Privacy Policy (Inc. Stuff You Need to Know About Our Cookies).

This privacy policy sets out how The Douglas Method uses and protects any information that you give The Douglas Method when you use this website.  It also discusses cookies, what they are, and how we use them. 

The Douglas Method is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
Douglas Pilates may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy was last updated on 14th June 2012.e.

We may collect the following information:

name (only if you specifically tell us this, for example by sending a message via the contact form, or by subscribing to the newsletter) 

contact information including email address (only if you specifically tell us this, for example by sending a message via the contact form, by subscribing to the newsletter, or by leaving a comment on the blog.) 

anonymous demographic information such as location, preferences and interests (for example which pages are more popular, what keywords are used to find this site. what type of browsers visitors use, etc) Please note that this information is statistical in nature and individuals are not identifiable. See below under "Statistics/Traffic Log Cookies" for more information. 

other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers - this information is collected via specific forms (i.e. you tell us this info by filling out forms or surveys, we don't know it otherwise). 

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping 

We may use the information to improve our products and services, for example by noting which topics generate more interest, or by looking at how many people click through to special offer pages. (Again, please note that this information is anonymous.)
 
We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided for this purpose. i.e. if you didn't deliberately opt-in to receive this information, we won't send you it.  (Information you provide via the contact form for the purposes of responding to your enquiry is not added to our mailing list.) 

From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests. .

In common with almost all websites, we use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and to guide us in developing webpages that cover the topics you seem to be interested in.
A cookie is a small text file which is placed on the hard drive of your computer or phone.  Cookies are not executable, i.e. they can't/don't run any software, they store information (often in encrypted form).

remembering your settings as you move around the site and from site to site, saving you time and clicks! 

remembering things you've typed into forms (like your email address) so you don't have to retype the same information over and over 

allow you to easily share interesting information with people you know, for example on Facebook 

improve the speed and security of the site 

guiding us in providing more relevant information and products for you by recording/analysing statistics about how the site is used, for example, which pages are more popular, how many new and returning visitors come to the site, etc. This reduces the amount of market research we have to pay for - meaning for example that class prices can be kept to a reasonable level. .

to collect personally identifiable information about you (except where you give us express permission)
 
to pass personally identifiable information about you to third parties 

to provide targeted advertising from third parties on this site 

You can find more information on cookies and their uses here: www.allaboutcookies.org.   This article is also quite helpful.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us..

Session cookies are used by Wordpress (the content management system and blogging platform used on this site) and Weaver (the theme) to provide the website functionality.  These cookies are set/placed when you start browsing the site and are deleted automatically when you close your browser.

We also use cookies to allow you to add comments to our blog and, as mentioned above, to remember anything you've typed into a form on this site, saving you time and typing.

If you use a mobile phone to access this site, the Weaver theme places a cookie on your phone so that next time you connect the mobile view will load much faster.

There is no way to stop the above cookies being set other than to not use the site at all..

In common with many sites, we use Google Analytics to gather statistical information about the visitors to this site.  This information is anonymous and does not contain any personal information.  More information about Google Analytics and Privacy can be found here: http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html
You can also opt-out of having any of your site visits (to any website not just this one) being included in Google Analytics statistics here:  https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

When you click on any of the Social Sharing buttons or links on this site, cookies will be set by the receiving website - e.g. if you click to "share" something on Facebook, then Facebook will set a cookie on your computer.
The following "3rd party" cookies (i.e. they are not set by us but by third parties - like Facebook - via functionality provided on this website):are set:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Shareaholic (who provide the "share this" functionality and graphics) - however we have disabled the tracking of Social Media sharing via the Shareaholic links. Please see their Privacy Policy (which also contains links to pages where you can opt out of various types of tracking) for more details.
Google+
StumbledUpon
DiggThis 

This site has no control over these cookies, other than to completely remove this functionality from this website.  Nor do we have access to the information in these cookies.  At the moment we have decided to provide this functionality for you.
Please note that the above is true for just about every site that provides social sharing buttons - over time, these social media sites can use the information gathered through these cookies to build up a picture of how you use the internet and what your interests are.  They then use this information to target ads for you on sites that host third party ads.  (Not this site - we don't use ads.)

You can opt out of many of these kinds of tracking - visit  www.networkadvertising.org and donottrack.us/   for more information.  Note that, opting out won't mean that you won't see ads.  They will still be there, they're just less likely to be ads you are interested in..

Videos (coming soon): Youtube sets cookies when you click to play any of the videos served by those sites and imbedded in this website.  These cookies gather anonymous data about the number of views of the videos.  Youtube's Privacy Policy can be found here:  Please also see Google's privacy Policy here (Google own Youtube):

Mailchimp: We use Mailchimp to manage subscriptions to our mailing list and to manage the creation and sending of emails to member of that list.  Mailchimp uses a "session cookie" - i.e. a cookie that only lasts for the duration of the session and is deleted when you close your browser.  This cookie is used to track you through the sign-up process and is set when you submit information via our sign-up form.   Please see Mailchimp's Privacy Policy here:

[Please also note that we use Mailchimp's "double opt-in" process for sign-ups, because we want to be sure that the people on our list want to be there.  This means that, in order to be added to our list, you have to confirm your subscription request by clicking a link in an email that we send you when you submit your subscription request.  This is to prevent your email being accidentally, or maliciously, added to our list by someone else.]

You can control whether cookies are placed on your computer at all (at either a global, or per website basis) from your browser preferences.  Many people have them switched on by default, as many websites don't work, or don't work propoerly without them.

This site asks you if you allow us to place cookies.  You can just ignore the pop-up that asks permission and continue browsing around our site.  We will take this as permission to use cookies.

If you refuse cookies, then this website may not work as expected (or at all).

You can also delete any existing cookies on your computer.  (As mentioned above, "session" cookies are deleted anyway when you close your browser - permanent or long term cookies will remain until their expiry date.) Some browsers have a setting that allows you to do this automatically whenever you close your browser.  Please see the help files for your browser for more information..

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website, nor the cookies they set. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement, and any information regarding their use of cookies, applicable to the website in question..

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
When you click either of the options on the cookie pop-up message (which appears at the bottom of the screen when you first visit our site) the message disappears.  It also disappears when you ignore it and continue to browse our site (as we take that as your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and our use of cookies).  If you wish to change your cookie preferences at any time, you can do so by clicking here:

redisplay cookie pop-up message and then selecting your new preference.

if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, for example by signing up to our mailing list, you may change your mind at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of our communications 

You may also update the information we hold (e.g. if you change your email address), by clicking the "amend information" link at the bottom of our communications 

you can always delete any/all cookies set on your PC. See your browser's help pages for information on how to do this.  Please note that this will likely result in reduced or changed functionality, or more pop-ups, on websites where you have previously expressed preference, for example, by clicking "no thanks" on an invitation to take a survey. 

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. 

You may request details of personal information that we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to Susan Douglas, The Douglas Method, 18 Park Drive, Polbeth, West Calder, EH55 8QJ
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect. .