We want our services to be safe and enjoyable for our members. This Privacy Policy relates to our use of any personal information you provide to us through the pontnoir.com website.

In order to provide you with the full range of Pont Noir services, we are sometimes required to collect information about you.

This privacy policy explains the following:

• what information Pont Noir may collect about you.
• how Pont Noir will use information we collect about you.
• when Pont Noir may use your details to contact you.
• whether Pont Noir will disclose your details to anyone else.
• your choices regarding the personal information you have provided to us.
• the use of cookies on pontnoir.com website.

As set out above, Pont Noir is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the EU directive 95/46/CE (these laws are referred to collectively in this Privacy Policy as the "data protection laws").

This website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or are collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

When you sign up to participate in or receive a service from the pontnoir.com website, such as newsletters, competitions or forums we may ask for personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, email address, postcode. Different services may ask for different personal information.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable Pont Noir to provide you with the services you select.

Please note that sometimes on particular service we will require you to provide additional personal information, and sometimes sensitive personal information (e.g. in the Directory you may be asked to specify your postal address, telephone or mobile number and other business details). When we do this we will specify further on these pages why we are collecting your information and how we will use it.

Pont Noir also uses cookies and collects IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet). We use analysis software to look at IP addresses and cookies for the purpose of enhancing your user experience. This information is not used to develop a personal profile of you.

Pont Noir will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:

• for "service administration purposes", which means that Pont Noir may contact you for reasons related to the service you have signed up for. (e.g. to provide you with password reminders or to notify you that a particular service has been suspended for maintenance).
• to contact you about a submission you have made to pontnoir.com, including any content you provide, especially for entries in the Trades section of the Directory.
• IP addresses are used to identify the location of users, the number of visits from different countries and also to block disruptive use.
• to analyse and improve the services offered on pontnoir.com. e.g. to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience.

Where Pont Noir proposes using your personal information for any other uses we will ensure that we notify you first. You will also be given the opportunity to withhold or withdraw your consent for your use other than as listed above.

Pont Noir may contact you:

• in relation to the functioning of any service you have signed up for in order to ensure that Pont Noir can deliver the services to you.
• where you have opted to receive further correspondence.
• in relation to any contribution you have made to pontnoir.com, e.g. in the forums.

Pont Noir won't contact you for marketing purposes, or promote new services to you unless you specifically agree to be contacted for these purposes.

We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies). Generally, we will only use your information within Pont Noir.

If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to pontnoir.com, or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on pontnoir.com, Pont Noir may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.

Where Pont Noir reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of the European Union (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), Pont Noir may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, school e-mail/Internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian's permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to pontnoir.com. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant service. In the case that you wish to cancel your registration as a pontnoir.com member, once an account is deleted the personal information is deleted automatically.

Where you contribute to pontnoir.com Pont Noir will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted. For example, Pont Noir will only keep copies of entries to a photographic competition for the duration of the competition. However other services (e.g. the forum or Directory) are likely to have a longer, or even permanent, duration.

This privacy policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to the pontnoir.com. The date of the most recent revision is 9th July 2009.

a. What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your computer or mobile phone (referred to here as a "device") browser from a website's computer and is stored on your device's hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

Cookies record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor the website to your interests. Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user and accordingly you may not be able to take full advantage of all of the pontnoir.com features. Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

During the course of any visit to pontnoir.com, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your device. Many websites do this, because cookies enable website publishers to do useful things like find out whether the device (and probably its user) has visited the website before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

b. How does Pont Noir use cookies?

Information supplied by cookies can help us to analyse the profile of our visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience. For example: to highlight unread posts or PM's since your last visit or to allow you to remain signed into pontnoir.com so that you do not need to enter your password each time you visit.