Privacy

Privacy Policy

How iclarence.com collects, uses and protects personal information.

Last updated: 7 September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how personal information is collected and used when you visit iclarence.com, create a reader account, buy a book, access subscriber-only material, download a purchase, or choose to receive email updates.

1. Who is responsible for your information?

The data controller for iclarence.com is Ian Clarence.

For privacy enquiries, including requests concerning your personal information, please contact ian@iclarence.com.

2. Information we may collect

Depending on how you use the website, we may collect the following information:

  • Reader-account information, such as your name, email address, account status, password credentials in securely hashed form, registration date and login information.
  • Marketing preferences and consent records, including whether you have chosen to receive email updates, when that choice was made, and when it was changed or withdrawn.
  • Purchase and order information, such as the book or bundle purchased, price, order status, payment transaction reference and information needed to provide a secure download.
  • Download information, such as the product downloaded, download token or authorisation record, and information used to prevent unauthorised access.
  • Communications that you send to us, including enquiries, support requests and correspondence about orders or your reader account.
  • Technical and security information, which may include your IP address, browser or device information, date and time of access, pages requested, server logs and information used to detect automated traffic, abuse, fraud or security incidents.

3. Payment information

Payments are processed through PayPal. Payment-card details are entered into the payment provider's checkout process and are not intended to be stored by iclarence.com. We may receive and retain information such as the payment status, transaction reference, amount paid and information required to match the payment to your order.

PayPal processes personal information under its own privacy terms. You should review PayPal's privacy information when using its services.

4. How we use your information and our lawful bases

We use personal information only where there is a lawful basis for doing so. This may include:

  • Providing your reader account and subscriber-only content – where processing is necessary to provide the service you requested and to administer your account.
  • Processing purchases and secure downloads – where processing is necessary to perform the purchase contract and deliver the digital product you bought.
  • Keeping transaction and accounting records – where we have a legal obligation to retain appropriate business and financial records.
  • Sending email updates – where you have given consent to receive them. Marketing consent is separate from creation of a reader account.
  • Protecting the website and its users – where necessary for our legitimate interests in preventing fraud, automated abuse, unauthorised downloads, attacks and other security problems.
  • Responding to enquiries and support requests – where necessary to provide requested support, administer an order or reader account, or for our legitimate interest in communicating with website users.

5. Reader accounts and passwords

A reader account may be required to access subscriber-only stories or other restricted material. Your email address is used to identify your account and, where required, to verify that the email address belongs to you.

Passwords must not be stored in readable form. The account system should store only a secure one-way password hash and use that hash to verify future logins. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and should not reuse a password that you use for another service.

6. Email updates and marketing

Creating a reader account does not require you to agree to marketing emails. If you separately choose to receive email updates, those messages may include information about new short stories, extracts, books, historical features, publication news and special offers.

You may withdraw your marketing consent at any time. Each marketing email should provide a simple way to unsubscribe. Withdrawing marketing consent does not, by itself, cancel your reader account or remove your access to subscriber-only material.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

iclarence.com may use cookies or similar technologies that are necessary for functions such as maintaining a login session, protecting forms, remembering security information and enabling account or purchase functions.

If non-essential cookies are introduced, for example for third-party analytics or advertising, they should not be set until any consent required by law has been obtained. Information about non-essential cookies should also be provided clearly to visitors.

8. Server logs, security and automated traffic

The website may record technical information in server or application logs. This can include IP addresses, browser information, requested pages, timestamps and error information. These records may be used to keep the website reliable, investigate errors, identify malicious or automated traffic, protect databases and downloads, and prevent misuse.

9. Who we may share information with

Personal information is not sold to advertisers or data brokers. We may share information only where reasonably necessary with organisations that help operate the website or provide its services, including:

  • payment-processing providers such as PayPal;
  • website hosting, server and infrastructure providers;
  • email-delivery providers, if an external service is used to send reader emails;
  • technical service providers acting on our instructions;
  • professional advisers where necessary; and
  • law-enforcement, regulatory or other authorities where disclosure is required by law.

10. International processing

Some service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, appropriate legal protections should be used where required by UK data-protection law.

11. How long we keep information

Personal information is kept only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, security and dispute-resolution requirements.

  • Reader-account information is normally retained while the account remains active and for a limited period after closure where necessary for security, backup or legal purposes.
  • Purchase and transaction records may be retained for the period required by applicable tax, accounting and legal obligations.
  • Marketing preference and consent records may be retained for as long as needed to show whether you consented or opted out.
  • Security and server logs are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for operational, security and investigation purposes.

12. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to:

  • ask for a copy of personal information held about you;
  • ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;
  • ask for personal information to be erased in certain circumstances;
  • ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;
  • object to certain uses of your personal information;
  • receive certain information in a portable format where the right applies; and
  • withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise a privacy right, contact ian@iclarence.com. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request.

13. Complaints

If you have concerns about how your personal information has been handled, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk.

14. Security

Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or loss. These measures should include secure account authentication, password hashing, controlled access to private download files, secure connections and appropriate server-side validation.

No internet service can guarantee absolute security. If a security incident affects personal information, it will be handled in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

15. Automated decision-making

iclarence.com does not currently use personal information to make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

This policy may be updated when the website, its services or legal requirements change. The date at the top of the page will show when the policy was last revised. Material changes affecting reader accounts or marketing preferences may also be brought to registered users' attention where appropriate.