Politics.ie Privacy Statement

Introduction

Your privacy is important to us and this privacy statement sets out how Pie Media Ltd. collects, uses and protects any information you give us when you use Politics.ie. If you give us any information by which you can be identified when using Politics.ie then we will use it only in accordance with this privacy statement.

We may change this privacy statement from time to time. When we do we will notify you of the changes by placing a notification on all pages for 7 days from the date of the change. By continuing to use the site you agree to these changes.

Children under the age of 13

Politics.ie is not directed at children younger than 13 years of age and is offered only to users who are 13 or older. Children below 13 may not register with Politics.ie. We do not knowingly collect information from or about children below the age of 13. If we discover that we have collected personal information from a child below the age of 13 we will delete that information as soon as possible. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@politics.ie.

Persons aged 13 to 17

We recommend that young people aged 13 to 17 ask their parents or legal guardians for permission before using Politics.ie or sending any information about themselves to anyone over the Internet.

What we collect  

We collect the following information:

• Information which you supply on registration or as part of your profile;
• Information which you provide in relation to any payment;
• Information which you post on Politics.ie;
• Information which you otherwise provide to us (for example by email or private message); and
• Information relating to your use of Politics.ie generally. This may include, for example login and logout times and polls you’ve voted on.

Technical details in connection with visits to this website are logged for our statistical purposes. The technical details logged include:

• The IP address of each visitor and the domain of the internet service provider;
• The previous website address from which a visitor reached us, including any search terms used;
• “Clickstream” data which shows the traffic of visitors around Politics.ie (for example showing which stories have been read and which links have been clicked); and
• The type of web browser used by a visitor.

We also use outside providers for web-site statistics. Please note that to provide statistics these use visitors’ IP addresses but do not have access to users’ usernames or email addresses. The primary provider we use is Google Analytics. You can find further information on the information which it collects at http://www.google.com/analytics/.

Cookies

Politics.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. In particular, cookies are used to keep a record of your preferences and to keep you logged in between visits if you so choose. We also use temporary session cookies which enable a visitor’s web browser to remember which pages on this website have already been visited.

External providers

From time to time we may partner with an external provider to provide other services, for example we may ask an external company to carry out a survey or to run a competition. If any personal information is required you will be advised beforehand

What we do with the information we collect

• We require this information for the operation of Politics.ie, to understand your needs and provide you with a better service. In particular, we may use or disclose your information for the following reasons:
• We may use this information for our administration, record keeping and in connection with any payment;
• We may use this information, with your permission only, to contact you for marketing purposes;
• We may transfer this information to any sister site of Politics.ie where necessary for the operation of that site;
• We may use this information for technical processing and to address technical problems or service complaints;
• We may use this information to deal with cases of illegal activity, abuse or harassment;
• We may transfer this information to enable an external auditor to verify our traffic figures;
• We may disclose this information where required by law to do so;
• We may disclose this information to law enforcement, government officials or courts where we believe that disclosure is necessary and proportionate; and
• We may disclose this information where we believe that disclosure is necessary and proportionate for the protection of the legitimate interests of ourselves or of a third party.

We will not otherwise disclose, sell or distribute your information to any third party without your permission.

Anonymous and aggregated data

We may aggregate data in an anonymous manner for disclosure to advertisers or business associates for promotion and marketing purposes. By way of example, we may disclose to an advertiser the number of unique visitors in a daily period or the percentage age groups of our members. No personally identifiable information will be disclosed.

Information you post

Any personal information which you volunteer in your public profile or which you post as a message will be available worldwide to anyone with access to the website.

Please do not post any information you are not happy to leave up indefinitely. We recommend you do not post your name, address, telephone number, email address or anything else that may lead someone to identify you if this is something you are uncomfortable with.

Please note that certain information (such as photographs) which you may choose to provide might reveal your gender, ethnic origin, nationality, religion and/or sexual orientation.

Anonymous / pseudonymous users

You are free (if you wish) to choose a username which does not reflect your real name. However please be aware that we cannot guarantee that others will not be able to determine your identity.

User status  

Please note that your user status will appear in connection with your username. This may include your post count, your membership status, or another title at the discretion of the administrators of Politics.ie. If you become banned from using Politics.ie, the word "Banned" may appear under your username. Similarly, should you receive a warning relating to your use of Politics.ie, a yellow card may appear. 

Controlling your personal information

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you or rectify any personal information which is incorrect or incomplete under the Data Protection Acts 1988-2003.

If you would like a copy of the information held on you please email us at privacy@politics.ie. If you are a registered user please supply details of your username and email address which you supplied when registering. Please note that to protect your privacy we may require further information to verify your identity.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please email us as soon as possible at privacy@politics.ie. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

If someone else has posted your personal information on Politics.ie without your permission and you would like it removed please contact us at privacy@politics.ie.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. 

Glossary of technical terms used

Web browser

The piece of software you use to read web pages. Examples are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

IP address

The identifying details for your computer (or your internet company’s computer), expressed in “internet protocol” code (for example 192.168.72.34). Every computer connected to the web has a unique IP address, although the address may not be the same every time a connection is made.

Cookies

Small pieces of information, stored in simple text files, placed on your computer by a web site.