Privacy policy

Read this policy along with the terms of use and community guidelines.

Introduction

Your privacy is very important, so this statement tells you how your information will be used and how it will be protected on Whatever. This policy explains

• What information Southwark Council may collect about you

• How Southwark Council will use information collected

• When Southwark Council may use your details to contact you

• Whether Southwark Council will disclose your details to anyone else

• Your choices regarding the personal information you have provided to us
  

Your information

When you register an interest to join Whatever, you will need to provide some information so that you can access restricted areas of the site. This includes public information and personal information.

As part of this process, you will also choose a password. Together with your email address, your password will give you access to some restricted areas of the website.

Public information

Some information is used to create your public profile on the site. This includes screen name, likes and dislikes. You should not reveal your identity in this information.

Personal information

You’ll also be asked to provide some personal data. (In the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, 'personal data' is defined as information about you from which you can be identified.) The only personal data needed for registration for Whatever is an email address, your name, address, gender, ethnicity and date of birth. None of this data will be made visible to other visitors to the website.

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent or guardian's permission before you provide personal information to the Whatever website. Users without this consent must not add personal information to the site.

Cookies

A cookie is a very small text file that a website saves to your computer's hard disk to store information that you provide about yourself or to store your preferences. Whatever uses cookies whenever you sign in as a registered user. The site stores your member name, the time you signed in and your profile information in a secure, encrypted cookie on your hard disk. The cookie contains information that you chose to provide to the Whatever site.

How we may use this information

The information you provide will not be given to any other organisation without your permission. By registering for access to Whatever, you are giving permission for your information to be held by Southwark Council and to be used only in connection with the Whatever project.

Southwark Council will not use your personal information in any way not described in this privacy statement without your consent, nor will we sell or pass it to third parties.

Southwark Council may use information you provide

• For administration purposes, meaning that we may contact you about your account and the functioning of the Whatever online community

• To contact you about any contribution you make to the website

• Where you have opted to receive further correspondence

From time to time, Southwark Council will report age, sex, ethnicity and other aggregate membership statistics to internal managers. These reports will not identify you.

Access to your information

The Data Protection Act 1998 states that you have a right of access to information held by Southwark Council about you. You can ask to see a copy of the personal data held by Southwark Council at any time.

If you would like to see your records email your request to accessinfo@southwark.gov.uk. Please note that Southwark Council will require proof of identity and proof of your current address. The council will acknowledge your request within five working days. You will not be charged for access to your personal information.

Secure data storage and transfers

Your personal information is stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities. When you send us your personal information it is encrypted and securely sent to the server using SSL encryption technology.

IP addresses

The Whatever website collects IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet). We use analysis software to look at IP addresses for the purpose of enhancing your user experience. This information is not used to develop a personal profile of you and the log files are regularly purged.

Commitment to privacy

This privacy statement applies only to the Whatever website.

Upholding our legal responsibilities

Southwark Council will disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to the edicts of the law or to comply with legal process.

Responsiveness to member concerns

If Southwark Council becomes aware of ongoing site specific user concerns or problems, we will take these issues seriously and work to address the stated concerns.

If you have any questions regarding this privacy statement, please contact us. We will use all reasonable efforts to promptly determine and correct the problem.