Who We Are
Our website address is: https://topicwaves.com.
This Privacy Policy describes how Topic Waves collects, uses, and shares your personal information when you visit our website. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency about our data practices.
Information We Collect
Automatically Collected Information
When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including:
- Browser type and version
- Operating system
- IP address (anonymised where possible)
- Pages visited and time spent on our site
- Referring website
- Device information and screen resolution
Information You Provide
We collect information you voluntarily provide when you:
- Leave comments on our articles
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Contact us through our contact forms
- Register for an account (if applicable)
- Upload media or content
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience and provide certain website features.
Comment Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
Login Cookies
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
Editorial Cookies
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Analytics and Advertising Cookies
We use third-party services that may set their own cookies:
- Google Analytics: To understand how visitors use our site
- Google AdSense: To display relevant advertisements
- Other advertising networks: To serve personalised ads
You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings or by using our cookie consent tools.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
How We Use Your Information
We use the collected information to:
- Provide and maintain our website services
- Process and display your comments
- Prevent spam and improve security
- Analyse website usage and performance
- Send newsletters and updates (with your consent)
- Respond to your enquiries and support requests
- Comply with legal obligations
- Improve our content and user experience
Who We Share Your Data With
We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following circumstances:
- Service Providers: We work with third-party companies (like Google Analytics, hosting providers) that help us operate our website
- Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required by law or to protect our rights
- Password Resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email
- Spam Detection: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service
Data Retention
Comments
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
User Accounts
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
General Data
We retain your personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this policy or as required by law.
Your Rights Over Your Data
Under UK data protection laws (UK GDPR), you have the following rights:
Access and Portability
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.
Rectification
You can request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Erasure
You can request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Restriction and Objection
You can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data or object to certain types of processing.
Withdraw Consent
Where we rely on your consent to process your data, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
Where Your Data Is Sent
- Comments: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service
- Analytics: Anonymised usage data is sent to Google Analytics
- Hosting: Our website is hosted on secure servers that may be located outside the UK
- Email Services: Newsletter and communication data may be processed by our email service providers
International Transfers
Some of our service providers may be located outside the UK/EEA. When we transfer your data internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information.
Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no internet transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children’s Privacy
Our website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected such information, we will delete it promptly.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a new “Last updated” date.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://topicwaves.com/contact
- Postal Address: [Your UK Address – Required for UK GDPR compliance]
Complaints
If you believe we have not handled your personal data in accordance with this policy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s data protection authority: