Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18th February 2025

This privacy policy explains how Pin the Tale ("we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, discloses and safeguards your information when you visit our website, pinthetale.co.uk, use the services provided by our website, or otherwise interact with us.

Personal data we collect:

• Email address, when you sign up for a Pin the Tale account
• Account data: if you sign up for a Pin the Tale account, we store any usernames that you set, data contained within stories that you submit on Pin the Tale (story locations, text, images, difficulty ratings you set) and information on which stories you have submitted, solved and bookmarked.
• Your name and email address, when contacting us via the contact form on our website.
• Email address, when signing up to our mailing list

Usage data we collect:

We may also collect information on how you access and use Pin the Tale. This usage data may include information such as your device's Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

How and why we collect your data:

To comply with data protection laws, we will only use your data for informed reasons and where we have a legal basis to do so. The reasons we process your data are as follows:

To provide Pin the Tale:

In order to submit, solve and bookmark stories on Pin the Tale, as well as keep track of your submitted, solved and bookmarked stories and compete with other users on our leaderboard, you must sign up for a Pin the Tale user account. When your account is created, we need to process your email address in order to fulfil our contractual obligations in our Terms of Use.

It is not compulsory for you to set a username; however, if you choose to do so, this username will be associated with your account's submitted, solved and bookmarked stories, and this association will be visible to other users and to Pin the Tale. If you do not set a username, it will be set automatically as 'Anonymous'. You may change or remove any username you set at any time by clicking on the Profile tab, followed by the Settings button.

We collect data contained within stories that you submit on Pin the Tale (story locations, text, images, difficulty ratings you set) and information on which stories you have submitted, solved and bookmarked, in order to fulfil our contractual obligations in our Terms of Use.

To maintain and improve Pin the Tale:

We process aggregated personal data and/or anonymised data to monitor usage of Pin the Tale and to detect, prevent and address technical issues, based on our legitimate interest to improve Pin the Tale by making it more user-friendly, safe and stable.

To respond to inquiries or service requests:

If you choose to contact us using the 'Get in touch' form on our website, you consent to us using your email address and name for the purpose of responding to any inquiries or service requests. Personal information you provide through the 'Get in touch' form will only be used for this purpose.

To send newsletters and other promotional materials:

If you choose to sign up to the Pin the Tale newsletter, you consent to us using your email address for the purpose of sending newsletters and promotional materials associated with Pin the Tale. You may unsubscribe from receiving these communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any newsletter/promotional emails we send.

Links to other sites:

Our website may link to external sites that are not operated by us. Please be aware that we have no control over the content and practices of these sites and cannot accept responsibility or liability for their respective privacy policies.

Children's privacy:

Pin the Tale does not address anyone under the age of 18.

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from children without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Disclosure of data:

We do not sell or rent your personal data. However, we may disclose your data to third parties for the following purposes:

• Fulfilling legal requirements: to comply with a legal obligation, or to prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with Pin the Tale.
• Safety and protection: to protect the personal safety of Pin the Tale users and/or the wider public, and to protect Pin the Tale against legal liability.
• Service provision: to facilitate the provision, maintenance and improvement of Pin the Tale, through services such as website hosting and analytics.

Third parties may have access to your personal data only to perform these tasks on our behalf. They are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Data security:

The security of your data is important to us; however, please remember that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Tracking and cookies data:

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on Pin the Tale.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyse the service we provide.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some parts of Pin the Tale.

Examples of cookies we use:

• Session Cookies: we use Session Cookies to operate Pin the Tale.
• Preference Cookies: we use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
• Security Cookies: we use Security Cookies for security purposes.

Updates to this policy:

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this webpage with an updated effective date.

Contact us:

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at hello@pinthetale.co.uk.