Privacy policy

Introduction and General Terms

The BBC is committed to protecting personal data from you and your family when you use any of the services of the BBC.

To be able to offer all the services of the BBC, we are often forced to ask for some personal information.

Whenever you provide such information we are legally required to use it in accordance with the laws on personal data protection in the UK, including the Data Protection Act 1998.

Web pages contain links to sites owned and operated by third parties. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites, their use is therefore your responsibility.

What type of information does the BBC about me?

By registering to participate in or receive a service from any page on the BBC as newsletters, competitions, live chats and message boards, you may ask your personal information, usually your name, email address, postal address, number of mobile phone or date of birth.

By registering your details in the appropriate spaces, you agree that the BBC and its service providers to supply the requested services.

In addition, the BBC uses cookies. A cookie is a small data file that records information about your internet preferences and enables us to tailor web pages to your interests. You can set your internet browser to accept all cookies, to notify you whenever a cookie is sent, or to block all cookies.

Similarly we collect IP addresses (an Internet Protocol address, or IP address is a number that uniquely identifies each computer or network device on the internet). We use analysis software to study the IP addresses and cookies in order to improve your user experience. This information will never be used to create your personal profile and log files are deleted regularly.

We also use your IP address to determine whether you access our services from within or outside the United Kingdom.

If you are under 16, please make sure you have permission from your parent or guardian before sending personal information to the BBC website. Users who do not have this authorization, may send personal information.

How the BBC uses the information it collects about me?

The BBC will only use your personal data for specific purposes including "service administration purposes", which means that the BBC may contact you regarding the service you have subscribed to.

We treat your data as confidential, except where the law requires or allows disclosure.

If you send or publish content that is offensive, inappropriate or objectionable in any place or at bbc.co.uk, or demonstrates unacceptable behaviour on bbc.co.uk - the BBC could use the information it holds about you to avoid repeating this behaviour.

How long will the BBC keep my personal information?

We will keep your personal data in the system as long as is necessary for the service. When contributing to a BBC website, the content of your contribution will be saved only for the time necessary for the purpose for which it was submitted.

Complete and updated version of this Privacy Statement

To access the complete and updated version of the privacy policy of the BBC, please visit the click homepage.