Privacy

Who we are

Our website address is: https://pathbuddy.com.

The privacy policy for Pathbuddy plays a crucial role in safeguarding the confidentiality and security of user information. It outlines the measures taken to protect personal data and assures users that their privacy is a top priority. By clearly defining how information is collected, used, and shared, the privacy policy establishes transparency and builds trust among Pathbuddy users.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

We must get the user’s consent before we set any cookies that are not strictly necessary.

We get the user’s consent by allowing the user to change and save their settings on the cookies page. 

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

What kind of data we receive from you

When you use our platform you will give us the following information: your name, email address, date of birth, your username and password, the name of your school, your IP address and your gender which is optional and upon your discretion.

Who we share your data with

The information received is securely stored and accessed by our system.

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

 Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to find out what information the government and other organisations store about you. These include the right to:

• be informed about how your data is being used
• access personal data
• have incorrect data updated
• have data erased
• stop or restrict the processing of your data
• data portability (allowing you to get and reuse your data for different services)
• object to how your data is processed in certain circumstances

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

You retain the right to request the deletion of your information, and we are committed to fulfilling such requests.

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Compliance with The Data Protection Act 2018

We are in compliance with The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Personal data only includes information relating to natural persons who:

• can be identified or who are identifiable, directly from the information in question; or
• who can be indirectly identified from that information in combination with other information.

Everyone responsible for using personal data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’. We make sure the information is:

• used fairly, lawfully and transparently
• used for specified, explicit purposes
• used in a way that is adequate, relevant and limited to only what is necessary
• accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
• kept for no longer than is necessary
• handled in a way that ensures appropriate security, including protection against unlawful or unauthorised processing, access, loss, destruction or damage

Article 8 of the UK GDPR provides that:

• only children aged 13 years and over may lawfully provide their own consent for the processing of their personal data
• an adult with parental responsibility must provide consent for processing if the child is under 13

In addition, the data controller is under an additional duty to make reasonable efforts to verify that, where consent is given by a parent or guardian, that that person does actually have parental responsibility for the child. The UK GDPR applies to the processing of personal data that is:

• wholly or partly by automated means; or
• the processing other than by automated means of personal data which forms part of, or is intended to form part of, a filing system