Privacy and Cookies Policy

1. Who are we?

1.1 We are "Independent Catholic News". For privacy queries, you can contact us at webmaster@indcatholicnews.com. Other contact details are on our Website Terms of Use.

2. What's the point of this policy?

2.1 It tells you what to expect when we collect your personal information via our website or otherwise. Please only use our service if you are completely happy with this policy.

2.2 Generally, the policy covers only information provided to us. If you give personal information to other people, such as payment providers or other websites, please check their privacy policies.

3. Might the policy change?

3.1 Yes. Please check it whenever you visit our website. We will assume you agree to the new version of the policy if you use the site after its effective date. We may also notify you of any changes by email.

4. What do we collect?

4.1 Information which you upload to our service or otherwise give us such as:

contact or other information which you give or allow us to use for newsletters or other marketing; and
information that you include in communications with us.

4.2 Automated information about your use of our service such as: the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the internet, connection information such as browser type and version, information about your device including device-type and device identifier, operating system and platform, mobile network data, a unique reference number linked to the data you enter on our system, login details, the site from which you arrived at our service, details of your activity with date / time stamps including pages you visited and your searches / transactions.

4.3 The following information about you may be provided to us by other people:

Limited billing information sent to us by our payment provider for verification purposes e.g., your name, email address and billing address.

5. What's our reason / legal basis for collecting the information?

5.1 Because it's in our "legitimate interests", e.g., to manage and improve our service including tracking usage patterns and preventing or detecting fraud or abuse. This applies to automated usage data.

5.2 Because you've specifically agreed on our service (e.g., by ticking a consent box). This applies to contact or other information which you give or allow us to use for newsletters or other marketing. You can withdraw permission at any time as explained on our service or by emailing us at the above email address.

5.3 Because it's necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.

6. How long do we keep personal information?

6.1 We will keep your information which we use only for newsletters or other marketing until you tell us to stop sending you such messages though we may delete it sooner.

6.2 We will generally keep automated browsing information for up to 6 months.

6.3 We may hold on to some (or all) of your information for longer (typically up to six years) if reasonably needed for legal, regulatory or tax reasons, deal with disputes, prevent fraud or abuse and/or enforce our terms and conditions.

7. To whom do we send or make available your personal information?

7.1 To other people who supply us with a service, e.g., website hosts, content delivery networks and businesses which help us send communications or monitor our website and which provide us with e-commerce, analytics, security and other IT services.

7.2 To regulators, the police and other law enforcement authorities to help deal with fraud and abuse and/or comply with legal requirements.

7.3 To insurers and professional advisers in connection with our insurance cover or to deal with legal claims.

7.4 To potential buyers so far as reasonably necessary, in the case of an actual or proposed (including negotiations for a) sale or merger or business combination involving all or the relevant part of our business.

8. Do we send your information outside the UK?

8.1 Your personal information (e.g., name, email address, IP address, browsing information) is transferred to companies outside the UK (generally to the US) that provide us with the services mentioned above (see: To whom do we send or make available your personal information?). Where this happens, we will ensure that there is a legal basis to do so, for example under contracts with standard contractual clauses sanctioned by the Information Commissioner that are designed to provide adequate safeguards for your personal information.

9. What rights do you have?

9.1 If the legal requirements are met: To ask us for access to your personal information, to rectify it if there are mistakes, to delete it or restrict its use in certain circumstances or to "data portability" or to withdraw any consent you've given (e.g., marketing).

9.2 You may also have the right to object to use of your personal information in certain circumstances.

9.3 If you have a complaint about how we are dealing with your personal information, please contact us via the email address above. If you are not happy with our response or think we are not handling your personal information in accordance with the law, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

9.4 For more information about your rights, visit the ICO's website: www.ico.org.uk.

10. What about cookies?

10.1 We and/or other companies use cookies and other tracking technologies on our website. A cookie is an identifier (a small file of letters and numbers) that is sent to your web browser. Cookies are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the website owner or others. Some are temporary "session" cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser only until your browser is closed. Whereas persistent cookies stay for longer (depending on the lifetime of the specific cookie). For further information on cookies, including how to use your browser to block them and how to delete existing cookies, visit: www.allaboutcookies.org. Our site's functionality will be limited if you configure your browser to reject cookies.

10.2 We ourselves may place the following types of cookies:

Type of cookies	Purpose
Marketing notices	Store information about display and/or your response to our marketing notices

10.3 Companies which provide us with a service also place cookies. Some of these cookies may involve certain information, such as your name and contact details and/or the IP and web address of the page you're visiting, being sent to the company concerned. Below is a summary of the kinds of cookies used together with details about who places them and where you can go to get more information and to opt out (where possible):

hCaptcha cookies: hCaptcha may place cookies in connection with its "captcha" security service (i.e., designed to stop bots and other automated interactions with our service). See its cookies policy (about two thirds of the way down the page).

Version number: 1.4

Effective date: 17th February 2024