Privacy Notice

Please also refer to our Terms and Conditions

A Note now the UK has left the European Union

On 31st December, 2020, at 11pm, the UK left the European Union.  At this point certain EU laws, including GDPR, fell back to UK domestic law equivalents.  To cover the immediate future, the EU and UK governments have put in place a “EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement interim bridging mechanism for personal data“, due to last for a 4-6 month period*+.  For details on this please see this UK Government link.

If you live outside the UK and your personal information was provided to us prior to 31st December, 2020, then this is now called ‘Legacy Data‘. Legacy data also covers personal data provided while the new Cooperation Agreement is in place (i.e: under ‘provision of EU law that applies in the UK by virtue of the Withdrawal Agreement‘).

In the meantime, GDPR still remains in UK law although now being maintained alongside the UK Data Protection Act (2018). It is now called ‘UK GDPR’ and equates to the ‘frozen GDPR‘ as it stood on 31st December, 2020 (ie any changes made to EU GDPR in 2021 and beyond do not apply in the UK)

Note that WiseOnes is not classed as a Relevant Digital Service Provider and as such we are exempt from the NIS Regulations and Directive on digital provision.  We are however, still bound by the EU E-Commerce directive as we are providing access to our content to our students in Europe.

*Note: Agreement also ends if the UK makes a change to these laws that the EU does not agree with.

+ As a small business, we are following the details of this ICO document

 

1. General Information

This privacy notice sets out how Wiseones.net uses and protects any information that you give Wiseones.net when you use this website. Wiseones.net is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. Wiseones.net may change this notice from by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

This policy is effective from 20th January, 2021

2. UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.

The key articles of UK GDPR, as well as information on its business impact, can be found on the dedicated site by clicking here (opens in new window).  The UK GPPR became law in Europe on the 25th May, 2018 (then known as GDPR) and was replaced on 30th January, 2020 when the UK withdrew from the European Union and entered the transition period (due to end 31st December, 2020)

UK GDPR is laid out in 11 Chapters, the relevant ones to you are :-

  • Chapter 2 – Principles (Articles 5-9)
  • Chapter 3 – Your Rights (Rights of the Data Subject) (Articles 12-23)

Note that third party services that we integrate to (Constant Contact, PayPal, Stripe) may directly provide UK GDPR opt-in details on forms that they embed on our website when collecting information that they need.  You should check these third party Policies and Conditions where these appear before providing your information to them.

3. UK GDPR Principles

This chapter covers some basic things about UK GDPR that you should know and that we need to adhere to.

3.1. Scope

UK GDPR covers the protection of UK and EU citizens regardless of where this data is stored or processed,  Even a website on the other side of the planet, if it is intending to process data for UK and EU citizens, must conform to the UK GDPR regulations.

3.2. Principles

In protecting UK and EU citizens data the UK GDPR looks to the following principles regarding your data :- “Data is specified, explicit and legitimate”. When we ask you for your data we are required to tell you what it is for in terms that specify exactly what it is we need, why we need it and that when we explain this it is written out in clear and understandable terms. No legal gobbleddy-gook here. The 5 main principles the UK GDPR adds are as follows:

  • Data Minimisation
    • the data we ask you to provide us should only be relevant to what we need it for
  • Accuracy
    • the data is to be “accurate”.  For example, if you change your address, you move home, and you tell us this then we are required by law to update our records where we have them to reflect this change
  • Storage Limitation
    • your data should be with us for no longer than is necessary for us to process it.  We are no longer allowed to maintain your records indefinitely (unless we are required to do so by State law).  This is a risk limitation strategy introduced to protect your data from potentially falling in to the wrong hands.
  • Integrity and Confidentiality
    • Any processing we do on your data must be of a lawful nature and we must prevent against “accidental loss, destruction or damage”.  Your data is exactly that – your data! And as such we should treat it with the same respect as if we were dealing with you yourself.
  • Accountability
    • Essentially this means that we as an organisation need to be able to show that we have in place processes that adhere to the above earlier 4 principles.

3.3. Lawfulness of Processing

This article essentially lays out that we have to ask you for your consent to process your data, that the processes we’re going to out that data through is relevant to our activity of providing the services we have for you and that there’s a real need for the data collection in order for us to proceed.

3.4. Conditions for Consent

This is one of the more important articles that you should be aware of.  There are 3 main parts to it as follows :-

  • We are required to … “demonstrate that the data subject has consented to processing of his or her personal data”.  So no more opt-out check boxes.  You have to actively agree to us processing your data
  • Any form we present to you requires to be … “clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language”.  This is pretty straight forward and any requests we ask of you should be too!
  • This is the important one you should know about.  You … “will have the right to withdraw his or her consent at any time. It will be as easy to withdraw as to give consent“.  So the red emphasis is ours but we’re sure you’ll agree this is a big thing.  Ever tried to cancel an online subscription or stop payment for a service you no longer want to receive and been thwarted by layers and layers of red tape?  This should make all of that a whole lot easier to do.  

3.5. Conditions Applicable to Child’s Consent

There are very specific UK GDPR rules governing data capture for children but at this point and going forward we’re not going to ask for any data from. The GDPR lays out that a child is “below the age of 16 years”. So you must be 16 years old or over to access our site.

3.6. Processing Special Categories

The “Special Categories” cover data which reveals any of the following :-

  • racial or ethnic origin
  • political opinions
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • trade union membership
  • genetic or biometric data concerning health
  • details of sex life or sexual orientation

We must have your consent before acquiring any of the above types of data.  There’s exceptions to this but essentially we won’t be asking you for any of the above anyway.  If someone does ask you for any of the above we suggest you ask them “Why?”.

4. Your Rights (Rights of the Data Subject)

This chapter covers your rights under the GDPR.  We’ll highlight the bits that we are required to and bits we think you should know

4.1. Transparent Information, Communication and Modalities

The GDPR allows you to request information about your data from us.  It lays out regulations on what we are required to do when fulfilling this.  Where you ask us we are required to provide :-

  • data “in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language”
  • data “orally” where we’ve previously identified you
  • information on “any action taken on a request”.  We need to keep you informed
  • the information “free of charge”.  It’s free unless your request is deemed to be excessive

So you can ask us what you need to know and we should reply in a fair and honest way without trying to dupe you with legalese. That seems pretty reasonable to us.

4.2. Information to be Provided

Here’s what we need to tell you when we ask you directly for any of your information :-

  • contact details of the controller
    • Data Controller, c/o Wiseones, 206 Darnley Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G41 2SE
  • contact details of the data protection officer
    • At the moment we’re not required to have one but you can use the details above in the meantime
  • the purposes of the processing
    • we need your contact details to inform you of content changes within our website.  We send your email address to Constant Contact for this. We also hold your username and email address so we can identify you as having registered as a member of this site.  The email address is required so we can contact you when your subscription with us is about to expire.  Any card details you supply us are sent directly (and stored) with the third party processor.  So this is Paypal or Stripe, the two payment gateways we use.  Please see their sites for details of their GDPR policies.  We only have transaction identifiers on this site. No card payment details are ever stored by us
  • the legitimate interests pursued by the controller 
    • we’re genuinely interested in growing our website to make the information and experience you have here as good as possible. In order to do that we need to track what things work and what don’t. We use Google Analytics (data held by Google) to track which pages receive regular visits.  This helps us work out what members of our site are interested in so we can provide more of this to you.  One note on Analytics.  Google aggregates data and the lowest level of granularity we can ever get to is down to the City level.  The data they present can never be used to individuals identify you.  It may tells us how many people have visited us from London, say
  • the recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data
    • We make use of the following services internally – Constant Contact (Email Marketing), Paypal and Stripe (Payment Gateways), Google Analytics (Site activity).
  • if we “intend to transfer personal data to a third country or international organisation”
    • Other than the companies we’ve mentioned above we won’t share or sell your information to anyone

We are also required to tell you :-

  • the period for which the personal data will be stored
    • If you’re membership with us is for a year we’ll need to keep it for the duration of the year so we can identify you as a member each and every time you sign in.
  • that you have the right to 
    • request access
      • ie that you can see the data we have on you. See your membership dashboard on how to see this
    • rectification or erasure of personal data 
      • ie that you want your data changed or deleted entirely.  Note that if you want your data deleted during your membership period and before it ends, we reserve the right to cancel your membership.  It is impossible for us to provide a service without knowing who you are.  Free content you will always be able to see without requiring you to log in
    • restriction of processing
      • this covers the situation where you or another party (say the Police) require us to stop processing your data but request that it is not deleted.  For example, the Police may ask us to prevent you from further accessing the site but require us to keep you data as is whilst they perform any investigation.  We’re legally obliged to do as they request
    • object to processing
      • this covers the ‘right to be forgotten’.  For example, say you become married and your change in circumstances now also impacts your willingness to continue to allow us to process your information (you may not wish us to process your new details).  This right allows you to change or remove your consent previously given to us.  We think that’s pretty fair.
    • data portability
      • if you request information from us we’re obliged to give it to you in a machine readable format (encrypted).  You may also request us to send this information to a supervising authority of your choosing.
    • withdraw consent at any time
      • we’ve covered this above but if you change your mind about your consent at any time jus let us know and we’ll be happy to address that for you
    • lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
      • if we fail to act on our best interest, or provide you with the information you are requesting you can of course take recourse elsewhere.  We’re hopefully this will never happen.
  • whether 
    • the provision of personal data is a “statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract” 

      • You are not required to enter into a contract to access this website.  If you take out a membership any payments will be required to be completed prior to access being provided to the paid-for content
    • you are “obliged to provide the personal data and of the possible consequences of failure to provide such data”
      • No, you’re not obliged to provide the data to us, it just makes our and your life easier when it comes to accessing the content.  If you do not wish to have your data tracked if will not be possible for us to provide the paid-for content to you (as we won’t be able to determine if you are  a member of this site)
  • the “existence of automated decision-making, including profiling”
    • We use Google Analytics as described above.  This helps us align the information we provide to our site members to reflect what they are interested in.  We do not use an automated decision-making. Our payment gateways (PayPall and Stripe) may do this in order to ascertain your ability to pay for any subscriptions you undertake with us. Please see their Privacy Policies for information on this.

4.3. Right to Rectification

Where there are omissions in the data we hold you have the following two rights  :-

  • “inaccurate data corrected”
  • “incomplete personal data completed”

If you see any data we hold on you falls into one of the categories above, and this can’t be corrected with the access you currently have, then do let us know and we’ll be happy to address this for you

4.4. Right to be Forgotten

You have the right to have your data removed from our systems.  We can do this where :-

  • “Retention of personal data is no longer necessary” for the processing we told you we would carry out on it
  • you specifically :-
    • “withdraw consent” – see above
    • “object to processing” – see above
  • your data has been “unlawfully processed “
  • your data has to be “erased as part of a legal obligation”

Do note that removing your data may not be entirely possible where data is held on our behalf with a third party.  We’re thinking here specifically of your payment details (Paypal and Stripe). We have to assume that you will be in control of that information (through your bank’s portal) and we won’t have ay access to this information anyway.  Note that as data stored by Google Analytics is deliberately obscured (obfuscated), and as such can’t be used to identify you, Google will not be able to remove any previously suppled data that your activity on our site contributed to.

4.5. Right to Restriction

We’ve covered some of this before but UK GDPR details more specific information here in Article 18.  Under this article you have the right to request restriction of processing where :-

  • “data accuracy is contested”
  • you oppose the “erasure [of data] and request restriction instead”
  • we “no longer need the data for intended purpose”
  • you “object to being processed by automated decision making”.  Note that we don’t do any automatic decision making.  Paypal and Stripe, our Payment Gateways, may do this to ascertain your ability to pay for our services that you are subscribing to.  If you object to this and would like to pay for the services do contact us at the above address

We’ll store your data when you request us to restrict it and will tell you if this restriction is going to be lifted if restriction has be previously requested for legal reasons

4.6. Right to Object

There’s a couple of specific clauses in we’re obliged to tell you about.  Here they are.

  • You have the right to object to processing of personal data for “direct marketing including profiling related to direct marketing”
  • Where you object your “personal data will no longer be processed for direct marketing”
  • You will be told of your “right to object to processing”.  Please consider us doing that here

5. What We Collect

We may collect the following information:

  1. name and other registration details (id, password etc)
  2. contact information including email address
  3. demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
  4. other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers

6. What We do With the Information We Gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

  1. Internal record keeping.
  2. We may use the information to improve our products and services.
  3. We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.
  4. From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests

7. Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

8. How We use Cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

9. Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question

10. Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
  • if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us by clicking here

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen. You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please email us by clicking here If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please email us as soon as possible by clicking here. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.