Privacy Notice

The Copeland Bird Observatory

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) requires the Observatory to process (i.e. store or use) any information it may hold on you (the Data Subject) with respect to your right to privacy. This Privacy Notice outlines the policy of the Observatory in this regard. The Data Controller, who is responsible for the storage and use of this information, is normally the Hon. Membership Secretary.

What information we may hold on you

The Observatory may hold some or all of the following information on you

  • Your name
  • Your postal address
  • Your landline telephone number
  • Your mobile telephone number
  • A family or friend contact telephone number in case of emergency
  • Your email address
  • Your age if under 18
  • Your membership category
  • Your dates of membership
  • Whether you wish to receive our e-news bulletins
  • Photographs or other imagery and/or sounds of you from your participation in Observatory activities

What we may use this information for

  • To maintain membership and supporter records
  • To contact you personally with details of boat trips or other arrangements you may have made with us
  • To send you our e-news bulletins and notices of forthcoming Observatory meetings or events
  • To inform Observatory policy by analysing recruitment and retention patterns among Observatory members and supporters
  • To prepare publicity material for the Observatory and its activities
  • To allow Committee members to circulate information and comment on Observatory matters to each other
  • To send you information from other conservation organisations which the Committee feels may be of particular interest to Observatory members and supporters

How we keep the information

This information is kept on an electronic membership database and/or electronic email distribution lists. Paper copies of membership forms are also retained for back-up purposes. The electronic database files are password-protected and the paper files are kept in a locked filing cabinet. Email and other addresses are not made visible to other data subjects during communications. With the agreement of the Committee, part or all of this information may be provided to Committee or other Observatory members who require it to carry out their duties on behalf of the Observatory. They will undertake to keep the information equally secure and retain it only for as long as they actively require it for use. Telephone numbers of members booking trips to the Observatory may be held in the contacts list of mobile telephones of the Hon. Bookings Secretary, boatman or other responsible person.

None of this information will be provided to any third party for use by themselves. However, if the Committee considers that it would be of interest to memb­ers and supporters, the Data Controller may use it for the Observatory to circulate information on behalf of other conser­v­ation-related organisations without releasing any information to the third party. When an exception to this principle appears to the Committee to be of partic­ular advantage to the activities of the Observatory (e.g. for direct debit payment of subscript­ions), your individual consent will be sought in advance of the relevant information being released.

Your consent to its use

Keeping membership and island visit records and circulating information generally about conservation activities appear to be ‘legitimate interests’ of the Observatory, and the DPA does not require your individual consent to be given to process your inform­ation to this end. You may however withdraw your consent from certain forms of processing of the data we keep on you, provided this does not result in ‘disproportionate effort’ being required by the Observatory’s administration. Please contact the Data Controller if you wish to do this.

When an Annual (i.e. paying) Member lists household members as Family or Family Junior Members of the Observatory, s/he is guaranteeing that s/he has authority to consent where necessary on their behalf. When an email or postal address of a supporter is supplied for inclusion in the distribution lists, the supplier of the address accepts a similar responsibility.

When images and/or sounds identifiable as an individual person may possibly be used by the Observatory in publicity material, the Observatory will seek their consent in advance.

How we dispose of the information

For statistical purposes, we normally retain membership information for a period of five years after membership has expired or been terminated, unless requested to do otherwise by the individual. Supporters on email distribution lists will be asked every five years to confirm that they still wish to receive communications from the Observatory. They may ask for their email address to be removed from the distribution list at any time. Paper records will be shredded on disposal; electronic records will be deleted and the storage materials later reformatted or physically destroyed when they are disposed of or ownership is transferred.

How you can check, correct or change your information

You can request, in writing or by email, a copy of all the information we hold on you. We are required by the DPA to obtain proof of identity of the person making the request, to respond to such a request within 40 working days and are permitted to make a small charge for it. In any case, please advise us of any information you know to be incorrect or outdated and we will amend it as soon as possible.

Review of our Privacy Policy

The Committee will carry out information audits at intervals of not more than five years to ensure that this Policy remains appropriate to the Observatory’s activities and meets the requirements of the version of the Data Protection Act that is current at the time.

Version 1.iv January 2014