Privacy Policy
Texas Professionals are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This policy (together with our terms of use and any other documents referred to on it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is Net Trading Solutions Limited of 7-8 Stratford Place, London, W1C 1AY.
Information we may collect from you
We may collect and process the following data about you:
Information that you provide by filling in forms on our site https://www.texasprofessionals.com (our site). This includes information provided at the time of signing up to use our site and subsequently, subscribing to our services including advertising, contacts, the featured weblogs, referrals, forums, posting material, or requesting further services.
We may also ask you for information if you report a problem with our site.
If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
Details of transactions you carry out through our site and of the fulfilment of your orders.
Details of your visits to our site including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data and the resources on our site that you access.
You may also create a Texas Professionals account or log in to your account using third-party websites including, but not limited to, Facebook, Linkedin and Google. If you do not already have an Texas Professionals account but log in to Texas Professionals using one of these accounts, this creates an Texas Professionals account using the same email address used in your Facebook / Google or Linked in account. They may also ask for your permission to share certain details with Texas Professionals, including but not limited to your name, profile picture, public profile information and email address. If you agree to provide this information to us, Facebook / Google / Linkedin will authenticate you and redirect you to the Site. Please note, when you log in to Texas Professionals using your Facebook / Google or Linked in account, their cookies will be used in order to authenticate you as their user. By granting us access to your accounts on Facebook, Linked in, Google, you understand that Texas Professionals will access, make available and store the information that you provide to us from your Facebook / Google / Linked in account so that it may be available on and through the Site via your Texas Professionals account. This information will be considered Texas Professionals account information for purposes of your use of the Site. You have the ability to disable the connection between your Facebook/ Google / Linkedin accounts and your Texas Professionals account at any time by accessing your privacy settings on your Facebook/ Google / Linked in account. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FACEBOOK/ GOOGLE or LINKED IN OR ANY OTHER THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE IS GOVERNED SOLELY BY YOUR AGREEMENT WITH SUCH THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE.
IP addresses cookies & web beacons
We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information to our advertisers. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.
For the same reason, we may obtain information by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us:
To estimate our audience size and usage pattern.
To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests.
To speed up your searches.
To recognise you when you return to our site.
You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site.
Please note that our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no control.
More information about cookies can be found at www.allaboutcookies.org
Some of our site pages and HTML-formatted e-mail newsletters may use web beacons in conjunction with cookies to compile aggregate statistics about website usage. A Web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel (1x1) or clear GIF and are used like cookies to recognize certain types of information on your computer, such as your cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page where the web beacon is placed.
Where we store your personal data
The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be processed through Worldpay's encrypted systems. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Athough we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
Uses made of the information
We use information held about you in the following ways:
To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
To provide you with information, newsletters, products or services that you request from us or to notify you of information which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.
To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
To allow other members (and non-members) to contact you through the website and for you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so and subject to your indicated preferences.
To notify you about changes to our service.
If you are an existing member, we will only contact you by electronic means (e-mail or SMS) with information about goods and services similar to those which were the subject of a previous sale to you.
We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers or subscribers, but we may provide them with aggregate information about our users (for example, we may inform them business directors in a certain industry sector has clicked on their profile or promotion on any given day). We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target (for example, independent freelancers in M21 postcode). We may make use of this level of user inserted data we have collected from you to enable us to comply with our advertisers' wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience.
Disclosure of your information
We may disclose your personal information to third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of this site, our members, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
GDPR 2018 Act
Privacy of Personal Information
Since the launch of our products and websites, we have never shared our user’s personal information of email addresses or phone numbers they enter on the join page or with any third parties for any form of commercial or research purposes, and this will remain. If members choose to share their personal contact information either on their profile pages or in messages or posts, it is their responsibility and we hold no liability.
Private messages between members take place within the logged in portals, and is also never shared with third parties for any commercial or research purpose.
Profile pages and Contents Posted
Our members choose to publicly create profile pages and post contents that is visible on the websites, usually to directly or indirectly promote or highlight their services. These contents may be chosen to feature in our newsletters or social media channels.
Newsletters and notifications
Newsletters and notifications to members and subscribers all contain an unsubscribe link and there is an advanced settings page for members to manage the frequency they receive different communications.
Removal of profile pages and contents
Our members choose to create profiles and post contents. In the privacy section of their account, there is an option to ‘disable profile’. This will remove all their information from being displayed on the websites, and remove them from any newsletter lists or notifications from us.
The login details will remain for if the user wishes to access and reactivate their account again.
With the GDPR 2018 act, an extended option has been introduced to enable users on the same page to permanently delete their account, whereby all their information will fully deleted from all of our systems. It will not be possible to access their profile again and will require a new login registration should that user wish to join or be active on the websites again.
We reserve the right to remove profile pages and posts from members and refuse the creation of new ones.
Enquiries from Members and Website Visitors
Enquiries to the website to profiles and posts of our subscribing members will be forwarded and can go into the inbox of the receiving member.
Enquiries directly to us for services through the pages on the websites will be shared and forwarded to a limited number of relevant subscribing professionals listed with us.
We have transparency in highlighting to users that have sent messages to our non paying members that they do not by default go to that member, and they may be forwarded to a limited number of relevant paying members. There is a contact link for them to inform us if they do wish the enquiry to be forwarded to any other member. Any sensitive or highly personalised enquiry directed toward any certain member would not be shared or forwarded.
We may keep a record of the enquiry for 6 months and contact enquiry senders for customer service purposes or to obtain further information on their requirements so it can better processed. If they offer permission over the phone or by email their contact details would be forwarded to a limited number of relevant members who could assist with their enquiry.
We do not share personal information from message senders making service enquiries with any third parties for commercial or research purposes outside of their enquiry subject.
Service & Network Preferences
Our service preference section offers members the option to select services they may require for their business or themselves. These preferences are forwarded to a limited number of relevant subscribing members for a period of no longer than a month to contact through the website. Email addresses and phone numbers are not automatically shared to members unless the enquiring members chooses to. The service preference information is not made public on the website for all to see, just to the limited and relevant professionals that could assist. The service preference submitted by default expires after one month.
We may contact the enquiring member in order to help process their enquiry. If they offer permission over the phone or by email their contact details would be forwarded to a limited number of relevant members who could assist with their enquiry.
Members can fill in a ‘network preferences’ section of professionals they are interested in connecting with. This will flag up on the website to relevant members. Profiles of members may appear in notifications to other members that have ticked an interest in their service category. Again, their personal information of email address or phone number is not shared.
Professionals UK and Regional websites
Profile pages and contents members post on regional websites they register on will also be displayed on our national website, Professionals UK, and similarly users that register on Professionals UK whose entered postcode falls under a regional website will be displayed there.
This is aimed towards the users benefit of gaining wider access and exposure to potential relevant contacts, and still be found under their selected location.
The same privacy, terms of use and acceptable use terms are applied to Professionals UK and regional websites.
Users can choose which website locations the articles and events they post feature on.
The same log in details are applied. There is an option to remove this additional insert and association to Professionals UK or assigned regional website on the privacy settings page.
Records of your page views on the website(s)
By default, other members will be able to see that you have viewed their profile and related contents they have posted, including their events and articles. There is an option to turn this setting off so members cannot see you have visited their page or contents, but then you will not be able to see which members have viewed your profile page and contents. The number of times you visit another member's profile will not be recorded or displayed anywhere.
To manage any part of this activity setting, please click the 'settings' button and then the 'privacy' link.
Access to information
The Act gives you the right to access information we hold about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.
Contact
Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be made via our contact page.
Uses made of this information
Analysis of member's activity, including service enquiries and replies to service promotion messages is made in order to provide useful reporting to our customers on the effectiveness of their membership and offer constructive advice on their contents and broadcasts for the objective of how best to maximise their response levels and conversions.
Revisions
10/12/2007, Version 1.0 : Document Released
01/11/2011, Version 1.1 : Uses made of the information update
01/11/2011, Version 1.2 : Page views records
11/12/2017, Version 1.3 : Third-party website signup and login
16/06/2018, Version 1.4 : GDPR section added
18/11/2019: Version 1.5 : Addeded 'Uses made of this information' section