Privacy policy
This website is owned and operated by Reed Business Information Limited
Information we collect from our customers and users of our websites may be used in the following ways.
1. Subscription Services
Personal information provided as part of the registration process for any publication, product or service is used to manage your subscription and to enable us to provide a better service.
2. Payment details
Any information provided by you in connection with any transaction regarding your credit or debit card numbers, expiry date and billing or delivery address will be used by us to process the transaction. These details will be stored on a secure server and may be used by us to facilitate and personalise future transactions with you. If you do not wish us to store and use the information for future transactions, please contact us.
3. Contact details
We will use contact details provided by you as part of any registration process (i.e. your name, job title, telephone and fax number and your email and postal addresses) to provide any product or services requested by you and also to tell you about important changes to relevant subscription services and their functionality.
Contact details other than email addresses will be used by us and by our associated companies to provide you with information about other services and products which may interest you and may also be disclosed to third party businesses and advertisers for the same purpose. If you do not wish to be contacted for this purpose, you may register your preferences by clicking here.
We will not use or disclose your email address for marketing purposes unless you have agreed that we may use or disclose it in this way. You may at any time opt-out of receiving further emails by registering your preference here.
4. Voluntary Information
We may ask for further information about you as part of online surveys or if you enter any competition or other promotional feature. This information will be used to enable us to improve the relevant publication, product or service and may also be disclosed to other companies as specified in the relevant promotion.
5. Statistical information
Aggregate statistical information provided by us to our advertisers or others regarding sales or website usage will not include personally identifying information.
6. Security
Your personal data will be held on a secure server. Our sites are equipped with the latest security devices/firewalls.
7. Access to Data
Under the Data Protection Act 1988. You have the right to be told what personal information we hold about you on our databases. You should write to us, attn Company Secretary at the following address: Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS. UK stating your full name, your address and any of our publications or services to which you know you subscribe. A small administrative charge may be made for fulfilling this request.
8. Use of cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
Newscientist.com requires cookies in order to operate fully. We also work with advertisers who place cookies on your computer to serve and target adverts more effectively when you visit the site.
Most web browsers allow some control of cookies through browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
Further information about the cookies used by newscientist.com is provided below.
Cookies used by newscientist.com:
The following cookie categories are based on the classification presented in the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) Cookie Guide.
Category 1: Strictly necessary cookies. These cookies are essential to allow us to provide services that you have requested.
Category 1 cookies used by newscientist.com:
- Login status - To identify you as being logged in to our website.
- Load balancing - Cookies may be used to distribute traffic across our web servers - to ensure that our websites perform well and give you the best possible experience.
- Shopping basket - Shopping basket cookies remember what is in your shopping basket.
- User subscription data - Subscription cookies allow us to ensure that you can access resources that you have registered for or paid for.
Category 2: Performance cookies. These cookies collect information about how visitors use our website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often. The information collected by these cookies is aggregated, so these cookies don't collect information that identifies individual visitors. The information collected is anonymous and is only used to improve the way our website works.
Category 2 cookies used by newscientist.com:
- Web analytics - Web analytics cookies are used to improve the design and user experience of our website by providing statistics on site usage and pages visited.
- Embedded videos - Most videos on NnewsScientist.com are hosted on Brightcove and YouTube. These sites use cookies to collect video statistics and improve site experience.
Category 3: Functionality cookies. These cookies allow us to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more relevant features.
Category 3 cookies used by newscientist.com:
- User preferences - Preference cookies remember settings you've applied to this site such as layout, default views, search filters, number of search results per page and, video bandwidth.
- Login information - Login cookies may be used to communicate your login details across pages of this website. These data are encrypted and not shared with third parties.
- User profile data - Email addresses, address and contact information. These are not shared with third parties.
Category 4: Targeting or advertising cookies. These cookies are used to deliver adverts that are more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator's permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers.
Category 4 cookies used by newscientist.com:
Targeted advertising
Advertising cookies are used by third parties to gather and send information to other websites so that they can present you with adverts that you might be interested in.
These cookies can be linked to clicks on 'Like' or 'Share' buttons which may be used on this site.
Newscientist.com uses the following third- party advertising networks:
- DoubleCclick (Google)
- Adtech
- Tremor Media
- Brightcove
You may choose to decline these cookies by visiting the following sites:
- Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page
- Google advertising opt-out page
- Adtech opt-out page
- Tremor Media opt-out page
- Brightcove privacy policy (includes cookie information)
In addition, third-party advertisers run adverts on newscientist.com and use their own advertising networks.
If you would like to block cookies being set by third-party networks you may do so through the preference settings on your browser.
Campaign tracking
Campaign tracking cookies are used to monitor how effective adverts, promotions and e-newsletters are. Newscientist.com runs its own campaigns through:
- DoubleCclick (Google)
- Adtech
You may choose to decline these cookies by visiting the following sites:
- Google advertising opt-out page
- Adtech opt-out page
In addition, third-party advertisers run campaigns on newscientist.com.
If you would like to block cookies being set by third-party networks you may do so through the preference settings on your browser.
To contact us about the use of Cookies on this site please email eucookies@rbi.co.uk.
9. Changes to Privacy Policy
Any changes to the privacy policy will be posted here. Last updated: 6 November 2008