Privacy Policy

Personal Data collected through this site is controlled by Hyperfiction, a privately owned business, in compliance with The Data Protection Act 1998. This policy answers the following questions:

What data is collected from you?
How are cookies used?
How is the security of the data protected?
How does Hyperfiction use my personal data?


What data is collected from you?

Hyperfiction collects data in several ways:

Newsletter: When you register for a newsletter, Hyperfiction asks you for an email address. This address is stored by Hyperfiction.

Bookshelf: When you register a bookshelf on the site, Hyperfiction asks you for an email address. This address is stored by Hyperfiction. In addition, the titles of ebooks on your bookshelf on the site are stored by Hyperfiction.

Forums: When you register for the forums or during the course of your use of the forums, Hyperfiction allows you to enter an email address, a name and a number of other items of information. All this information is stored by Hyperfiction. In addition, your post history to the forums is stored by Hyperfiction.

Submissions: When you submit a piece of work to a Hyperfiction site via email, the email address from which that story was sent and any other email addresses volunteered in the body or attachments of the email are stored by Hyperfiction. In addition, any other personal data volunteered in the body or attachments of the email may be stored by Hyperfiction.

Comments: When you add a comment to the site, any email addresses or other personal data volunteered in the comment are stored by Hyperfiction.

Web Logs: Hyperfiction also records the user's IP address, operating system and type of web browser for each page accessed. This data may be used anonymously, in an aggregated form to provide statistical information on web page usage.

Other: Hyperfiction may ask you for personal data at other times including, but not limited to, competitions, surveys and correspondence with Hyperfiction of which we may keep a record.

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How are cookies used?

Hyperfiction uses 'cookies' - a small piece of information stored by your web browser on your computer's hard drive - in order to provide a customizable, personalized experience on its websites. In addition, Hyperfiction may use cookies to obtain information, in an anonymous form, about your use of our websites.

Currently, cookies are used to:

• Track titles that you designate - using facilities available on the site - as 'read' or 'marked' and authors or titles that you designate as 'favorite'.
• Monitor the contents of your electronic 'shopping basket' over your session at the site and record preferences associated with that 'basket' such as preferred currency.
• Monitor whether or not you are logged on to the 'bookself' service on the site.
• Monitor whether or not you are logged on to the forums as well as the state of certain other elements of your forum profile.

Where advertising appears on Hyperfiction pages, the advertiser may choose to use their own cookies.

Email Data may pass onto servers located outside of the E.E.A. While - with the exception the biographical data or any personal data in comments explicitly submitted for publication on the website - these are private, secure servers with security standards as outlined above, if you object to this, you should not send us any personal data.

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How does Hyperfiction use my personal data?

Anonymous, Aggregated Data: Hyperfiction may disclose anonymous, aggregate data about its services - for instance '80,000 unique users in June' - to prospective partners, advertisers and other third parties.

Author Data: Where users submitting work to a Hyperfiction website volunteer biographical data about themselves in emails relating to submissions, Hyperfiction will make this data available to the users of its sites by publishing it on a relevant site page. Should the submitter request that this biographical data be removed or withheld, Hyperfiction will make every reasonable attempt to comply with the submitter's wishes. Submitters should note that, although data published on the website can be removed from the website itself, Hyperfiction has no control over data that has been downloaded and stored locally by users of the site.

Other Data: In addition, Hyperfiction may make any of the data collected available to:

• The Hyperfiction business, any businesses belonging to Hyperfiction and any future successors.
• Professional firms, persons or companies providing their services or advice to Hyperfiction for legal, tax, e-commerce or financial matters where reasonably necessary.
  
• Other persons as required by law.

Where data is made available, any of the data collected including but not limited to an individual's or aggregate data about Hyperfiction services, private messages, a members's Workspace and anonymous or member comments may be used for the purpose of moderation of the site, regardless of the original purpose of the data.

Where data is made available, an obligation will be placed on the parties to comply with The Data Protection Act 1998. We will not transfer your personal data to any other third parties.