Data and Privacy
Data & Privacy, GDPR and Terms & Conditions
Your privacy is extremely important to us so we want you to know exactly what kind of information we collect about you and how we use it.
We’ve set out all the details below.
Please take the time to read and understand this policy. And bear in mind that by using this website or contacting us by telephone or providing information to us or by way of social media, you agree to its terms.
What information do we collect and when?
We only collect information that we know we will genuinely use.
What information do we collect?
All information you choose to submit to us. You can do that in a number of different ways: By filling in forms, for example when you join the society or sign up to a competition.
- By sending us emails.
- By adding posts, reviews and other comments to our websites
- By interacting with us on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter etc.
- By talking to us in person or over the telephone.
- By registering accounts on any of our websites including setting up passwords and preferred user names, contact details, account details.
(Important: If you submit details to us of any other person (e.g. a friend) please make sure you have their permission first.)
Sensitive information on you. And by sensitive we mean information such as your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature and your physical condition. Any card or other unique identification numbers we may issue to you from time to time.
Information on what you view, click on and access by way of our marketing emails and text messages (SMS or MMS), websites. We may collect the time and geographic location of your device when you do so. For websites, this information may also include where you came to our site from, and where you went when you left it through Cookies. We also track how often you visit and use our websites. We do this via email and website cookies and similar.
Technical information about the devices you use to access our websites and mobile apps. We also collect this detail when you use our in-store WIFI networks to access the internet. We specifically save each device’s unique identifying codes (MAC address or IMEI number and IP) device model, device name, relevant IP address, operating system and version, web browser and version, and geographic location.
Your social media content where this is in the public domain, and any messages you send direct to us via social media. This information can include posts and comments, pictures and video footage on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. You should always review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the social media that you use to make sure you understand what kind of information relating to you may be out there in the public domain and how you can stop or limit it from happening.
Information collected independently by online advertising networks (Google for example) through which we place with click through advertising. The information we get from them varies from network to network. It often summarises the actions of lots of people, and so does not allow us to identify you individually. It relates to what you view, click on and access through websites in their network, including the subject matter of the site you started at and which sites you go to after that. It may also include their analysis of your online behaviour across the wider internet and a profile of you.
If you’re not happy about this, you should look for Settings and Do Not Track options in online advertisements and in the privacy and cookies functions on your devices. You should also consider changing your settings to block third-party cookies in particular. We do not control these cookies and we suggest you check these third-party websites for more information about the cookies they use and how you can manage them.
How do we use your information?
We use the information we collect for the following reasons:
- To provide you with our website which all require a certain amount of technical information to work efficiently .
- To power our security measures and services so you can safely access our website. It also lets us do things such as recognise your username and password, as well as reset them if you happen to forget what they are.
- To help us run competitions.
- To contact you from time to time regarding things you’ve told us you want to hear about; news updates, for example, or exciting competitions or Centenary information. We may use push notifications to highlight when we’ve added information that may be of interest to you.
- To reply to any questions, suggestions, issues you have contacted us about.
- To respond to any social media posts or other public comments you might make, whether they are directly to us or about us, our website, services or other activities.
- To advertise services to you for example on your favourite social media sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter). Please note that these may be in the form of a link to someone else’s website.
To protect you and our business from any other potentially criminal behaviour, including identity theft and fraud.
Who do we share your information with?
We can’t run the society or provide many of the services and benefits you receive without involving other people and organisations from time to time such as web hosting or administration sites. eg: PaySubsonline. When we share your information, we want you to know that we only do so in accordance with our data protection and privacy obligations.
Your information may be disclosed to:
Other people who help us provide our websites and printers for services we provide to you. They include information technology experts who design and host our website, and payment services companies such as Paygolfsubsonline that make it easy for you to use your credit or payment cards including PayPal. Other examples include general service companies such as printers for the Society Handbook.
With social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to enable us to run targeted promotions for you on their platforms.
Other people who make a subject access request, where we are allowed to do so by law. (See Managing Your Information below for what we mean by a subject access request.)
We may also share the information we collect where we are legally obliged to do so. e.g. to comply with a court order.
Social media, blogs, reviews, etc.
Any social media posts or comments you send to us (on the Facebook page, for instance) will be shared under the terms of the relevant social media platform (e.g. Facebook or Twitter) on which they’re written and could be made public. Other people, not us, control these platforms. We are not responsible for this kind of sharing. So before you make any remarks or observations about anything, you should review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the social media platforms you use. That way, you’ll understand how they will use your information, what information relating to you they will place in the public domain, and how you can stop them from doing so if you’re unhappy about it.
It’s worth remembering too, that any blog, review or other posts or comments you make about us and the services we rovide through the Society website or on any of our blogs, reviews could will be shared with all other members of that Society and the public at large.
You should take extra care to ensure that any comments you make on these services, and on social media in general are fit to be read by the public, and are not offensive, insulting or defamatory. At the end of the day, you are responsible for ensuring that any comments you make comply with any relevant policy on acceptable use of those services.
Security of your information
A lot of the information we receive reaches us electronically, originating from your device and then transmitted by your relevant telecoms network provider.
Where it’s within our control, we put measures in place to ensure this in flight data is as secure as it possibly can be.
And once it arrives, you can be sure we take the security of your information very seriously.
If you have any concerns about the security of your own personal computers and mobile devices, we suggest you read the advice of Get Safe Online.
How long do we keep your information for?
To make sure we meet our legal data protection and privacy obligations, we only hold on to your information for as long as we actually need them for the purposes we acquired them in the first place (as set out above).
In most cases, this means we will keep your information for as long as you continue to be a Member or use our services.
After that we will either delete it or anonymise it so that it cannot be linked back to you.
Managing your information
To reduce the chances of an error or misunderstanding, we need to keep the information we gather about you accurate and up-to-date.
But whilst we work very hard to make sure mistakes don’t happen, we need your help, too.
Please ensure that the information you provide (e.g. any contact information) is correct and that you review it and update it regularly and inform the Hon Secretary of changes that may be relevant.
If you have reason to believe any of the information we collect on you may be inaccurate, and you are unable to put it right yourself through our website, please contact us using the contact us through the society website. (see below for how to do this).
You are perfectly within your rights to ask us whether we hold information about you and if so, for us to give you certain details about that information and/or the information itself. This right is commonly known as a subject access request. Certain exemptions and conditions apply to this right, principally that it should be in writing and that you give us reasonable details about the information you want.
Depending on your country of residence or domicile, you may have additional or different rights to those set out above concerning the information we collect from you and your devices. We will, of course, honour all such legal rights if we are bound by them.
We also reserve the right not to comply with any enquiries or requests we receive about the information we collect, where we may lawfully do so. For example, if we have reason to believe that a request is malicious, technically impossible, involves disproportionate effort or could be harmful to others.
If you have any worries or complaints about the way we use your information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’ll do our very best to set your mind at rest or put things right. And if, for whatever reason, you feel we’re not meeting the exceptionally high standards we expect of ourselves, you’re within your rights to take your grievance to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Please see the section Where to go if you want more information about your privacy rights for further details.
And don’t forget that with modern technology, you have more and more personal control over what information we and other organisations collect. For example, you can normally delete cookies and tracking technologies sent to your web browser. You can also change related settings to restrict them going forward, such as by using a private browsing mode (although this may affect your browsing experience on some websites). Plus, you can use the settings options in your mobile devices to restrict what sort of information websites and mobile apps are able to access and use about you. Online social media platforms and search engines (Google etc.) also provide tools to manage the data they collect about you, and how it is used and shared. We urge you to look out for these functions and tools and use them to manage your privacy in a way that suits you best.
Updates to this privacy policy
We review the ways we use your information regularly. And in doing so, we may change what kind of information we collect, how we store it, who we share it with and how we act on it.
Consequently, we will need to change this privacy policy from time to time to keep it accurate and upto-date.
Whenever we change this policy, rest assured we will make every effort to tell you. That way, you can check to see if you’re still happy. And if, following any changes, you continue to use our websites and mobile apps, contact us by telephone or otherwise provide information to us (through our stores or social media, for example) we will assume that you agree to those changes.
About us
Our full legal name is RAF Golfing Society.
We are the data controller of the information you provide us with. This term is a legal phrase used to describe the person or entity that controls the way information is used and processed.
Where to go if you want more information about your privacy rights
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) regulates data protection and privacy matters in the UK. They make a lot of information accessible to consumers on their website and they ensure that the registered details of all data controllers such as ourselves are available publicly. You can access them here ICO.
You can make a complaint to the ICO at any time about the way we use your information. However, we hope that you would consider raising any issue or complaint you have with us first. Your satisfaction is extremely important to us, and we will always do our very best to solve any problems you may have.
Contact us
You’re welcome to get in touch with us to discuss your information at any time.
Our contact details are:
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this document.
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