Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data Open Web Directory collects, why, who it is shared with and what you can ask us to do about it. It covers the directory, the blog and the paid upgrades.

1. What we collect

• Account details. When you create an account we (through our platform provider) hold your email address, the name you sign up with, and your role. Signing in with Google, Microsoft, Facebook or Apple shares the details those providers send us — typically your email and name.
• Listing details. The business information you submit: name, description, website, contact email and phone, address, category and logo. If your listing is approved, most of it is published.
• Blog requests. The headline, brief and links you send when requesting a featured post, along with the listing it relates to.
• Payments. Card and billing details are entered on our payment provider's own checkout page and are not stored by us or visible to us. We receive confirmation of the order: the product, the amount, the currency, the order reference and the buyer's email address.
• Visit measurement (only with your consent). Pages opened, the site you came from, search terms used on the directory, the category browsed, listings and outbound links clicked, the country our servers resolve from your connection, your browser, operating system, device type and user agent, an anonymous visitor identifier and a per-session identifier, plus your account id if you are signed in when browsing. We do not store your IP address.
• Advertising. The ads on the site are supplied by Google AdSense. Google and its advertising partners set their own cookies and identifiers to serve and measure those ads and, unless personalised advertising is switched off, to choose which ads you see. That happens in your browser under Google's own policy, and the personal data behind it is not sent to us. See section 4 and the cookie policy.

2. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide the service you asked for (contract): creating and signing in to your account, reviewing and publishing your listing, processing a paid upgrade, and answering you.
• To run and improve the directory (legitimate interests): keeping listings accurate and free of spam, security and abuse prevention, understanding which pages and listings are useful, and fixing problems.
• To measure visits (consent): the analytics described above runs only if you accept it, and stops if you decline or withdraw.
• To meet legal and accounting duties (legal obligation): keeping records of payments and handling complaints and rights requests.

3. What is public

Approved listings and published blog articles are public, and can be found by search engines and other people. That includes the contact email, phone number and address you choose to put in a listing — submit only business contact details you are happy to publish. Blog requests, your account email and your payment records are not public.

4. Who we share it with

• Our platform provider, which hosts the site, the database and the accounts.
• Our payment provider, which processes cards and holds the order and billing records.
• A geolocation lookup service, which receives a visitor's IP address only to tell us which country they are in. We do not store the IP address it receives.
• Email delivery, to send sign-in codes, review updates and curator replies.
• Authorities, where the law requires it, and professional advisers where necessary.
• Google, for advertising. The ads on the directory are served by Google AdSense (publisher ID ca-pub-4311106027317379). Google and its partners set their own cookies and identifiers to serve, measure and — unless personalised advertising is switched off — target those ads. That is Google's own processing, under Google's privacy policy (policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites). We receive only aggregate reports on how many ads ran and what they earned, never personal data.

We do not sell personal data, and beyond the advertising above we do not share it with advertising networks or with other companies for their own marketing.

5. Where it is held

Our providers may process data outside the UK, including in the United States and the EU. Where they do, transfers are covered by the safeguards those providers have in place, such as the UK extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses.

6. How long we keep it

• Account and listing data: while your account is open and your listing is published, then up to twelve months so you can return to it.
• Blog requests: three years, so we can answer questions about a published article.
• Payment records: as long as tax and accounting rules require (normally six years).
• Visit measurement: up to 24 months, then deleted. Anonymous aggregate totals may be kept longer.

7. Your rights

You have the right to:

• see a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• have your data erased, including your account and listing;
• restrict or object to processing, including objecting to visit measurement at any time;
• receive data you gave us in a portable format;
• withdraw consent you have given, without affecting what was done before;
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), or to the supervisory authority in your country.

To exercise any of these, email us and we will normally respond within one month. Ask us and we will delete your account, your listing and the measurements tied to your identifiers.

8. Cookies and browser storage

We use a small amount of browser storage to keep you signed in, to remember your cookie choice and to hold an unfinished submission. Visit measurement uses anonymous identifiers, and only runs with your consent. The advertising cookies that come with the ads on the site are set by Google rather than by us, and sit outside our own consent banner. See the cookie policy for the full list — including how to switch off personalised advertising — and use the "Cookie settings" link in the footer at any time to change your mind.

9. Automated decisions and children

We do not make automated decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you — listings and articles are reviewed by a person. The site is not intended for children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us data, contact us and we will remove it.

10. Changes

When we change how we handle personal data we will update this page and its date, and flag material changes on the site.