Privacy Policy

We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy[2] sets out how we will treat your personal information.[3]

(1) What information do we collect?

We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal information:

(a) information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to this website, including information relating to any purchases you make of our goods or services (including any of our associated Products);

(b) information that you provide to us for the purpose of registering with us (including Full Name, e-mail address, phone numbers ad company names);

(c) information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters (including Full Name, e-mail address, phone numbers ad company names);

(d) any other information that you choose to send to us; and

[(2) Cookies[4]

A cookie consists of a piece of text sent by a web server to a web browser, and stored by the browser. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.

We use session” cookies on our application and website. We will use the session cookies to: keep track of you whilst you navigate the website and application. We will use the persistent cookies to: enable our website to recognise you when you visit;

Session cookies will be deleted from your computer when you close your browser. Persistent cookies will remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach a specified expiry date.

Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third party cookies. For example, in Internet Explorer you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block all cookies” using the sliding selector. Blocking all cookies will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites, including this one.

(3) Using your personal information

Personal information submitted to us via this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website.

We may use your personal information to:

(a) administer the website;

(b) enable your use of the services available on the website;

(d) send statements and invoices to you, and collect payments from you;

(e) send you general (non-marketing) commercial communications;

(f) send you email notifications which you have specifically requested;

(g) provide third parties with statistical information about our users – but this information will not be used to identify any individual user;

(h) deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website

Where you submit personal information for publication on our website, we will publish and otherwise use that information in accordance with the licence you grant to us.[5]

We will not without your express consent provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing.[6]

All our website financial transactions are handled through our payment reseller provider, FastSpring. You can review the FastSpring privacy policy at www.fastspring.com. We will share information with FastSpring only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments you make via our website and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments.[7]

(4) Disclosures

We may disclose information about you to any of our employees, insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy policy.

In addition, we may disclose your personal information:

(a) to the extent that we are required to do so by law;

(b) in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;

(c) in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk);

(d) to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset that we are (or are contemplating) selling; and

(e) to any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that personal information where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that personal information.

Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties.

(5) International data transfers

Information that we collect may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which we operate in order to enable us to use the information in accordance with this privacy policy.

Information which you provide may be transferred to countries including, the United States which do not have data protection laws equivalent to those in force in the European Economic Area.

You expressly agree to such transfers of personal information.

(6) Security of your personal information

We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.

We will store all the personal information you provide on our secure (password- and firewall- protected) servers. All electronic transactions you make to or receive from us will be encrypted using SSL technology.

Of course, data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.

You are responsible for keeping your password and user details confidential. We will not ask you for your password (except when you log in to the application).

(7) Policy amendments[8]

We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time by posting a new version on our website. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes.

We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by Twitter.

(8) Your rights

You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you. Provision of such information will be subject to:

(a) the payment of a fee (currently fixed at £10.00); and

(b) the supply of appropriate evidence of your identity (for this purpose, we will usually accept a photocopy of your passport certified by a solicitor or bank plus an original copy of a utility bill showing your current address).

We may withhold such personal information to the extent permitted by law.

You may instruct us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes, by sending an email to us. In practice, you will usually either expressly agree in advance to our use of your personal information for marketing purposes, or we will provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of the use of your personal information for marketing purposes.

(9) Third party websites

The website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites.

(10) Updating information

Please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.

(11) Contact

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal information, please write to us by email to support@marketbrain.net.

[1] The purpose of a website privacy policy is help webmasters and web-based businesses comply with data protection legislation. In the UK, that primarily means compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Failure to comply with data protection legislation can lead to civil liability and criminal law penalties. Our template privacy policy is designed for use by businesses based in the UK (although the UK data protection regime derives from EU law, there are differences in how that EU law has been implemented in the different member states of the EU). The template is designed for websites which collect standard kinds of non-sensitive personal data for standard kinds of use. It may be unsuitable for websites which collect sensitive personal data (such as information relating to a person’s health, sexuality, ethnicity or politics) or which collect personal information from children. It may be suitable, for example, for use with websites which act as online company brochures or online shops. The website privacy policy template will need to be edited before it is ready for use. Square brackets in the document indicate the sections which need or are likely to need to be edited. However, you should of course carefully review the whole document to ensure that it meets with your requirements. You should regularly review your privacy policy to ensure that it remains up-to-date, both with respect to the law and to your business's use of personal data. Please note that the use of a privacy policy does not exhaust your data protection obligations. If you are in any doubt regarding the preparation of your privacy policy or your data protection obligations generally, you should seek professional advice.

[2] The privacy policy should be clearly and easily accessible to website visitors from the website home page and any page which collects personal data (e.g. “The personal information we collect on this page will be treated in accordance with our privacy policy”). In addition, key information about the use of personal data should be provided on the page where the data is collected, rather than in a separate document.

[3] “Personal information”: for day-to-day purposes, it is best to assume that all information which relates to a living individual constitutes personal information. (We use “personal data” and “personal information” interchangeably in this template.)

[4] If your site does not use cookies, the paragraphs on cookies can be deleted.

The extent to which disclosures in a privacy policy may fulfil the requirements of new laws relating to cookies is unclear.

The new laws are due to be introduced in the UK by 26 May 2011. Under those laws, it may be necessary to obtain some sort of express consent for the use of cookies that are not either (a) for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network; or (b) strictly necessary for the provision of an information society service explicitly requested by the user.

The key provisions of the new EU Directive are set out below.

In an amendment to Article 5(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC (the Privacy and Electronic Communication Directive, which the Regulations referred to above implement), Directive 2009/136/EC provides: "Member States shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information, in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC, inter alia, about the purposes of the processing. This shall not prevent any technical storage or access for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network, or as strictly necessary in order for the provider of an information society service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user to provide the service."

Recital 66 to Directive 2009/136/EC, which may assist in the interpretation of the new Article 5(3), provides: "Third parties may wish to store information on the equipment of a user, or gain access to information already stored, for a number of purposes, ranging from the legitimate (such as certain types of cookies) to those involving unwarranted intrusion into the private sphere (such as spyware or viruses). It is therefore of paramount importance that users be provided with clear and comprehensive information when engaging in any activity which could result in such storage or gaining of access. The methods of providing information and offering the right to refuse should be as user-friendly as possible. Exceptions to the obligation to provide information and offer the right to refuse should be limited to those situations where the technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user. Where it is technically possible and effective, in accordance with the relevant provisions of Directive 95/46/EC, the user’s consent to processing may be expressed by using the appropriate settings of a browser or other application. The enforcement of these requirements should be made more effective by way of enhanced powers granted to the relevant national authorities."

[8] Changes to the policy – in particular as to permissible uses of personal data – may not be retrospective. In other words, if you collect personal information on one basis, you cannot, simply by changing the terms of your policy, go on to legitimately use that information on a different basis.