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Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This policy explains:

i. How we collect information about you both directly and indirectly;

ii. What information we collect about you

iii. The ways in which we may use and share that information; and

iv. How you can update or access any personal information we hold about you.

Please read this Privacy Policy in conjunction with the applicable Services terms & conditions and any other product or service terms of which you have been notified.

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2. How We Collect Information

i. We collect information directly from you when you are asked to provide personal details about yourself, including but not limited to when you:

A. Purchase products or services from us;

B. Register to become a giffgaff customer;

C. Submit enquiries or comments to us or contact us;

D. Enter any promotions, competitions or prize draws via the Services;

E. Use giffgaff any products and Services;

F. Take part in market research; and/or

G. When you terminate your account with us.

ii. We collect information indirectly from you when you use the Services, including but not limited to when you visit or browse this site or use our mobile network.

iii. We may collect information about you from other sources, including but not limited to:

A. Credit reference agencies;

B. Fraud prevention agencies; and

C. Business directories and other commercially or publicly available sources.

iv. Our website may also use a website recording service which may record mouse clicks, mouse movements and page scrolling. Data collected by this service is used to improve our website usability. The information collected is stored and anonymised and then used for aggregated and statistical reporting.

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3. The information we collect

We collect such information as:

i. Email address;

ii. Email addresses that you choose provide to us;

iii. Your Internet Protocol (IP) address;

iv. Your name;

v. Billing address;

vi. Delivery address;

viii. Telephone number;

ix. Your use of the Services including but not limited to phone numbers and/or email addresses of calls, texts, MMS, emails and other communications made and received by you and the date, duration, time and cost of such communications, your searching, browsing history (including web sites you visit) and location data, internet PC location for broadband, address location for billing, delivery, installation or as provided by individual, phone location;

x. How your conduct and manage your account(s) with us; and

xi. Debit or credit card details, banking details and other payment information.

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4. How We Use Your Information

We may use and analyse information about you in order to:

i. Provide you with access to parts of this site;

ii. Contact you if necessary;

iii. Inform you of any service related message or of any new Services or functionality (eg the introduction of a new messaging service);

iv. Assist us with crime and fraud prevention such as to check your identity;

v. Investigate any complaints or other enquiries that you submit to us;

vi. Enhance and personalise the products and Services that we offer you and to develop new products and services;

vii. Analyse markets and produce reports, perform research and statistical analysis and to monitor usage behaviour;

viii. Market our products and Services generally

ix. Send information to you about our products and Services from time to time by email or other means (subject to any objection or preference you may indicate when submitting your details to us);

x. Inform you of any products and Services offered by other companies that we think may be of interest to you, provided that you choose to receive this information;

xi. Disclose your personal information or usage of our services to certain third parties. See Disclosure of Your Information;

xii. Assessing credit risk, assessing the provision of loans, debt tracing, debt recovery, credit management and crime, fraud and money laundering detection and prevention;

xiii. Aggregate information about you, your spending and your use of the Services with information about other users of the Services in order to identify trends ("Aggregated Data"). We may pass Aggregated Data to third parties, such as advertisers, content providers and business partners or prospective business partners, to give them a better understanding of our business and to bring you a better service. Aggregated Data will not contain information from which you may be personally identified.

xiv. Analyse information about you including your calling, searching, browsing and location data on a personalised or aggregated basis. We may pass this data to the third parties mentioned in (xi) above and we may use this information to provide you with targeted giffgaff or third party offers, promotions, adverts or commercial communications.

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5. Disclosure of your Information

We may disclose your information:

i. To our partners, agents and subcontractors (including prospective partners, agents and subcontractors) who are involved in the delivery of providing products or services used or ordered by you;

ii. To other companies in the giffgaff group, including their respective partners, agents and sub contractors (including prospective partners, agents and subcontractors);

iii. To any relevant public authority or law enforcement agency;

iv. To third parties from whom you have chosen to receive marketing information.

v. Where there is a change (or prospective change) in the ownership of giffgaff to new or prospective owners of giffgaff. In these circumstances we would require them to keep it confidential.

vi. Where required by law, regulation or legal proceedings;

vii. Where we believe it is necessary to protect giffgaff or third party rights and property; or

viii. Where you give us false or inaccurate information and we identify or suspect fraud.

ix. Where we, or an affiliate processing your data on our behalf, are compelled to do so by law;

x. In response to a valid, legally compliant request by a competent authority;

xi. During emergencies when we believe physical safety is at risk;

xii. Where the service is moderated; or

xiii. In response to a complaint that that there has been a breach of the Services terms & conditions or any other product or service terms of which you have been notified.

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6. Retention of Information

We retain information only for as long as we need it.

In relation to the following information we are required to retain it for not less than six months and not more than two years in order to ensure that this information is available for the purpose of the investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime:

i. User ID and telephone number allocated to any communication entering the public telephone network;

ii. Name and address of subscriber to whom an Internet Protocol (IP) address, user ID or telephone number was allocated at the time of a communication;

iii. User ID or telephone number of the recipient of an Internet telephony call;

iv. Name and address of subscriber and user ID of the intended recipient of a communication;

v. Date and time of log-in and log-off of our Internet access service, IP address and user ID of the subscriber;

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7. Accessing your Information

i. If you are a giffgaff Registered Customer, you may verify, update or amend the personal information you have provided to giffgaff online at any time by clicking on "My details". The 'opt-in' on the website will allow you to select whether you receive marketing information from giffgaff about giffgaff only, or about our business partners. You can opt-out of either or both at any time by emailing your preferences to removeme@giffgaff.com. We will not give your personal information to 3rd parties to allow them to market to you unless you expressly give us permission to do so.

ii. We can supply certain types of personal information on request: including but not limited to billing, name and address, aggregated phone usage. Requests should be made in writing and include your name, mobile telephone number and proof of your identity (such as a photocopy of your passport, birth certificate or driving licence) and address (for example, a copy of a utility bill or bank statement), and the information you require. We'll charge you £10 to cover the administrative cost of supplying the requested information. If we hold any inaccurate information about you, please tell us and we will correct it.

Our address is:

Data Controller, giffgaff, Hertz House, 11 Vine Street, Uxbridge, UB8 1QE, UK.

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8. Changes to this Policy

We will keep this policy under review and any changes made from time to time will be posted on this page.

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9. Security and Protection of Customer Information

i. Security

a. Security of Communications
Please be aware that communications over the Internet, such as e-mails and Webmails, are not secure unless they have been encrypted. Your communications may route through a number of countries before being delivered - this is the nature of the World Wide Web/Internet. giffgaff cannot accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information that is beyond our control.

b. giffgaff Blogs, Chat rooms and Opinion Forums
You are reminded that chat rooms and opinion forums are for public discussion. Any personal information that you choose to supply when you participate in these discussions is widely accessible. Never reveal any personal information such as your telephone number, postal or email address when you participate in these discussions.

ii. Users 16 and under
If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent or guardian's permission before providing any personal information or before taking part in any www.giffgaff.com discussion. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

iii. Co-Branded Micro Sites and Third Party Sites
Some web pages and Micro Websites included within giffgaff's websites may be co-branded with third party names, logos, or properties. These Micro Websites are operated or maintained by or on behalf of giffgaff. While such third parties are sponsors of these web pages or Micro Websites, the third parties do not share in any personally identifiable information collected within those web pages or Micro Websites unless otherwise stated.
This policy does not apply to third party sites that you may access via our Portals. You should therefore ensure that you are familiar with the applicable third party privacy policy before entering any personal information on a third party site.

iv. Non-EEA Use of Information
The information you provide to us may be passed to third parties located outside the European Economic Area. Countries outside the European Economic Area do not always have strong data protection laws. However we will always take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties in accordance with this policy. Additional terms and conditions may be presented when signing up for specific products and Services.

v. Cookies
A "cookie" is a piece of information, like a tag, which some websites create on your PC/mobile phone which identifies your PC/mobile phone whenever you visit that website. In order to provide you with the best possible online experience, giffgaff may create cookies when you visit the giffgaff site. In order to help you, cookies may be used to:

A. Limit the frequency with which you will see particular advertisements or giffgaff announcements on the site;

B. Identify your defaults if you have set up a customised homepage;

C. Keep track of how many times you do specific things whilst using the Services;

D. Track where you have come from if you were referred to our Portal;

E. Provide you with self-help information; and

F. Make our email offers more relevant to you by taking into account your response to previous email offers.

Agents of giffgaff, who assist in the serving and targeting of advertisements, promotions and other marketing messages, may use cookies to collect anonymous data such as how many people have viewed a particular page each day. Data collected by cookies will not otherwise be passed to any third party.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most PCs automatically accept them but you can modify your browser settings to decline if you so wish. If you decline cookies, some aspects of the giffgaff site may not work on your PC/mobile phone and you may not be able to access areas you want on the website. For this reason we recommend that you accept cookies. If you select the 'Remember Me' function, where it is available, for any return visits, you will need to have cookies enabled on your browser.
Finally, please note that advertisers and other third parties may use their own cookies or action tags when you click on their advertisement or link to their website or service, on or from our website. These third parties are responsible for setting out their own cookie and privacy policies.

vi. FAQS on other related issues

How to avoid receiving Spam

A. Think before you give out your e-mail address
Try to avoid giving your main e-mail address on web sites, chat rooms, newsgroups or to companies. There are many places online that provide free e-mail accounts. You could set up a separate account to use when signing up to an Internet service or for online shopping. This way your main e-mail address cannot be "harvested" by spammers. Avoid forwarding chain letters or petitions. These lists of addresses can be used by spammers.

B. Never reply to Spam
This includes the notorious "click here to unsubscribe" trick. While it looks as if you are being given a chance to opt out of receiving further unsolicited e-mail, in fact you will be letting the spammer know that your e-mail address is active, leading to yet more Spam being sent. Don't click it - just delete the e-mail.
You should also avoid trying to Spam the spammers, you will end up being blacklisted as a spammer yourself.

C. Blocks and Filters
Your email service may have spam blocking features already. Have a look for the pages on "spam" or "junk mail" in the 'Help' section of the Webmail service. If you are downloading emails onto your home PC, then email your Internet Service Provider or search their website to find out about Spam blocking services they may offer. There are various software programs to help you block Spam.

D. To prevent cold calling to your mobile phone, you should register your number with the Telephone Preference Service. Visit www.tpsonline.org.uk

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10. Glossary

Internet
The international system of interconnected computer networks utilising standard protocols and procedures to transmit electronic data.

Network
The electronic communications system by which we make Services available in the United Kingdom.

giffgaff Portal Registered Customer,
A person who has successfully registered their details on the www.giffgaff.com website. This website is only open to UK residents.

Portals
Our web, and other services and portals we introduce from time to time.

Micro Websites
Self-contained websites relating to a particular product, eg giffgaff promotions, eg giffgaff Music, built to function independently of the main website.

Services
Any services supplied by giffgaff to users, including but not limited mobile airtime and data, Web Services and Webmail.

Spam
Unsolicited "junk" e-mail or messages sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services. The term also refers to inappropriate promotional or commercial postings to discussion groups or bulletin boards.

Webmail
An email system that can be accessed via the web browser.

Web Services
Services provided from our website www.giffgaff.com and any additional websites linked from our website.

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