registering using your Twitter account.
1.3. When you login to www.writeoutloud.net
When you login, we store the IP address and time of the most recent login.
1.4. When you post to the site
All data that you post on site (for example, but not limited to, comments, blogs, discussions, and your profile) are stored by us and available to other users of the site.
1.5. When you enter competitions
When you enter a competition, we will store the contact information provided as well as your competition entries.
When you enter a competition, we will store the contact information provided as well as your competition entries. Some competitions requirement payment to enter. Please see section on taking payment for what we collect in this scenario.
1.6. When you order a book from us
When you order books from us, we will store contact information provided as well as details of your order. We will store a delivery address so we can send the book to you. If a phone number is provided, we will only use it to contact you about your order.
Most orders will require payment. Please see section on taking payment for what information we collect.
1.7. When we take a payment
If you make a payment on the Write Out Loud website, Write Out Loud does not ever have access to sensitive payment information which is passed directly to our payment processing provider.
Write Out Loud has visibility of the billing address provided but does not store it after passing to our payment processing provider.
Write Out Loud does store non-sensitive data such as payment method for the purposes of generating receipts.
1.8. When you make a donation
When you make a donation to Write Out Loud via PayPal, we will receive a notification of your name, contact information and amount of donation.
1.9. When you use the chat facility
We keep logs of chat messages and the associated user and IP address for a limited period of 12 weeks.
2. How do we use your data?
We use your data in the following ways.
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For statistical purposes, e.g. to estimate how many people are using the site, when they use it and approximately where they are located.
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To check your credentials when you login to the site.
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To attempt to determine your country from your IP address to decide which gig guide content to show you initially.
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To send email notifications about certain events that occur on the site (e.g. someone commented on one of your posts) only if you are subscribed to that type of notification. You can update your email subscriptions through your user account.
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To contact your for moderation purposes if we feel anything you have posted on the site breaches our Terms Of Use or Code of Conduct.
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We may also contact you by email in response to technical or other queries you have sent to us through other means, e.g. via the internal messaging system.
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We may contact you if we believe a technical problem with the site may have affected you.
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We may contact you to check the current validity of information posted to the site, e.g. to check gig guide listings are accurate.
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If you have entered a competition we may contact with you about your entry and also may send you general information relating to the competition that you entered.
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If you place an order through the site then we may use the contact information provided to contact you about your order and its delivery.
3. Accessing and updating your data
You can access and update your user name and email address by logging in to the site and going to your account settings.
You can also update or remove posts you have made to the site after logging in.
If you would like to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you or to request a correction, please contact info@writeoutloud.net.
You can delete your account and all your data from your account settings.
If you have provided data to us without creating an account (for example, placing an order or entering a competition as a guest), then please contact info@writeoutloud.net if you would like a copy of the data we hold and/or wish to request it is removed or updated.
4. Who do we share your data with?
Write Out Loud does not share your data with any third parties.
When accessing our site third party advertising providers may collect data which is covered by their privacy policy. Write Out Loud currently serves advertisements from Google Adsense and more details can be found at https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/
If you make payments for services through the Write Out Loud website then your payment information is sent directly to Braintree (https://www.braintreepayments.com/).
5. Where is your data stored?
The www.writeoutloud.net website is hosted by Digital Ocean at their secure London data centre.
6. Cookie Policy
We use cookies for the following purposes:
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1. For the correct functioning of the site. A session cookie is stored which allows us to track information such as whether you are logged in and your user details as you move from page to page.
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2. To remember some of your preferences. We store whether you have chosen to hide the notice about cookies that will otherwise appear.
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3. Third party advertising and analytics cookies. We display some advertising on the site in partnership with Google Adsense. These targeted advertising services use cookies to track what you browse to help them select which advertising campaigns you see. This site does not have access to data stored by third parties.
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4. Tracking counts of how many times entries on Write Out Loud are shared using the AddThis client.
Information on how to opt-out of third party cookies is available on their websites:
http://www.google.co.uk/policies/technologies/ads/
http://www.addthis.com/privacy
You can also visit the trade body representing these advertising companies. Visit www.youronlinechoices.com for more information on how to opt out of third party tracking cookies.
There are also tools available such as Ghostery (https://www.ghostery.com) which will help you to see which third party trackers are in use and allow you to block them.
Most modern browsers allow you to change your cookie settings and block some cookies. Check the browser documentation or help page for further information on how to do this.
Document last updated 09 July 2020