Privacy on The Stage Website

In this Privacy Policy, "we", "us", "our" or "The" means The Stage Newspaper Limited ("The Stage").

We take the protection of the privacy of persons visiting the www.thestage.co.uk website ("Website") seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what information we will collect about you, how we will use that information and the steps that we will take to ensure that it is kept secure. By using the Website you consent to us collecting and using information about you in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

At thestage.co.uk we collect different types of information about our users for three main reasons:

1. To help us to improve the services we offer.
2. To provide personalised services unique to individual users.
3. To use anonymous details about our users to sell appropriate advertising space on the site. This might mean showing an advertiser how many users we have on the site; it does not mean sharing an individual's details with an advertiser. Where we collect registration information from an individual, we will never share that individual's information with a third party, including an advertiser, without that user's explicit permission.

We may collect information from you when you seek to use the Website's StageTalk forum or if you wish to subscribe to The Stage's newspaper . The information we collect from you enables us to verify the identity of people posting messages on StageTalk, moderate StageTalk and prevent inappropriate messages being posted on StageTalk. It also allows us to process subscription requests for The Stage's newspaper and validate subscriber access to restricted parts of the website.

Where you seek to subscribe to The Stage's newspaper, we may ask you to supply us with your credit card details. Your credit card details will be passed via a secure site to The Stage's subscription fulfilment service provider.

Our principles

We are absolutely committed to protecting your privacy. Our policy can be summarised in one sentence: We will not share your information with others without your prior consent. We have also established the following four guiding principles:

1. We will continue to invest in high-quality security and do our utmost to protect user privacy through the appropriate use of the latest security technology.
2. We will respect your email privacy. You will not receive unsolicited mail from The Stage and/or from third parties screened by The Stage Newspaper Limited unless you have agreed to this. We will, however, mail you occasionally with information about your registration and/or your subscription account.
3. We will not pass on any individual user details (including your email address) unless we have your prior consent.
4. Otherwise, we will only share anonymous aggregate statistics about our users, sales and traffic patterns with our advertisers.

Should we elect to change our privacy policy we will post the changes here. Where the changes are significant, we may also choose to email all our registered users with the new details.

You have the right to request a copy of information about you that we hold, and to update such information and have any inaccuracies corrected. We will charge you a maximum of £10 for such requests. Please address such requests to us at webmaster@thestage.co.uk.

What information do we collect?

We collect information on our users in two ways: through cookies, and through registration.

The minimum information we need to register a user is an email address, a password and a country. UK and US users will also need to provide a postcode/zipcode. We will ask further questions for different services, including competitions. Unless stated, all registration questions are compulsory. We also ask some further, voluntary questions so we can gain a clearer understanding of our users. Your responses help us to personalise services for our users. We do not share this information with third parties unless you have specifically consented to this

.

We also collect data listing which of our pages are most frequently visited and by which types of users.

How does thestage.co.uk protect customer information?

We invest in high-quality security and do our utmost to protect user privacy. UK Data Protection Legislation means we follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information that you have given us, to prevent unauthorised access.

Will thestage.co.uk disclose the information it collects to outside parties?

thestage.co.uk will not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others unless you have given us your permission. With your permission we will only share the information with carefully chosen, reputable and trustworthy third parties. Also, thestage.co.uk may provide aggregate statistics about our customers, sales, traffic patterns and related site information to reputable third-party vendors, but these statistics will include no personally identifying information. thestage.co.uk follows the relevant legal requirements and uses all reasonable precautions to ensure only responsible third parties see the information, however we are not responsible for any breach of security or any actions of any third parties who receive the information.

Please note that we reserve the right to access and disclose individually identifiable information to comply with applicable laws and lawful government requests, to operate our systems properly, and to protect both our users and ourselves.

Legal information under the Data Protection Act

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act of 1998, the Data Controller for thestage.co.uk is The Stage Newspaper Limited, Stage House, 47 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XT. Any queries regarding TSNL's use of data and data policies should be addressed to webmaster@thestage.co.uk or write to the Managing Director at the above address.

Significant data processors for thestage.co.uk include Electronic Media Audit Limited, which from time to time may process server log data hosted by thestage.co.uk to independently audit site usage for ABCe certification.

From time to time, other parties may provide services on our behalf, using The Stage brand. The following third party services currently have their own privacy policy:

• ActiveHotels.com provides The Stage Hotels service
• Google provides site searching and web searching facilities
• Digital PC hosts the digital archive and online editions of The Stage newspaper.

In addition, pages on the Website may include content hosted on third party servers which may store additional information and/or request to store cookies within your web browser. Such usage is typically governed by the third parties' own privacy policies, which include:

• Google Analytics provides us with anonymous aggregated information on usage of the Website
• Google AdSense provides text and graphical advertising services on Website pages
• Advertising.com provides graphical advertising services on Website pages
• Amazon.co.uk provides advertising of related books and other goods on Website pages

This privacy policy was last reviewed on February 29th 2008 and is reviewed on a regular basis. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us.