How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the GiveMeInfo (GMI) Project collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:

• visitors to our websites
• cases and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information case or enquiry
• people who use our services, eg who subscribe to our newsletter or request a information from us

Visitors to our websites

When someone visits www.givemeinfo.am we collect standard Internet log information and details of visitor behavior patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way, which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies by the GMI

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

The cookies we use are essential for parts of the site to operate and has already been set. We do not use this cookie for any purpose and are working with the suppliers of our Content Management System to remove it or find another solution. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but parts of the site will not work.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visithttp://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

People who can create a case on our system

When we receive a case from a person we make up a file containing the details of the case. This normally contains the identity of the peron and any other individuals involved in the case.

We will only use the personal information we collect in process of the case creation and to check on the level of service we provide. 

We usually have to disclose the case creator’s identity to whomever the case is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a casecreator doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. 

We will keep personal information contained in case files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a case will be retained for four years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

When we take enforcement action against someone, we may publish the identity of the defendant in our Annual Report or elsewhere. Usually we do not, identify any cases unless the details have already been made public.

People who use GMI services

The GMI offers various services to the public. For example, we send out publications and distribute an electronic newsletter. We use a third party to deal with some publication requests, but they are only allowed to use the information to send out the publications.

We have to hold the details of the people who have requested the service in order to provide it. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about people who have requested a publication to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received. When people do subscribe to our services, they can cancel their subscription at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.

Cases or queries

GMI tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any cases we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of GMI’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Access to personal information

GMI tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act. If we do hold information about you we will:

• give you a description of it;
• tell you why we are holding it;
• tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
• let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

To make a request to the GMI for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to our Team, or writing to the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting the Internal Compliance Team.

Disclosure of personal information

In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However when we investigate a case, for example, we will need to share personal information with the organization concerned and with other relevant bodies. Further information is available in our Information Charter about the factors we shall consider when deciding whether information should be disclosed.

You can also get further information on:

• agreements we have with other organizations for sharing information;
• circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
• our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
• how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 8 August 2011.

How to contact us

Requests for information about our privacy policy can be emailed to us: info@givemeinfo.am