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Privacy Policy

About the Torn Project

The Torn Project is a research and resources project led by Susan Quilliam. We are committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of anyone using the site and the confidentiality of any information you provide us with. This privacy notice is designed to make clear the ways we treat data you provide us with in person, online, via email, phone, in writing or other correspondence.

Any data collected will be used and held in accordance with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018.

We will never release your information to third parties for their marketing purposes. We only use personal information in the ways we need to and that is expected of us.

Our contact details

The Torn Project
c/o Susan Quilliam
Bridge Street
Cambridge

Email address: susan@thetornproject.com

About the data we collect

The Torn Project is committed to protecting your privacy while using this site. Should you choose to supply personal information, it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

The type of data we collect

The project currently collects and processes the following information where provided:

  • contact details
  • name
  • user responses

Web technology we use may collect other data, e.g.:

  • browser and device information
  • IP addresses

Analytics

When someone visits thetornproject.com we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. You can find more information on how cookies are used on this website in the Cookies section below.

Contact form

There is a contact form in case you wish to contact us directly. In order to respond, we store your name, email address and message(s). If you subsequently wish us to delete this data, we will do so if we are not required to keep it for other reasons (see Our lawful basis for processing data below).

Cookies

This website uses cookies. These are small text files which are placed on your computer’s hard drive by websites that you visit. They save and retrieve pieces of information about your visit to the website – for example, how you entered the site, how you navigated through the site and what information and documentation was of interest to you. Read our Cookie Notice to learn what cookies we use. For further general information visit allaboutcookies.org. If you do not wish to accept cookies from our website, please leave this site and then delete and block all cookies from this site.

Our website may contain links to other websites. This privacy notice only applies to this website, so if you follow links from thetornproject.com to other websites and want to know how they treat your data, you should read their own privacy notices.

Membership

We offer membership tiers as part of our community-building process, for which we only collect information like your name, email address. If, as a member, you comment on posts on the site, we will save those comments as yours.

If you join the paid tier, then Stripe will collect the data it requires for processing the payment.

Our lawful basis for processing data

Consent
If you provide your name and email address in your response to the project’s questionnaire, or via the project’s contact form, we hold this information so that we can contact you.

Legal Obligation
We hold copies of invoices and bank statements in line with HMRC requirements.

Legitimate interest
We retain details of businesses and individuals who have specifically expressed interest in providing or receiving a service.

Data Security

Susan Quilliam is the data controller for the project. The project has in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the personal information that is collected.

We do use certain external data processors to store and manage our website and project data. All of these data processors have provided statements on how they keep your personal data safe and secure in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018.

We continually review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required.

Stablepoint.com
Our email service is hosted by stablepoint.com.
You can find their data protection policy here.

Sync.com
Our data is securely stored with sync.com.
This page explains how they do it.

Umami Analytics
Our website analytics data are collected by Umami.is.
Their privacy features keep visitors entirely anonymous.

Amazon Lightsail
Our website is hosted by the Amazon Lightsail content delivery network.
You can find their data protection policy here.

Mailgun.com
Mailgun distributes our newsletters and other website emails.
Their privacy policy is here.

Formspark.io
Formspark sends the contact form from the website to our office.
Their GDPR policy is here.

We have summarised the rights that you have under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights. More information on GDPR is available at ico.org.uk.

Your principal rights under data protection law are:

  • The right to be informed
  • The right to object
  • The right of access
  • The right to rectification
  • The right to erasure
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to data portability
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Access to your personal information

You are entitled to view, amend, or delete the personal information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email your request to Susan Quilliam at susan@thetornproject.com.

Please note that if you have not supplied an email address when responding to the questionnaire, we have no way of identifying your responses as yours, so they are anonymous and thus unable to be deleted.

Complaints

We aim to meet the highest standards possible when collecting and using personal information and take any complaints very seriously. You can complain directly to Susan Quilliam at susan@thetornproject.com.

If you are not happy with our response, or you believe that your data protection or privacy rights have been infringed, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK. Details of how to do this can be found at www.ico.org.uk.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

This privacy notice will be reviewed regularly. It was last updated 16th February 2024.