Who is responsible and how to contact us

SDAWARG is responsible for the personal information it uses to manage the website and group enquiries. For privacy questions or requests, email sdawarg.secretary@gmail.com or write to 30 Thorpe Downs Road, Church Gresley, South Derbyshire, DE11 9FB.

Information you give us

If you contact the group by email, telephone or post, we receive the details you provide, such as your name, email address, telephone number, callsign and the contents of your enquiry. We use these to respond and deal with the group activity you ask about. You choose what to provide; without contact details we may be unable to reply.

Group reports and contact pages may include names, callsigns and photographs. Contact us if information about you is inaccurate or you have a concern about its publication.

Website hosting and technical information

The website is hosted by Freehostia. Delivering and protecting the website involves processing connection information, including your IP address. The hosting service may also keep access or error logs containing request times, pages requested and browser details to operate the service, diagnose problems and investigate abuse.

Freehostia's privacy policy and hosting terms explain its handling of information. Its public privacy policy mainly concerns its own customers and does not specify a fixed retention period for this website's visitor logs.

Location tools

If you select Get My Location on the Tools page, your browser asks permission to access your location. The page uses the coordinates in your browser to calculate location references and the distance to the group. The group's location-tool code does not send these coordinates to the group or save them. You can decline or revoke location permission in your browser settings.

Aggregate website statistics and your choice

We use aggregate statistics to understand which pages and features are useful and improve this website. On the live sdawarg.org website, our page script sends page paths, referring website hostnames and counts of outbound links, email and telephone links, and downloads to a service operated for SDAWARG at arc.ntwk.co.uk.

The tracker omits URL query strings and fragments. Outbound link targets are website hostnames only; download targets are public file paths. Email and telephone clicks are recorded only as the labels “email” or “phone”: the tracker does not send the address, number or message. It does not read your browsing history on other websites, create advertising profiles, use analytics cookies or save visitor identifiers in your browser.

Reports also group visits by broad device and browser category and, when available, approximate country.

Approximate country using GeoIP

Our analytics service at arc.ntwk.co.uk uses the IP address of your connection to look up an approximate country in a local copy of MaxMind's GeoLite2 Country database on our Raspberry Pi server. The lookup takes place on that server: your IP address is not sent to MaxMind or another external geolocation service for this lookup. Country reports contain aggregate totals, rather than individual location records. We do not use this lookup to obtain your town, street address, GPS coordinates or precise location.

Country estimates can be inaccurate, particularly when you use a VPN, proxy or mobile network, and may reflect the network's location rather than your own. If a country cannot be determined, it is reported as unknown. GeoIP statistics follow the same retention periods and opt-out choices described below. The Location tool described above is a separate feature that requires your browser's permission.

To estimate visits, the analytics server briefly processes the connecting IP address and coarse browser or device information from the request. It uses a temporary derived key to avoid repeatedly counting the same visit. Temporary entries stop being used after 30 minutes of inactivity. A scheduled cleanup removes expired entries, normally within one further minute; daily secrets are replaced at the next cleanup or request after midnight. The analytics service must keep that cleanup running to enforce deletion when the website is quiet. Raw IP addresses and full user-agent strings are not stored in the analytics database, and the service does not retain a visitor's page-by-page history. Visit counts are estimates: shared connections, changing addresses and browser differences can affect them.

Aggregate statistics are kept for 395 days. Connection details may also appear in server or hosting-provider access and error logs, which follow the relevant host's retention arrangements. The statistics database's retention period does not describe those separate logs.

You can object at any time, without charge, using the button below or “Turn off statistics” in the notice at the foot of a page. We also respect browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals. Turning statistics off stops this tracker making further requests; it does not undo counts already aggregated.

Your explicit choice is saved in browser local storage under sdawarg_analytics_optout. This is a privacy preference, not a visitor identifier. It applies to this browser and website address; clearing site storage removes it. If the saved preference cannot be checked, statistics stay off. A browser Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal keeps statistics off even if you select the allow button.

Statistics settings are available when JavaScript is enabled.

Turn off website statisticsAllow website statistics

Cookies, embedded content and external services

Our own page scripts do not set advertising or analytics cookies. The Google Calendar is not loaded until you select its load button. Loading it connects your browser to Google, which may use cookies or similar technologies and process your connection information. We ask for your consent before loading the calendar. Your choice is not saved: each new visit or reload requires a new choice.

The group's published email addresses use Gmail. Google's handling of information through those services, Calendar and Groups is described in the Google Privacy Policy and cookie information. The forum page links to Google Groups and does not embed it or connect to Google Groups automatically. External links to social networks and other websites are also governed by those providers' notices.

Use the hide button to remove a loaded calendar and stop it making further requests. This does not delete cookies already set by Google or undo information already sent. You can manage or remove stored cookies and change third-party cookie permissions in your browser. Blocking cookies may affect embedded features. Some other resources, including externally hosted software and QSL images, load automatically and send connection information to their providers.

Browser cookie settings do not prevent every external connection.

Why we use information and who receives it

We rely on our legitimate interests in answering enquiries, running group activities, publishing group information and keeping the website working securely, while considering individuals' rights. Where a legal obligation requires particular records to be kept or information to be disclosed, we rely on that obligation.

Information is handled by the committee members or volunteers dealing with the relevant enquiry or activity, and by service providers such as our host and email provider. Freehostia and Google may process information outside the UK; their linked policies describe their processing locations and transfer arrangements.

How long information is kept

Routine enquiry emails are normally kept for up to 12 months after the enquiry is resolved. Information needed for ongoing membership, training, an event, a dispute or a legal obligation may need to be kept longer, according to that purpose.

Hosting logs, provider records and backup copies follow the provider's applicable retention arrangements and any legal requirements. We do not describe these as having a one-year limit because Freehostia does not publish a fixed period for this website's visitor logs. Please contact us if you need information about a particular record or retention period.

Your rights and complaints

Depending on the circumstances, you can request access to your personal information, correction, deletion or restriction of its use, and may have a right to data portability. Contact us using the details above to make a request.

Right to object: you can object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests. We will consider your request under the applicable data protection rules.

You can also raise a concern with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). We welcome the opportunity to address concerns directly.