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Privacy (full)

The Friend Publications Limited (TFPL) produces The Friend (print and online), The Friends Quarterly (print) and The Friend 1914-18 Digital Archive (online). We also publish books and a podcast. This privacy notice explains what personal information we collect and how it is used. Our key values in relation to data protection are integrity, honesty and transparency.

Priorities

Your safety and trust are our highest priorities, therefore we will:

  • be clear about what information we collect and how it will be used
  • use personal information only for the purposes for which it was originally collected and we will delete it securely
  • protect your privacy by using appropriate and proportionate technological means in our direct handling of your data. We will also ensure that any service providers we use have appropriate security measures in place.
  • If our service providers transfer any information out of the European Economic Area (EEA), it will only be done with the relevant protection being in place.

Please help us by keeping personal information out of any comments on articles.

What information do we collect and why?

Subscribers and customers

  • TFPL collects contact details and payment information from subscribers to ensure that we can fulfil subscription orders, and from customers making one-off purchases.
  • This data is held securely and card payment details are protected in line with industry standards.
  • We also collect ‘demographic’ information, such as whether a subscriber is a Quaker (member or attender), to help us understand our audience and to indicate to potential advertisers the general make-up of our subscriber-base.
  • This ‘demographic’ information is not essential to the fulfilment of a subscription. It is only held with the subscriber’s consent, which can be withdrawn at any time.
  • If a subscriber or customer submits a contribution or advert to the magazine and a member of TFPL staff needs to contact them - for example, due to an urgent query or in order to send them a free copy of the magazine featuring their contribution - staff may ask TFPL’s subscriptions officer to supply the relevant contact information.
  • TFPL may also request information via customer surveys. These are voluntary and will not contain personally identifiable data unless the person responding asks TFPL to contact them.

Visitors to the website

  • Your IP address is recorded when you log into the website. An IP address is a series of numbers which identify your computer and is generally assigned when you access the internet. Your IP address is recorded by the TFPL website for administrative purposes, such as identifying whether a subscriber is logged in, and to enable security measures, such as preventing multiple logins from the same IP address.
  • The website also uses cookies. Please see the cookie policy for further information.

Advertisers

  • TFPL collects contact details and payment information from advertisers to enable transactions to go ahead.
  • This data is held securely and card payment details are protected in line with industry standards.

Contributors

  • TFPL receives contact information from prospective and commissioned contributors.
  • Sensitive personal information, including but not limited to religious beliefs and political opinions, may also be held if it is part of the contribution submitted for publication.

Will your information be shared with anyone else?

Suppliers

TFPL needs to make use of the products and services of other companies In order to fulfil subscriptions and provide a comprehensive service. It may, for example, use a hosting company to house the website, track website visitor activity with a third party, and liaise with a card payment processor.

In providing such services it may be necessary for TFPL to share personal data with these suppliers. When this takes place TFPL ensures that suppliers have appropriate security processes in place and are aware of their responsibilities as a data processor under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Marketing

TFPL does not sell access to personal information to other companies for any reason, including marketing.

TFPL sells and makes use of advertising space in its print and digital publications.

TFPL does not use personal information it collects to undertake any direct marketing, such as promotional emails.

How long do we keep your data?

Subscribers

  • Contact and payment information, as well as correspondence with TFPL’s subscription officer, will be held for three years from the expiration of the subscription.
  • After three years, contact information and correspondence will be deleted from TFPL’s systems. TFPL also complies with other legal requirements, including financial reporting. The minimum personal information needed for TFPL to comply with these requirements will be held for a total of seven years.
  • A lapsed subscriber who notifies the subscriptions officer (subs@thefriend.org) that they no longer wish to be contacted will have their contact details (telephone number, street address and email) removed from TFPL’s system.

Advertisers

  • Advertisers may be contacted in the five years after placing an advert under the terms of ‘legitimate interest’. This happens when there is an existing relationship with TFPL and the person being contacted stands to benefit.
  • TFPL will always respect an advertiser’s request not to be contacted in the future.

Contributors

  • Personal information provided by contributors contacting TFPL is held securely for a period of five years regardless of whether a submission is published. At this point it is deleted or consent is sought to keep information on file for a specific purpose.
  • A contributor can request that their submission and personal information is deleted from TFPL’s systems at any time.
  • Requests for published material to be removed from TFPL’s website will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Access to your information and correction

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. Please contact us if you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information (see the ‘How to contact us’ section at the end of this notice). Please be aware that we will need to establish your identity beyond reasonable doubt before releasing any information to you.

It is important that the information we hold is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

For further information regarding your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) please visit: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

Other websites

This website contains links to other websites. This privacy notice only applies to this website (www.thefriend.org). If you follow a link to another website you should read their own privacy notices.

Changes to our privacy notice

This document is regularly reviewed and any updates will be made to this web page. This notice was last updated on: 6 June 2024

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or information that we hold about you please contact the production and office manager, Elinor Smallman, in writing.

Email: production@thefriend.org
Address: The Friend, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.