Last update 17/07/2011

Measuring a digital shadow

Our work concerns measuring the digital shadows of our clients and their employees. Digital shadows are the publically available information that we all leave behind us in our day to day interactions with the Internet. By definition, this information is in the public domain.

We help raise awareness with both our clients and employees of the risks associated with certain types of public information. We aim to do this in a manner that respects that an individual may have unintentionally put content online. We do this to help that business to be aware of the risks and operate safely and free from harm. We also work with employees to help increase awareness and provide support to help control published content.

We achieve this through ensuring that:

• We only gather information that is publically available on the Internet
• We operate an approach that is fully compliant with the UK's Data Protection Act
• We only hold data while it's required to provide our security advice
• We never share information with third parties or transfer data outside of the UK without first seeking our clients consent
• We will always be open about our intended use of the data
• When requested by an individual we will disclose all information held on that individual (subject to an administrative fee)
• Our business is about putting security first. As such, our clients' data is our most important asset and our IT systems are built with this in mind

Other privacy policy information

Of course, we are no different from any other business so we also operate a general privacy policy that supports the day to day running of our business. In order to do this we also gather:

• Information about visitors to our website (Locations; IP Addresses, web server logs; traffic information and other location data)
• Email and form communications resulting from submission of information to our website or email addresses
• Contact details of our potential customers, for the purposes of marketing.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, James Chappell, our chief technology officer, acts also as our data controller.

Cookies policy

There are instances where we may use cookies to gather information regarding our services for our website and our advertisers. We are currently reviewing our cookies policy in light of the updated legislation which came into effect in the UK in May 2011. We are currently discussing an implementation approach with our lawyers and our technology partners and will provide an update to this policy in due course to reflect this.

In the meantime, we may use cookies in the operation of this website. Any information collected will not have any identifying data. It is statistical data about our visitors and how they have used our site.  No personal details will be shared that could identify you.

We may assemble information about your common internet use with a cookie file.  When used, the cookies are downloaded to your computer automatically.  The cookie is stored on the hard drive, with transferred information.  The data sought by the cookie helps us improve our website and any service offered to you. 

Your browser has the ability to decline cookies.  This is done by setting your browser options to decline all cookies.  Note: if you do decline the download of cookies, some aspects of our site may not work or allow you access.

Our advertisers may download cookies to which we have no control.  If used, these cookies are downloaded by clicking on an advertisement found on our website. 

Information shared to a third party is statistical only.  We will not reveal who you are, only summary information about site usage and our visitors.  

Information Disclosure

We do not operate a business that sells your data to third parties and therefore we will never knowingly sell your information to any third party, however we should make you aware that Third Party disclosure may occur for the following reasons:

If we were to sell any or all of our business to a third party may result in sharing your information.

At any time when we are legally required to, we may have to disclose information about you and your visits to our sites.

If we were asked to submit information as part of a criminal investigation, we may be forced to disclose information. 

Third Party Links

Hypertext links to third parties are provided on our site.  These third party links have their own privacy policy, which you agree to when you click on the link.  We are not responsible nor do we accept responsibility for third party links.  Our liability covers us only on our site, and thus we do not accept liability for third party links as we have no control over them.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at enquiries@digitalshadows.com.