Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and General Terms

The DM Lab is committed to protecting you and your family’s personal information when you are using The DM Lab’s services. We want our services to be safe and enjoyable environments for our audience. This Privacy Policy relates to our use of any personal information you provide to us online. This is via phone or text, by email, in letters or correspondence.

In order to provide you with the full range of The DM Lab’s services, we sometimes need to collect information about you.

This Privacy Policy explains the following:

• What information The DM Lab may collect about you;
• How The DM Lab will use information we collect about you;
• When The DM Lab may use your details to contact you;
• Whether The DM Lab will disclose your details to anyone else;
• Your choices regarding the personal information you provide to us;
• The use of cookies on The DM Lab’s website and how you can reject these cookies.

The DM Lab is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information. This includes the Data Protection Act 1998 (these laws are referred to collectively in this Privacy Policy as the “data protection laws”).

The DM Lab websites contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

2. What information will The DM Lab collect about me?

When you participate in, access or sign up to any of The DM Lab’s services, activities or online content, such as newsletters, competitions, message boards, telephone or text The DM Lab, vote or create an account using The DM Lab’s online registration system we may receive personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone or mobile number or date of birth, depending on the activity.

By submitting your details, you enable The DM Lab (and where applicable its contractors) to provide you with the services, activities or online content you select.

Please note that sometimes we will require you to provide additional personal information. Sometimes this may be sensitive personal information (e.g. if you’re sending in an application to be a contributor on a political party we may need to know your political leanings). When we do this we will provide further information as to why we are collecting your information. We will also provide information on how we will use it.

The DM Lab also uses cookies (see paragraph 12 below for details) and collects IP addresses. An IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet) from visitors to The DM Lab’s websites.

3. How will the The DM Lab use the information they collect about me?

The DM Lab will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

• to provide our services, activities or online content and to deal with your requests and enquiries;
• for “service administration purposes”. This means that The DM Lab may contact you for reasons related to the service, activity or online content you have signed up for. As set out in paragraph 4 below. For example, to provide you with password reminders or to notify you that a particular service, activity or online content has been suspended for maintenance;
• to contact you about a submission you have made, including any content you provide.
• to provide you with information about our services, activities or online content;
• personalising the way The DM Lab content is presented to you
• to analyse and improve the services offered on The DM Lab’s websites.
• to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. The DM Lab may also use and disclose information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.

Where The DM Lab proposes using your personal information for any other uses we will ensure that we notify you first. You will also be given the opportunity to withhold or withdraw your consent for the use of your personal information for purposes other than those listed above.

4. When will The DM Lab contact me?

The DM Lab may contact you:

• in relation to any service, activity or online content you have signed up for in order to ensure that The DM Lab can deliver the services to you;
  where you have opted to receive further correspondence;
• in relation to any contribution you have submitted to The DM Lab. For example, on The DM Lab message boards or via text or voicemail message;
• to invite you to participate in surveys about The DM Lab’s services (participation is always voluntary); and
• for marketing purposes where you have specifically agreed to this (see paragraph 5 below)
• Local pages will give you detailed information about how The DM Lab will contact you in relation to specific services, activities or online content.

5. Will I be contacted for marketing purposes?

The DM Lab won’t contact you for marketing purposes. The DM Lab will not promote new services, activities or online content to you unless you specifically agree to be contacted for these purposes.

6. Will The DM Lab share my personal information with anyone else?

We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law. For example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies) or as described in paragraph 7 below. Generally, we will only use your information within The DM Lab. However, sometimes The DM Lab uses third parties to process your information. The DM Lab requires these third parties to comply strictly with its instructions. However, The DM Lab requires that they do not use your personal information for their own business purposes. This is unless you have explicitly consented to the use of your personal information in this way.

7. Offensive or inappropriate content on the The DM Lab website

If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to The DM Lab’s websites or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any of The DM Lab’s services, The DM Lab may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.

Where The DM Lab reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of England and Wales (or the law of Scotland if you live there) (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), The DM Lab may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, school email/internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

8. What if I am a user aged 16 or under?

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent / guardian’s permission before you provide any personal information to The DM Lab. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

9. How long will The DM Lab keep my personal information?

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with The DM Lab.

Where you contribute material to The DM Lab we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted.

10. Can I find out what personal information The DM Lab holds about me?

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request a copy of the personal information The DM Lab holds about you. You can request to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests and require you to prove your identity with 2 pieces of approved identification). We will use reasonable efforts to supply, correct or delete personal information about you on our files.

Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Policy to the Data Protection Officer, Suite 2B, Penn House, 9-10 Broad Street, Hereford, HR4 9AP (Email: info@thedmlab.com)

11. What if I am accessing The DM Lab’s websites outside the UK?

www.thedmlab.com is published in the UK by The DM Lab. All personal information submitted by you to the website goes directly to The DM Lab. It will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy (and any local terms that apply on websites). Where there is a conflict, the local terms will apply to the extent of the conflict.

12. Cookies Policy – Information The DM Lab collects from you

a. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data. It often includes a unique identifier. This is sent to your computer or mobile phone (referred to here as a “device”) browser from a website’s computer and is stored on your device’s hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it. However, (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

On The DM Lab’s websites, cookies record information about your online preferences. This allows us to tailor the websites to your interests.

Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised features cannot then be provided to that user. As a result, they may not be able to take full advantage of all of the website’s features. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

During the course of any visit to The DM Lab’s websites, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your device. Many websites do this because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things. Things like find out whether the device (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

b. How does The DM Lab use cookies?

Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse the profile of our visitors. This helps us to provide you with a better user experience. For example, if on a previous visit you went to our education pages, we might find this out from your cookie. This would then highlight educational information on your second and subsequent visits.

All third parties are strictly required not to use any information for their own business or other purposes (see paragraph 6 above). Certain other areas of The DM Lab’s websites use cookies for a specific reason – for example, to help the login process to work effectively on your device. If this is the case, the local terms for that area of the website will make this clear. You should refer to those local terms for additional information.

c. Third Party Cookies on The DM Lab pages

Please note that during your visits to The DM Lab’s websites you may notice some cookies that are not related to the The DM Lab or the The DM Lab’s contractors. When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Flickr, you may be presented with cookies from these websites. The DM Lab does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the third party websites for more information about these.

d. The DM Lab cookies and how to reject cookies?

A list of the main cookies that The DM Lab’s websites set (and what each is used for) together with ways to minimise the number of cookies you receive can be found at the The DM Lab’s Cookie List and How To Reject Cookies.4

13. Changes to The DM Lab’s Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. You may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to The DM Lab. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use The DM Lab’s websites to submit personal information to The DM Lab. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you. This will be done by placing a prominent notice on the website.

14. Contacting The DM Lab about this Privacy Policy

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy please contact:

The Data Protection Officer
Suite 2B
Penn House
9-10 Broad Street
Hereford
HR4 9AP
(Email: info@thedmlab.com).