Privacy Policy

 What is this Privacy Policy for?

This privacy  policy is for this website www.paulhironsauthor.co.uk and any other  websites served by Digitally Brilliant Ltd and governs the privacy of  its users who choose to use it.

The policy sets out the different  areas where user privacy is concerned and outlines the obligations  & requirements of the users, the website and website owners.  Furthermore the way this website processes, stores and protects user  data and information will also be detailed within this policy.

This  website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and  ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users  throughout their visiting experience. This website complies with all UK  national laws and requirements for user privacy.

This website  uses cookies to better the user’s experience while visiting the website.  Where applicable this website uses a cookie control system allowing the  user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use  of cookies on their computer / device. This complies with recent  legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from  users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s  computer / device.

Cookies are small files saved to the user’s  computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about the  user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website,  through its server, to provide the users with a tailored experience  within this website.

Users are advised that if they wish to deny  the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computer’s  hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browser’s  security settings to block all cookies from this website and its  external serving vendors.

This website uses tracking software to  monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software  is provided by Google Analytics which uses cookies to track visitor  usage. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive in  order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website but  will not store, save or collect personal information. You can read  Google's privacy policy here for further information [  http://www.google.com/privacy.html ].

Other cookies may be stored  to your computer’s hard drive by external vendors when this website  uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are  used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30  days, though some may take longer. No personal information is stored,  saved or collected.

Contact & Communication
Users  contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion  and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your  personal information is kept private and stored securely until such  time as it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed in the Data  Protection Act 2018. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and  secure form to email submission process but advise users using such form  to email processes that they do so at their own risk.

This  website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with  further information about the products / services they offer or to  assist in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted.  This includes using your details to subscribe you to any email  newsletter program the website operates but only if this was made clear  to you and your express permission was granted when submitting any form  to email process. It also includes instances where you the consumer have  previously purchased from or enquired about purchasing from the company  a product or service that the email newsletter relates to. This is by  no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email  marketing material. Your details are not passed on to any third  parties.

Email Newsletter
This website may  operate an email newsletter program, used to inform subscribers about  products and services supplied by this website. Users can subscribe  through an online automated process should they wish to do so, but do so  at their own discretion. Some subscriptions may be manually processed  through prior written agreement with the user.

Subscriptions are  taken in compliance with UK Spam Laws detailed in the Privacy and  Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. All personal details  relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with the  Data Protection Act 1998. No personal details are passed on to third  parties nor shared with companies / people outside of the company that  operates this website. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you may  request a copy of personal information held about you by this website's  email newsletter program. A small fee will be payable. If you would like  a copy of the information held on you please write to the business  address at the bottom of this policy.

Email marketing campaigns  published by this website or its owners may contain tracking facilities  within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a  database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may  include: the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of  links within the email content, times, dates and frequency of activity  [this is by no means a comprehensive list]. This information is used to  refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant  content based around their activity.

In compliance with UK Spam  Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003  subscribers are given the opportunity to un-subscribe at any time  through an automated system. This process is detailed at the footer of  each email campaign. If an automated un-subscription system is  unavailable clear instructions on how to un-subscribe will be detailed  instead.

External Links
Although this website  only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links users  should always adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web  links mentioned throughout this website.

The owners of this  website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked  website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they  click on external links at their own risk and this website and its  owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by  visiting any external links mentioned.

Adverts and Sponsored Links
This  website may contain sponsored links and adverts. These will typically  be served through our advertising partners, who may have detailed  privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve.

Clicking  on any such adverts will send you to the advertiser’s website through a  referral program which may use cookies and will track the number of  referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies  which may in turn be saved on your computer’s hard drive. Users should  therefore note they click on sponsored external links at their own risk  and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or  implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

Social Media Platforms
Communication,  engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms  that this website and its owners participate on are subject to the terms  and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social  media platform respectively.

Users are advised to use social  media platforms wisely and communicate / engage upon them with due care  and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. Neither  this website nor its owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive  information through social media platforms, and they encourage users  wishing to discuss sensitive details to contact them through primary  communication channels such as by telephone or email.

This  website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content  directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. Users  are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at  their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track  and save your request to share a web page respectively through your  social media platform account.

Shortened Links in Social Media
This  website and its owners through their social media platform accounts may  share web links to relevant web pages. By default some social media  platforms shorten lengthy URLs [web addresses] (this is an example:  http://bit.ly/zyVUBo).

Users are advised to exercise caution and  good judgement before clicking any shortened URLs published on social  media platforms by this website and its owners. Despite the best efforts  to ensure only genuine URLs are published many social media platforms  are prone to spam and hacking and therefore this website and its owners  cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting  any shortened links.

Resources & Further Information
    Data Protection Act 2018
    Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
    Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 - The Guide
    Twitter Privacy Policy
    Facebook Privacy Policy
    Google Privacy Policy
    Linkedin Privacy Policy
    Mailchimp Privacy Policy