Thank you for visiting WeLoveBrussels website. We treat the personal data of our readers with great consideration.
Introduction
This privacy policy explains in detail the types of personal data that we may collect and process about you when you visit our website, including any data you may provide through this website. It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data, when and if we share your data with third-party service providers, and how the law protects you.
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
This document was updated on 24th May 2022.
WeLoveBrussels is the controller and responsible for your personal data on this website (collectively referred to as, the ‘company’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ in this privacy policy).
Our full details are:
Full name of legal entity: WeLoveBrussels. Our website address is: https://welovebrussels.org
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Automatically-Collected Information:
We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access this website. For example, when you use our website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed our website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked.
Cookies:
We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the website.
HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED
We may use the information collected in the following ways:
To operate and maintain the website;
To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
To respond to your comments or inquiries;
To provide you with user support;
To track and measure advertising on the website;
To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity.
THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.
Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.
The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:
Google Analytics – this service tracks our website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on this website. Google Analytics may capture your IP address, but no other personal information is captured by Google Analytics. Please see this site for more information.
MailChimp – this service is used for delivery of email updates and newsletters. We store your name and email address for purposes of delivering such communications. Please refer to their privacy policy for further information.
This list may be amended from time to time at the Website’s sole discretion.
Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through this website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.
Other ways of collecting data via this website or third-party plugins/apps:
Comments forms
WeLoveBrussels does not have a commenting option enabled on its articles, thus, no information is collected in this way. However, we might occasionally open the commenting option for a certain type of articles. In that case, when visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
If you contact us via the contact form on our website, we will receive the basic info that you provide (name, e-mail address, or other info that you decide to provide in the comment box). Your information is used solely for the purpose of contacting you and will never be shared with third parties or sponsors/advertisers.
We collect personal data via the forms on our website when you:
- subscribe to one of our publications
- register for our conferences or events
- subscribe to our email newsletters
- take part in our online or offline surveys
- contact our customer services with an enquiry or comment
- We may receive your personal data if you participate in our online contests
Other examples of using your data:
We use your data to manage our relationship with you which may include notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy, or updating you about the status of your subscription
Types of data: a) Identity, b) Contact, c) Profile, d) Marketing and Communications.
Lawful basis: a) Performance of a contract with you, b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation, c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services)
To enable you to partake in a prize draw, competition or complete a survey
Types of data: a) Identity, b) Contact, c) Profile, d) Usage, e) Marketing and Communications
Lawful basis: a) Performance of a contract with you, b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and grow our platform)
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. For instance, we occasionally embed content only from established social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
Analytics
Our website uses standard google analytics tools to measure the number of visitors to our pages and create the usual website visitors statistics. This is why we collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any data about criminal convictions and offences.
Like most smaller websites, our analytics data is managed by standard Google analytics tools, and we advise you to read Google Analytics policy if you need more information on that aspect of data management.
Who we share your data with
Third-party links. Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy policies or use of your personal data. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments and other types of fill-in forms may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Marketing
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services, newsletters and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
You will receive marketing communications (including newsletters) from us if you have requested information from us or purchased goods or services from us or if you provided us with your details when you entered a competition or registered for a promotion, or you have consented to receive marketing communications from us and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages or adjust your marketing preferences at any time by following the unsubscribe links on any message sent to you, or by contacting us via e-mail.
Third-party marketing
We will never disclose, rent, sell, share or otherwise transfer your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. Our website occasionally shows the standard Google Ads on our website, and we advise you to check different plugins and ad-blocking programs which can help you to remove ads from being shown in your browser (not just for our website but when visiting all other websites). We do not control nor are able to stop ads from showing on our website on a case per case basis.
Display Ads
We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies, as noted above.
Retargeting Ads
From time to time, we may engage in remarketing efforts with third-party companies, such as Google, Facebook, or Instagram, in order to market our website. These companies use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to our website.
Affiliate Program Participation
Our website may engage in affiliate marketing, which is done by embedding tracking links into the website or newsletter. If you click on a link for an affiliate partnership, a cookie will be placed on your browser to track any sales for purposes of commissions.
WeLoveBrussels sometimes participates in various affiliate programs, advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by advertising and links to merchant websites. As part of these programs, our website will post customized links to track the referrals to their websites. These programs utilize cookies to track visits for the purposes of assigning commission on these sales.
Newsletters
On the website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows our website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.
Your contact information
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us. Registered users can also amend personal data by logging into their account.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it, unless we are requested by law to keep records (in certain cases).
Do you have any concerns or questions about the safety of your data with us? Please get in touch with us via contact AT welovebrussels.org and we will be happy to answer on any of your questions.