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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30th July 2018

At Hogwarts Online (“HOL”), we take your privacy seriously. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to learn more about how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your information.

This Privacy Policy applies to the websites (and their subdomains) belonging to HOL including: https://hol.org.uk/, http://www.dungeons.org.uk/, http://gryff.net/, http://roosted.org/, and http://thebadgersett.us/.

By accessing or using HOL and its affiliated websites, you are agreeing to this Policy.

Changes to the Policy

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. We reserve the right to review and update the terms of this Policy at any time. At the top of this page is an indication of when last this Policy was updated.

Information We Collect

When signing up for HOL and its affiliated websites, you will be asked to provide your email address for the purpose of account validation. The email address provided may also be used to contact you about any classes you take or activities you take part in. We will also need to know whether you are above the age of 16 or have your guardian’s consent to join. You will also be required to sign up with a name for HOL, but we request that you do not use your real name. Should you do so accidentally, please send an email to headoffice@hol.org.uk to have your HOL name changed.

We also save information based on how you interact with the website, such as which classes you’ve signed up for and how many house points you’ve earned. This allows us to provide a more detailed and authentic Hogwarts experience.

Whenever you interact with our websites, we automatically receive and record certain information. This information may include your IP address, date/time stamp and cookie information. We use cookies in order to keep track of login information, perform analytics and to personalise your experience.

Any content posted on our websites through your account, such as forum posts and profile information, is accessible by other members. You should not include any sensitive information anywhere on the websites. When you send a private message to another member through our websites, the contents will be retained in order to provide a message thread.

Protection of Minors

HOL is committed to protecting the privacy of minors who use our websites. We do not allow our members to post or reveal any private information (full name, telephone number, home address) in any official HOL area. Should we find anyone doing this, we reserve the right to remove this information, and, if need be, expel the member for their own safety.

We require that all new members under the age of 16 seek consent of their guardians before joining HOL. This is because HOL believes that parents should know and approve what their children aged 15 or younger are doing online.

Data Protection

HOL does not sell, license or share information about its members outside of its affiliated websites. We only share HOL names between our affiliated websites to ensure that a person signing up for them is already a member of the community (i.e. has an account on the main website). Other details that are available on your HOL profile (such as House, Year, house points earned) may be utilised as our affiliate websites are Common Rooms for each of the four Houses, and they distinguish between House members as well as non-House member as well as the Year of the member.

We may use third-party web analytics services, including Google Analytics, to monitor web traffic to HOL as well as how people interact with the website. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You can find more about Google's privacy policy here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also choose to opt out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

We make use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information you input, keeping your information secure.

You can access your information, including your HOL name and email address, through your account profile and settings. You are free to change your email address at any time. Your HOL name can only be changed in certain circumstances by an administrator, such as in the event that you accidentally sign up with your real name.

We will retain certain information (such as your email address and IP address) for the duration of the existence of your HOL account. Should you wish for your account to be deleted, send an email to headoffice@hol.org.uk and we will do so. Your HOL name would be set to ‘Inactive Member’ and your profile will no longer be accessible to the public. Interactions with the site (such as through forum posts) will be kept indefinitely, but stored anonymously. All other data would get removed.

The only instance in which we will retain data upon account deletion is to safeguard the community from harmful activities or to perform a legal duty.

It is also your responsibility to ensure there is no unauthorised access to your HOL account or devices. Do not share your password with anyone. Should you use a shared computer or device, be sure to log out after each visit to HOL or any of HOL’s affiliated websites.