Merchant Square Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how Merchant Square uses and protects any information that you give us when you use this website and/or log into our free public wi-fi.

Merchant Square is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website and/or the free wi-fi at Merchant Square, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. Merchant Square may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

Changes to this policy have been made prior to the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). This policy is effective from 25.05.2018.

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

• Name and title
• Contact information including email address
• Other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers

• IP address (automatically collected);
• Web browser type and version (automatically collected);
• Operating system (automatically collected);
• In each case, in accordance with this privacy policy.

Note: You must actively choose to opt in or subscribe to receive digital communications from us, on both our website and public wi-fi. We will not collect personal information if you do not request that we do so.

What we do with the information we gather

For purposes of the Data Protection Bill 2017 and GDPR, Merchant Square is the “data controller ” and we require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• We will retain any Data you submit for 24 months
• Information that you provide by filling in forms on our site www.merchantsquare.co.uk (“our site”). This includes the information you provided at the time of registering with our website or public wi-fi, subscribing to our services or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site.
• If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
• We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
• The nature of your interest in our Merchant Square development so that we can send you details about us which we think may interest you.
• Unless we are obliged or permitted by law to do so, and subject to any third party disclosures specifically set out in this policy, your Data will not be disclosed to third parties. This does not include our affiliates and / or other companies within our group.
• All personal Data is stored securely in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. For more details on security see the clause below (Security).
• In each case, in accordance with this privacy policy.

With regard to each of your visits to our site we may automatically collect the following information;

• Information about the way you use our site. We only collect this information in anonymous form, which means that it cannot be used to identify you. Please refer to the section entitled ‘cookies’ for further information.
• Information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information to those involved in our organisation. This information is collected in an aggregated, statistical form and cannot be used to identify you.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and security the information we collect online.

The rights of every single record of personal information we hold belongs to the customers whose information we utilise. As a result, we have the duty to protect the rights of all information in our databases, and the customers have a right to request to understand if that data is correct, or the right to ask for us to forget it altogether. For this reason, we have committed to improving our processes beyond the GDPR deadline of 25^th May, and we will be committing to review our data protocols on a regular basis going forward.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

The only cookies we use on the Merchant Square site are the Analytical/Performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

Links to other websites and social media

Our web site may contain links to other third-party applications, services, tools and websites that are not affiliated with, controlled or managed by us (including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter) and these services and links may also include social networking features (such as the Facebook “Like” button and widgets, “Share” buttons, and other interactive mini-programs). Additionally, you may choose to use your own social networking logins from, for example, Facebook or LinkedIn to log into some of our services. If you choose to connect using a social networking or similar service, we may receive and store authentication information from that service to enable you to log in and other information that you may choose to share when you connect with these services. These enable features to function properly.

Please be aware that once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over any other website and we are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or protection of any information that you provide whilst visiting such sites. We encourage our users to exercise caution when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements applicable to any website that collects personally identifiable information. If you do not want your personal information shared with your social media account provider or other users of the social media service, please do not connect your social media account with your account for the services we provide and do not participate in social sharing.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

• Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to opt in to request your information be used by the site operators for direct marketing purposes.
• To ensure compliance with the Data Protection Bill (2017) and GDPR legislation, a compliant data cleanse of the Merchant Square website & wi-fi database has been undertaken;
• Any individual that has previously subscribed through our website or public wi-fi before 20^th April 2016 has been removed from our database.
• Any individual that subscribed through our website or public wi-fi after 20^th April 2016 has had a digital re-permission sent by e-mail, and if no response was received via opting-in, then your data has been removed from our database.
• If you have previously agreed to or do agree to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at events@merchantsquare.co.uk
• We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen
• You have the right to request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 2017 and GDPR. Any request for information will be provided without delay and at the latest within one month of receipt of the request.
• If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly and without hesitation correct any information found to be incorrect within one month of receipt.

• You have the right to erase, restrict the processing of or withdraw any consents relating to, the personal data we have collected about you. Any request for erasure will be actioned without delay and at the latest within one month of receipt of the request

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.