Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal data PressSphera collects, why we collect it, how long we keep it and what rights you have over it. It covers this website only. It is written to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are

PressSphera is the data controller for the personal data described here. For anything to do with your data, write to [email protected].

Cookies

We use Google Analytics, which sets cookies on your device to recognise returning visits and measure how the site is used. Nothing is set until you accept. On your first visit you are asked whether to allow analytics cookies; until you choose to allow them, no analytics cookie is written and no analytics data leaves your browser. You can change your mind whenever you like using the Cookie settings link in the footer. Rejecting stops any further data being stored and deletes the Google Analytics cookies already on your device.

We set no advertising cookies of our own and we do not use cookies to build advertising profiles. Google may process the analytics data on its own terms; see Google’s privacy policy.

Cookies that are strictly necessary for the site to work — such as the one that remembers your cookie choice, and the session cookie used if you log in to the admin — are always set, because the site cannot function without them. They carry no analytics or advertising purpose.

What we collect

Our own analytics.Alongside Google Analytics we run first-party analytics that set no cookies and do not track you across other websites. For each page view we record the path, the referring site, your approximate screen width and a one-way hash that groups a day’s visits together. That hash is derived from your IP address and a rotating salt, so it cannot be reversed to identify you and cannot be linked across days. We do not store raw IP addresses in our own analytics.

Google Analytics. Google receives your IP address, the pages you view and standard device and browser information. Google Analytics 4 anonymises IP addresses by default and we have not enabled advertising personalisation features.

Contact form. If you contact us we store the name, email address and message you send, so we can reply and keep a record of the correspondence. We also record the page you submitted from, the site that referred you, your browser and device type, and your IP address. That technical detail is used only to judge whether an enquiry is genuine and to block abuse. It is visible to our editors and is never shared or published.

Guest post submissions. If you submit an article we store the content along with your name, email address, biography and any website you give us. Your email address is used for editorial contact and is never published. Your name, biography and website are published alongside your article if we accept it.

Paid placements. If you buy a placement we additionally hold your business name and address, the invoice and the payment reference, and our correspondence about the booking. Card details are handled by the payment provider and never reach our servers.

Server logs. Our web server keeps standard access logs, including IP addresses, for security and abuse prevention.

What we do not do

• We do not sell or rent personal data.
• We do not use advertising cookies or run ad networks on this site.
• We do not share submission email addresses with anyone outside the editorial team.
• We do not build advertising profiles about visitors.
• We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling.

Why we are allowed to hold it

UK GDPR requires us to name a lawful basis for each purpose. Ours are:

• Replying to an enquiry and corresponding about a submission. Legitimate interests — running an editorial publication.
• Fulfilling a paid placement and issuing invoices. Performance of a contract.
• Keeping financial and transaction records. Legal obligation.
• Our own cookieless first-party analytics. Legitimate interests, using a method designed not to identify individuals.
• Google Analytics and any other non-essential cookie. Consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

How long we keep it

• Contact messages and declined submissions: 24 months from last contact.
• Placement correspondence, invoices and contract records: 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year (HMRC requirement).
• Published articles and the byline information published with them: For as long as the article remains online.
• Our own first-party analytics: Retained indefinitely in aggregate, in a form that does not identify you.
• Google Analytics: As set by Google, currently 26 months.

After the applicable period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

Who else sees it

The site is served from our own infrastructure and fonts are self-hosted, so no request is made to a third-party font provider when you load a page. We share data only where it is necessary to run the service:

• Google Analytics, described above, which loads only while analytics consent is in place.
• Our payment provider, for placement invoicing and transactions.
• Our hosting and email providers, acting as data processors under written agreements.
• Legal or regulatory authorities, where the law requires it.

Anyone handling personal data on our behalf does so under a written data processing agreement compliant with UK GDPR. If we add an embedded service such as a video player, its own privacy policy will apply to that embed.

Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. The site is served over TLS, administrative access requires two-factor authentication, and payment card details never reach our servers. No internet transmission is entirely secure, so we do not claim it is.

Transfers outside the UK

We do not knowingly transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom. Some providers, such as Google Analytics, may process data in other jurisdictions; where that happens we rely on the safeguards required by Chapter V of the UK GDPR.

Your rights

If you are in the UK or the EU you have the right to:

• Ask what personal data we hold about you, and get a copy of it.
• Have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
• Have your data deleted, where we have no legal obligation to keep it.
• Object to, or ask us to restrict, how we process it.
• Receive data you gave us in a portable form.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

Withdraw analytics consent whenever you like using the Cookie settings link in the footer. For anything else, write to [email protected] and we will respond within one calendar month.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you came to us first, but you do not have to.

Changes

If this policy changes materially we will update the date at the top of this page and, where the change affects how we use data you have already given us, we will say so plainly rather than relying on you to re-read it.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about data we hold, go to [email protected]. What we publish and how we handle submissions is covered by the editorial guidelines.

This policy is published by PressSphera and applies to PressSphera.