Privacy Policy

Scratchpads privacy policy

1 Personal identification information
We may collect identification information from users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when users visit a Scratchpad, register on the site, subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on Scratchpads. The core information for which users may be asked, where appropriate, are a name, an email address and a location, although some Sites, at the discretion of the maintainer, my ask for additional information. Users may, however, visit all our sites anonymously but access to both content and services may have limited at the discretion of the site's maintainer. We will collect identification information from users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply identification information, but must accept that refusal may prevent them engaging in certain Site related activities.

2 Non-personal identification information
We may collect other information about users' interaction with Scratchpads. Such information may include, but is not limited to, the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about users' means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system, the Internet service providers and other similar information.

3 How we use collected information
Scratchpads may collect and use personal information for the following purposes:
• to grant you access to the Sites for which you are registered;
• to give you credit (under the CC-BY licence) for content you create;
• to improve our service;
◦ Information you provide helps us respond to your service requests and support needs more efficiently.
• to tune a site to meet community expectations;
◦ We may use aggregate information to understand how our users collectively use the services and resources provided on a Scratchpad.
• To improve our services;
◦ We use the feedback you provide to improve our products and services.
• To send occasional emails;
◦ If a user decides to opt-in to a mailing list, they will receive emails that the sending community consider are of interest. If at any time a user would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, they may do so through their Profile page on the sending Scratchpad.
◦ Those with maintainer roles may get occasional e-mails from the development team announcing upgrades, loss of service and other such administrative messages.

4 How we protect your information
We protect against user's personal information by strictly controlling accessibility of the data files. Access to the server is limited to a small group of authorised users from the development team. The basis of this security is password-protection, an appropriate strategy for the type of information we hold. All passwords are encrypted prior to storage. Backups and archives are all encrypted at time of creation.

5 Sharing your personal information
We do not sell, trade, or rent Users personal identification information to others. We may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal identification information regarding visitors and users with our partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above. We may share our raw log files, which include personal information, in pursuance of academic research provided suitable and robust safeguards are in place to protect your information. The purpose of such research would be to analyse trends and network behaviours, allowing us to prioritise Scratchpad development.
We will share your information with law enforcement agencies when we are legally required to do so. We will inform you that these data have been shared and why, unless prohibited from doing so by a court order.

6 Third party websites
Scratchpads pages may contain links to other sites or services. We do not control the content of those sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by them. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our Site, is subject to that website's own terms and policies.

7 Deletion of your account
An application for an account is accepted when a maintainer is satisfied that the applicant is bona fide, e.g. not a spammer or a robot. If the applicant is not considered bona fide, the account and all associated details will be deleted.
Once your account is active, you may choose to delete your account at any time. This will block your account but your details will be retained so that we can fulfil our obligations under the CC-BY licence.
If you wish to remove all your details and the content you created on the Site, you should apply to the Site maintainer. Your details will be deleted from the system, but will persist in the back-up copies until overwritten. Your details will be preserved in any archive copy of the Site that may have been created while your account was valid.

8 Contacting us
If you have any questions please contact us at scratchpads@nhm.ac.uk

This document was last updated on 2013-05-07 15:45 (GMT +1)