Statement of Privacy

Last updated October 2006

Simply put: We promise never to share your information with anyone unless we have to.

Over The Garden Fence is committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you the most powerful and safe online experience. This Over The Garden Fence Statement of Privacy applies to Over The Garden Fence's family of Web sites and governs data collection and usage at all Over The Garden Fence sites and services. Please read the Over The Garden Fence Statement of Privacy below and also any supplementary information at the end of this statement for additional details about particular Over The Garden Fence sites and services that you may use.

Milton Keynes is a general audience web site, intended for users of all ages. Personal information of all users is collected, used and disclosed as described in this Statement of Privacy.

Collection of your Personal Information

At some sites, Over The Garden Fence collects personal information, such as your email address and name. At other sites, Over The Garden Fence collects anonymous demographic information, that is not unique to you,such as your Postcode, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites. Some sites collect a combination of the two types of information. In some cases,information collected by Over The Garden Fence may be combined with information obtained from other Over The Garden Fence services and other companies.

There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by Over The Garden Fence and may be shared with other Web sites within the Over The Garden Fence family of web sites. This information may include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring Web site addresses. This information is used by Over The Garden Fence for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes uses encryption technology to provide registration and sign-in services. All of the registration information you provide will be stored by Over The Garden Fence on our servers.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personal information through Milton Keynes Discussion forums, this information may be collected and used by others. Note: Over The Garden Fence may read all email sent through our web site such as your Milton Keynes Tell a friend or Contact the author emails.

Over The Garden Fence encourages you to review the privacy statements of Web sites you choose to link to from Milton Keynes so that you can understand how those Web sites collect, use and share your information. Over The Garden Fence is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on Web sites outside of the Over The Garden Fence family of Web sites.

Use of your Personal Information

Over The Garden Fence and its operational service partners collect and use your personal information to operate Milton Keynes and deliver the services you have requested. Over The Garden Fence also uses your personal information to inform you of other products or services available from Over The Garden Fence and its affiliates. Over The Garden Fence may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.

Over The Garden Fence does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as handling the processing and delivery of mailings, providing customer support, processing transactions, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they need to deliver the service. They are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information and are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

Over The Garden Fence keeps track of the Web sites and pages our customers visit within Milton Keynes, in order to determine what Over The Garden Fence sites and services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within Milton Keynes to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.

Over The Garden Fence may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Over The Garden Fence or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Over The Garden Fence, including its Over The Garden Fence family of Web sites; or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Milton Keynes, its web sites, or the public.

Personal information collected on this site may be stored and processed in the UK or any other country in which Over The Garden Fence or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities, and by using this site, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. Over The Garden Fence abides by the Safe Harbour programme developed by the US Department of Commerce and the European Union regarding the collection, use, and retention of data.

Control your Personal Information

Over The Garden Fence allows you to modify the information we hold about you by visiting your membership profile page. Please contact us if you wish to delete your membership account.

You may stop the delivery of future email from Milton Keynes by following the specific instructions in the email you receive. The instructions explain how to stop receiving such emails.

There are occasions when you will receive emails informing you of technical service issues, product surveys, new feature announcements and news about Over The Garden Fence products and services. You may not be able to unsubscribe to these mailings.

Security of your Personal Information

Over The Garden Fence strictly protects the security of the personal information you provide. Over The Garden Fence secures the personal information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When highly confidential information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted over the Internet, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Use of Cookies

Milton Keynes uses "cookies" to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize Milton Keynes' pages, or register with Over The Garden Fence sites or services, a cookie helps Over The Garden Fence to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as member ID, email address, and so on. When you return to Milton Keynes, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the Milton Keynes features that you customized.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Over The Garden Fence services or Web sites you visit. Read "What's a cookie?" for more information.

Use of Third Party Ad Networks

Over The Garden Fence does not use any third-party Advertising Networks.

Enforcement of this Statement of Privacy

If you have questions regarding this statement, you should contact Over The Garden Fence.

Milton Keynes Discussion Forums

While participating in chats, communities or other public forums, Over The Garden Fence cautions you against giving out personal information (such as names and addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and driver's license numbers) to strangers online, which they may use for illegal or harmful purposes.

Milton Keynes Newsletters and Watches

When you subscribe to an Milton Keynes Newsletter or Watch a page, Over The Garden Fence requests your email address. Over The Garden Fence uses your email address to send you the newsletter(s) or watch(es) you have requested. Over The Garden Fence does not share your email address with third parties except as required to deliver the service. Each Milton Keynes newsletter or Watch you receive will have instructions on how to unsubscribe prominently mentioned in it.

Changes to this Statement

Over The Garden Fence will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback. When Over The Garden Fence posts changes to this Statement, you will see the word "updated" next to the Privacy Statement link on the front page of Milton Keynes. If there are material changes to this Statement or in how Over The Garden Fence will use your personal information, Over The Garden Fence will prominently post such changes prior to implementing the change. Over The Garden Fence encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how Over The Garden Fence is protecting your information.

Contact Information

Over The Garden Fence welcomes your comments regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that Over The Garden Fence has not adhered to this Statement, please contact Over The Garden Fence by email.