This policy explains what types of personal information will be gathered when you visit the Oxford University Politics Blog website, and how this information will be used.  The Oxford University Politics Blog website is operated by the University of Oxford (‘the University’), its editorial management and content provision an effort of the University’s Department of Politics and International Relations.  Please note that although this website provides links to other websites, this policy only applies to the Oxford University Politics Blog site (i.e. pages under  https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/).  For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the University is the data controller of any personal data collected via the website.

By using the website and providing information to us, you consent to us processing your information as set out in this privacy policy.

Information collected

We may collect and process the following data about you:

When you submit an article or contact us using the forms provided on the website, we will collect the data requested in those forms and any other data you choose to provide in those forms.

When you visit the website we may automatically collect the following information:

  • technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
  • information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from the website (including date and time), items you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs) and methods used to browse away from the page.

Cookies

When you visit some pages on the website, your computer may be issued with a small file (a “cookie”) for the purposes of managing and improving the services on the website. You can set your browser to refuse cookies or warn you before accepting them.  Please see the Cookie Policy for further detail about how we use cookies on the website.

How the information collected is used

Information you provide when submitting an article will be used to identify you as author of an article and for the editorial team to communicate with you as author of the article.

Information you provide when you contact us using the contact form will be used by the editorial team to communicate with you in relation to your query.

Personal information will not be sold to third parties, or provided to direct marketing companies or other such organisations without your permission.

Information which is automatically collected may be used:

  • to analyse the popularity and effectiveness of the website;
  • to administer the website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
  • to improve the website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure.

This information will be in aggregate form and will not identify individual users.

Disclosure of your information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties 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 the University or others.  In particular, we may disclose your identity to a third party who claims that any content posted or uploaded by you to the website constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

Where we store your personal data

We may store data collected by the website manually or electronically.  The data is stored on our secure servers within the UK, but electronic data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) (for example, if you submit an article your name will appear on the article, and this may be accessed by users anywhere in the world).  It may also be processed by our staff and partners operating outside the EEA.  By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.  We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure.  Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to the website and any transmission is at your own risk.

Third party websites

The website contains links to various third party websites, including Twitter and Facebook.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies.  Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Access to your personal data

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access information held about you, and your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.

Changes to this policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page.  Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact

Any queries or concerns about this privacy policy should be sent to the editors via our online contact form.