Privacy and Copyright

Copyright

The material on our website , the software, design, text and graphics comprised in the site and the selection and layout of the site are owned or licensed to us and protected by copyright under the laws of England and other countries.

You may view this website and its contents using your web browser and save an electronic copy of the website solely in the usual operation of your web browser in visiting the site.

You must not otherwise reproduce, transmit (including broadcast), adapt, distribute, sell, modify, publish, communicate to the public or otherwise use any of the material on the site, including audio and video excerpts, except as permitted by Federal Copyright legislation or with Shieldyourself's prior written consent.

Linking and use of Shieldyourself's Internet branding icons

We welcome administrators and managers of internet sites placing a link on their site back to the Shieldyourself home page. Deep links are also permitted.

Framing

You must not frame any of the material appearing on Shieldyourself except with Shieldyourself's prior written consent.

Privacy

Our website is designed to protect the privacy of all users.

In order to provide you with products and services, we will need to collect and use information about you. We are committed to protecting your privacy and managing your personal information in a secure environment. The website has been developed with your rights and needs in mind and will be maintained according to strict guidelines and policies. In particular, these include Shieldyourself's Privacy Principles which have been designed to ensure that personal information is protected and to specify the guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of that personal information.

We will keep you informed about the sort of personal information we hold and for what purposes, and how we collect, use and disclose this information. You can request to access and correct any information Shieldyourself collects about you at any time and advise us of any corrections you wish to make.

• Collection of your personal information
• How we use your personal information
• Security and quality of your information
• How to access, correct or update your information
• Childrens Privacy
• What else you should know about privacy
• How to contact us

When the term 'we' is used, it refers to the owner of the site, Shield Consultancy Services UK Ltd trading as Shieldyourself. Shieldyourself maintains strict guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information which can be viewed at our Website. If you have any queries, please Contact Us .

When you visit the Shieldyourself website, you are encouraged to read the information provided on the sites linked to Shieldyourself and the pages that you are using, which may have separate terms of use and privacy policies.

The Shieldyourself website consists of many pages and services. Information provided may be subject to change from time to time, so we encourage you to check our Privacy Statement regularly.

Principle 1 – personal information

When you provide Shieldyourself with your personal information, this will be held strictly in accordance with this Privacy Statement. We will inform you when and for what purpose we will be collecting personal information and how the information will be used, and will clearly indicate what information is necessary to access Shieldyourself products and services including transactions. In addition we may offer you the opportunity to provide further information so that Shieldyourself can provide you improved and personalised services. Provision of this additional information is completely at your discretion, and you may decide to not provide it to us.

We will not ask for and collect any sensitive information about you (such as gender, marital status, age, race or health information) unless it is necessary to meet legal, public interest or statistical requirements related to and required to complete the transaction you have requested. Provision of this information (except where it is a legal requirement) is completely at your discretion, and you may decide to not provide it to us.

If your information is no longer needed by us, we will take all reasonable steps to permanently remove personal identification from the information collected about you.

Shieldyourself may automatically record other information as well. This information is used to improve the structure and performance of Shieldyourself in order to provide you with better services. Whenever a page is requested from our web server, Shieldyourself records the time, date and URL of the request, along with information on the browser software that is being used.

We also track the pattern of visitor usage across Shieldyourself websites using a facility called a cookie. Shieldyourself has a separate detailed cookie policy. This cookie identifies and recognises the computer (but not the person using the computer) when you visit Shieldyourself websites.

Cookies are pieces of information that a website can transfer to an individual's computer hard drive for record keeping. Cookies can make using Shieldyourself easier by storing information about your preferences on a particular website. This will enable you to take full advantage of the services that Shieldyourself offers. The use of cookies is an industry standard and you'll find most major websites use them. Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used.

For more details please refer to Shieldyourself's Privacy Principles and Practices.

How we use your personal information

The personal information that you provide to Shieldyourself during registration for products and services on Shieldyourself is used for identification purposes and will assist you to subscribe to Shieldyourself services more easily. The information we collect from your use of the website enables us to provide personalised services that are tailored to your needs. Recording usage patterns helps us to identify the areas of our site that are popular and those that are not.

Shieldyourself aggregates the data that is gathered when you use Shieldyourself for analysis purposes. Personally identifiable characteristics are removed and the user remains anonymous, unless you have given prior specific consent for Shieldyourself to recognise your usage on an individual basis. Additional data provided to us is used to examine Internet trends and demographics to help Shieldyourself offer you improved online products and services.

For more details please refer to Shieldyourself‘s Privacy Principles and Practices.

Disclosure of your information

We will not use your personal information or data for a purpose other than the purposes for which you supplied it, and will not disclose it to any other person or organisation unless:

• The information is necessary to conduct a transaction between you and that person or organisation and that transaction has been requested by you; or
• We are required by law to do so; or
• There are reasonable grounds to believe that disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life or health; or
• That person or organisation is an agent or contractor providing a service to Shieldyourself, who will be required to maintain the same or similar privacy principles as specified in privacy legislation; or
• You have given us consent to do so.

You may also notify us at any time that you want to change the information held by using the Contact Us page.

Security and quality of your information that you may send to or receive from using Shieldyourself

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that all information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date and stored in a secure environment accessed only by authorised persons. Transmissions sent to or from Shieldyourself are routinely monitored for quality control and systems administration.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we strive to protect your personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us or receive from our online products or services. These activities are conducted at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best effort to ensure its security.

How to access, correct or update your information

If you wish to access or modify personal information which you have provided Shieldyourself please send an email using the Contact Us page.

We will also allow you access to personal information in accordance with our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

In rare instances it may not be reasonable to let you have access to the personal information we hold about you. These circumstances may include where we reasonably believe that providing access may pose a serious threat to life or health of an individual or to public safety, providing access would be unlawful, or providing access would reveal pending legal proceedings or prejudice an investigation into unlawful activity that you may have been engaged in.

If we do not allow you to access the personal information we hold about you, we will provide you with a reason for our denial and the opportunity to respond. Our Privacy principles set out the processes of review and independent mediation that are available to you.

Children's privacy

We will take all reasonable steps to protect the safety of children in their use of Shieldyourself.

We ask that children under the age of 18 have a parent or guardian verify their membership application with Shieldyourself. Whilst Shieldyourself will make every reasonable effort to ensure that children's privacy and other rights are not compromised, it is ultimately the responsibility of parents to monitor their children's Internet usage.

What else you should know about privacy

Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe. You as an individual are responsible for the security of, and access to, your own computer.

Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information over the Internet (eg. in discussion forums, via email, or in chat sites) that this information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the Internet and Shieldyourself.

For further Privacy information, please refer to Shieldyourself 's Privacy Principles and Practices.

How to contact us

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact Shieldyourself by phoning +44 (0)870 011 8250 or using the Contact page.

Thank you for taking the time to read the Shieldyourself Privacy Statement.
Privacy principles
Principle 1 – collection

Shieldyourself will only collect personal information that is necessary for the activities on Shieldyourself that you request. Shieldyourself will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.

At or before the time Shieldyourself collects personal information from you (or, if that is not practicable, as soon as practicable thereafter), Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are aware of:

• Shieldyourself's identity and how to contact it
• the fact that you are able to gain access to the information
• the purposes for which the information is collected
• the conditions under which Shieldyourself will disclose information to other parties
• any law that requires the particular information to be collected
• the main consequences (if any) for you if all or part of the information is not provided

Where it is reasonable and practicable to do so, Shieldyourself will collect personal information directly from you.

Where Shieldyourself collects personal information from a third party, Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the matters above.

Principle 2 – use

Shieldyourself will only use personal information for the following purposes:

• the uses that you have agreed to
• where Shieldyourself reasonably believes that the use is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to an individual's life or health
• where the use is required or specifically authorised by law

Principle 3 – disclosure

Shieldyourself will only disclose personal information if:

• you have consented to the disclosure
• Shieldyourself reasonably believes that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to an individual's life or health
• the disclosure is required or specifically authorised by law

Principle 4 – data quality

Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate, complete and up to date.

Principle 5 – data security

Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently “de-identify” personal information if it is no longer needed for any purpose.

Principle 6 – openness

Shieldyourself will have clearly expressed policies on its management of personal information and these will continue to be readily available.

Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to let you know broadly, what sort of personal information it holds, for what purposes, and how it collects, uses, and discloses that information.

Principle 7 – access and correction

Where Shieldyourself holds personal information about you, it will provide you with access to the information on request, in a form or manner suitable to your reasonable needs, except to the extent that:

• providing access would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual; or
• providing access would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of other individuals; or
• the request for access is frivolous or vexatious; or
• the information relates to existing legal dispute resolution proceedings between Shieldyourself and you, and the information would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings; or
• providing access would reveal the intentions of Shieldyourself in relation to negotiations with the individual in such a way as to prejudice those negotiations; or
• providing access would be unlawful; or
• denying access is specifically authorised by law; or
• providing access would be likely to prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity; or
• providing access would be likely to prejudice:
• the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of:
• criminal offences; or
• breaches of a law imposing a penalty or sanction;
• the enforcement of laws relating to the confiscation of the proceeds of crime;
• the protection of the public revenue;
• the prevention, detection, investigation or remedying of Seriously Improper Conduct; or
• preparation for, or conduct of, proceedings before any court or tribunal, or implementation of its orders; by or on behalf of an enforcement agency; or

Where providing access would reveal evaluative information generated within Shieldyourself in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process, Shieldyourself may give the individual an explanation for the decision rather than direct access to the information.

If Shieldyourself has given you such an explanation and you believe that direct access to the evaluative information is necessary to provide a reasonable explanation of the reasons for the decision, Shieldyourself will, at your request, undertake a review of the decision. The review will be undertaken by an independent other than the original decision maker.

Wherever direct access by you is impractical or inappropriate, Shieldyourself and you should consider whether the use of mutually agreed intermediaries would allow sufficient access to meet the needs of both parties.

If Shieldyourself levies charges for providing access to personal information, those charges:

• will not be excessive; and
• will not apply to lodging a request for access.

If Shieldyourself holds personal information about you and you are able to establish that the information is not accurate, complete and up to date, Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.

If you and Shieldyourself disagree about whether the information is accurate, complete and up to date and you ask Shieldyourself to associate with the information a statement claiming that the information is not accurate, complete or up to date, Shieldyourself will take reasonable steps to do so. Shieldyourself will provide reasons for denial of access or correction.

Principle 8 – identifiers

Shieldyourself will not adopt as its own identifier, an identifier that has been assigned by a government agency (or by an agent of, or contractor to, a government agency acting in its capacity as agent or contractor).

Shieldyourself will not use or disclose an identifier assigned to an individual by a government agency (or by an agent of, or contractor to, a government agency acting in its capacity as agent or contractor) except where paragraphs (d) to (g) of Principle 2 or paragraphs (c) to (f) of Principle 3 apply.

Principle 9 – anonymity

Whenever it is lawful and practicable, you will have the option of not identifying yourself when dealing with Shieldyourself.

Principle 10 – transborder data flows

Shieldyourself will not transfer personal data outside of the United Kingdom unless:

• Shieldyourself reasonably believes that the recipient of the information is subject to a statute, binding scheme or contract which effectively upholds principles for fair information handling that are substantially similar to these rules; or
• you consent to the transfer; or
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between the you and Shieldyourself, or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken in respect of your request; or
• the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interest between Shieldyourself and a third party; or
• the transfer is for your benefit; and
• it is not practicable to obtain your consent To that transfer; and
• if it were practicable to obtain such consent, the subject of the information would give it; or
• Shieldyourself has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the information which it has transferred will not be collected, held, used or disclosed by the recipient of the information inconsistently with these rules.

Principle 11 – sensitive information

Shieldyourself will not collect personal information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, or details of health, disability or sexual activity or orientation unless:

• you have consented; or
• the collection is required or specifically authorised by law; or
• the collection is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual, where the subject of the information is physically or legally incapable of giving consent.