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Privacy
Statement of AbleStable® |
Welcome
Welcome
to AbleStable's Privacy Statement. The links below will
take you to sections within this page. We have attempted
at
all
times to be clear and unambiguous. We update our privacy
statement
from time to time so please revisit this page periodically.
All updates are posted on this page.
If you have any suggestions for improvements to our Privacy
Statement please visit our Feedback
page where you can contribute to the continuing development
of AbleStable.
AbleStable® provides a comprehensive Terms
and Conditions for all our users and is registered under
the Data Protection Act 1998. You may view our entry at
Data Protection.
Contents
Definitions:
user types
The following
definitions of user types apply across AbleStable®:
• Users:
all visitors to AbleStable
•
Grazers:
unregistered visitors to AbleStable
•
Clients:
registered people seeking Members
•
Members:
creative professionals (people providing creative products
and/or services)
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contents
Introduction
AbleStable
values your privacy. AbleStable does not gather
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) without your
explicit consent.
We practice 'Opt-In' protocols across our site, and
we never contact Users without a completed consent form
(e-mail,
phone, postal or otherwise).
AbleStable is an independent not for profit site that
aims to build your trust and confidence in the Internet
by
practising the use of fair information practices. Because
AbleStable wants
to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it openly
discloses its information practices and privacy practices.
We disclose:
•
What personally identifiable information
is collected
•
What organisation is collecting the
information
•
How you can correct any inaccuracies
in the information
•
How the information is used
•
With whom the information may be shared
•
What choices are available to you
regarding collection, use and distribution of the information
•
What kind of security procedures are
in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration
of information under our control
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Special
guidelines for children
Children should always ask parents/carers for
permission before providing any Personally
Identifiable Information. To protect children we
recommend that children do not use an adult's e-mail address
anywhere on the Internet. We strongly suggest they acquire
their own redirect e-mail address from a free service. We
further recommend that they are helped to pick their own
'net alias' and encouraged to use it at all times instead
of their own name.
Children are strongly advised NOT to enter their e-mail
address or use their own name should they wish to register
as a Client of AbleStable.
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1
Information Disclosure
AbleStable attempts to make clear at all times
why you are giving us your name, e-mail address and
other
information.
If requested we may submit your information to local
or government authorities. You may view our entry under
the
Data Protection Act at Data
Protection.
During our Member registration
processes people are required to supply a username (alias),
password, e-mail address and various other types of information
depending on their type of User status. All requested
information
is requested for the sole purpose of delivering a premium
quality directory of creative professionals. No information
is passed on to external commercial organisations without
Users' permission. Users acknowledge that certain kinds
of information they provide at registration (for example
contact details appearing on Member profile pages, and
in
the Projects Area) will be published on our web site,
and may therefore be more widely available to the general
public
on the Internet.
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1.1
Opt-In or opt-out
You are free to opt-in or opt-out at will when choosing
to disclose (or not) Personally Identifiable Information
used by our site. You are not restricted to a set amount
of Opt-in or Opt-out choices. All registered Users
(Clients
and Members) may alter
their profile at any time, including their choices
of opt-in/out profile selections (e-mail notifications,
newsletters etc).
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1.2
Mandatory or optional information
Information requested at AbleStable
may be mandatory (required) or optional. The registration
process (be it for
Clients or Members)
will not be ratified without the completion of mandatory
information. The mandatory information provides the
basis
of our directory service and is crucial in its effective
delivery.
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1.3
Information collection, use and distribution
All Personally Identifiable Information collected at AbleStable
is immediately made secure in password protected files which
can only be accessed by the Director or Administrator of
AbleStable.
PII is used solely for AbleStable®
and is never passed on to third parties (see 1
above). Distribution of PII on our site has to be explicitly
authorised by Users through the appropriate User type registration
forms.
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1.4
Corrections and Updates
AbleStable
offers you the ability to correct or change the information
collected during registration. You may access and amend
this information at any time and as often as necessary by
altering your User profile. If you forget your password,
you may enter your date of birth and first school in the
'forgotton password' fields located on our log-in page.
Your password will be e-mailed to you within 24 hours.
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1.5
Delete and/or Deactivate
AbleStable sends regular e-mails to Users. If you
wish to be removed from our mailing list, you may click
on the unsubscribe URL that appears at the end of each
e-mail. Please allow two to three business days for the
actual cancellation to take effect. Once you have requested
information to be deleted or deactivated from AbleStable
there may be a wait of up to one month before this process
is complete (this length of time is necessary to comprehensively
remove users details from our records and files).
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1.6
Information Disclosure
Although you needn't register to visit AbleStable,
Users of many of our services must register for these
services in order to participate (the Clients services
is free). During registration you are required to supply
a username (alias), password, and e-mail address. and
various other types of information depending on your user
status.
Disclosing personally identifiable information online
through our services makes the information submitted public
information; such disclosure may increase your chance
of receiving "spam" or unsolicited e-mail Be
extra careful and use discretion when disclosing information
online.
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2
Privacy statement: user types
2.1
Grazers
AbleStable does not require Personally Identifiable
Information from Grazers to our site.
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2.2
Clients
AbleStable requires Client specific PII. Client specific
information enables us to deliver a premium service for
people searching for creative professionals, and who
wish
to post up to three projects on our directory per year
without charge (additional 'project posting blocks' may
a;so be purchased). This is data that Clients provide
through 'Opt-In' optional, voluntary registrations when
completing forms, requesting updates and/or news letters,
and participation in our directory service. To view the
information we request of Clients go to Client
Registration and visit each page in the registration
process.
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2.3
Members
AbleStable® requires Member specific PII. Member specific
information enables us to deliver a premium service for
creative professionals. This is data that Members provide
through 'Opt-In' optional, voluntary registrations when
completing forms, requesting updates and/or news letters,
and participation in our directory service. To view the
information we request of Members go to Member
Registration and visit each page in the registration
process
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2.4
Unsolicited e-mail (Spam)
Sending unwelcome and unsolicited e-mail (Spam) has become
a significant problem on the internet and the burden of
cost falls not only on individuals using dial up Internet
service providers (ISP's) who charge by the minute, but
on us all. ISP's pass on the additional cost of forwarding
millions of Spam e-mails to everyone who uses the Internet.
Although it is easy to understand the commercial motivation
of spamming, it is important we all practice responsible
e-mail protocols. AbleStable never contacts
private individuals and Clients without their authorisation.
In comparison however, creative professionals and businesses
in the creative industries actively invite contact by
e-mail for promotional purposes.
AbleStable cannot be held responsible for individuals
registering as Clients, Members or Partners and then
abusing
the services we offer by creating e-mail lists with the
sole purpose of spamming. If we discover a User of our
site abusing our service in this way, they are barred
immediately, indefinitely, and without refund of their
service fee.
3
Information gathering practices
3.1
Communication
AbleStable collects information via registration
forms. At all times users at AbleStable® are provided
with requests and explanations of what PII is required
and why. Personally Identifiable Information is never
passed on to commercial businesses or organisations (see
1 above).
AbleStable aims to provide you with information about
whether you should expect communication from our web
site
and when this may occur. This includes promotional and
informational mail and whether or not you have the option
of not receiving this type of communication. An explanation
is always provided at the end of the registration process
as to when you may expect e-mail, telephone calls, or
postal mailings.
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3.2
Demographic Information
Demographic information, which is collected on our web
site, is not shared with third parties (see 1
above). This information is used solely in-house to provide
a premium directory service. We comply fully with the
1998/2000/2001 United Kingdom data protection act and
have registered with the UK data protection agency. You
may find them at www.dataprotection.gov.uk.
You may view our entry under the Data Protection Act at
Data Protection.
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3.3
Logs
As people visit AbleStable a User log is made which
records Non-Personally Identifiable Information (IP addresses,
ISPs, and browser type). A record is made of the amount
of visitors who visit our site on a page by page basis,
where they travel to and from within our site, and how
long they stay there. Visitors cannot be identified personally
although their browser and platform is (PC, Mac etc).
This information is used to help AbleStable® evaluate
how we can improve our service by analysing trends, and
administering our site.
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3.4
Cookies
A cookie is a small data file that certain Web sites
write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie
file
can contain information such as a user ID that the site
uses to track the pages you have visited. The only personal
information a cookie can contain is information you supply
yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk
or read cookie files created by other sites. AbleStable
uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described
above), and when you register as a Client or Member.
If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting
cookies, you will receive the warning message with each
cookie. When you register, AbleStable uses a cookie
to store a unique, random user ID. We use this ID to
identify you anonymously in our database and to track
the pages
you visit on our site. Cookies also enable you to automatically
enter User areas which would otherwise require a manual
log-in.
You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser.
You do not need to have cookies turned on to use AbleStable
as a Grazer, but you are required to use them when using
our services as a Client or Member.
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3.5
Session tracking
To provide an effective registration and User service
we track Users across our site. We record Non-Personally
Identifiable Information (IP addresses, ISPs, and browser
type). This enables us to 'persist' data on our site.
For example, when a User registers, they may wish to alter
information they completed earlier in the registration
process. By 'persisting' this information they have the
facility to revisit their earlier form in one action.
Without session tracking all database requests would have
to be completed sequentially, and Users would not have
access to previous database-led information.
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3.6
Supplementation of Information
All material at AbleStable is either original to
our site, or we have gained express permission from the
copyright owner to show material for the express use
of
our creative directory. We supplement the information
users receive with information from third parties (such
as newsfeeds) to add value to our service. We do not
run
banner advertising on this site. There are however areas
of our site where Users may choose to view information
about products and services that Members of AbleStable provide.
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3.7
Security
To protect the loss, misuse, or alteration of information
collected:
•
Employees
and of AbleStable are made aware of our security
policy and practices through training programmes and
with
the Employees Introduction Guide which contains our Private
Statement and is given to all employees of AbleStable
at the start of their term of work.
•
Access
to personal data is limited to the Director and Administrator
of AbleStable. These individuals obtain access via
password protected encrypted files
•
Our
web security is reviewed every three months
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3.8
Linking to Outside Sites
This web site contains links to other web sites. Please
note that when you click on one of these links, you are
moving to another web site. We encourage you to read the
privacy statements of these linked sites as their privacy
policy may differ from ours.
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3.9
Notification of Changes
If a change occurs in our privacy practices, all Users
of AbleStable are informed by e-mail within one week
of that change. Any change in our privacy policy is immediately
made available on this page.
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4
Information Use
AbleStable uses any information voluntarily given
by you to enhance your experience on our site, whether
to provide interactive or personalised elements on the
sites or to better prepare future content based on your
interests.
As stated above, AbleStable uses information that
you voluntarily provide to enable you to take full advantage
of our services. We send out newsletters to subscribers
on a regular schedule (daily or weekly, depending on
the
newsletter), and occasionally send out special editions
when we think subscribers might be particularly interested
in something we are doing. AbleStable never shares
newsletter mailing lists with any third parties, including
partners.
When we use tracking information to determine which areas
of our sites users like and don't like based on traffic
to those areas. AbleStable does not track what individual
users read, but rather how well each page performs overall.
This helps us continue to build a better service for
you.
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4.1
Surveys
On occasion we may conduct online surveys. This is used
to gauge our service, collect demographic information
and other information that we may find useful. These surveys
are optional. We may share non-personal, aggregated information
collected during these surveys with third parties.
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