Privacy Policy

Who I am

My website address is: http://www.carolynalderson.com.

Carolyn Alderson (www.carolynalderson.com) is a freelance professional genealogist, family and local history researcher residing in Cambridge, UK. For requests about data I may hold about you please contact me at CarolynAldersonGenealogist@gmail.com

I use your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and this privacy policy. More information can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.

What personal data I collect and why I collect it

Via the website I collect personal data you have provided which includes your name and email address, and may include your mobile phone number (or landline), and postal address.  I use this data to keep in contact with you during the course of the service, to provide plans, quotes, a service contract/agreement and provide the report or agreed deliverable. I use this data to deliver the service effectively and will update/amend the data accordingly at your request. After delivery of the service I will ask if you wish your details to remain in my database.

You may also send to me, via the online contact form, details of your known family history supporting details concerning the commission under discussion.  This information may include full names, dates and places of birth, marriage and death dates, occupations and religious denomination(s) of people, who may be living, which I will need to fulfill the genealogical or local history research objective.

Security of your data

I ensure the security and confidentiality of data I receive. I have reasonable and appropriate measures in place to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. I have procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where I am legally required to do so.

Who I share your data with

In the course of the research activity to fulfil the commission I may need to contact a professionally-qualified third party person or organisation. I will not provide them with your contact details. I shall provide other details you have provided only on a ‘need to know’ basis, and I will first gain your written permission. Before proceeding further I shall endeavour to ensure any such party acting as a Controller of any personal data processed under or in connection with the commissioned research shall comply with its respective obligations under Data Protection Legislation and I shall only use such Personal Data for the purposes of performing the services for the research agreement I have with you.

Site Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site it collects the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on this site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. You have the option to disable cookies in your web browser and avoid this type of data collection.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

The website uses Google Analytics Counter – visitors and audience overview, to help improve the website and your experience. Your personal data is not sent, but they can use certain technical data, such as your IP address which is anonymised.

How long I retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so I can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

I am obliged under UK statutory regulations (HM Revenue & Customs) to retain the details of paying clients for 6 years. Subject to these requirements you can request the deletion of your details from my database at any time.

What rights you have over your data

If you have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.

You can also request that I erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data I am obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Website content © Carolyn Alderson, 2019-2023.