Privacy notice

This notice explains what happens to your personal information when you visit this website, get in touch with me or work with me. Last updated: [date of publication].

Who I am

VO2 PR is the trading name of Micheál Costello, a sole trader. I decide how the information described here is used, which makes me its "controller" under UK data protection law. [My registration number with the Information Commissioner's Office is [number]. — delete this sentence if not registered]

For anything to do with your information, email me at hello@vo2pr.com.

What I collect and why

When you send an enquiry. The form on this site asks for your name, your email address, whether you're an athlete, a brand, a journalist or something else, which of my services you're interested in, and your message. The same goes for anything you email me directly. I use it to reply to you and, if we decide to work together, to set that up. The legal basis is my legitimate interest in answering people who contact me and, where you're asking about working together, taking steps you've asked for before we enter a contract. You don't have to give me your details, but I can't reply without an email address. I won't add you to a mailing list or use your details for marketing.

[Keep only once the booking link is added to the site, then delete this bracket.] When you book a call. The booking link takes you to my booking page on Cal.com, which asks for your name, your email address and anything you'd like me to know before we speak, and adds the call to my calendar. The legal basis is the same as for an enquiry.

When you visit the site. This website is hosted by Squarespace, which also provides my visitor statistics. When you load a page, Squarespace records information about your browser, network and device (such as your browser, operating system and whether you're on a phone, tablet or computer), the website or link that sent you here, the pages you view and how you use them (such as clicks, scrolling and the time of each visit), and your IP address, from which it estimates your country, region and city. I've switched off Squarespace's analytics cookies, so it doesn't place them on your device and can't use them to recognise you when you come back: each page you view is counted as a separate visit. I've also switched off Squarespace's activity log, so what I see is totals, such as how many visits each page had and where they came from, not a list of individual visitors or their IP addresses. The legal basis is my legitimate interest in running a working, secure website and knowing which pages are useful.

Squarespace also uses some of this technical information for its own purposes, such as keeping its platform secure. For that use Squarespace, not me, is responsible, and its privacy policy explains it.

[Keep only if Google reCAPTCHA stays switched on for the enquiry form, which is Squarespace's default; otherwise delete this paragraph.] Spam protection. The enquiry form uses Google reCAPTCHA to tell people from automated programs that send spam. To do that, your browser connects to Google, so Google receives your IP address and information about your browser and device. The legal basis is my legitimate interest in keeping spam out of my inbox. Google's privacy policy and terms apply to its part.

If you become a client. I keep the contact details, correspondence, agreements and invoices I need to do the work and to run my business. The legal bases are our contract, and my legal obligation to keep financial records.

If I quote you. Testimonials on this site appear with the permission of the person quoted, with the name, job title and organisation they agreed to. You can withdraw that permission and ask me to take a quote down at any time.

If you're a journalist. Like anyone working in PR, I keep work contact details for journalists and editors — name, publication, work email address and phone number, and the subjects you cover — which come from you, from your publication or from public sources. I use them to send you stories I think are relevant to your work. The legal basis is my legitimate interest in doing that. Tell me to stop at any time and I will.

I don't make automated decisions about you or use your information for profiling, and I don't sell it.

Who handles it for me

I use a small number of services to run this website and my business. They handle information on my behalf, under contract, to provide their service to me.

• Squarespace hosts this website and provides its visitor statistics. It also receives enquiries sent through the form, emails them to me and keeps a copy in my Squarespace account. For a UK business like mine the service is provided by Squarespace Ireland Limited, which uses Squarespace, Inc. in the United States to provide it. As explained above, Squarespace also uses some technical information about visits for its own purposes.

• Google provides my email and calendar (Google Workspace), so enquiries, our emails and booked calls are held in my Google account.

• [Keep only once the booking link is added to the site, then delete this bracket.] Cal.com runs my booking page and keeps a record of the calls booked through it. [Where Cal.com stores data, and its transfer safeguard — confirm from its data processing agreement.]

[Keep with the "Spam protection" paragraph above; delete with it.] Google also runs the reCAPTCHA check on the enquiry form, as described above, under its own privacy policy.

[OPTIONAL — keep only if an Instagram block is added to the site, then delete this bracket.] Instagram. The pictures of my latest Instagram posts on this site come from my Instagram account, through Squarespace. If you click one, you'll go to Instagram, where Instagram's own privacy policy applies. [verify on the live site: whether the pictures load from Instagram's own servers (look for cdninstagram.com or fbcdn.net in the browser's network panel). If they do, add: "Your browser fetches the pictures from Instagram, so Instagram receives your IP address and browser details when the page loads."]

I'll only share your information with anyone else if the law requires me to.

Information sent outside the UK

Squarespace Ireland Limited is based in Ireland, in the European Union, which UK law recognises as protecting personal information adequately. Squarespace transfers information to Squarespace, Inc. and its servers in the United States, and may handle it in other countries where Squarespace or its own service providers operate. The transfer to Squarespace, Inc. is protected by the UK–US "data bridge" (the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework), which Squarespace, Inc. has certified it complies with. Where the data bridge doesn't apply, and for Squarespace's service providers in other countries, standard contract terms approved for use in the UK protect it instead.

Google is based in the United States and may handle information there or elsewhere[, as may Cal.com — confirm, and keep only once the booking link is added]. Where that happens, it's protected by the safeguards UK law requires — the UK–US data bridge or standard contract terms approved for use in the UK — which Google sets out in its data processing terms.

How long I keep it

• Enquiries [and booked calls — keep only once the booking link is added] that don't lead to work: five years from our last contact, after which I delete them from my inbox, from my Squarespace account [and from Cal.com — keep only once the booking link is added].

• Client records: for as long as we work together, then for as long as HMRC requires me to keep business records — at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline for the tax year concerned.

• Testimonials: until you ask me to take them down.

• Visit statistics: Squarespace shows me totals, not individual visitors. How long Squarespace keeps the information it uses for its own purposes is explained in its privacy policy.

• Journalists' work contact details: while you cover the areas I work in; I review them at least once a year.

Your rights

You can ask me for a copy of the information I hold about you, and ask me to correct it, delete it, limit what I do with it or send it to you or someone else in a portable format. You can object at any time to my using it on the basis of legitimate interests, and where you've given permission — for a testimonial, for example — you can withdraw it. Email hello@vo2pr.com. There's no charge, and I'll respond within one month, as the law requires.

For the information Squarespace uses for its own purposes, you can also contact Squarespace directly at privacy@squarespace.com.

If you're unhappy with how I've handled your information, please tell me first so I can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Cookies

This site uses only the cookies it needs to run securely. I've switched off Squarespace's analytics cookies, and there are no advertising cookies. [Keep with the "Spam protection" paragraph above; delete with it.] Google's reCAPTCHA may also use cookies of its own when you use the enquiry form. The cookies page has the details.

Changes to this notice

When I change the services I use or the way I handle information, I'll update this page and the date at the top.