1. Introduction This policy covers Northwoods use of personal information that we collect when you use northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info. From time to time, you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.g. name and email address) in order to receive or use services on our website. Such services include newsletters, message boards, microsites and business directories.
By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable Northwoods to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. When using your personal information Northwoods will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.
2. Visitor Information During the course of any visit to northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info, the pages you see, along with a short text file called a 'cookie', are downloaded to your computer. Many websites do this, because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things like find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit. Information supplied by cookies can help us to provide you with a better online user experience and assist us to analyse the profile of our visitors. For example: if on a previous visit you went to our training pages, we might find this out from your cookie and highlight training information on your second and subsequent visits.
3. What is a cookie? A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a website's computer and stored on your computer's hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.
Cookies record information about your online preferences. Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user user and accordingly you may not be able to take full advantage of all of the northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info features. Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
If you have set your computer to reject cookies you can still browse northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info anonymously until such time as you wish to register for northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info services. For further information on cookies please visit www.aboutcookies.org.
4. Use and storage of your personal information When you supply any personal information to northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info (e.g. for microsites, newsletters, etc-) we have legal obligations towards you in the way we use those data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it (see the notices on particular webpages that let you know why we are requesting the information) and tell you if we want to pass the information on to anyone else.
Any information you provide to Northwoods will only be used within Northwoods. Your information will be disclosed where we are obliged or permitted by law. Also, if you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info, Northwoods can use whatever information that is available to it about you to stop such behaviour. This may involve informing relevant third parties such as your employer, your e-mail/Internet provider and law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met, or, in the case of neforestry.info microsites, you no longer wish to continue your registration as a microsite holder. Where personal information is held for people who are not yet registered but have taken part in other northwoods.org.uk and neforestry.info services (e.g. competitions), that information will be held as long as is necessary to ensure that the service is run smoothly. We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
If you are notified on the neforestry.info site that your information may be used to allow Northwoods to contact you for "service administration purposes", this means that Northwoods may contact you for a number of purposes related to the service you have signed up for. For example, we may wish to provide you with password reminders or notify you that the particular service has been suspended for maintenance. We will not contact you for promotional purposes, such as notifying you of improvements to the service or new services on northwoods.org.uk or neforestry.info unless you specifically agree to be contacted for such purposes at the time you submit your information on the site, or at a later time if you sign up specifically to receive such promotional information.
5. Access to your personal information You have the right to request a copy of the personal information which Northwoods holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests.) Please address requests to Data Protection, Northwoods, 1 Walby Hill, Rothbury, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE65 7NT Email: dataprotection@northwoods.org.uk
