What information do we collect?

There are two types of data that we may collect during your use of this site:  personally indentifiable information and non-personally identifiable (or aggregate) information.  Personally identifiable information includes but is not limited to items such as your name, e-mail address and password; we only collect this information when it is volunteered by you.  Aggregate information may include details of pages you visit, your browser specifications and session identifiers;  this information is collected passively and is not connected with any personally identifiable information.

How do we use information we collect?

Information we collect is only made available to staff within this company, its subsidiaries and successors, and third party joint-venture companies unless otherwise required in order to uphold the law, or the terms and conditions of this site.

Some personally identifiable information is mandatory when you request a service from this site; we require this information mainly for the purposes of authentication and security.  You may choose to volunteer additionaly information such as your personal tastes and interests; we use this data to enhance and customise your experience with this site, for example, by delivering targeted marketing communication during your visit.

At times we may ask you to optionally participate in surveys or competitions that require you to provide information such as your opinion  or feedback regarding a particular subject;  we collect this data to analyze demographic trends and to compile statistical reports.  This data is not connected with any personally identifiable information unless you choose and consent to disclose your identity, for example, if you enter a competition your entry responses may be associated with your name or e-mail address in order for us to notify competition winners.  We may publish this information either in whole or in part, in raw or uninterpretted format, digitally within this site or another site, or through any other means such as audio, video and print.  We will never publish your personally identifiable information without your permission and consent.

We collect and analyse aggregate data for performance monitoring and technical administration purposes.  For example, your IP address may be used to identify your machine during a particular transaction;  we use this data to maintain our acceptable usage policies, monitor and improve system resources,m and to detect and prevent prohibitied or fraudulent activity.

Cookies

It is common for websites to store information in a file on your hard disk known as a 'cookie'.  We use cookies to uniquely identify you for the duration of your visit;  we record your session state and various choices you make while using a service.  These cookies generally expire and are deleted when you close your browser.  Your browser may be configured to either accept or reject cookies based on your security preferences.  If you choose not to accept cookies you will not be able to use certain features and services.  While we use cookies for identification purposes, we do not store any personally identifiable information on your machine at any time.  You may have the option to store information such as your username and password to avoid having to re-enter them each time you visit, however this is not recommended on public or multi-user computers.

In certain cases we may include third-party advertisements within this site; advertisers often use cookies to track statistical data.  This data is not collected or governed by us, and you should consult third party privacy policies for more information about how this data is used.

Security

We take a number or steps to ensure that information we collect is secure from  unauthorised access, tampering or deletion.  This may include making copies for backup purposes and to comply with the data storage policies of this company.  We do not accept any responsibility for information during it's transmission or storage lifetime, nor do we accept liability for consequences related to unauthorised use of this information.  It is your responsibility to ensure that your username and password remain secure at all times.  If you suspect that your password has become known to someone else you should change if immediately to prevent others from using and accessing your account information.  We will never under any circumstances ask you to communicate your password to us via e-mail.