LinnDocs:Privacy policy

From LinnDocs
Revision as of 13:06, 30 May 2008 by Olly (talk | contribs) (Protected "LinnDocs:Privacy policy" [edit=sysop:move=sysop])
Jump to: navigation, search

Privacy Policy

This policy (together with our terms of use and any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. 

"Websites" means Linn (www.linn.co.uk), Linnstore (http://www.linnstore.co.uk) and the Linn Community Services.

"Services" means any service(s) to be provided by Linn via the Websites.

Any terms not defined in this Privacy Notice shall have the same meaning as set out in the Linnstore Terms and Conditions or any other Linn Terms and Conditions.

Linn adheres to the Data Protection Act of 1998 ("Act") and the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC). For the purpose of the Act the Data Controller is Linn Products Limited, Glasgow Road, Waterfoot, Eaglesham, Glasgow G76 0EQ ("Linn", "we" or "us").

Our nominated representative for the purpose of the Act is the Data Protection Manager, Linn Products Limited, Glasgow Road, Waterfoot, Eaglesham, Glasgow, G76 0EQ, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Any personal data that you may give us, including your e-mail address, will be stored in a database to enable us to: fulfill your information request, create and maintain your Account, process and fulfill your Order, communicate with you in relation to your Account, provide you with product updates, provide the Services, and advertise promotional offers.

Information about you is an important part of our business and we are not in the business of selling or renting it to others. The information we store about you may be shared, where necessary, with our subsidiaries and authorised distributors and retailers who may need to contact you regarding your Account, new products, services and promotional offers. You will be contacted by them only if you have selected to receive such information when inputting your personal preferences in your member profile or Account.

Your Information

By registering with any of the Websites you consent to Linn storing, using and disclosing the data you provide in the manner and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information required to register with any Service and at other times as may be required in the course of using any Service. You further agree to maintain and update your data as required to keep it accurate, current, and complete. Linn may terminate your right to use any or all of any Service if any information you provide is false, inaccurate or incomplete as determined by Linn in its sole discretion. You agree that Linn may store and use the data you provide for use in providing any Service, including but not limited to, maintaining and collecting your Account and billing fees to your credit card (if applicable). Please note that your credit card details are not stored by Linn but are passed directly to the Royal Bank of Scotland e-Solutions payment gateway.

If you do not want Linn to keep you up to date with our latest news and information you can select this option when setting your preferences when you register. If you have already registered you can change your preferences by writing to Linn Products Ltd at helpline@linn.co.uk or Linn Products Ltd, Glasgow Road, Waterfoot, Eaglesham, Glasgow, G76 0EQ, Scotland, United Kingdom.

The main source of information we collect is at registration. You must register with us to make a purchase, register products for extended warranty or if you wish to contribute to the Linn Community Services, or other Services provided by Linn. However, you have the option to view our Websites and the Community Services content without having to register and we will offer you options to sign up for our mailing lists without having to make a purchase.

During registration you must provide your email address and you will be asked to choose a password. If you decide to purchase any Linn Goods you will be required to provide credit card and personal billing information. We want to gain a better understanding of our Customers and thus provide a more valuable Service so any information you provide may be used for market research purposes by Linn only. We also collect information regarding Customer activities on our Websites. This helps us to determine how best to provide useful information to a Customer and to understand which parts of our Website and/or our Services are of most interest to them.

Linn also enables you to send "e-vouchers" or purchase gift certificates for family members, friends or colleagues. To fulfil your request, Linn may require personal information about the person to whom you are sending the Goods or Service such as their name, postal address and email address. The personal information you provide about that person is used only for the purpose for which it is collected.

From time to time Linn may hold competitions or prize draws, as part of which we may request contact information from you when you enter. If you are a winner, we will notify you and display your first name and city on our news boards and newsletters announcing the winners.

We may occasionally ask you to participate in voluntary surveys. These surveys are intended to improve our Service. Any personal data collected will be used only by Linn (unless we specify otherwise in advance of your participation).

We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers. However, we may share with them aggregate survey result information about our Customers/users.

User Account and Service Security

As a registered user of the Service, you may receive or establish an account ("Account"). You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Account. You should not reveal your Account information (including your password) to anyone else, and must not use, or attempt to access or use anyone else's Account. You are entirely responsible for all purchases and other activities that occur on or through your Account, and you agree to immediately notify Linn of any unauthorised use of your Account or any other breach of security. Linn shall not be responsible for any losses arising out of the unauthorised use of your Account.

We maintain administrative and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personal data. However, while we strive to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security or ensure that personal data will never be disclosed in ways outwith our control and not otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we disclose your personal data to you.

You understand and agree that any material downloaded from the Websites is downloaded at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damages to your computer system or loss of data that may result from any such material downloaded.

Collection and Use of Personal Data About Customers

The information we learn from you helps us personalise and continually improve your shopping experience at Linn. We use this information to handle Orders, deliver Goods and Services to you, process payments, communicate with you about Orders, Goods, Services and promotional offers, to notify you about changes to our Services, update our records and generally maintain your Account with us, to deal with all issues in relation to claims or queries under any Linn warranty and/or pre or after sales service generally in respect of Linn products including dealing and exchanging information with Linn's subsidiaries, distributors and retailers for those purposes , display content such as wish lists and customer reviews and recommend merchandise and other Linn services that might be of interest to you. We also use this information to improve our Websites, prevent or detect fraud or abuses of our Websites and enable third parties to carry out technical, logistical or other functions on our behalf. Here are the types of information we gather:

Information you give us: we receive and store any information you enter on our Websites or give us in any other way. You can choose not to provide certain information but that will mean that you might not be able to take advantage of certain of the Website features.
Automatic information: we receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies" and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses the Websites. A number of companies offer utilities designed to help you visit websites anonymously. We will not be able to provide you with a personalised experience at the Website if we cannot recognise you, but we want you should be aware that we use cookies.
E-mail communications: we may receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail sent by Linn if your computer supports such capabilities.
Information from other sources: we might receive information about you from sources other than the Websites eg. correspondence and telephone calls with us and add it to your Account information.
How we use Cookies and other automatic tracking systems

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognise you.

We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our Websites to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us to estimate our audience size and usage pattern, store information about your preferences and so allow us to customise our Website according to your individual interests, speed up your searches and recognise you when you return to our Websites.

The Help menu on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. If you leave cookies turned on, be sure to sign off when you finish when using a shared computer.

You can always choose not to provide information and not to accept cookies, even though it might be needed to make a purchase from our Websites or to take advantage of certain Website features.

As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exiting pages, operating system, date/time stamp and clickstream data.

We use this information, which does not track or identify individual Customers, to analyse trends, administer the Websites, track Customer's movements around the Websites and to gather demographic information about our customer base as a whole. Linn will not use the information collected in this way to market directly to a Customer.

In some of our e-mail messages we use "click-through URLs" linked to content on our Websites. When a Customer clicks one of these URLs, they pass through our web server before arriving at the destination page. We track this click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of communications with a Customer.

Agents (Data Processor)

We occasionally employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include delivering Goods, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from Customer lists, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments and providing customer service. They have access to your personal data needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for any other purposes. Further, they must process personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy and in accordance with the Act.

Business transfers

As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy stores, subsidiaries or business units. In such transactions, Customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to any pre-existing Privacy Policy (unless, of course, the Customer consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that Linn or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal data held by Linn about the Customers will of course be one of the transferred assets.

Protection of Linn and others

We release your Account details and other personal data when we believe release is appropriate to comply with law, to enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions and other agreements or to protect the rights, property or safety of Linn, our users or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Obviously, however, this does not include selling, renting, sharing or otherwise disclosing personal data for commercial purposes in a way that is contrary to this Privacy Policy.

Whenever we transfer personal data to countries outside of the European Economic Area in the course of sharing personal data as set out above, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is transferred securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and in accordance with the Act. By submitting your personal data you agree to this transfer, storing and/or processing.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information by the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Website. Any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try and prevent unauthorised access.

How Secure Is Information About You?

We work to protect the security of your personal data during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input. To purchase from the Websites you must use an SSL enabled browser, for example, version 3.0 or higher of Internet Explorer. We reveal only the last four digits of your debit/credit card numbers when confirming an Order. Please note that your credit card details are not stored by this website. They are passed directly to the Streamline bank payment gateway. Linnstore uses thawte SSL Certificates to offer secure communications by encrypting all data to and from the site.

What Information Can You Access?

Linn gives you access to a broad range of information about your Account and your interactions. This list will change as our Websites evolve.

Your Rights

Our Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, distributors, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow any link to any of these websites, please note that these website have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liabilities for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our cost in providing the details of the information we hold about you.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Any changes that we make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this webpage and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.

Contact Us

If you are a registered member of any of the Websites and wish to terminate your Account with us, please send an email request to helpline@linn.co.uk, specifying which Website Accounts you wish to be terminated.