PRIVACY POLICY

Thank you for visiting our website.  Like you, we at FatePod also use websites.  We care about what happens with our personal information and we don’t like it when websites want to sell our personal information to others.  Because of this, we have a strict approach to privacy.  We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information.  We guarantee that we will never sell your information to third parties.  You can be confident that we put in place appropriate measures to keep your personal information private and secure.

We asked ourselves the key questions that we believe you would like answered about how we collect, use, disclose and protect your personal information.  The answers to those questions set out below form our Privacy Policy.  This Privacy Policy supplements and forms part of our Terms of Use and therefore should be read together with our Terms of Use and our Acceptable Use Policy.

We refer to our website at www.fatepod.com (and its associated pages) as “our site” in this Privacy Policy.

FatePod Limited is the company which determines how and why your personal information is processed (otherwise known as the “data controller” in respect of your personal information).  FatePod Limited is a company registered in England under company number 06988111, whose registered office is at 30 Birkenhead Road, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 3BW.

FatePod Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries with regard to this Privacy Policy, please contact us by sending an email to help@fatepod.com.

1. What personal information does FatePod collect and how does FatePod collect it?
2. For what purposes does FatePod use my personal information?
3. Who does FatePod disclose my personal information to and on what basis?
4. Which countries will my personal information be sent to and why?
5. How does FatePod keep my personal information secure?
6. How long is my personal information kept for?
7. How can I see, check, change or delete the Personal Information I send to FatePod?
8. What information does FatePod collect about my computer and how is that information used?
9. What about cookies and other tracking technology - how and why does FatePod use them?
10. What use do you make of my personal information for marketing purposes?
11. How can I stop receiving marketing information?
12. Does FatePod link to other websites and what happens to my personal information when this linking happens?
13. What is FatePod's policy on children using and communicating via the fatepod website?
14. What happens when I send a ‘pod wink’, ‘pod shake’ or message to another user via the fatepod website?
15. What is the position regarding personal information which I post on public pages of the fatepod website?
16. What happens to my personal information if I participate in an on-line survey from FatePod?
17. Can FatePod change the terms of this Privacy Policy?
18. What laws and other terms apply to my use of the fatepod website?
19. How can I contact FatePod if I have other questions regarding my personal information?

Q1      What personal information does FatePod collect and how does FatePod collect it? - Top

We only collect personal information that is needed for you to register on our site, that is needed to provide and improve the features which are available on our site and personal information that you want to provide to us.

We collect direct personal information (such as name, address and e-mail address) as well as indirect information (such as cookies, internet connection information and system information).

Direct personal information:

We will collect and process direct personal information that you provide to us (whether on our site or by other communications with us). This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our site (including your email address and telephone number), subscribing to any services which we provide from time to time, completing your profile details, posting material such as encounter messages or sending contact messages via our site to other users of our site.  Also, if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.

Indirect information:

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, details of your visits to our site including (but not limited to) traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data and the resources that you access.  This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify you or any other individual.  For further information on how we collect indirect information, please see Question 9 (What about cookies and other tracking technology - how and why does FatePod use them?).

Sensitive information:

Certain information, statements, data and content (such as photographs) which you may choose to upload to our site (or provide to us by other means) might, or are likely to, reveal your gender, ethnic origin, nationality, religion and/or sexual orientation.  By using our site (or when contacting us using other means), you consent to us processing (in accordance with this Privacy Policy) such “sensitive” information where you choose to provide it.

Q2      For what purposes does FatePod use my personal information? - Top

We may use personal information held about you for all or any of the following purposes:

• to enable you to register to use our site (including use of your email address and mobile number to send you links and codes required as part of the registration process); 
• to allow you to make full use of our site, including interactive features of our site which enable you (usually at your option) to share your information (such as your profile and an encounter message) with other users and to communicate with other users; 
• to tell you about other users where we think that may be of interest to you (such as people who are posting encounter messages in your area or post encounter messages similar to one you have posted); 
• to send you details of promotions on our site or new features or services that we may provide from time to time, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes; 
• to send you details of goods or services from third parties that may be of interest to you (although the details will be sent by us on behalf of those third parties; we will never disclose your information to third parties for marketing purposes) – we will only contact you by electronic means (email or SMS) for these purposes if you have consented to this; 
• to give you notices under our Terms of Use and, where relevant, to take any action relating to enforcement of our Terms of Use; 
• to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer; and 
• to notify you about changes to our site or its features.

Please note that your use of our site may involve the publication of your personal information on our site (for example, where you upload your profile or any encounter messages) or disclosure of your personal information to other users of our site (for example, where you send a message to another user).   However, you have the choice whether or not you disclose any such information and you have complete control over what information you choose to disclose – for more information, please see Question 14 (What happens when I send a ‘pod wink’, ‘pod shake’ or message to another user via the fatepod website?) and Question 15 (What is the position regarding personal information which I post on public pages of the fatepod website?).

We use indirect information that we have collected (such as information about your computer and browser and your browsing actions and patterns) for system administration and for our own monitoring purposes.  We may also disclose aggregate information to advertisers or potential advertisers on our site, but this is just statistical data and does not identify you or any other individual.

Q3      Who does FatePod disclose my personal information to and on what basis? - Top

We may supply your personal information to companies which provide services for us in connection with the operation and maintenance of our site (such as our internet service providers or companies which help us host or administer our site).  Some of these companies may be located outside the country where you accessed our site: please see Question 4 (Which countries will my personal information be sent to and why?).  All such companies are bound by a legal agreement to process your personal information only on our specific instructions and to have in place appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal information and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal information. 

When you register to use our site you will be required to send a text (SMS) message in order to receive a code to your mobile phone (the code needs to be entered on our site as part of the registration process).  You will therefore be sharing your mobile phone number with the company which provides the SMS service (which is not a FatePod company).  That company will only use your mobile phone number for the purpose of sending the registration code and not for any other purpose without your consent; it will also not have access to any other personal information of yours.  Details of the company which provides the SMS service for registration on our site can be found by visiting www.phonepayplus.org.uk and entering the shortcode number (the number we ask you to send a text to) on the search facility on that website.

From time to time we may establish new group companies (such as subsidiary companies, holding companies and associated companies). Any such group member may use your personal information for the same purposes and on the same basis as set out in this Privacy Policy.

If there is a business transaction or potential business transaction in respect of our company or any member of our group (such as the sale of our company, its business or assets), then we may disclose your personal information to a party involved in the transaction or potential transaction for the purposes of that transaction and/or for such person to subsequently operate our site.  However, we will only disclose your personal information in these circumstances where (i) we have contractually ensured that the personal information is kept private and secure; and (ii) that when disclosing the personal information, we comply with applicable laws.

Your personal information may also be disclosed to third parties in the following ways:

• to enforce or apply this Privacy Policy, our Terms of Use, our Acceptable Use Policy and any other applicable agreements or policies; 
• if we believe disclosure is appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, any company in our group, our employees, our users or others; 
• if we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding any actual or suspected illegal activity or other wrongdoing; and
• to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement authorities.

We may disclose some aggregate information about our users to advertisers or potential advertisers on our site but this information does not identify you or any other individual person (for example, we may inform them that 500 men aged under 30 have clicked on an advertisement on our site during a particular period).  We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers on our site reach the kind of audience they want to target (for example, women in a particular geographical area) - we may make use of the personal information we have collected from you to enable us to comply with the wishes of advertisers on our site by displaying their advertisement to that target audience.

Q4      Which countries will my personal information be sent to and why? - Top

Companies which provide services for us in connection with the operation and maintenance of our site (such as our internet service providers or companies which help us host or administer our site) may be located outside the country where you accessed our site.  Therefore your personal information may be sent to those companies for the purposes referred to in Question 2 (For what purposes does FatePod use my personal information?).

The server which makes our site available may be located outside the country from which you have accessed our site.  The company which hosts our site is currently based in the United Kingdom but this may change in the future.

All companies to whom we disclose your personal information, in whatever country they are based, are bound by a legal agreement to process your personal information only on our specific instructions and to have in place appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal information and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal information.

In addition, where any such companies are located outside of the EU then we have legal agreements in place under which they will be bound to ensure that your personal information is given levels of protection which are equivalent to those which are legally required to be in place within the EU.

Q5      How does FatePod keep my personal information secure? - Top

FatePod maintains a secure IT environment and has appropriate measures in place to prevent unauthorised access (such as hacking).

The only people who have access to your personal information are authorised FatePod staff or staff who work for companies providing services to us (such as hosting service providers).  All FatePod staff are required to adhere to this Privacy Policy.  Staff who work for other companies and who have access to your personal information have signed agreements to keep private and secure all such information.  In addition, contracts are in place with those other companies that have access to your personal information, also legally obliging them to make sure that this information remains secure.

Please also see Question 3 (Who does FatePod disclose my personal information to and on what basis?).

Q6      How long is my personal information kept for? - Top

A feature of our site is to let people your search encounter messages for up to 5 years after they are posted.  Therefore to allow other users who find those encounter messages to be able to make contact with you via our site, we will usually keep your personal information for up to 5 years from the date that you last posted an encounter (even if you have stopped using our site).

Your personal information may also be kept after that period for as long as is reasonably necessary taking into consideration our need to answer queries or resolve problems, provide services and comply with applicable legal requirements. After this, your personal information will be deleted from our systems and (unless they are entitled to keep it for longer) from the systems of any other person to whom we have disclosed information as referred to in Question 3 (Who does FatePod disclose my personal information to and on what basis?).

You may at any time, however, ask us to delete your personal information: see Question 7 (How can I see, check, change or delete the Personal Information I send to FatePod?).  We may keep your personal information even after you have requested us to delete it, if and to the extent necessary in connection with efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding any actual or suspected illegal activity or other wrongdoing, or to comply with applicable law or cooperate with law enforcement authorities.

Q7      How can I see, check, change or delete the Personal Information I send to FatePod? - Top

You have the right to ask us to provide you with all the information we store on you. We may (as we are entitled to do by law) require you to pay a small charge to do this.  Any such requests should be sent to: legal@fatepod.com.

You may also log-in to our site if appropriate and review and update aspects of your personal information on the personal details page of your account.

You may have your personal information deleted, corrected or revised by sending an email to: help@fatepod.com.

Please note that if we delete your personal information at your request, then you will no longer be entitled to use the features on our site but you will not be entitled to any refund of any charges you have paid.  Should you then wish to use the features on our site again in the future, you would need to register again (and pay any applicable charges on registering).

Q8      What information does FatePod collect about my computer and how is that information used? - Top

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration (which may include disclosure of such information to our internet service providers or companies which help us host or administer our site) and to disclose aggregate information to advertisers or potential advertisers on our site.  This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify you or any other individual.

Q9      What about cookies and other tracking technology - how and why does FatePod use them? - Top

A cookie is a type of file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. We may use cookies:

• to estimate our audience size and usage pattern;
• to store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests;
• to speed up your searches; and
• to recognise you when you return to our site.

We may use other tracking technology to collect information about your computer and browser and your browsing actions and patterns for system administration and for our own monitoring purposes.  We may also disclose aggregate information to advertisers or potential advertisers on our site, but this is just statistical data and does not identify you or any other individual.

Cookies located on your computer do not contain your name but an IP address. FatePod keeps all the information collected from cookies in a non-personally identifiable format. This type of information obtained through cookies will not be used by us or third parties for unsolicited communications.

Please ensure that your computer setting reflects whether you are happy to accept cookies or not. You can set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, or you can simply set it to refuse them, although you may not have access to all the features of our site if you do so. See your browser 'help' button for how you can do this. Remember that if you use different computers in different locations, you will need to ensure that each browser is adjusted to suit your cookie preferences.  Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site.

Please note that advertisers on our site may also use cookies, over which we have no control.

Q10    What use do you make of my personal information for marketing purposes? - Top

FatePod only uses your personal information for marketing purposes where you have given your consent. FatePod does NOT send spam emails. Spamming is where unsolicited emails are sent to you containing advertisements or marketing related materials without your consent.  Sending emails without consent is illegal in many countries.

We may use your personal information to send you details about new features of our site or promotions relating to our site and to tell you about other users where we think that may be of interest to you (such as people who are posting encounter messages in your area or post encounter messages similar to one you have posted).   You can tell us if you do not wish to receive those details  by logging in and updating your personal details page.

We may use your information to send you details of goods or services from third parties that may be of interest to you (although the details will be sent by us - we will never disclose or make your information available to any third parties for marketing purpose).  We will only send you these details if you give us your express permission (called "opt-in" consent).  You can change your preferences at any time by logging in and updating your personal details page.

Every email or SMS sent by FatePod for marketing purposes will give you the opportunity at any time to stop receiving them. For further information see Question 11 (How can I stop receiving marketing information?).

Q11    How can I stop receiving marketing information? - Top

You can tell us your preferences when you first register with us and you can change your preferences at any time by logging in and updating your personal details page.
You can also discontinue receiving any email or SMS sent by FatePod for marketing purposes by following the relevant instructions in that communication.  You can also notify us by emailing us at: unsubscribe@fatepod.com.

Q12    Does FatePod link to other websites and what happens to my personal information when this linking happens? - Top

Our site may from time to time link to other websites to offer you an opportunity to review information which may be of interest to users of our site.  Those other websites are outside of our control and are not covered by this Privacy Policy.  If you access other websites using the links provided, the operators of those websites may collect your personal information.  Please ensure that you are satisfied with the privacy policy and other applicable terms and conditions of each of those websites before you submit any personal information or otherwise use such websites. We shall not be responsible (legally or otherwise) for the activities, privacy policies or levels of privacy compliance of the third parties who operate those other websites.

Q13    What is FatePod's policy on children using and communicating via the fatepod website? - Top

We believe that it is highly important to protect the privacy of children online and we encourage parents or guardians to spend time online with their children to participate in and monitor their online activities.

Our site is intended only for persons who are 18 years and over and it is a breach of our Terms of Use for anyone under that age to attempt to register on or use our site.  Consequently, we do not intentionally collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18.

Special note for anyone under the age of 18:

If you are under the age of 18, you are not permitted to use our site.  You should not try to register on our site or to submit any personal information on our site. If you are not sure if you understand what is written here (or in our Terms of Use), you should ask your parent or guardian for their help.

Special note to Parents/Guardians of anyone under the age of 18:

We recommend that parents/guardians regularly check and monitor their children's use of email and other online activities.  Our site is only for the use of persons who are aged 18 and over:  please make sure that your child does not attempt to register on our site and does not submit any personal information on our site.  If you become aware that your child has registered on our site or submitted personal information on our site, please contact us immediately by sending an email to help@fatepod.com.

Q14    What happens when I send a ‘pod wink’, ‘pod shake’ or message to another user via the fatepod website? - Top

Our site provides you with the opportunity to ‘wink’ at, ‘shake hands’ with or send a message to, another user of our site. These features are provided in a way which protects your privacy: only information which you choose to make available will be sent to the other user.  More information on these features is available on our FAQs page.

When you send a ‘pod wink’ to another user, we contact that other user to let them know that you have done so and they will be informed of your Pod Name (the username you have registered on our site), but we do not disclose your email address or other personal information to any person as part of this feature.

When you send a ‘pod shake’ to another user, we contact that other user to let them know that you have done so and they will be informed of your Pod Name (the username you have registered on our site), but we do not disclose your email address or other personal information to any person as part of this feature.

When you send a message to another user, your Pod Name (the username you have registered on our site) will be disclosed to the recipient of your message together with the message you wish to send, but we do not otherwise disclose any of your personal information.  However, you may choose to include your contact details or other personal information in any message you send to another person, but we recommend that you do not disclose such information until you are satisfied that it is safe to do so and that you limit the amount of information you provide – please also see our safety tips.

Please also see Question Q15 (What is the position regarding personal information which I post on public pages of the fatepod website?).

Q15    What is the position regarding personal information which I post on public pages of the fatepod website? - Top

Our site includes features where you can post information about yourself (such as your profile and details of any message you post regarding an encounter) and upload photographs.  Such postings and your photographs may appear in search results when other users search or browse for encounters.  All postings and uploads are governed by our Terms of Use. 

Whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information on publicly-viewable web pages on our site (such as your profile and any message you post regarding an encounter), that information will be publicly available and can be collected and used by others.  We cannot control who reads your posting or what other users may do with the information you voluntarily post, so we encourage you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to your personal information – please also see our safety tips.

Posting your email address or other contact details on a publicly-viewable page on our site (whether as part of your profile or in an encounter message) is a breach of our Terms of Use.  Also, if you do so, may receive unsolicited messages from third parties (whether or not users of our site) and third parties could also disclose your email address to others.  We are not responsible for any actions of a third party relating to use of your contact details or other personal information which you post on publicly-viewable pages on our site.

Please also see Question Q14 (What happens when I send a ‘pod wink’, ‘pod shake’ or message to another user via the fatepod website?).

Q16    What happens to my personal information if I participate in an on-line survey from FatePod? - Top

From time to time, we may ask visitors to our site to answer survey questions. Surveys generally will relate to the content of our site, the features of our site or proposed new services. In these surveys, we may ask for age or age ranges, gender, and/or other non-personally identifiable information. For the purposes of these surveys, we may add information obtained from cookies to your survey answers but no personally identifiable information will be requested. The information collected is not tied to any personal information that you may already have given to us. Personal information gathered from polls and surveys are for FatePod’s internal use only but aggregated information (not capable of personally identifying you or any other individual) may be shared with others (such as advertisers or potential advertisers on our site).

Q17    Can FatePod change the terms of this Privacy Policy? - Top

We will occasionally make changes to this Privacy Policy. Please check this Privacy Policy regularly to see the changes and how these may affect you.

Q18    What laws and other terms apply to my use of the fatepod website? - Top

As FatePod Limited is an English company, the laws that govern and apply to our site are the laws of England.  If you use our site, you must also agree to our Terms of Use and our Acceptable Use Policy.

Q19    How can I contact FatePod if I have other questions regarding my personal information? - Top

Please contact FatePod Customer Services by sending an email to help@fatepod.com.

Copyright © FatePod Limited 2010