Introduction

The BMJ Masterclasses website is a website of the BMJ Publishing Group Limited, which is a UK based international medical publishing house. We take privacy issues seriously and are committed to protecting your personal information.

This privacy policy explains what information has been collected about you, how personal information is being used, to whom personal information is being disclosed and how this personal information is stored and protected. This privacy policy has been developed in accordance with our legal obligations and may be updated from time to time.

By using this website you consent to the use of any data we collect as set out in this policy. You should review this privacy policy regularly, to note any changes relating to how we collect and use your information.

If you have any queries concerning your personal information, any questions on our use of the information, or wish to provide feedback about this site, please contact us using the form provided here.

The information we collect and how we use it:

1.1 What information is being collected and how is it used?

When you visit this site and complete a registration form, we will use that information to process your request to attend a BMJ Masterclass, and then if accepted, to:

• Inform the venue and caterers of all delegates;
• Create a delegate list of names for all attendees and lead sponsors  at the BMJ Masterclass ;
• Generally manage your registration and fulfil our obligations to you

You will be asked if you wish to receive general marketing information from the BMJ  and if you don’t, you can ‘opt out’ of receiving this. You will be given an opportunity to ‘opt out’ of any future emails you receive on each occasion we contact you thereafter. For the BMA and other third parties, you can opt in to having your details disclosed to them for marketing purposes.

1.2. What else do we collect when you use our website

Each time you use the internet, an IP address is assigned to your computer via the internet service provider. This number may either be the same or different each time. Each time your computer requests information from our website, we log your IP address on our server. We may use this in order to gather information about the website traffic.

Whether you are a registered user or not, our web server collects certain information such as (a) IP address; (b) host names (c) domain name (d) time and date information as requested (e) the browser version and platform when it is requested, (f) a record of which pages have been requested.

1.3 What else do we use personal information for?

Other than for fulfilling our obligations to you, on some occasions we use the information provided to produce aggregate statistics in relation to pages being accessed. We may also use it to monitor usage patterns on the website in order to improve navigation and design features to help you get information more easily. This information is collected and provided to us as daily logged files. In order to help us develop the website and our services, we may provide such aggregate information to third parties. The statistics however will not include any information that can be used to identify any individual.

2. To whom will personal information be disclosed?

Other than as set out in  1.1 we will not disclose your personal data to any other third parties other than our contractors, who must keep this data secure and confidential.

3. How long do we keep the information we collect?

We keep your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil our obligations to you and protect our legal interests. This will never be longer than six years from the end of the last BMJ Masterclass you attend.

4. Can you change information we hold about you?

Where you have provided us with an email address or any information which becomes outdated, you should inform us by using the contact form on the website or email us at masterclasses@bmjgroup.com.

5. How is personal information stored and protected

Your personal data is stored by us in electronic and paper-based form. Website usage information is stored electronically.

6. Security

The information we collect about people visiting the site is stored in secure environments that are not available to any other individual or party. We have mechanisms in place to protect data. One such mechanism is called a “firewall”. A firewall is a barrier that allows only authorised traffic through. It safeguards our computer systems and your information. We also use system and application logs to track all access. We review these logs periodically and investigate any anomalies or discrepancies.

We understand that the security of your information is important to you. We also understand that our continued success as a publisher on the web, relies on our ability to communicate with you in a secure manner. We adhere to the highest standards of decency, fairness, and integrity in our operations. We use several measures to authenticate your identity when you visit our site. We also take steps to protect your information as it travels the internet, and to make sure all information is as secure as possible against unauthorised access and use (for example, by hackers). We review our security measures regularly.

Despite our best efforts, and the best efforts of other firms, “perfect security” does not exist on the internet, or anywhere else. As a result, whilst we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot warrant the security of the information you transmit to us online. You therefore do so at your own risk.

Once we receive your transmission, we make our best efforts to ensure its security on our system.

7. Authentication

You should not share your user name and password with other people. If you think you might lose or forget these identifiers, write them down and keep each in a separate place.

8. Email

Any email between you and BMJ Publishing Group Limited is not encrypted. It will be stored securely within our corporate firewall (see above).

9. Cookies

We currently do not use any cookies for visitors to this site.

10. Linking to external sites

You will encounter links to other sites that are not those which we control (e.g non English versions of Clinical Evidence). Please be aware that once you click to one of these sites, you are subject to that site’s privacy policy and not to ours. You may wish to review the privacy policy for each site you visit.

© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2005-2006

Click here to download the pdf copy of the BMJ Masterclasses Privacy Policy.