Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

1. Who I am

I am a private individual and I operate this website in a personal capacity.

The website contains an essay written by me and invites readers to send me their comments, criticisms, suggestions and other feedback.

For the purposes of applicable UK data protection law, I am the person responsible for the personal information submitted through this website.

2. Information I collect

If you use the contact form, I may collect:

• your email address;
• your name, if you choose to provide it;
• the contents of your feedback or other message;
• any further personal information that you choose to include in your message; and
• limited  technical information connected with the submission, such as its date and  time, your IP address, and information used to detect spam, misuse or security threats.

You are not required to provide more information than is necessary to communicate your feedback.

Please do not include confidential or particularly sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely necessary for the point you wish to make.

3. Why I collect and use your information

I use information submitted through the contact form to:

• receive, read and consider feedback on my essay;
• reply to the person who submitted the feedback;
• discuss or clarify the feedback with that person;
• consider whether the essay should be corrected, revised, expanded or otherwise developed;
• preserve a record of comments, criticisms, suggestions and discussion relating to the essay; and
• protect the website and contact form against spam, misuse and security threats.

I will not use your email address to send you advertising, marketing material, newsletters or unrelated communications.

I will not sell your personal information or provide it to another person for marketing purposes.

4. My lawful basis for using your information

My lawful basis for using this information is my legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

My legitimate interests are:

• inviting and receiving informed comment on my essay;
• corresponding with readers who choose to contact me;
• understanding and evaluating the responses that the essay generates;
• improving, correcting or developing the essay;
• maintaining a record of relevant feedback and the intellectual discussion surrounding the essay; and
• maintaining the security and proper operation of the website and contact form.

When you choose to send feedback, it is reasonable to expect that I will read it, consider it, reply where appropriate and retain it where it remains relevant to the essay or the discussion arising from it.

I will consider my interests alongside your rights and reasonable expectations and will not use your information in ways that are unrelated to these purposes.

5. How long I keep your information

Feedback and correspondence

I may retain the substance of your feedback and related correspondence for an indefinite period where it continues to form a relevant part of:

• the history or development of the essay;
• the record of comments and criticisms received about it;
• my consideration of possible corrections, revisions or further writing;
• an intellectual, historical or evidential record connected with the essay; or
• an ongoing discussion arising from the essay.

There is therefore no fixed period after which all feedback will automatically be deleted.

Your name and email address

I may retain your name and email address with your feedback where this is reasonably necessary:

• to  identify the source and context of the feedback;
• to preserve the integrity of the correspondence;
• to respond to or discuss the feedback;
• to avoid misattributing the feedback;
• to establish what was communicated and by whom; or
• to deal with a complaint, dispute or legal issue.

Where I wish to preserve the substance of feedback but no longer need to identify or contact the sender, I may delete the email address and other unnecessary identifying information, or retain the feedback in an anonymised form.

I will review retained information from time to time and will delete or anonymise personal information that is no longer reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy.

I may also retain information where this is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

6. Publication and quotation of feedback

Submitting feedback does not, by itself, give me permission to publish your name, email address or other identifying information.

I will not publish your email address.

I may use the ideas or substance of feedback when revising or discussing the essay. Where I wish to publish a quotation together with your name or other information that identifies you, I will normally ask for your permission first.

I may publish or refer to feedback without identifying its author, provided that I take reasonable care to remove information that would identify the sender.

This does not prevent me from using or disclosing information where permitted or required by law, including where reasonably necessary in connection with a legal claim.

7. Changes to this policy

I may amend this privacy policy if the operation of the website, the way in which I use feedback or the applicable law changes.

The current version will be published on this page.