Privacy Policy

1.0 Privacy Policy

This website is owned and run by THE SEARCH AGENCY, INC, a company incorporated in Delaware whose principal place of business is located at 3420 Ocean Park Blvd., Ste. 2020, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

In this privacy policy, we will refer to THE SEARCH AGENCY, INC using the terms 'TSA', 'us', 'we' and 'our'.  The term 'our websites' refers to this and any other websites we may own or run from time to time.  If you use our websites to find businesses or for any other purpose, we will call you a 'user' in this policy.

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy policy is about the way we use the personal information of users. If you use any of our services to find businesses, this privacy policy applies to you.

2.0 Information

To provide you with our websites and the services we provide on or through our websites, we may need information about you.

If you use our websites, you are in control of what information we collect about you, but if you choose not to share your information, you may not be able to access or use some areas of our websites.

2a how we collect information about you

We will ask for information about you when you:

1. use our websites;
2. click on one of the adverts that we put on other websites;
3. add business information to this, or other, TSA owned directories
4. give us a testimonial or other feedback;
5. submit comments relating to blogs or articles featured on this directory;
6. enter competitions or special promotions; or
7. fill in surveys.

We may also get information about you from third parties, with whom we have a business relationship

2b what information we collect

The information we collect and hold about you may include your:

1. IP address;
2. search criteria, including businesses and locations searched;
3. any other information you may give us when you write to us or contact us in other ways

2c using cookies

We and our business partners collect information about your use of our websites through cookies.

A cookie is a piece of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on your computer's hard disk so that the website can remember who you are and information about your visit. Cookies can help to display the information on a website in a way that matches your interests. Most major websites use cookies. Cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you. We use two types of cookie on our websites.

The first type is a “session-based” cookie. This means that it is only saved on your hard disk for the time you are using our website. Within this directory we use these cookies to store your locations during a search session. These cookies are deleted when you close your browser window.

The second type of cookie we use stays on your hard disk after your session and is called 'persistent'.  Persistent cookies can stay on your computer for up to 5 years. These cookies help us understand the number of different people coming to the site, rather than the total number of times the site is used. Without this persistent cookie, if you visited the site once each week for three weeks we would count you as three separate users.   We also use them for research surveys, to make sure you are not invited to fill in a questionnaire too often, or after you have already done so.

We do not store any of your personal information in either type of cookie. We do not link cookies to information you have given us when you register a business. We only use cookies to help us make the services we offer better for all our users.

If you do not want a website to create a cookie on your computer, most web browsers provide the option to disable them. However, our website may not work properly if you reject our cookies.

If you want to know more about how cookies work and how to manage or delete them, visit the World Wide Web Consortium's website(http://www.w3.org/Security/Faq/wwwsf2.html#CLT-Q10) or visit the Interactive Advertising Bureau's website(http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/).

3.0 How will we use information which we collect about you

Whenever you give us your personal information, legally we have to use it in accordance with the terms of various privacy laws, including the Data Protection Act 1998 (we refer to these laws in this privacy policy as the 'privacy laws').

3a when you use our websites

When you give us information while using our websites, we will use it for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, on the data entry forms, in any relevant terms or conditions and on pages or emails which link to the data entry forms.

3b your browsing activity on this directory and other TSA directories

We also collect information on your activity while you use this directory, such as:

1. your IP address (this is a unique 12 digit number used by programs on the internet to recognise and communicate with your computer);
2. the type of browser you use (a browser is the program you use to look at websites, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari);
3. which pages of the directory you visit;
4. the times when you access the site and for how long; and
5. your referring URL (the site you come from to reach our website).

This information does not allow us to identify you. We collect it from lots of visitors to our websites and analyse it. This lets us build up a picture of how people use our websites. This helps us improve the services we offer.

We may also give anonymous statistics about users to other, reputable organisations, but the information we provide will not include details that would allow these organisations to identify you.

3c tracking how our online services are used

We may collect information about activity on our online services, or we may use other organisations to collect it and to share the results with us. We use this information to:

1. analyse statistics;
2. track pages and paths used by visitors to, or users of, our online service; and
3. track the use of our internet banner adverts and other links from our marketing partners' websites to our websites.

For these purposes, we and the other organisations we use keep information on the path you take to get to our online services and on some of the pages you visit or use through our online services, using cookies, and other on-device storage. You cannot be personally identified from the information that we or these other organisations collect.  For more information see section 1c.

3d testimonials

If you give us feedback, we may use it to improve our products and services and we may publish it online or offline to promote our business, products and services. We will ask for your permission before we publish it.

3e comments submitted to our online blogs and articles

If you wish to submit a comment or feedback on a blog or article featured on this directory, we may (but are not obliged to) publish your comment online or offline to promote our business, products and services. We will collect your name which will be displayed next to your comment, and e-mail address, which will not be published, but which we may use to contact you in relation to your comment.  All comments submitted will be moderated before publication and, may be altered e.g. for the purposes of clarity, at our discretion.

3f business listings

If you wish to submit a business listing to be featured in this directory, we may (but are not obliged to) publish your business listing online or offline to promote our business, products and services.

4.0 When we will contact you:

We may contact you:

1. about information you have asked for, in order to answer your request;
2. if you have given us feedback, to discuss that feedback or ask your permission to publish it;
3. if you have requested business listings to be added to our directories to confirm the listing;
4. to invite you take part in surveys about our services.

5.0 Who we may share your personal information with

We may need to share your information with other organisations to provide you with the products, services or information you ask for. We may pass your information to one or more of the following organisations:

1. other companies we work with for non-marketing purposes;
2. data processing companies, mailing houses and other third party suppliers working on our behalf;
3. research students, universities and other research and development organisations;
4. government and enforcement agencies, such as Trading Standards and the police.

Occasionally, this may involve sending your information outside the European Economic Area. For more information, please read Section 6.

Every now and again, we receive requests for information from government departments, the police and other enforcement agencies. If this happens, and there is a proper legal basis for providing your personal information, we will provide it to the organisation asking for it.

6.0 Where will we process your personal information

When we use your information as described in Section 2, this may occasionally involve sending your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where we do this, we make sure that appropriate steps are taken to protect your personal information and your rights. By providing us with your personal information, you agree that we may transfer, store and process your information outside the EEA.

7.0 How we keep you information secure

We take the security of your personal information very seriously. We have put in place technology and security policies which are designed to protect the personal information that we hold about you. We also follow the strict security procedures that privacy laws require. These cover storing, using and releasing any information you have provided, and preventing unauthorised access or use.

8.0 Why we link to other websites

Our websites contain hyperlinks to websites that are owned and operated by other organisations. These websites have their own privacy and cookie policies, and we urge you to read them. They control how your personal information is used when you give it to these other organisations or they collect it with cookies. We do not approve any other websites and we are not responsible for any information, material, products or services that are on or accessible through those websites or for the privacy practices of websites run by other organisations. If you use these other websites you do it at your own risk.

9.0 How we can make changes to the privacy policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time so you may want to check it each time you give us personal information or use our websites.

We last changed this privacy policy on 22 October 2010.

10.0) How to contact us about this privacy policy

We welcome your questions, comments and requests about this privacy policy. Please contact info@directoryshop.co.uk