What is this Privacy Policy for?

This privacy policy is for this website www.adso.co.uk and served by ADSO 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 and 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.

The Website

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.

Use of Cookies

This website uses cookies to better the users experience while visiting the website. 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 to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website.

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. The legal basis for processing this consent cookie is legal requirement. The cookie used for this purpose is “gdpr[privacy bar]”.

This plugin keeps track of user consent by saving them to the database. We can only do that for logged in users. For visitors, however, we track their consent by creating a cookie and storing their preferences there. The same logic applies for cookies.

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 information recorded includes details of your visits to our website and the resources that you access including your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The cookies used for this purpose are “_ga” and “_gid”;

The legal basis for processing Analytics data is consent, given or withheld when you first log on to the website and select to allow or disallow the use of cookies.

Managing cookies

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

  • https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome)
  • https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences  (Firefox)
  • https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge)
  • http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera)
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer)
  • https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari)

You may also enable the “Do not track” setting on your browser if it supports one.

Contact and 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 a time it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulation 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 may process any information submitted to assist you in answering any questions or queries you may have submitted. The legal basis for this processing this correspondence data is consent.

During the course of correspondence, users may also choose to subscribe to an email newsletter program the website operates. The legal basis for processing this subscription data is consent.

Email Newsletter

This website operates 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 General Data Protection Regulation 2018 you may request a copy of personal information held about you by this website’s email newsletter program. A small fee may 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 information is used to refine future email campaigns and supply the user with more relevant content based around their activity. The legal basis for this processing is consent, given when you agreed to subscribe to the newsletter.

In compliance with UK Spam Laws and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 subscribers are given the opportunity to unsubscribe 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 unsubscribe will by detailed instead.

Storage of Data

Data that is provided to us is stored on our secure UK-based servers. Details relating to any transactions entered into via our site will be encrypted to ensure its safety.

In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will retain the data indefinitely until its purpose has been served or until you request the erasure of the data.

If you wish to request the deletion of all personal data we hold relating to you, then please email info@adso.co.uk providing your full name and ADSO website account username (if applicable).

We may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

External Links

Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website. External links are clickable text/banner/image links to other websites, e.g. Drupal Development Agency or Council Website Software.

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 custom 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 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 take 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.

Your Rights

You have the right to access the personal data we collect from you, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. A small fee may be payable.

You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.

In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include:

  • the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;
  • you withdraw consent to consent-based processing;
  • you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law;
  • the processing is for direct marketing purposes and the personal data have been unlawfully processed.

However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure in the case where processing is necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are:

  • you contest the accuracy of the personal data;
  • processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure;
  • we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
  • you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection.

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is consent, or that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.

If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commission Office.

To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

Resources & Further Information

v2.1 August 2020 Edited and customised by: ADSO