Introduction
This privacy policy is for this website [meganreddaway.com] owned by the author Megan Reddaway, and governs the privacy of users and visitors who choose to use it. Details are set out in plain English under a series of headings below.
The policy sets out the different areas where visitor privacy and data is concerned, and how this website processes, stores, and protects user data, among other things.
This website and its owner take a proactive approach to user privacy and aim to ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website is subject to English law and complies with all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR).
Collection of Information
Information about you and your visit may be recorded through this website in four main ways:
1. If you contact me through the contact form on the site
2. If you leave a comment on any page of the site
3. If you sign up for the email newsletter
4. Automatically through cookies in your internet browser.
For more details and to know how to delete your information, scroll down or click on the links above which will jump you to the relevant section of this page.
If you use the contact form on this website (found here), all of the information you enter on the form will be sent to me, Megan Reddaway, by email.
What data is collected
The contact form works by email. It collects:
– A name. This does not have to be your full name or your real name.
– An email address. This needs to be your real email if you want me to reply to you.
– The subject and your message. Whatever you choose to tell me.
– Your IP address. This is collected automatically.
Use and storage of this data
The data you enter on the contact form is stored is stored in the site’s admin area on the secure web servers and sent by email to me, Megan Reddaway. Access to the admin area is password-protected. It can be accessed by me, my staff if I have any, the staff of the web hosting company, and potential contractors.
I treat this data like any other email I receive. I periodically delete email from the web server, but I may save it longer on my personal computer.
If you have sent me a message in the past and you now want that message and data to be deleted completely, please see the section below headed “Your right to be forgotten.”
If you choose to complete the comment or reply box at the foot of each post on this site, you will be submitting a comment for potential publication on the site. Your comment will also be emailed to me, Megan Reddaway.
What data is collected
The comment or reply box collects the following information:
– A name. This does not have to be your full name or your real name.
– An email address. This will not be published. It does not have to be your real email address, but if you use a false one, I cannot reply to you by email. However, I can still reply to you by publishing your comment and publishing my reply.
– A website address. This is optional, i.e. you don’t have to fill this box at all. It is only for you to provide a link to your own website if you want to.
– Your comment. Whatever you choose to put in this box.
– Your IP address. This is collected automatically and is not published.
Use and storage of this data
I assume that comments left on the site are intended for publication on the site, but I moderate all comments, so your comment will not necessarily be published immediately or at all. It may be deleted (for example, if I think it is spam, or if I consider it possibly offensive to anybody) or it may be edited before publication at my discretion.
I may edit your comment for any reason, but the most common reasons are:
– to protect your privacy, if I think you have revealed personal information that you may not want published
– to maintain the integrity of the site, for example by shortening long comments or making them more readable (e.g. by adding breaks or correcting typos)
– to reduce the number of outbound links from the site.
The data you enter when you submit a comment is stored in the site’s admin area on the secure web servers and sent by email to me, Megan Reddaway. Access to the admin area is password-protected. It can be accessed by me, my staff if I have any, the staff of the web hosting company, and potential contractors.
The data and comment will be stored for as long as it is needed (usually, until the site or the page you are commenting on is deleted), or until you ask for it to be deleted – see the section below headed “Your right to be forgotten.”
Note: information that has been published on the internet in the past may be available through web archiving services such as archive.org or others, even after it has been deleted.
This website operates an email newsletter, used mainly to inform subscribers about my new books and other related products. You can subscribe through an online automated process by completing the signup form if you want to. A “double opt-in” process ensures that nobody is added to this list without their consent.
What data is collected
The newsletter signup form asks for the following information:
– Your first name. It doesn’t have to be your full name or your real name.
– An email address. This needs to be a real email address so that you can receive the newsletters.
This information is collected by the automated mailing list administration company that I use to store your details securely and avoid spam. They have a “double opt-in” system so that after you sign up, you also have to confirm a link in an email that is sent to you. This prevents anybody adding your email address to the list without your permission.
Use and storage of this data
Your email address is used to send you the email newsletters, which will include promotional material for my books and other recommendations. Your name may be used in the email (e.g. “Hi Jane”).
You can unsubscribe or change your details at any time using the automated link at the bottom of every email. This is the quickest and simplest way to stop receiving the newsletter, but if you want all of your information to be deleted, please see the section below headed “Your right to be forgotten.”
The data is held on the servers of the mailing list administration company, not my own servers. My account with them is password-protected. It can be accessed by me, my authorised staff if I have any, and the staff of the mailing list company. I take periodic backups which I store on my personal computer and delete when they are no longer needed (usually 3-6 months). I will not give or sell your details to any third parties.
The newsletter emails that you receive may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. This subscriber activity is stored in a database within my account at the mailing company. Such tracked activity may include but is not limited to: the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, and the clicking of links within the email content. This information is used to refine future mailings. For example, I can use it to resend a newsletter to subscribers who didn’t open it the first time, or to stop sending to subscribers who are not reading any of my emails.
Note: this is by no means an entire list of your user rights in regard to receiving email marketing material.
Under the GDPR, you have the right to request that all of your stored personal data be deleted at any time.
The simplest way to do this for data you have submitted through this site is to use the contact form and ask me to delete your data.
If the contact form is not working, you can use the email address: info “at” meganreddaway.com, replacing “at” with the usual email sign and deleting spaces. Or you can mail a letter to me at: 2508 Chynoweth House, Trevisome Park, Truro TR4 8UN, United Kingdom.
To find your data, I will need to know what you sent (e.g. your name and email) and how you submitted it (did you subscribe to the newsletter, post a comment on the site, etc).
I will delete your data within 30 days and let you know that this is done, unless I cannot find your data, in which case I will request more information from you.
Cookies are small files saved to your computer hard drive. They track, save and store information about your interactions with websites. Cookies allow websites to do things like operating shopping carts and “remember” that you are logged in when you move to another page on the site, as well as tracking your movement through the site.
This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software is provided by Google Analytics and similar services which use cookies to track visitor usage. The software may save a temporary 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 advertisements. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may have a shorter or longer life. No personal information is stored, saved or collected by these cookies.
You can delete cookies at any time through your browser’s security settings. For example, if you use Chrome, you can search online for “how to delete cookies in Chrome.” I cannot delete cookies for you, because they are stored on your personal computer or device.
Where applicable, this website also uses a cookie control system that enables you on your first visit to allow or disallow the use of cookies on your 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.
External Links
Although this website only intends to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised to adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned on this or any other website. (External links are clickable text/banner/image links to other websites, similar to these: http://goodreads.com or Amazon.)
The owner of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite her best efforts. Users should therefore note that they click on external links at their own risk and this website and its owner cannot be held liable for any damages or consequences caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
Advertisements and Sponsored Links
This website may contain sponsored links and advertisements. These may be served through our advertising partners, who may have their own detailed privacy policies relating directly to the advertisements they serve.
Clicking on any such advertisements or links will send you to the advertiser’s website through a referral program which will use cookies, for example to track the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include cookies saved on your computer’s hard drive.
The owner of this website may earn advertising fees or commissions resulting from these advertisements and links.
Social Media Platforms
Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owner participate in are subject to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies of each social media platform.
Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and only engage with them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details.
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 risk and note that the social media platform may track, save and publish your request to share a web page through your social media platform account, along with other operations that are features of their provision and are beyond the control of this website and its owner.
General
Users contacting this website and/or its owner do so at their own discretion and provide any personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed above. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form-to-email submission process but we advise users using such form-to-email processes that they do so at their own risk.
This website and its owner use any information submitted to provide you with further information about the products/services they offer or to assist you in answering any 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, or if you the consumer have previously purchased from or enquired about purchasing from the owner a product or service that the email newsletter relates to.
To contact Megan Reddaway please use the contact form or write to: 2508 Chynoweth House, Trevisome Park, Truro TR4 8UN, United Kingdom.