Privacy Policy

At Absolute Radio, we respect your privacy. Our main policy is "if we wouldn't like it, we won't do it to you", which looks strangely sinister when written down like that.

Here's our policy, amended on 2nd September 2008:

You may be asked to submit personal information about yourself in order to use or receive services from us or through our website. Such services on the web include VIP registration, competitions, newsletters, our forums, and our music news system. We also may use personal information when you call or text the station.

If you provide information to us, we will treat that information in accordance with this privacy policy. By submitting personal information to us, you are agreeing to use of this information by us and our service providers as described in this policy.

Under 16s

If you are 16 years or under, you must obtain your parent's/guardian's permission before you disclose any personal information to us. If you do not have this permission, you must not provide us with any personal information.

If you have your parent's/guardian's permission to use our forums or other public areas on this site, you must never reveal any information in public that would identify you, for example, your name, address, telephone number or your email address.

Notwithstanding the above, please note that we ask that all Absolute Radio VIPs should be over 18, and that our standard competition rules also require you to be over 18.

The information we collect

When you contact us, we will request very little identifying information from you and it will only be for the purposes set out in this policy. Typically, identifying information is collected:

  • For registration to certain areas of the Website including as an Absolute Radio VIP and competitions
  • To allow us to consider your comments, queries and suggestions and respond if necessary
  • To allow us to respond to your enquiries for further information
  • To distribute requested materials

If you contact us by email or through our website, we also collect your email address, user name, password and we take a few configuration details of your computer - your IP address, browser agent string, referrer, VIP number, and some cookie details. This information is to help us with any technical issues you may have.

How we use and store information

We use your personal information to recognise you better in future when you contact us again. Unless you expressly agree otherwise, we will only contact you in relation to your enquiry or entry.

We ask you for your phone number so that we can call you in case we've any queries, or when you've won a competition. You do not have to provide us with this information.

If you provide us with your mobile number, we may use this number to send you text messages where you win a competition you have entered through the website or by calling the station. We may also use this mobile number to let our staff know your name when you next text in.

You can elect to receive information and updates on our products and services, and/or those of our sponsors and partners. Information you provide will not be used for this purpose unless you request to receive communications.

We may use information that you provide to better design the Website and to improve our marketing strategy and our products. We may use messages and competition entries for statistical analysis - for example, to easily discover regularly-asked questions and improve our services to you. We will keep your details for a reasonable period to allow us to do this work.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been fulfilled or, if you no longer wish to continue being registered for our services.

How we share your information

We only share your details - typically your name and email address - with third parties when you've given us explicit permission to do so. Normally this is so that you get more information about something you're interested in. We may also pass your details to our agents acting on our behalf, for example people organising a prize you've won.

Your personal information will not be supplied to any other persons without first obtaining your consent unless we are obliged by law to disclose it.

Your information will be disclosed where obliged or permitted by law. If you post offensive or illegal material to one of our forums or public areas of our Website or otherwise engage in behaviour that is not permitted under our Terms of Use, we will use your personal information to stop this behaviour, which may include contacting your ISP or the relevant authorities.

Competitions

When you enter a competition, we hold your details on a database. This keeps your answers safe and ensures that everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Newsletter

By becoming an Absolute Radio VIP, you'll get an email every week from us, and occasionally an extra one when we've something great to tell you. Every newsletter comes with an unsubscribe link, which allows you to both unsubscribe and, should you choose to, remove all your details from our system. We hope you'll never use it, of course. But it does work.

To get our newsletter, we require you to actively confirm your email address ("double opt-in") with us. You will never get our newsletter unsolicited. If, you report us to your ISP as spam, you are harming our relationship with that ISP and may stop other users getting our newsletter. This is bad. If we get notification of a spam report from you from an ISP, we may immediately delete all your information with us - including any competition entries you might have with us, any information you've stored on our servers (like bookmarks), and your VIP membership will also cease. Our unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter does work: please use that, and please don't erroneously report us as spam.

What we show in public

We'll show your login name (which we also call your 'nickname') on the site, together with a small picture if you upload one, around most of the content you submit. If you're lucky enough to win a competition, we may also show your first name and where you're from ("James, London WC2") on our winner's page. We won't ever show your email address or anything like that.

Cookies

Cookies are delicious delicacies. For websites, they're normally there to stop you from having to constantly tell a website some information about yourself.

You don't need cookies to passively use the Absolute Classic Rock website, though you do if you wish to use Absolute Radio VIP features. All our cookies contain no personally-identifiable information except your VIP name and number; and those are removed when you log out.

Third Party Companies

It takes two to tango. Or in our case, rather more.

We use Google Analytics for website traffic monitoring. The cookie is held under absoluteradio.co.uk - it's the stuff starting 'utm_' in there. Google Analytics have no access to your personal details: and apparently they aren't evil. (That's an internet joke.)

We embed some content from YouTube and Google Video within our radio player. Again, we pass no personal details to Google, and they're still apparently not evil.

We use Accipiter to serve the ads to you (from a server called smgradio.adbureau.net). The cookie is held under absoluteradio.co.uk. Accipiter adhere to our own privacy policy. We share with Accipiter whether you're a VIP - but not your username - so you can get relevant advertising; but we don't share any other personally-identifiable information with them, like your name or email address.

Your audio player (Windows Media Player, Real Player, iTunes, etc) may also have a privacy policy attached to it. Some players report what you're listening to; and some things like Google Talk or MSN Messenger also report this too. But because we're available in so many formats, you can find a player that you're happy with.

Links to Third Party Websites

Because we want your experience of the website to be as informative and useful as possible, we provide a number of links to third party websites. Always be aware of where you end up. Third party websites may send their own cookies to users, or otherwise collect data or solicit personal information. We assume no responsibility for the information gathering practices of websites that you are able to access through ours, and we encourage you to review each website's privacy policy before disclosing any personally identifiable information. Wherever possible, links to third party websites will appear in a new window, and are illustrated as such.

Our commitment to data security

We take reasonable precautions to keep your personal information secure. We have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information we collect. We cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose online, and you do so at your own risk.

Access to information, deleting and unsubscribing

You have the right to access any personal information that you have submitted to us. We give you the following options for managing or removing your information from our database:

To remove your details

  • Hit the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of any newsletter email we send you, and follow the instructions.
  • Send us an email through the website to 'Website feedback'. Be sure to include your name and request full removal from our database.
  • Write to us: Digital Media Department, Absolute Radio, No.1 Golden Square, London W1F 9DJ. Be sure to include your name, email address, and clear instructions on what you would like us to do.

To amend your details

  • Access and amend your details from the Absolute Radio website VIP system
  • Send us an email through the website to 'Website feedback'. Be sure to include your name and clear instructions on what you would like us to do
  • Write to us at: Digital Media Department, Absolute Radio, No.1 Golden Square, London W1F 9DJ. Be sure to include your name and clear instructions on what you would like us to do.

If you require us to supply you with details of the personal information that we hold about you, then we reserve the right to make a small charge.

Changing this policy

We do change this policy from time to time. If we do change this policy in any way, we will place an updated version on these pages. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect and how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.

Your consent to this privacy policy

By using the website, you are accepting our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any term in this Policy, please do not use the Website or submit any personal information.

Please note: The laws and regulations in different countries impose different (and even conflicting) requirements on the Internet and data protection. Absolute Radio is located in the UK, as are the primary servers that make this site available worldwide. English law governs all matters relating to this Website. If you are located outside the UK and you contact us, please note that any information you provide will be transferred to the UK and by submitting the information you authorise this transfer.