Welcome to Stephen Hayes Online.
At Stephen Hayes's author website, accessible at stephenhayesonline.com, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors and members. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by us and how it is used.
If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us through email at author@stephenhayesonline.com.
This privacy policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website with regards to the information that they share, and/or is collected in the usage of this website. This policy is not applicable to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.
1. Consent
By using our website, you hereby consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its terms. If you registered to be a member, it is understood that you have already read, understood and agreed to the privacy policy.
2. Information we collect
The personal information that you are asked to provide, and the reasons why you are asked to provide it, will be made clear to you at the point we ask you to provide your personal information.
If you register for an account, you will be asked to provide your Email address, first and last name, gender, date of birth and location. If you wish to have these details removed after you have registered, but do not wish to lose access to the member features, you may request to have your account anonymised.
If you subscribe to our mailing list, you will only be asked to provide the Email address you wish subscribed to the mailing list. You may optionally provide your name later.
If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you such as your name, email address, phone number, the contents of the message and/or attachments you may send us, and any other information you may choose to provide.
3. How we use your information
We use the information we collect in various ways, including to:
- provide, operate, and maintain our website,
- understand the types of visitors we have to our website,
- develop new products, services, features, and functionality,
- communicate with you in accordance with the Email preferences you have selected in your profile, and
- Find and prevent fraud.
4. Log Files
Stephenhayesonline follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services' analytics. The information collected by log files include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analysing trends, administering the site, tracking users' movement on the website, and gathering demographic information.
We do not, however, use any external, JavaScript-based tracking. We have determined that for our purposes, it will not be necessary to use Google Analytics or any other external tracking. We also do not link to any external advertising platforms through the same protocols.
5. Cookies and Web Beacons
Like any other website, Stephenhayesonline uses ‘cookies’. These cookies are used to store information including visitors' preferences, and the pages on the website that the visitor accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the users' experience by customizing our web page content based on visitors' browser type and/or other information.
Our cookies are used in the following ways:
- If you are not a member and you purchase a product through our site, a cookie is used to carry the purchase information from PayPal back to our website. This cookie is destroyed as soon as the order is processed and you have reached the download page.
- If you are a member, a cookie will track you while you are logged into the members area. It will include your unique ID, account type and status, so that only the necessary member features are shown to you. This cookie is destroyed when you log out, or when you exit your browser.
- No cookies are saved to your computer or device, meaning that until you log into the website, we will not know who you are and will not be able to customise the website for you.
You can choose to disable cookies through your individual browser options. To know more detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers, it can be found at the browsers' respective websites.
6. Privacy Specifics
The following section describes the specific circumstances of our data collection and processing, and your rights regarding it.
6.1. Website Architecture
- Our website is displayed using HTML5, CSS3 and some JavaScript. It utilises the external libraries Bootstrap and jQuery to enhance the user experience.
- Our website stores much of its content in XML format.
- All member, product order, character and mailing list subscription data is stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database.
- Our website uses a cookie known as a session state to track you as you navigate from page to page, however this cookie is not stored on your computer/device, cannot interact with other websites, and is destroyed when you leave the website.
- Our website uses no external tracking. This decision was made to increase page load times and to protect our users from code vulnerabilities outside our ability to rectify.
6.2. Members
- When you create an account on our website, we will ask you for your full name, gender, date of birth and location. This data is used primarily for market research, although the date of birth is also used to make sure you are not under the age of thirteen.
- You also have the option of adding your address. This information will be used to send you physical products if you happen to win any through the Characters section of the members area.
- The information above can be removed without removing your account by requesting to have your account anonymised. This request needs to be made in writing.
- As your Email address is one of the credentials used to identify you, it cannot be anonymised. If you are uncomfortable providing us with your personal Email address, we encourage you to create a separate Email address to use with this website.
- None of your details will be shared with anyone unless you give us permission to do so, or where local law requires it.
7. Regional Privacy Law
7.1. CCPA Privacy Policy (Do Not Sell My Personal Information)
Under the CCPA, among other rights, California consumers have the right to:
- Request that a business that collects a consumer's personal data disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal data that a business has collected about consumers. If you make this request, we will provide you with the SQL data we have associated with your account, along with any logs we are able to locate which are relevant to you.
- Request that a business delete any personal data about the consumer that a business has collected. Most of the options to do this are already provided to you, however if you are a member and want your personal information forgotten, you can request to have your account anonymised.
- Request that a business that sells a consumer's personal data, not sell the consumer's personal data. We do not sell any of our members' personal data.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us by Email.
7.2. GDPR Privacy Policy (Data Protection Rights)
We would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:
- The right to access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data.
- The right to rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any personal information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete the personal information you believe is incomplete.
- The right to erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
- The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
- The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
- The right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us by Email.
7.3. Children's Information
Another part of our priority is adding protection for children while using the internet. We encourage parents and guardians to observe, participate in, and/or monitor and guide their online activity.
Stephenhayesonline does not knowingly collect any Personal Identifiable Information from children under the age of 13. If you think that your child provided this kind of information on our website, we strongly encourage you to contact us immediately and we will do our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.