Action for M.E. is committed to protecting your personal information. We want our services to be safe and our website to be an enjoyable environment for everyone.
This page answers some important questions about how we can collect, use and protect your personal details.
What information do we collect?
When you interact with Action for M.E. we sometimes receive personal information about you. For example, if you create an account on our website or sign up to a newsletter, you might tell us who you are, how we can contact you.
This website uses cookies to help you in your interactions with the site. Most cookies are session cookies, lasting only for the duration of your visit and are deleted when you close your browser. No personally-identifiable data is collected. Examples of the sort of information that is collected via session cookies are provided below. This list is not exhaustive:
- The last search term that you used within the site.
- Your preference in terms of accessible viewing options.
- A unique ID to track your session from page to page, which is vitally important should you sign into the site.
- Which page you are looking at within a multi-paged index of content, or search results.
Certain cookies are persistent, meaning that they last beyond your session, enabling an enhanced user-experience when you return to the site. Again, a non-exhaustive list of examples of the use of persistent cookies includes:
- The option to “Remember my username” when signing-in to the site.
- The fact that you have voted in a poll, so that you are prevented from voting multiple times.
This site uses Google Analytics to allow us to track how popular our site is and to record visitor trends over time. Google Analytics uses a cookie to help track which pages are accessed. The cookie contains no personally-identifiable information, but it does use your computer’s IP address to determine where in the world you are accessing the site from, and to track your page visits within the site.
From time to time, we may embed external content from third-party websites (e.g. Facebook, YouTube) within our website. These websites may utilise cookies and the Privacy Policy that will apply to such third-party content will be that published on the website of that third-party
content provider.
How do we use it?
- We will use this information for a number of purposes, eg. to:
contact you (eg. if you fill in one of our surveys, we may need to contact you to clarify something). - Provide you with services (eg. to send you a newsletter if you have asked for one).
- Personalise the way in which our web content or communications are presented to you (eg. if you are a Supporting Member of Action for M.E. you will have access to a membership-only area of this website).
- Validate, if necessary, your access to online discussions eg. for forums which have limited access or, on rare occasions, where we suspect a user has adopted multiple aliases.
We will hold your personal data on our systems for as long as this service is provided, or until you ask that we remove your details. This does not affect your statutory rights.
If you subscribe or register for our e-newsletters or other e-services, you should be given the opportunity to stop receiving them. If you receive unsolicited email from us or experience problems unsubscribing, please email us.
What software do we use?
For statistical purposes, we use software which automatically collects data about visitors to our website, eg. Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, duration of visit, type of browser and platform used, etc.
Our consultation surveys are supported by SurveyMonkey, our e-newsletters by dotMailer and our Progress database in association with ASI Europe.
Confidentiality
We will keep your information confidential and generally we will only use your information within Action for M.E. However, we sometimes use third parties to provide services on our behalf, eg. to print and deliver our membership magazine, InterAction.
We will never sell your information for commercial purposes.
Your data protection choices
We won't contact you for marketing purposes unless you specifically agree. You can opt-out of receiving direct marketing from us at any stage.
If you have an account with our website, you can sign into your account in order to update your personal information.
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to find out what information is held about you on computer and some paper records. This right is known as the Right of Subject Access. To request a copy of the personal data we have about you, please write to us, enclosing a cheque for £10 made payable to Action for M.E., at Action for M.E., PO Box 2778, Bristol BS1 9DJ.
How to contact us
If you have any comments or questions about our privacy and data protection policy please contact us by email or write to us at Action for M.E., PO Box 2778, Bristol BS1 9DJ.
For more information on privacy and data protection generally, go to the Office of the Information Commissioner’s website, www.ico.gov.uk.
Note: This statement only covers this website, www.actionforme.org.uk.
This website contains links to other websites, which may have different policies on privacy and data collection. You should always read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information.
