Privacy Policy
Here at Virgin.com Limited ("Virgin.com", "we" or "us"), we take your privacy seriously. We're committed to protecting the privacy of any personal information you give us, both online and offline. We will comply with the UK's Data Protection Act 1998 and related UK legislation. We are registered on the public register of data controllers maintained by the Information Commissioner in the UK. Virgin Unite takes donor privacy very seriously; we will not trade or sell a donor’s personal information to anyone else, and we will not share a donor’s personal information with a third party unless you specifically ask us to.
We have a philosophy here about the way we use your consent to be contacted (if you give us that consent). If you hear from us, we will always aim to be respectful, relevant and appropriate. If at any time you don't feel we've lived up to our philosophy, please let us know straight away by getting in touch with us.
Please take the time to read this privacy policy, which is part of our terms of use. By using the Virgin.com site, including signing up for our newsletter, you are agreeing to be bound by the Terms and Conditions including this privacy policy. This policy explains how we collect, use and store the personal information you provide to us. 'Personal information' is information which identifies you or another person, or is capable of doing so.
This policy may change from time to time and, if it does, the up-to-date version will always be available on the Virgin.com site. Please note that by continuing to use the Virgin.com site you are agreeing to any updated versions.
Cookie Policy
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site, Virgin.com, and to recommend content that may be of interest to you. You can find out more below about what cookies are, the cookies we use and how to switch off cookies.
You can indicate your acceptance of our use of cookies in accordance with this policy by clicking “OK” in the appropriate place on the banner that appears on our site. However, please note that if you do not click “OK” but you continue to browse the site you will be deemed to have accepted our use of cookies (and what we use them for) in accordance with this policy.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a text file containing small amounts of information which is downloaded to your device when you access a website. The text file is then sent back to our server each time your browser requests a page from the server. This enables us to operate the site more effectively and load the site in such a way as to reflect your personal preferences, based on your previous browsing on Virgin.com as well as keywords we may be able to gather from URLs of webpages from which you accessed Virgin.com. Cookies can also allow us to do various other things, as explained below.
What cookies do we use?
When you visit Virgin.com, the following types of cookies may be downloaded to your device:
Analytical and Performance Cookies
We may use analytics service providers for website traffic analysis and reporting. Analytics service providers generate statistical and other information about the use of the site by using cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how often visitors return to the site, how long they stay and how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. The information generated relating to the site may be used to create reports about the use of the site and the analytics service provider will also store this information.
Advertising and Targeting Cookies
These cookies record your visit to our site, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed to other sites. We will use this information to try and make our site and other sites that you visit more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with others, such as other Virgin group companies and carefully selected third parties, for this purpose.
We work with technology partners to support our website and to provide you with relevant information about the products and services of other Virgin group companies on our site and on affiliated sites or sites within the advertising networks we work with. We may use cookies on our site to help us to place relevant Virgin group advertising on others’ sites when you visit such sites. We do this because we value your visit to our site and hope that you will be interested in other Virgin offerings when you visit other sites. If you are not happy with this, please see the section of this policy titled “How do I turn cookies off below”.
Functionality Cookies
We may use functional cookies that allow us to remember choices you have made in relation to the site so as to provide a more personalised experience and enhanced user experience by delivering content specific to your interests.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These are cookies that are required for the administration and operation of our site. Some cookies that we use are necessary for our site to function properly and to enable you to move around the site and use its features.
Third Party Cookies
Because Virgin (and Richard) have a strong presence on various social networks, we try and make it as easy as possible to share content and to see what content is popular on those networks. We add buttons to allow people to easily share to those networks. We also use Facebook to power the commenting functionality on the site.
When we include these social 'plugins', it gives those sites the flexibility to use cookies. They can't read any cookies we set from Virgin.com, and we can't read any cookies they set, but it lets them do the same kind of traffic measuring that we do on the rest of Virgin.com, and it also lets them know whether you're logged in. For example, if you're logged in to Facebook, read a post by Richard Branson and want to make a comment, you can do that straight away without having to log in again - we never know whether you're logged in or not, as you communicate directly with Facebook, through their plugins on our site.
Other sites and services (including, for example, advertising networks, providers of external services like web traffic analysis services and content recommendation engines) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.
How do I turn cookies off?
If you do not wish us to install cookies or you don’t agree with how we use these cookies in any way, you can change the settings on your internet browser to reject cookies. For more information please consult the “Help” section of your browser or visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. Please note that if you do set your browser to reject cookies, you may not be able to use all of the features of our site. ?
How do we collect information from you with Facebook Connect?
When you use Virgin.com, you have the option to connect your Facebook account to Virgin.com. If you decide to ‘connect’ your Facebook account, we will gather certain information from your account so that we can display the content on the site in a way that we think would be optimal for your enjoyment of the site.
In order for us to access this information, you will have to manually click the Facebook Connect button on the site. This will trigger a pop-up window from Facebook directly, asking for permission for us to access the data with checkboxes in this pop-up for your Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘Check-ins’.
What information do we collect when you use Facebook Connect?
We collect information on your likes that are included on your Facebook page to try and improve the content on the site. If you choose to connect but do not tick the boxes, we may still have access to your basic information posted on Facebook but not your likes an interests. Rest assured that we do not store your email address, Facebook username or your user ID or any other information from your Facebook profile that could identify you directly.
What information do we collect if you sign up for our newsletter?
If you want to sign up to receive our newsletter we will collect the following personal information from you: your email address, name, date of birth and what you are interested in hearing more about.
Will we use your information for marketing?
We may display offers, promotions, products or services on the site which we think will interest you based upon the information we collect from your cookies and from Facebook Connect.
How else will we use your information?
We may also use your information for the following purposes:
To help provide services to you
To send you our newsletter if you have signed up to receive it.
To carry out surveys occasionally and to analyse our user base — ultimately we want to ensure that www.virgin.com provides everything that you — our audience — is looking for
To check whether you are eligible for a competition and to contact you if you win
To comply with the law
As we feel is necessary to prevent illegal activity or to protect our interests
And we won't keep hold of your personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary or required by law.
Will we share your information with anyone else?
Only if…
You specifically request this, such as when you submit information to enquire about jobs or submit a job application through www.virgin.com
We are required to do so to comply with the law or with the directions of the courts or other authorities
We feel it is reasonably necessary to prevent illegal activity or to protect our interests
Other Virgin companies products and services may interest you
It helps our trusted third party service providers to provide and improve our service to you or to carry out surveys and user analysis to understand your needs and preferences. We will also share your information with MailChimp, who securely host emails and act as a supplier to distribute our newsletter. We require these service providers to keep your personal information safe and secure. These trusted third parties would only be permitted to use your personal information for the purposes we specify.
We may share some broader statistics and customer profiling information with third parties and other Virgin companies - but we'll keep it anonymous, so you won't be identifiable from that data.
We won't rent or sell our user's details to any other organisation or individual.
What if you post information on our site?
This site contains an opportunity for users to comment on content on the site ("User Content"). It is information in the public domain, so it may be accessed by any person using the web in any part of the world and can be found using independent search engines. So, if you choose to post information to the interactive parts of our site, we have to state that you do so at your own risk. This is the case whether the User Content is uploaded directly onto www.virgin.com or through a connected site.
This means your User Content:
Won't have its usage and circulation limited as described in the sections of this policy above headed 'Will we use your information for marketing?', 'How else will we use your information?' and 'Will we share your information with anyone else?'
Won't be protected as described in the section of this policy below headed 'Will we be transferring any personal information outside the EU?'
Won't be held securely as described in the section of this policy below headed 'Keeping your information safe'
We are obliged by our legal eagles to state that neither Virgin.com nor any other Virgin company will be liable to you or to any third party for any loss or damage resulting from any User Content posted on the Virgin.com site.
However, if you upload User Content to our site using the Facebook Connect function, we will protect your privacy consistently with your Facebook privacy settings.
Please read our Terms and Conditions for more information about posting User Content. If you register on the site, you'll need to comply with our Terms and Conditions.
If you have any concerns about User Content appearing on this site, please Contact Us.
How will we make sure our site is secure?
We follow strict security procedures as to how your personal information is stored and used, and who sees it, to help stop any unauthorised person getting hold of it. All personal information you register on this site will be located behind a firewall. We take security extremely seriously but as no system is 100% secure, we can't completely guarantee the protection of your personal information, any more than any other organisation can. So we can't accept any liability for the loss, theft or misuse of the personal information which you've registered on this website if there is a security breach. If you submit a business proposal to us, your business proposal information will be held subject to the terms and conditions of the Business Proposal Submission Agreement.
Will we be transferring any personal information outside the EU?
Countries outside the European Union may have a lower standard of protection for personal information than that required by EU data protection laws. The information we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored, outside the EU (including for example in the United States) and may also be processed by people operating outside the EU who work for us or one of our suppliers. If we need to transfer your data to a company based outside the EU (e.g. if our hosting company is based in the US), we'll take steps to make sure your personal data is handled in line with EU law.
What about personal information relating to minors?
Protecting the online privacy of children is especially important. If you are under 18 years old, please do not provide us with your name, contact details or any other information about yourself. To find out more, please read our Terms and Conditions.
Are you protected by this policy outside www.virgin.com?
Our site contains links to other websites. Obviously, we don't have any control over them and take no responsibility for any information you give them. Other sites have different privacy and security policies, which we advise you to read.
How you can access your information
You can request, at any time, access to the personal information we hold about you. You can write to us at the following address requesting access to your personal information.
The Webmaster
Virgin.com Limited
c/o Virgin Management Limited
The Battleship Building
179 Harrow Road
London W2 6NB
UK
You are entitled to be told by us whether we or someone else on our behalf is processing your personal information; what personal information we hold; details of the purposes for the processing of your personal information; and details of any third party with whom your personal information has been shared. (We may charge a small admin fee for providing this information). You can also request that we correct any personal information which we hold about you where it is inaccurate.
Sometimes you may be asked to provide proof of identity before we show you your personal information - that's so we can prevent unauthorised access.
Talk to us
If you have any queries, comments or complaints regarding this privacy policy, just get in touch. You can contact us through the Contact Us section of this site or write to us at the address set out above.
This policy was last updated on 10 July 2014.