Background:

Obsidian® Content Consultancy understands that your privacy is important and that you care about how your information is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits our website www.obsidiancontent.co.uk (“Site”) and will only collect and use information in ways that are useful and are consistent with your rights and our obligations under the law.

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) applies to our use of any and all data collected by us in relation to your use of our Site. Please read this Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it. Your acceptance of our Policy and the terms herein, is deemed to occur upon your first use of our Site. If you do not accept and agree with this Policy, you must stop using our Site immediately. It is important that you read this Policy together with any other data privacy documents that we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

This Policy was last updated on 30th May 2022. Please check back regularly to keep informed of updates to this Privacy Policy.

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 (ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us by email at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk in the first instance.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

1. Definitions and Interpretation

In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:

“Account” means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of our Site;

“Cookie” means a small text file placed on your computer or device by our Site when you visit certain parts of our Site and/or when you use certain features of our Site. Details of the Cookies used by our Site are set out in section 12, below;

“our Site” means this website, www.obsidiancontent.co.uk;

“UK and EU Cookie Law” means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as amended in 2004, 2011 and 2015;

“UK Data Protection Legislation” means all applicable data protection and privacy legislation in force from time to time in the UK including the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679); the Data Protection Act 2018; the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive 2002/58/EC (as updated by Directive 2009/136/EC) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) as amended; and

“We/Us/Our” means Obsidian® Content Consultancy, a business owned and operated by Miss J. Lowe, a sole trader, whose contact address is Unit 16059, PO Box 15113, Birmingham, B2 2NJ.

“Services” Shall mean the services provided by us.

2. Who are we?

Here are the details that the UK Data Protection Legislation says we have to give you as a “data controller”:

2.1 Our Site, www.obsidiancontent.co.uk, is owned and operated by Obsidian® Content Consultancy, a business owned and operated by Miss J. Lowe, a sole trader, whose contact address is Unit 16059, PO Box 15113, Birmingham, B2 2NJ.

2.2 Our data compliance manager is Miss J. Lowe who can be contacted at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk.

We respect your right to privacy and will only process personal information about you in accordance with the UK Data Protection Legislation

If you have any questions about how we collect, store and use personal information, or if you have any other privacy-related questions, please contact us at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk.

3. Scope – What Does This Policy Cover?

This Policy applies only to your use of our Site. It does not extend to any websites that may be linked to from our Site (whether We provide those links or whether they are shared by other users). We have no control over how your data is collected, stored or used by other websites and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

We take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience.

When you use or contact our Site, you do so at your own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at your own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use, as detailed below. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form and email subscription process but we advise users using such processes that you do so at your own risk.

As the party responsible for data processing, we ensure that the processed data:

4. What Data Do We Collect?

Some data will be collected automatically by our Site (for further details, please see section 12 on our use of Cookies), other data will only be collected if you voluntarily submit it and consent to us using it, or we have a legitimate need to use such data.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Analytics includes third-party analytics services (such as Google Analytics) to evaluate your use of the Website, compile reports on activity, collect demographic data, analyse performance metrics, and collect and evaluate other information relating to our Website and internet usage.  These third parties use cookies and other technologies to help analyse and provide us the data.  By accessing and using the Website, you consent to the processing of data about you by these analytics providers in the manner and for the purposes set out in this Policy.

Depending upon your use of our Site, we may also collect some or all of the following data:

4.1 Name;

4.2 business/company name

4.3 job title;

4.4 profession;

4.5 contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;

4.6 demographic information such as post code, preferences and interests;

4.7 financial information or banking details (only from customers / suppliers);

4.8 IP address (automatically collected);

4.9 web browser type and version (automatically collected);

4.10 operating system (automatically collected);

4.11 a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on our Site, and the site you exit to (automatically collected);

4.12 your business sector and which of Obsidian® Content Consultancy’s services you are interested in;

4.13 Information about your usage of our website as detailed in section 12 of this document.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity; religious or philosophical beliefs; sex life; sexual orientation; political opinions; trade union membership; information about your health and genetic and biometric data), nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

If we receive personal information in the course of providing our Services to you from another data subject, we expect you to have complete responsibility for ensuring that the contents of this Privacy Policy are brought to their attention and you have obtained their consent in the process.

5. How Do We Use Your Data?

5.1 All personal data is stored securely in accordance with the UK Data Protection Legislation. For more details on security see section 6, below.

5.2 We (or third-party data processors, agents and sub-contractors acting on our behalf) may collect, store and use your personal information by way of different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

5.2.1 Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity and Contact Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes information you provide to us to enable us to provide the services and manage your Account;

5.2.2 Providing and managing your access to our Site;

5.2.3 Personalising and tailoring your experience on our Site;

5.2.4 Supplying our Services to you;

5.2.5 Personalising and tailoring our Services for you;

5.2.6 Responding to communications from you;

5.2.7 Marketing Data. If you have opted-in to receive any email newsletters or marketing services, we may send you periodic emails (you may unsubscribe or opt-out at any time by following the unsubscribe links within such emails);

5.2.8 Analysing your use of our Site and gathering feedback to enable us to continually improve our Site and your user experience;

5.2.9 Using landing pages hosted at obsidiancontent.co.uk and subscribepage.com to collect contact data from consenting individuals who wish to receive our email updates. You can view an example here: http://www.subscribepage.com/ObsidianContentSubscribe

5.2.10 Analysing your response to and feedback from email newsletters and promotions;

5.2.11 Information we receive from other sources including third parties and publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources such as Companies House and Duedil (though not limited to these) as set out below

5.3 We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

5.4 In some cases, the collection of data may be a statutory or contractual requirement, and we will be limited in the services we can provide you without your consent for us to be able to use such data.

6. Purpose for which we will use your data

6.1 Under the UK Data Protection Legislation, we will ensure that your personal data is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently, without adversely affecting your rights. We will only process your personal data where the law allows us to and if at least one of the following bases apply:

  1. a) you have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes;
  2. b) processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or in order to take steps at the request of you prior to entering into a contract;
  3. c) processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject;
  4. d) processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of you or of another natural person;
  5. e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller; and/or
  6. f) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

6.2 We will only send you direct marketing communications by email or text if we have your consent.

You have the right to withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk.

6.3 In addition, if you don’t want us to use your personal data for any of the other reasons set out in this section, you can let us know at any time by contacting us at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk, and we will delete your data from our systems. However, you acknowledge this will limit our ability to provide the best possible services to you.

6.4 We shall contract with third parties to supply services to you on our behalf. These include secure storage, advertising, and marketing. In some cases, the third parties may require access to some or all of your data. Where any of your data is required for such a purpose, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data will be handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the obligations of the third party under the law. Details of our third-party processors are available on request.

6.5 We have set out below, in a table format, a description of the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate. Please note this list is not exhaustive of the forms of data that we may collect.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To and deliver Services including managing payments and collecting money owed to us Identity
Contact
Financial
Transaction
Device
Marketing and Communications
Location		 Your consent
Performance of a contract with you
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us and for payment for Services)
Receiving details on our Website, including completing registration forms or to submit an enquiry with us by phone, email or via our website. (a) Identity
(b) Contact		 (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to complete new business and provide Services)
(b) Performance of a contract
Information to carry out our Services with our clients including:
(a) accounting services
(b) invoicing
(c) Manage payments, fees and charges
(d) Collect and recover money owed to us
(e) Process purchases
(f) Undertake client reviews		 (a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Financial
(d) Transaction
(e) Marketing and Communications		 (a) Performance of a contract
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us and process payments)
Information to manage our relationship with our clients, or prospective clients which will include:
(a) Notifying about changes to our terms or our privacy policy
(b) Asking to leave a review or take a survey
(c) Correspondence
(d) For internal administrative purposes		 (a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Usage
(e) Marketing and Communications		 (a) Performance of a contract
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how clients use our products/services)
To administer and protect our business (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, Site maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) (a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Profile
(d) Usage
(e) Marketing and Communications
(f) Technical
(g) Cookies		 (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business re-organisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant Website content and advertisement and promotional activity to measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we are providing (a) Technical
(b) Usage
(c) Cookies		 Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how clients use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To recruit, support and manage staff for operational reasons (a) Identity
(b) Contact
(c) Technical
(d) Usage
(e) Profile		 Necessary for our legitimate interests (to operate the business)

 

7. How and Where Do We Store Your Data?

7.1 We only keep your data for as long as we need to in order to use it as described above in sections 5 and 6, and/or for as long as we have your permission to keep it. In any event, we will conduct an annual review to ascertain whether we need to keep your data. Your data will be deleted if we no longer need it in accordance with the terms of our Data Retention Policy which is available on request.

We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

7.2. We may transfer your personal data outside of the UK such as where we use analytic providers to assist or service providers as referred to in this Privacy Policy, but where there is a commercial need to do this, we ensure that a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring appropriate safeguards are implemented or there is an adequacy decision in place. Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK incorporating standard contractual clauses as approved by the ICO, which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.

7.3 Data security is of great importance to us, and to protect your data we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure data collected through our Site.

7.4 Steps we take to secure and protect your data include:

7.4.1 Secure security guidelines for employees and contractors

7.4.2 HTTP/HTTPS/HSTS

7.4.3 We use antivirus/firewall software, password protection protocols, and multi-factor authentication to ensure the confidentiality of the information we hold. Personal data held for marketing purposes is added to a secure password protected and two-factor authenticated database through MailerLite.

7.4.4 We use two-factor authentication to log in to our accounting package and CRM system.

8. Do We Share Your Data?

8.1 We may contract with third parties to supply services to you on our behalf. These may include payment processing, delivery of goods, advertising and marketing. In some cases, the third parties may require access to some or all of your data. Where any of your data is required for such a purpose, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data will be handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the obligations of the third party under the law. We currently contract with:

8.2 We may compile statistics about the use of our Site including data on traffic, usage patterns, user numbers, sales and other information. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any personally identifying information. We may from time to time share such data with third parties such as prospective investors, affiliates, partners and advertisers. Data will only be shared and used within the bounds of the law.

8.3 In certain circumstances we may be legally required to share certain data held by us, which may include your personal information, for example, where we are involved in legal proceedings, where we are complying with the requirements of legislation, a court order, or a governmental authority. We do not require any further consent from you in order to share your data in such circumstances and will comply as required with any legally binding request that is made of us.

8.4 Notwithstanding the security measures that we take, it is important to remember that the transmission of data via the internet may not be completely secure and that you are advised to take suitable precautions when transmitting to us data via the internet and you take the risk that any sending of that data turns out to be not secure despite our efforts.

9. What Happens If Our Business Changes Hands?

9.1 We may, from time to time, expand or reduce our business and this may involve the sale and/or the transfer of control of all or part of our business. Data provided by users will, where it is relevant to any part of our business so transferred, be transferred along with that part and the new owner or newly controlling party will, under the terms of this Privacy Policy, be permitted to use the data for the purposes for which it was originally collected by us, unless agreed otherwise with you.

10. How Can You Control Your Data?

10.1 When you submit information via our Site, you may be given options to restrict our use of your data. We aim to give you strong controls on our use of your data (including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in our emails and at the point of providing your details and/or by managing your Account).

10.2 You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”), and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited marketing. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing communications that you have consented to receiving.

11. Your Right to Withhold Information and Your Right to Withdraw Information After You Have Given it

11.1 You may access certain areas of our Site without providing any data at all. However, to use all features and functions available on our Site you may be required to submit or allow for the collection of certain data.

11.2 You may restrict your internet browser’s use of Cookies. For more information, see section 13.

11.3 You may withdraw your consent for us to use your personal data as set out in section in 5 at any time by contacting us using the details set out in section 16, and we will delete your data from our systems. However, you acknowledge this may limit our ability to provide the best possible services to you.

12. How Can You Access Your Data?

You have the legal right to ask for a copy of any of your personal data held by us (where such data is held). Please contact Us for more details at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk or using the contact details below in section 15.

13. What Cookies Do We Use and What For?

13.1 All Cookies used by and on our Site are used in accordance with current English and EU Cookie Law.

13.2 Before any non-essential Cookies are placed on your computer or device, you will be shown a prompt requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies you are enabling us to provide the best possible experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of our Site may not function fully or as intended.

13.3 Certain features of Our Site depend on Cookies to function. UK Law deems these Cookies to be “strictly necessary”. Your consent will not be sought to place these Cookies. You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet browser’s settings as detailed below in section 13.5, but please be aware that our Site may not work as intended if you do so. We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk by allowing them.

13.4 We refer you to our Cookies Policy here.

13.5 You can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. Most internet browsers also enable you to choose whether you wish to disable all cookies or only third-party cookies. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies but this can be changed. For further details, please consult the help menu in your internet browser or the documentation that came with your device.

If you wish to opt out of Google Analytics tracking on all websites (not just this one), Google have provided an opt out browser add on for Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, Safari, Firefox, and Opera web browsers. You can access it here.

13.6 You can choose to delete Cookies at any time however you may lose any information that enables you to access our Site more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, login and personalisation settings.

13.7 It is recommended that you keep your internet browser and operating system up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser and manufacturer of your computer or device if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.

14. Summary of Your Rights under GDPR

Under the GDPR, you have:

14.1 the right to request access to, deletion of or correction of, your personal data held by us;

14.2 the right to complain to a supervisory authority;

14.3 be informed of what data processing is taking place;

14.4 the right to restrict processing;

14.5 the right to data portability;

14.6 object to processing of your personal data;

14.7 rights with respect to automated decision-making and profiling (see section 15 below).

To enforce any of the foregoing rights or if you have any other questions about our Site or this Policy, please contact us using the details set out in section 16 below.

15. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling

15.1 We do not use Automated Decision-Making but in the event that we use personal data for the purposes of automated decision-making and those decisions have a legal (or similarly significant effect) on you, you have the right to challenge such decisions under the UK Data Protection Legislation, requesting human intervention, expressing your own point of view, and obtaining an explanation of the decision from us.

15.2 The right described in section 15.1 does not apply in the following circumstances:

  1. a) The decision is necessary for the entry into, or performance of, a contract between you and us;
  2. b) The decision is authorised by law; or
  3. c) You have given your explicit consent.

15.3.1 Where we use your personal data for profiling purposes, the following shall apply:

  1. a) Clear information explaining the profiling will be provided, including its significance and the likely consequences;
  2. b) Appropriate mathematical or statistical procedures will be used;
  3. c) Technical and organisational measures necessary to minimise the risk of errors and to enable such errors to be easily corrected shall be implemented; and
  4. d) All personal data processed for profiling purposes shall be secured in order to prevent discriminatory effects arising out of profiling.

16. Contacting Us

If you have any questions about our Site or this Policy, please contact us by email at privacy@obsidiancontent.co.uk, by telephone on, or by post at Unit 16059, PO Box 15113, Birmingham, B2 2NJ. Please ensure that your query is clear, particularly if it is a request for information about the data We hold about you (as under section 11, above).

17. Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We may change this Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time, or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on our Site and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Policy on your first use of our Site following the alterations. We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date.

18. Dispute Resolution

The Parties will use their best efforts to negotiate in good faith and settle any dispute that may arise out of or relate to this Policy or any breach of it.

If any such dispute cannot be settled amicably through ordinary negotiations between the parties, or either or both is or are unwilling to engage in this process, either party may propose to the other in writing that structured negotiations be entered into with the assistance of a fully accredited mediator before resorting to litigation.