Privacy matters to me. This policy has been written to explain how we process your personal information when you visit melaniedobson.com. When we collect, use, access, store, delete or otherwise process your personal information, we will comply with all applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.

When we do so, we are the “data controller”, which means that we are responsible for deciding the means and purpose for the processing of your personal information, or “personal data”.

This Privacy Policy explains the following:

• what information we may collect about you;
• how we will use information we collect about you;
• whether we will disclose your details to anyone else; and
• your choices and rights regarding the personal information you have provided to us.

By visiting this Website you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

We may collect and process the following information, which may include your personal information:

INFORMATION THAT YOU GIVE US: We may collect and store any personal information that you give us when using this Website (including when you contact us by emailing our publicity agents), such as your name, country, and/or email address if you choose to join our mailing list or leave a comment on our journal. (Please note: from time to time, the comment function on our journal is not available.)

We may legally process the personal information that we collect on the basis that we have a legitimate interest to:

• respond to your questions;
• send you emails containing information about upcoming books, advance reading copies, promotions, tour events,  and other news;
• manage risk or prevent other illegal or prohibited activities;
• understand how this Website can be improved; and,
• resolve issues or fix problems on this Website.

INFORMATION THAT IS COLLECTED AUTOMATICALLY: Like many websites, this Website uses Google Analytics in order to provide a better experience for you. Google Analytics collects and analyses data about visitors, such as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, locations, time zones and browser/device types, and provides this Website with non-personal, aggregated information, such as the most visited pages, page response times and download errors. Such data enables us to fix errors, make decisions about content, and to improve and optimize the appearance and performance of this Website. The information that is collected and processed is anonymous and therefore not used by us to develop a personal profile for you. To find out more about Google Analytics, including how to opt-out, please visit the following links:

How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.

SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES: This Website contains links to Melanie Dobson’s social media pages. These third-party websites have their own respective privacy policies (which we would advise you to read), for which those sites are solely responsible. If we do receive any personal information about you from these third party social media sites, we will not process your information for the purposes of direct marketing. We will not share with any third party the personal information that we obtain about you for the purposes of marketing, unless you have provided your consent. If you would like to delete your social media accounts, please contact the social media provider directly.

MAILING LIST: When you join our mailing list you are giving us permission to email you; you can unsubscribe at any time. By joining our mailing list you consent to the information you provide being transferred for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy. From time to time, for instance if you choose to apply to receive an Advance Reading Copy of one of Melanie Dobson’s upcoming books, your information may be shared with one of her publishers so they can fulfill your request.

OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT: If you send us objectionable content, or behave in a disruptive manner when using this Website, we may process any personal information that you have submitted to us, including in your personal messages and/or emails, to respond to and stop such behavior. We will only process personal information in this way for the following legitimate interests: ensuring that the use of this Website is lawful; ensuring that users do not disrupt or harass our staff, clients or other Website users; and, enforcing our legal rights and complying with our legal obligations. Where we reasonably believe that you are or may be in breach of the law (i.e. the content you share on this Website amounts to harassment or is defamatory), we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties about the content, such as: your email or internet provider; or law enforcement agencies. Where we process personal information in this way, we will hold that personal information on our systems for as long as is reasonably necessary to achieve these objectives.

DO THIRD PARTIES HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We will only share your information with third parties in the ways described in this Privacy Policy. We may disclose your information to the extent that we are required to do so by law, including disclosing to government bodies and law enforcement agencies, in connection with legal proceedings or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information for the purposes of fraud prevention)

COOKIES

Google Analytics uses Cookies to collect and analyse information about user interactions on this Website; this Website uses Google Analytics to understand how the website performs and to improve its functionality. You can block the use of such Cookies at any time by adjusting your browser settings or by opting out here. When you navigate this Website, you may also receive certain third-party Cookies on your computer or device if you decide to follow a link to another website or interact with embedded content.

THIRD PARTY WEBSITES

This Website may contain hyperlinks to third-party websites, for instance those belonging to booksellers, publishers, and other places of interest. These websites operate fully independently from us, and we cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third parties nor the availability of these external sites or resources. The appearance of such links on this Website is not an endorsement. Should you use any of these websites, such use is at your own risk and we would advise that you review their respective privacy policies.

EMBEDDED CONTENT FROM OTHER WEBSITES

Pages on this Website may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you had 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 tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

YOUR RIGHTS IN RELATION TO PERSONAL DATA WHICH WE PROCESS RELATING TO YOU

You have the following rights over the way we process personal information relating to you that you have provided to this Website:

• to ask for a copy of data that we are processing about you and to have inaccuracies corrected; and,
• to ask us to restrict, stop processing, or to delete your personal data.

To make a request in relation to any of the rights above, please email through Melanie Dobson’s guestbook.

DATA RETENTION

We will retain your personal information for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law.

CHILDREN

We do not knowingly use this Website to solicit personal information or any data from or market to children under the age of 13. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with information or may be receiving communications from us without the consent of a parent or guardian, we ask that this be brought to our attention. We will address this situation and delete information relating to a child.

SECURITY

We will take commercially reasonable and appropriate technical measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk that could be encountered via the use of this Website, taking into account the likelihood and severity those risks might pose to the rights and freedoms of this Website’s visitors. In particular, we will take precautions to protect against the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss or alteration, and unauthorized disclosure of or access to the personal information transmitted, stored or otherwise processed by us. Please be aware that, while we make the security of this Website and your personal information a high priority and devote considerable time and resources to maintain robust IT security, no security system can prevent all security breaches. When you choose to share your personal information with us you accept the aforesaid and provide your information at your own risk.

INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

The hosting for this Website is provided by Digital Website and the newsletter hosting is Mad Mimi. The information that we collect and obtain about you will be stored in those servers. By using this Website and by sharing your personal information with us you consent to this transfer, storing and processing. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all of our third-party service providers, including our server hosting provider, process personal information using appropriate safeguards that meet the requirements of EU data protection laws.

CHANGES

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically. We will notify you of any changes to our Privacy Policy by posting the new Privacy Policy on this Website. You are advised to consult this Privacy Policy regularly for any changes.