First Post News Group Limited Privacy Policy

Effective date 16 March, 2006

At First Post News Group Limited ("First Post") we understand that your privacy is important to you.

This Privacy Policy (the "Policy") explains what information we collect about you and what we do with it. By using or navigating this site and its services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by this Policy or any modified Policy as posted. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use or revisit or site.

This Policy applies to all of the services offered by First Post on www.firstpost.co.uk. Where more detail is necessary to explain our privacy practices, we have separate privacy notices.

First Post adheres to the Data Protection Act 1998 (Act).

If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact us through our website or email us at .

1. Personal Information: how we collect and use it

1.1 We offer an online magazine service. Depending on the circumstances we may collect the following types of information:

(a) Information you provide - When you sign up for a First Post account or other First Post service or promotion that requires registration, we ask you for personal information (such as your name, email address and an account password). We may use it and combine this information with information from other First Post services or third parties to provide you with a better experience and to improve our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.

(b) First Post cookies - When you visit First Post, we use "cookies" to enable you to sign back in to First Post's services quickly and easily and to help personalise your online experience. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies contain information that we can read when you revisit us. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser to decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to take advantage of some First Post features that may depend on cookies.

(c) User communications - When you send email or other communication to First Post, we may retain those communications in order to process your enquiries and to improve our services.

(d) Affiliated sites - We offer some of our services in connection with other service providers. Personal information that you provide to those other service providers may be sent to First Post in order to deliver those services. We will process such information in accordance with this Policy. The other service providers may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

(e) Links - First Post may present links to third party websites. Third party websites should have their own privacy policies and we recommend that you read such policies to find out how your personal details are protected. We are not responsible for the content of the privacy policies of these third party websites.

(f) Send-A-Friend - If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our site or about a promotion or competition on our site, we ask them for the friend's name and email address. First Post will automatically send the friend a one-time email inviting them to visit and register with the site. Unless the friend registers on the site, First Post will store this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email. The friend may contact the First Post at unsubscribe@thefirstpost.co.uk to request the removal of this information from the database at any time.

1.2 In addition to processing personal information for the purposes described above (and/or any privacy notice) First Post may also process it to maintain its network and develop new services.

1.3 You can find more information about how we process your personal information for particular services via the following First Post Privacy FAQ.

2. Choices for personal information

2.1 If we use your personal information for a different purpose than that for which it was collected, we will ask for your consent.

2.2 We will not collect or use sensitive personal information unless we have obtained your specific consent.

2.3 You can decline to submit personal information to us or require us to cease processing it but in that case First Post may not be able to provide its services to you.

2.4 If we contact you via e-mail or SMS we will give you the opportunity to decline to receive future e-mail and SMS messages from us.

2.5 Where you have given us your permission to do so, you agree that we and other third parties (where applicable) may contact you directly by post or telephone with details of products, offers, services and promotions.

3. Information sharing

3.1 First Post only shares personal information with third party companies or individuals in the following circumstances:

(a) with your consent.

(b) where such information is provided to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for processing on our behalf, and only where they agree to process it in accordance with our instructions and the Act.

(c) where we believe in good faith that the processing of such information is necessary to (a) comply with law, regulation or governmental request, (b) enforce our terms and conditions of use, including the investigation of potential violations of those terms and conditions, or (c) deal with fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) enable First Post to provide its services.

(d) to fulfil orders you have made for goods and services.

(e) to provide you with services such as bulletin boards, email newsletters and competitions.

(f) for internal purposes to (a) improve our understanding of customer needs in developing the Website, (b) to build marketing profiles or (c) to aid strategic development and to manage our relationship with our advertisers.

3.2 If First Post becomes involved in a merger or acquisition, we will notify you before personal information is transferred.

4. Information security

We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of personal information. These include reviews of our information collection, storage and processing practices as well as physical security measures. We restrict access to personal information to only those First Post employees, contractors and agents who need it.

5. Data integrity

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, but we depend on our users to update their personal information whenever necessary.

6. Accessing and updating personal information

When you use First Post services, we will provide you with access to your personal information to update it if it is inaccurate. We will delete your personal information when it is no longer required.

7. Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to modify this Policy at any time and we will notify you of any material changes to the Policy by posting the new Policy here and changing the "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to check this page periodically for any changes.

8. Fair Processing Information

8.1 The data controller is First Post News Group Limited of 95 The Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1WG.

8.2 First Post has not nominated a representative for the purpose of the Act.

8.3 The purpose(s) for which the data is to be processed are as set out above.

8.4 We provide above comprehensive information as to how personal information will be processed.

9. Transfer of Personal Details Overseas

Given the global nature of the Internet, use of the Internet to collect and process personal details may involve the transmission of data internationally. Therefore, by browsing this Website and communicating electronically with us, you acknowledge and agree that we may process your details overseas. However, we will always ensure that any third party to whom your personal details are transferred (for example, a website posting company or operator) will take appropriate steps to safeguard your personal details.

10. Third Party Information

When you give us information about another person, you confirm that they have appointed you to act for them, to consent to the processing of their personal data, including sensitive personal data and to the transfer of their information abroad and to receive on their behalf any data protection.

11. Data Security Policy

11.1 We have adopted measures to ensure that users' personal details are not misused, accidentally destroyed, lost or altered.

11.2 Occasions may arise where we pass your information to third parties (e.g. to prizes/goods/services fulfilment bureaus/houses, database consultants etc.) but such third parties will only act upon instructions from us in order to perform the services required.

11.3 Where information is transferred to a third party, that third party will be required to keep your personal details secure.

12. General

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to us.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy shall restrict or exclude any liability that we have to any party which cannot be excluded by law. This Privacy Policy shall be governed by English law and the courts of England & Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes arising in relation to this Privacy Policy and this Website.

How to contact us

By email:

By telephone: 0207 082 0806

By mail: Data Protection Enquiries,

First Post Data Compliance Officer

95 The Promenade

Cheltenham

Gloucestershire GL50 1WG