Data Protection Statement

Ofcom (‘the Office of Communications’) is a Data Controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘the Act’). This statement confirms Ofcom’s commitment to protect your privacy and to process your personal information in a manner which meets the requirements of the Act.

Why we need your personal information

The information we collect may include:

• Name and job title
• Contact information
• Age, disability status, ethnicity, gender and nationality
• Occupation and company details
• Other information relevant to:
  • Furthering the interests of citizens in relation to communications matters;
  • Furthering the interests of consumers in relevant markets;
  • Promoting competition; and
  • Other statutory functions.
• Other information relevant to our HR function

Ofcom may use this information for the following reasons:

• To carry out our statutory functions
• Licensing and registration
• Complaints and dispute handling
• Investigations
• Research
• Improve our services
• Send information to you which we think may be of interest to you
• Staff administration, including HR functions
• To pass your details to accountants, consultants and other professionals for the purpose of obtaining professional advice and complying with Ofcom’s contractual obligations
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Monitoring and recording of communications

We may monitor or record any communication between you and Ofcom for quality control and training purposes.

Security

Ofcom has appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to prevent the unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal information, and accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal information.

Retention of personal information

We will not keep your personal information for longer than is necessary for our purposes.

Cookies

Cookies are text files, which identify a user’s computer to our server. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer used.

Ofcom allows users visiting its website to choose from a selection of style sheets which control the text, size and colours used on the pages. Some browsers (like Mozilla and Opera) allow the user to select which style(s) they would prefer to use for a site, but others (like Internet Explorer) do not. In order to allow all users to select their preferred text, size and colours, Ofcom uses cookies so that it can ask the user’s computer to remember their preferences for them. Ofcom only uses this information to ensure users’ preferences for viewing the website are maintained.

We also use the following cookies:

SITE WIDE

JSESSIONID
Expires – when user exits browser

Google Analytics Cookies:

Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast.

_utma
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 2 years
_utmb
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 30 minutes
_utmc
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when user exits browser
_utmz
Typical content: randomly generated number + info on how the site was reached (e.g. directly or via a link, organic search or paid search)
Expires: 6 months

MID [https://mid.ofcom.org.uk]
Does not use cookies and instead maintains session through the URL.

SHIPS AND AMATEURS [https://services.ofcom.org.uk/]
Ships and Amateurs stores only JSession ID in cookie which expires at the end of session.

SITEFINDER [http://sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/]
Does not create any cookies of its own and no observed cookies created by its embedded Google Map.

OPIR [https://secure.ofcom.org.uk/opir/]
Stores in the cookie only the session ID, which expires end of session. If the user suppresses the use of cookies in the browser, the session ID will be attached to the URL (standard web mechanism).

SPECTRAsc [https://secure.ofcom.org.uk/SPECTRAsc/]

Uses the following list of fields in the cookie, which expires at end of session:

‘previous clearance name’
location’
‘contact’
’satelitte name’
‘antenna height’
‘antenna gain’
‘antenna diameter’
‘antenna name’
’start timestamp’
‘end timestamp’
‘location address/description’
‘number of carriers’
‘frequency band’
‘frequencies’

Users may, of course, choose not to accept cookies from the Ofcom website. This might mean that their browser will not remember which style sheet they prefer to use and their preferences will need to be reset for each page they visit. SPECTRAsc will not run if cookies are switched off. Further information about cookies can be found at: http://www.aboutcookies.org/

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other sites, mainly those of government departments, but also to those of third parties. Ofcom is not responsible for the data protection and privacy practices within any of these other sites. We encourage you to be aware of this when you leave our site and to read the data protection and privacy statements on other websites you visit which collect personally identifiable information. This statement applies solely to our website.

Your rights to access your personal information

You are entitled pursuant to the Act to ask for a copy of your personal information, for which we will charge a £10 fee, and to have any inaccuracies in your information corrected. A subject access request form can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/cad/dps/request_form/

Complaints about how we process your personal information

In the first instance, an individual should contact Ofcom. Complaints should be addressed to:

The Secretary to the Corporation
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

Fax: 020 7783 4033

Email: graham.howell@ofcom.org.uk

How to get more information

If you have any questions about this statement, please contact:

Information Requests
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

Fax: 020 7981 3333

Email: information.requests@ofcom.org.uk

This statement may change from time to time. You should therefore review it regularly.