At the Guardian Weekly we collect different types of information about our users for the following main reasons:
1. To help us to improve the services we offer.
2. To use the details of our users to sell appropriate advertising space on the site so that advertising can be targeted to our users.

Our principles

We are absolutely committed to protecting your privacy. Our policy can be summarised in one sentence: we will not share your information with others without your prior consent. We have also established the following four principles:
1. We will continue to invest in high-quality security and do our utmost to protect user privacy.
2. We will respect your email privacy. You will receive unsolicited mail from the Guardian Weekly only if you have agreed to this.
3. We will not pass on any individual user details (including your email address) unless we have your prior consent.
4. Otherwise, we will only share anonymised aggregate statistics about our users, sales and traffic patterns with our advertisers and other partners.

Should for any reason we elect to change our policy we will notify you of those changes here, so that you are always kept informed of how we collect and use the information and when we would disclose it.

Your data will need to be transferred to the secure server at Time Sensitive Express Systems in Canada who we have chosen to process data on our behalf. As a party established outside the EU the laws in respect of data protection may not be as stringent as in the UK but your data will be handled in accordance with our instructions.

Should you not wish your personal data to be transferred to Time Sensitive Express Systems please let us know by sending an email message to: gwsubs@guardian.co.uk

Sometimes we might use the information to let you know about functionality changes to our website, services or offers that you might find interesting. If you do not wish to receive this information, please send an email to: gwsubs@guardian.co.uk

To ensure that your information is up to date or to request that we delete your information from our records please send an email to: gwsubs@guardian.co.uk

What information do we collect?

We collect limited information on our users through registration. The minimum information we need to register a user is a username and/or an email address, and a password. Other information we may ask for from time to time (for instance, when a user wishes to enter a contest or other promotional feature) includes full name, postcode and date of birth. We do not share this "additional" information with third parties unless you have consented to this.

Cookies

'Cookies' are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. They make it possible for web sites you visit to keep track of things like your visits to other web sites or to identify registered users without needing to ask for registration details every time you access one of the sites. The Guardian Weekly does not use cookies but may link to some third parties who use cookies.

Some advertising on the site is served by third parties such as Doubleclick. Occasionally, these third parties will serve cookies on your browser for instance to gauge the effectiveness of a particular advertisement. This will not enable these third parties to access your personal details.

If you are concerned about cookies, you can turn them off in your browser. How does the Guardian Weekly protect customer information?

We invest in high-quality security and do our utmost to protect user privacy. UK Data Protection Legislation means we follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information which you have given us, to prevent unauthorised access.

Will the Guardian Weekly disclose the information it collects to outside parties? The Guardian Weekly will not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others unless you have given us your permission. With your permission we will only share the information with carefully chosen, reputable and trustworthy third parties. Also, the Guardian Weekly may provide aggregate statistics about our customers, sales, traffic patterns and related site information to reputable third-party vendors, but these statistics will include no personally identifying information. The Guardian Weekly follows the relevant legal requirements and use all reasonable precautions to ensure only responsible third parties see the information, however we are not responsible for any breach of security or any actions of any third parties who receive the information.

Please note that we reserve the right to access and disclose individually indentifiable information to comply with applicable laws and lawful government requests, to operate our systems properly and to protect both ourselves and our users.

Feedback and complaints

We welcome your comments and questions about privacy issues and the design of our website. Should you have such comments or have a complaint about how we are using your personal data please send an email to: gwsubs@guardian.co.uk Some useful links for further reading:
Data Protection Act
Microsoft's cookie guide
Hotwired's technical cookie guide
Foundation for Information Policy Research
UK Data Protection Forum