Privacy Policy

NorthernDating.com Member Privacy Policy

Last updated on Wednesday 16th January, 2013

Proprietor

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 we confirm that the proprietor and operator of the NorthernDating.com website at https://northerndating.com (the “Website”) and the dating and networking service offered via the site (the “Service”) is Global Personals Limited, a company registered under the laws of England, whose registered office is Minton Place, Victoria Street, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1EG (“we,” “us,” “our” or “Global Personals”). Global Personals can be contacted via the contact section on the Website or by writing to our registered address.

Global Personals respects the privacy of each user accessing the Website (“you,” “your”) and is committed to protecting your privacy. Global Personals has structured the Website so that, in general, it is necessary to provide log-in information and identify yourself to access the Website. Global Personals ensures that any personal information provided by you to Global Personals will be processed in accordance with the eight principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy Policy set out below. The Website is registered with the Information Commissioner in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Submission and Processing of Data

When you subscribe or sign up to the Website, Global Personals may ask you for certain information and, subject to the Terms governing use of the Website, you may submit to or communicate through the Website, personal data of any kind, such as:

  • your name, phone number, postal address, email address, contact and bank / credit card details;
  • if you contact us, a record of that correspondence;
  • your answers to any surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them; or
  • details of your visits to the Website including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise and the resources that you access.

Global Personals may also record which services you are interested in and which services you purchase as well as user traffic patterns and site use. This information will be kept securely in accordance with an internal security policy and may be used to:

  • process your communications, your membership of and subscription to the Website and to enable your use of the Website and the services;
  • provide you with an up to date, efficient and reliable service;
  • help fraud prevention i.e. Global Personals checks card details with credit agencies and reserves the right to refuse to make available the Website services on that basis (your credit rating can be checked for a nominal fee with the main UK agencies Equifax and Experian);
  • open and run your account;
  • administer prize draws;
  • provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes; and
  • generally run the Website.

By registering and submitting your data you agree to this use.
From time to time Global Personals also monitor and record telephone calls for training purposes and to improve the service to you.
Global Personals will never collect sensitive information about you without your explicit consent.

Associate Websites

The Service is offered through and accessible through a number of other web sites in addition to the Website. By registering with the Website and submitting data to or through the Website you acknowledge and accept that all data that you post to the Website for access by members of the Website may be searchable and available to users of the Service who access it via different web sites from the Website.

Global Personals makes an effort to ensure that members of the Service are not connected with other members that may be inappropriate and therefore apply various classifications to the various web sites that provide access to the Service. By registering with the site you acknowledge and accept that Global Personals may apply certain classifications to your profile due to your accessing the Service via the Website and may use such classifications to restrict:

  • the availability of communication between yourself and other members of the Service;
  • the availability of the details of other members of the Service to yourself; and
  • the availability of your details to other members of the Service.

Marketing Communications

If you have used the Website before, it is possible that Global Personals have this information already and it is being used to contact you about offers, events, items or related activities that you may find useful. If you are an existing customer, Global Personals will continue to keep you informed unless you tell us not to.

If you are a new customer, Global Personals will give you the choice (for example, once you have subscribed or signed up) whether or not you want us or other reputable companies to contact you about future offers, events and new services or related activities that you may find useful. Global Personals will not bombard you with emails, but Global Personals would like to keep you informed of any developments on the Website.

Global Personals and the Website do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to other companies and partners but from time to time may want to share data with other reputable companies both within and outside the European Union who may have interesting offers and information for you.

Global Personals and the Website will not send you any marketing emails or pass your information on to third parties unless you give your consent or you have given it already. If you wish to receive this information, on the “My Settings” page please select “On” next to the option to receive “Relevant information from selected third parties” and click the “Save my settings” button.

Cookies

In order to improve the service and the Website, Global Personals may use a device known as a ‘cookie’. Cookies are a means by which information relating to your Internet activity (such as whether you have visited the Website before) is recorded on your hard drive and used by us to improve the Website and the services and services available to you.

Cookies enable us:

  • To estimate our audience size and usage pattern;
  • To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests;
  • To speed up your searches; and
  • To recognise you when you return to our site.

Use of cookies is integral to the operation of the Website and if you disable cookies the Website will not function upon your computer.

Security of Personal Data

Transmission of data and information via the Website is not a secure or encrypted transmission method for sending your personal data, unless otherwise indicated on the Website. Accordingly, your attention is drawn to the fact that any information and personal data carried over the Internet is not secure. Information and personal data may be intercepted, lost, redirected, corrupted, changed and accessed by other people.

We set strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to your personal data once we have received it and wherever possible we will use adequate security software and working procedures to ensure the security of your personal data. To prevent unauthorised access, maintain accuracy, and ensure proper use of personal data, we have employed physical, electronic, and managerial processes to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Disclosure of Personal Data

We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
  • If Global Personals or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets;
  • For the purpose of asking that third party to carry out data analysis, cleansing and/or market research on our behalf; or
  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Global Personals, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Subject Access Rights

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, we have to provide you, as a “data subject”, with a readable copy of all personal data which we may hold about you, within 40 days of receiving your written request for us to provide it. The Data Protection Act 1998 allows us to charge a fee of £10 pounds for this. Evidence or proof of your identity (for example, a copy of your passport, driver’s licence or current bills) will be required.

It is both in our interest and yours to store and process accurate personal data. If the data we hold about you is inaccurate in any way, where appropriate, you may have your personal data corrected by us on request by having it:

  • completed;
  • amended; and/or
  • erased.

Please contact us to update any of your personal data or to request access to your personal data by addressing the “Information Officer” via:

Email:   [email protected]

We reserve the right to refuse to provide you with a copy of your personal data based on the exemptions set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, but if we do refuse we will give full reasons for our refusal and allow you to challenge our decision.

If you have any questions or comments about privacy or the Website privacy policy, or if you already have submitted information that you do not wish us to have or if you think that the Website has cookies or data about you that you don’t want us to use or that is incorrect please contact us by email (at [email protected]) and the information will be corrected as soon as possible or removed from the database as you request.

Changes to this Privacy Policy and Transfers of Ownership

You agree that if we transfer ownership or management of the Website or Global Personals to a third party we may also transfer your personal data or other personal data you have provided to us, including all sensitive personal data and any other information about you to such third party, provided such third party agrees to observe this policy.

Global Personals will post any changes to this Privacy Policy on the Website from time to time and, where appropriate, notify you by e-mail. Please be sure to regularly check our Privacy Policy before using the Website. Continued use of the Website shall indicate your acceptance of any changes to this Privacy Policy.