Privacy Policy for the Southminster Branch Line web site

Introduction

I respect peoples privacy, and so have added this page explaining what data is stored on my computers. If you are not happy with the measures taken to keep information private, then please do not use the site. All information is processed in accordance with the principles of good information handling specified in the 1988 Data Protection Act. Specifically:

• No email addresses are passed to a third party, neither for free or to make money.
• No attempt is made to collect your email address if you visit the web site. Only if you put it in the guest book, or send me a private email will your email address be stored.
• Any information sent to me, that is not addressed to me, or directly referring to me, is considered confidential and is stored on a secure computer, for which I am the only one with access. This computer is not a web server, has a good hardware firewall and does not run Microsoft Windows. As such, I consider this secure.
• If someone agrees to have letters and/or emails sent to them put on the web site, I will remove any information they wish, such as (but not limited to) their address, telephone number etc. Only after the data is removed will it be copied to the web server.
• Information submitted to the site's guest book is immediately made public, so do not put confidential information there. You make a choice to put the information there.
• No spyware is put on your computer to collect data about other web sites you visited, passwords on your computer etc. You will no doubt notice there are no commercial ads on this site.
• No cookies are sent to your computer.
• No javascript or other forms of executable programs are run on your computer.
• The IP address of any computer connecting to this site is recorded. Your web browser automatically sends this - you could never view a single web site unless this information was sent to my web server. But the information is logged.
• Some information is collected for statistical purposes, so I can see the number of visitors, what pages they view on my site etc. It would also allow me to track some forms of abuse. Only information that is sent by your web browser is recorded. Nothing is recorded that your web browser does not give me without requesting it, so all this same information will be available to the administrator of any web site you visit - whether or not their web server records this is another matter, but my web server does. I will list it here, so you are aware of what I record, and what anyone else can record too for any web site you visit.
  • The date and time you visit the web site is recorded, along with the date and time you visited any particular page. This for example allows me to see when the site is most busy (it seems to be from 1200-1600 hours), the days the site is most busy (Monday-Friday) and so on. I can also determine if the site is getting more or less visits each month. The data and time, along with the IP address, can be useful to track any abuse of the site.
  • The IP address from where you connect is recorded in the web server logs. Again, this information is provided by your computer - web sites would not work unless your computer sent its IP address, although it is not essential the information is recorded. I choose to record it, primarily to track any abuse of the site. Repeated attempts to hack the site can be found, and if necessary their access denied.
  • If you found this web site by clicking a link from another web site, or a search engine, the location of that site is stored in the web server logs. So if you found this site via Google, the web server logs will record that. If you found this site from a link at Save our Railways web site, this information will usually be sent by your browser, and recorded by my web server. I then make use of this. For example, I know there are a lot of referrals from Google, but very few from Ask Jeeves. Hence I can use that information to try to get a better ranking on Ask Jeeves. I have no way of recording the last site you visited (and would not want to anyway), unless the site has a link to this site which you clicked. This information is collected so I can see what search engines are referring people to this site, and any sites that provide links to my site.
  • If you used a search engine to find this site, the keyboards you used are stored. For example, during November 2004, the most common key phrase was "southminster branch line" and the single most common keyword was "southminster". Again, most browsers send this information by default - there is nothing on this site that asks your broswer to send this, but if sent, the information is recorded.
  • The operating system you used is stored. If you use Internet Explorer, it will report the version of Internet Explorer you use, as well as the version of Windows you are running. I keep this information, as it can help in deciding how to optimise the site, and to make sure the site works well with most of the broswers being used. (Just as a matter of interest, during November 2004, Windows accounted for 91% of visits to this site. 86% of people used Internet Explorer, 5.4% used Mozilla, 3% used Firefox, and the rest used other browsers.)
  • Although my web server logs do not record the country you are in, the fact the IP address is recorded can to a limited extent allow the country to be determined. The Awstats program I use for web analysis does make some attempt to guess the country that visitors visit from, although it does a poor job. However, I don't really use this information for anything, but it is recorded, as removing it would be difficult.
• All information is kept as up to date as reasonsably practical.
• Any information found to be incorrect will be corrected.