Open Digital Cooperative strongly believes that you have the right to control the use of your personal information and that your privacy must be respected. That is why we strictly limit the collection and processing of your personal data. We will not use personal data that you provide to us in a manner inconsistent with the purposes for which you provided it to us.
This privacy and cookie policy (“Policy”) describes how we will process any personal information that we may collect about you as a customer or as a visitor to our websites. We do not and will not sell, rent or lease personal data, nor send marketing on behalf of third parties.
This policy does not address other personal data processing operations, for example Open Digital Cooperative’s internal processing operations including, for example, human resources, logistics and administration. Information related to these processing operations is provided to data subjects at the point of data collection, or subsequently, as required by law.
Data Controller
Open Digital Cooperative is the data controller for data processing in accordance with this policy and is registered with the Information Commissioner as a data controller (registration number ZB831447).
We are a non-profit and a company limited by guarantee (UK registered company number 14532300). Our registered office is at 23a Cavendish Place, Eastbourne, England, BN21 3EJ.
If you have any questions about this Policy, our data processing practices, or your rights, you can contact us (details provided below).
The personal data we collect, how we use it and the legal basis for this
Set out below is an explanation of the ways we collect and use, or “process” your data and the legal basis for this in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Website Analytics and Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to help us understand how the site is used, and how to improve it.
Google Analytics uses cookies to generate statistical data on your visit to the website.
Our Google Analytics setup does not collect user profiling data, your device or granular location. We cannot identify you through analytics information, and do not combine it with other data sets in a way that would identify who you are.
You can opt out of this basic analytics tracking by accepting Only Essential Cookies.
If you subscribe to our emails:
We collect the information you provide – your name and email address – in order to send you updates about our work, when you sign-up online to receive emails from us. The legal basis for this processing is your consent, which you may withdraw at any time by unsubscribing to our emails.
If you contact us by phone, email or in writing:
In the course of our work, we collect information such as the names, contact details and work-related information about individuals and organisations we work with and who contact us, including journalists and media professionals. We keep this information in order to invite you to collaborate on and participate in relevant work-related activities.
This includes the details of those whose professional interests align closely with our own and individuals who participate directly in our activities, as well as those who we have current contractual obligations with or who we may in the future enter into an agreement with. We also keep the details of other professional contacts.
We collect this information through business cards, personal contact, finding information on social media or websites, or occasionally recommendations from partners. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in operating, managing and developing our organisation and our work.
If you respond to a survey from us:
From time to time we offer the option to engage in surveys to do with our work and campaign issues. We conduct these surveys on the legal basis of your consent. We generally anonymise answers so that they cannot be linked back to individual respondents.
A full information notice is provided when you begin a survey and before your consent to engage in it is collected. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests in operating, managing and developing our organisation and our work.
If you sign up to one of our events:
We collect the information you provide – your name and email address – in order to send you updates about the event and our wider work, when you sign-up online to an event you will receive emails from us. The legal basis for this legitimate interested and your consent, which you may withdraw at any time by unsubscribing to our emails.
Social media
We use social media and social networking to increase the reach and impact of our work. Our social media pages are managed by ODC staff. Personal data processed by social media platforms is subject to the terms and conditions of those platforms, which may act as controllers of that data. Individuals who engage with our social media accounts should check the terms of the relevant platforms, which are subject to regular change, to understand how their data may be used.
ODC has accounts with the following social media platforms:
- Twitter, see Twitter’s Privacy Policy
- YouTube, see YouTube Privacy Guidelines
- LinkedIn, see LinkedIn’s Privacy Policy
How we store and use personal information
Your information is securely stored.
A limited number of people have access and this is only for the purposes of managing the project. For example, keeping a contact record and inviting you to meetings.
The information is not shared outside of Open Digital Cooperative, rented, sold or otherwise passed on to any third party.
Jurisdiction
Open Digital Cooperative is headquartered in the United Kingdom and the data we collect is processed and stored within the UK and EU in accordance with applicable data protection laws. The UK currently remains subject to EU data protection laws, however as the UK has now left the EU, it may become subject to additional requirements around transfers of data into and out of the UK. Should this eventuate, these requirements will be met by us and this Policy will be updated accordingly.
Retention and deletion of your information
We keep your data as long as is necessary in connection with the purpose it is collected for. We do not keep data longer than required in connection with that purpose. We will delete the information we hold about you as soon as we no longer need it or, where actionable, at your request (see “Your rights” section below). For further specific information about our retention policies, please contact us on the details provided below.
The security of your information
We take the security of your information very seriously. We employ physical, electronic and organisational security measures to protect the information that we collect about you from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. For instance, we use SSL certificates on all websites we operate.
Although we do our best to protect personal data, information transmitted over the internet remains vulnerable to unauthorized access – for this reason the transmission of any personal data to our websites or via email to us is therefore at the data subjects’ own risk.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
- You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at hello@localgovdrupal.org if you wish to make a request.
You can also contact us to opt-out of or withdraw your consent to data processing we undertake, however in some cases we may need to retain data where it is kept in compliance with a legal obligation.
You also have the right to bring concerns to your national data protection regulator if you feel that your personal data has been unlawfully processed. For example, data subjects covered by EU law may also be entitled to lodge complaints in regard to data processing or the handling of subject access requests with data protection supervisory authority in their country of residence.
Relevant supervisory authority names and contact details are listed here. The Data Protection Authority in the United Kingdom is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). If you need any further information about your rights or want to lodge a concern or complaint, you may contact the ICO here.
Contact us
If you have a query regarding this Policy, or if you would like to exercise your rights as a data subject, please contact our Community Lead at community@localgotvdrupal.org.
Changes to this policy
We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and will place any updates on this page. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 05/02/2025.