Privacy Policy

Privacy policy

What is this Privacy Policy for?

This privacy policy is for the operation of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group and governs the
privacy of its members. The policy sets out the different areas where member privacy is concerned
and outlines the obligations & requirements of the members, the Specialist Group Officers and the
website http://www.otterspecialistgroup.org

Members’ Personal Data

The Otter Specialist Group holds personal data in order to maintain contact with members so that they can fully participate in the fulfilment of the OSG’s objectives. Personal data are not held for any other reasons. No automated processing of personal data is carried out, and no personal data are held for anyone that is not a member of the OSG. Membership is renewed every four years,
following the IUCN/SSC four-year programmes. Name and email data for all members are shared with the IUCN SSC, and all OSG members are added to the OSG mailing lists (an email based forum operated through Mailman for which an unsubscribe option is available). As part of the normal operation of the OSG, members’ data may be transferred between the officers of the group, for example between the Membership Coordinator and the Chair, in order to facilitate communication; this necessitates transfer across international boundaries as the group is global in scope. All officers of OSG agree to abide by this policy. The minimum necessary data will be transferred, held only for the time necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was sent, will be held securely, and deleted when no longer needed . Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required to manage your membership of the OSG, in compliance with GDPR regulations. Individual members can update or withdraw their consent at any time, for individual channels of communication, or for all channels, by contacting the OSG. Individuals have the right to request at any time the information OSG holds about them, as a subject access request. Depending on the nature of the request, the OSG may seek a form of identification to verify the identity of the person making the request. The information will be supplied within one calendar month of the request or the verification, whichever is the later. If an individual believes the information the OSG holds about them is incorrect or incomplete, they have the right to ask for it be corrected. The OSG must respond within one month of the request being received. Individuals have the right to ask the OSG to stop processing their personal data, and to have personal data erased. If individuals believe they have suffered damage because the OSG has behaved in breach of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), they are entitled to claim compensation. This right can only be enforced through the courts. The law allows the OSG to defend a claim for compensation on the basis that the organisation took all reasonable care in the circumstances to avoid a breach, that is, by complying with GDPR legislation when processing data.

The Website

This website and its owners take a proactive approach to user privacy and ensure the necessary steps are taken to protect the privacy of its users throughout their visiting experience. This website complies with all UK national laws and requirements for user privacy.

Use of Cookies

This website uses cookies to enhance the user’s experience whilst visiting the OSG’s website. Where applicable, this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer/electronic device. This complies with recent legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s computer or electronic device. Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computer/electronic device hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server, to provide the user with a tailored experience within this website. Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website onto the hard drive of their computer or electronic device they should take necessary steps within their web browser’s security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors. This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. This software, provided by Google Analytics, uses cookies to track visitor usage. The software will save a cookie to the hard drive of your computer/electronic device in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of this website. This does not store, save or collect personal information. For further information, you can read Google’s privacy policy here. Other cookies may be stored to your computer / electronic device hard drive by external vendors when this website uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may take longer. No personal information is stored, saved or collected.

Contact and Communication

Users contacting this website and/or its owners do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Every effort has been made to ensure a safe and secure form to email submission process, but users using such a form to email do so at their own risk. This website and its owners use any information submitted to provide you with answers to any questions or queries you may have submitted. Your details may be passed on to OSG members better able to answer your question, and these may be located in another country.

External Links

Although this website only looks to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users should always adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website. The owners of this website cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their best efforts. Users should therefore note they click on external links at their own risk and this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned. Social Media Platforms Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms that this website and its owners participate on are custom to the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively. Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and communicate/engage within them with due care and caution regarding their own privacy and personal details. Neither this website nor its owners will ever ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and encourage users wishing to discuss
sensitive details to contact the OSG through primary communication channels such as by telephone
or email. This website may use social sharing buttons which help share web content directly from web pages
to the social media platform in question. Users are advised before using such social sharing buttons that they do so at their own discretion and note that the social media platform may track and save your request to share a web page respectively through your social media platform account.

Shortened Links in Social Media

This website and its owners, through their social media platform accounts, may share web links to relevant web pages. By default some social media platforms shorten lengthy URLs (web addresses). Users are advised to take caution and use good judgement before clicking any shortened URLs published on social media platforms by this website and its owners. Despite the best efforts to ensure only genuine URLs are published, many social media platforms are prone to spam and hacking, and therefore this website and its owners cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any shortened links. We realize that this may seem complicated but we must comply with current regulations in force in the European Union. This should in no way change your experience as an OSG member and please do contact us if you have any questions.

A full copy of this policy is available here.