walkhighlands

Privacy Policy

Whenever you visit Walkhighlands, information may be collected through the use of cookies and similar technologies, as described below.

Our approach is to keep any personal data gathering to the minimum needed to provide the functions of the website. We do not profile users or allow any advertising that profiles users.

Obviously you may choose to publically share details about yourself in posts and messages if you wish.

REGISTERED USERS

You can choose to register on Walkhighlands to receive the benefits of the free community, including our email newsletters, to make posts, or keep your hill-bagging records. Your member account will contain a uniquely identifiable name (your username), a password used for logging into your account and your e-mail address. Your information for your account at 'Walkhighlands' is protected by data-protection laws applicable in Scotland. Your password is encrypted using a one-way hash and so is not accessible to Walkhighlands staff.

Your email address will be used to send you our regular email newsletters (via Amazon SES email service) whilst you remain subscribed, and to send any forum-related notifications you may have requested. If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe from our newsletter by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter. We retain data on newsletter sign-ups and unsubscribes in order to be able both to comply and demonstrate compliance with GDPR law. We will not pass on your personal details unless required to do so by law or police. Please note that email is not a secure message of communication and emails can be intercepted in transit.

If you choose to post as part of a forum discussion, any posts you make will continue to form part of the discussion even if the Walkhighlands account you used to make them is deleted or closed; this protects the legitimate interests of the forum community by maintaining the integrity of discussions. The IP address used to make posts and register accounts is permanently stored solely for the purpose of being able to moderate the forum and uphold the moderation policy, again in the legitimate interest of preventing posting of illegal material and misuse by hackers, spammers and trolls.

See our Frequently Asked Questions on the forum section for more details about account deletion.

COOKIES ON WALKHIGHLANDS

Cookies are small text files which are downloaded to your computer or mobile phone when you visit a webpage. Your web browser sends these cookies back to the website or application on each pageview so that they can recognise you and remember things like which user you are, or your preferences.

Whilst you are visiting Walkhighlands, there are several types of cookie that may be set on your computer, tablet or mobile phone:

Functional cookies

These cookies allow us to know which user you are when you are logged in, so that you can make posts, record which hills you have climbed and keep your records. Cookies are also used to provide enhanced, more personal features, such as the GPS planner remembers where on the map you were last viewing, so that the planner opens at the same place the next time you visit it, and if you decide to shortlist accommodation options a cookie remembers which you have shortlisted so you can find them again (these are stored only on your own computer). Cookies are also set to remember that you have dismissed messages such as current funding appeals - or our cookie banner itself! - so you don't have to see them over and over again. These cookies do not gather any information about you that could be used for selling advertising.

Analytics cookies

In common with almost all websites, we use web analytics services to help us understand how people use Walkhighlands. These cookies are served by Google - a third party - but we anonymise your IP address so that this analytics data does NOT contain any information that can be used to identify you personally. Only aggregate data is collected. This enable us to see which parts of the website are most popular, and how they are being used. ey also track aggregate data. They also enable gathering of aggregate (non-personal) data such as the amount of map usage so that we can pay the correct royalty due to the Ordnance Survey, and the number of times external links have been clicked (but not who has clicked on them). You can read Google's privacy policy here.

Advertising cookies

Walkhighlands does not run Google Adsense or any other form of automated or behavioural adverts. There is no gathering of personal data for behavioural advertising. If you watch a Youtube video linked on the site, then Google / Youtube will gather your personal data in accordance with their policies. We insert NoCookies code into any Youtube links to prevent this happening unless you play the video, and request consent via a warning before playing.

Social media cookies

Walkhighlands does not run any code from social media sites, share any data with them, or serve cookies from them.

HOW TO CONTROL YOUR COOKIES

Please remember that Walkhighlands does not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you, except to remember your details if you choose to register a personal account, so that you can post on the forum and mark the hills you have climbed, or receive our email newsletter (from which you can unsubscribe at any time). If you restrict the use of cookies generally this will inhibit the use of the site and disable such features. We do not use behavioural adveritising cookies.

To control other cookies, you can follow the links below for the help files for your browser, or get easy information at https://cookiesandyou.com/. Changing these settings will not just affect Walkhighlands. These changes will apply to all websites that you visit (unless you choose to block cookies from just individual sites).

Modern browsers enable you to:
See what cookies you've got and delete them
Block third party cookies
Block cookies from particular sites
Block cookies completely
Delete all cookies when you close your browser

You should be aware that any preferences will be lost if you delete cookies. If you block cookies completely some features of Walkhighlands will not work at all (such as logging hills), and others will be impaired.

The following links go to the help sections for the major browsers.

Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies

Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences

Chrome: http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647

Opera: http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/security/privacy/

Safari: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Safari iOS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265

Android: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en


We are registered as data controllers with the Information Commissioner's Office.

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Walking can be dangerous and all walkers must take personal responsibility for their own safety. You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. Walkhighlands strives to provide accurate information but cannot accept responsibility for changes, errors or omissions.