This policy (and any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. By visiting any of our sites (as set out in our terms of use) you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

BWTL is the Data Controller and also acts as a Data Processor for GDPR. 

Please also see Terms of Use

Who we are

Our website address is: https://familyhistory.zone. This site is owned by Black and White Digital OÜ. Our address is: Sepapaja 6, Tallinn 15551, Harju, Estonia Registered in Estonia. Company Number 14675865. VAT # EE102147560

Basis for Processing Data

Consent: Where you supply your data to us by purchasing a product, completing an opt-in form, joining a mailing list or similar activity then we will ask you to consent to us processing your data.

Legitimate Interest: In circumstances where consent is not used, we may process data on the basis of ‘Legitimate Interest’.  We process your personal information for carefully considered and specific purposes which are in our interests and enable us to enhance the services we provide, but which we believe also benefit you, our customers or users. This will usually be in the form of email updates and newsletters which may be issued in print or digitally via an email, information on our awards and events or provision of products and other services from Black and White Digital OÜ and its sub-brands such as GenealogyOnline.Zone TreePress and WPGenealogy.

In all our communications by email or in print we will offer you the right to ‘Opt Out’ of receiving further communications.

You have the right to object to this processing of your data, but please bear in mind that this may affect our ability to carry out tasks for your benefit. If you object to this processing of your data, then please ‘Opt Out’ to a communication or request that your data is deleted by emailing

Information we may collect

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Information you give us.  You may give us information about you by filling in forms on our site, using social media logins and/or other plugins, or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register to use our site, subscribe to a newsletter or service, order products or services, upload content, and/or participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our site. The information you give us may include (but is not necessarily limited to):
    • your personal name and address;
    • your business name and address;
    • your email address;
    • your phone number;
    • your financial and credit card information; and/or
    • your photograph
    • Media: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
  • Information we collect about you. Each time you visit our site or interact with the emails we send to you, we may automatically collect the following information:
    • technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, operating system and platform;
    • information about your visit, including the URL clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); pages, resources and/or products you viewed or searched for; page response times, errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction, and methods used to browse away from the page;
    • information about your interaction with our emails, including whether you have opened the email, the number of times the email is accessed, and your interaction with email content including the links you have clicked.
    • Information we receive from other sources. We may receive information about you if you use any of the other websites we or any of our group companies operate or the other services we provide. We are also working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, credit reference agencies) and may receive information about you from them.
    • Comments:  When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

How do we collect information?

We obtain personal information from you when you use our websites, enquire about our activities or services, send or receive an email, or otherwise provide us with personal information.

We may record telephone calls and emails for quality assurance purposes.

We may collect information that is available in the public domain, for example: newspaper or online media items, publicly available posts on LinkedIn or social media or Companies House listings.

We collect information at our events, for example, from registration forms, feedback forms.

We may also collect technical information relating to your use of our website, including your browser type or the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet.

We also gather general information about the use of our website, such as which pages users visit most often and which services, events or facilities are of most interest. We may also track which pages users visit when they click on links in emails. We may use this information to personalise the way our website is presented when users visit, to make improvements to our website and to ensure we provide the best service for users. Wherever possible we use aggregated or anonymous information which does not identify individual visitors to our website.

Uses made of the information

We use information held about you in the following ways (the following lists are not exhaustive):

  • Information you give to us. We will use this information:
    • to enable you to access the content and functions available via the site, provide you with any products and services you request, and carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
    • to provide you with information about other resources, materials, goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already accessed, purchased or enquired about;
    • to provide you, or permit selected third parties to provide you, with information about goods or services we feel may interest you. If you are a new user, and where we permit selected third parties to use your data, we (or they) will contact you only if you have consented to this. If you do not want us to use your data in this way, or to pass your details on to third parties for marketing purposes, please tick, or untick, the relevant box situated on the form on which we collect your data (i.e the account registration form);
    • to notify you about changes to our service;
    • to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
  • Information we collect about you. We will use this information:
    • to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
    • to improve our site;
    • to allow you to participate in interactive features, when you choose to do so;
    • to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
    • to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our site about content, goods or services that may interest you or them.
  • Information we receive from other sources. We may combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We may use this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).
  • Data is transferred to a database server located in our office, where it may be integrated with other information we hold on users to provide a central repository and back up of all our contact data.

Data Retention

We keep your information for no longer than is necessary. We will retain your information for any period required by law, for example for compliance with HMRC requirements. Where we are not under a legal obligation to retain your information, we will determine what is necessary by reference to the lawful basis for processing set out above and our legitimate interests.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may share your personal information with other brands within Black and White Digital OÜ our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

We may also share your information (including personal data) with selected third parties including:

  • Business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you. This includes (but is not limited to) the following suppliers:
    • MailChimp, a supplier which provides us with a cloud-based email system to enable us to provide you with customised newsletters and updates.
  • Third parties (such as advertisers and sponsors) on whose behalf we have conducted surveys, competitions, promotions, events and other activities which you have chosen to take part in.
  • Advertisers and advertising networks that require the data to select and serve relevant adverts to you and others.  We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers, but we may provide them with aggregate information about our users (for example, we may inform them that 500 men aged under 30 have clicked on their advertisement on any given day). We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target. We may make use of the personal data we have collected from you to enable us to comply with our advertisers’ wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience.
  • Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.
  • In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
  • Third parties who purchase lists and data from us.  We occasionally lease data to carefully selected partners we believe offer services and products relevant to contacts on our database.
  • Parties to whom we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use or terms and conditions of supply and other agreements; or to whom we disclose or share data in order to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Black and White Digital OÜ, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Where we Store Your Personal Data

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers, websites and email system. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Social Media

If you use social media plugins or features on our site including, but not limited to social media login functions, you agree that we may receive information about you from social media sites (including personal information such as your name, gender, date of birth and location) in order to enable us to provide you with an online account and to enable you to use the site and its features. Any information received by us via the use of social media functions shall be stored and used strictly in accordance with this privacy policy.

Your Rights

You may ask us, or we may ask you, to rectify information that you or we think is inaccurate, and you may also ask us to remove information which is inaccurate or to complete information which is incomplete (‘right to rectification’). If you inform us that your personal data is inaccurate, we will correct our records.

We want to ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. If any of the information that you have provided us with changes, for example, if you change your email address, name or payment details, please let us know using the contact details at the end of this policy.

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking (or omitting to check) certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data.  You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us using this form  and please state the site it is in reference to.

You have a right to obtain your personal data from us and reuse it for your own purposes, without hindering the usability of the data (‘right of portability’). This right does not apply where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of authority vested in us.

You have a right to ask for your data to be erased where it is no longer necessary for us to continue holding or processing your personal data and you may withdraw your consent. (often referred to as the ‘right to be forgotten’). This right is not absolute, as we may need to continue processing this information, for example, to comply with our legal obligations, or for reasons of public interest. You should note that we are entitled to and reserve the right to retain your data for statistical purposes.

You have a right to ask us to restrict our processing of your information (‘right to restriction’) if:

  • you do not think it is accurate and we need to verify whether it is accurate
  • the processing is unlawful and you ask us to restrict its use instead of erasing it
  • we no longer need the information for the purpose of processing, but you need it to establish or defend legal claims
  • you have objected to processing of your information being necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or for the purposes of our legitimate interests. The restriction would apply while we review your rights and our legitimate interests.

If you exercise your right to restrict processing, we would still need to process your information for the purpose of exercising or defending legal claims, protecting the rights of another person or for public interest reasons. You have a right to prevent us from processing your personal information for marketing purposes.

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies.  Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Automated Decision Making and Profiling

We do not use any automated decision making proceedures.  We may use your data to profile you for marketing purposes, for example, to target relevant information for you based on your job title, location, company or industry sector.

Data Breaches

To prevent data breaches our websites provide administrator access to only a limited number of employees and contractors.  In the unlikely event of a data breach we will notify you by email of the breach.

Access to information

You can request to receive a file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.  Contact us and please state the site it is in reference to.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

A cookie is a small text file written to your hard drive that contains information about your account and use of this site. Cookies do not contain any personal information about users. Cookies enable us to collect useful information and to improve your experience when accessing and using our site.

We use this this service to improve your experience across the sites. The cookies we use on our site include:

  • The service:
    • This service runs in the background and drops one or more cookies to your computer, or handheld device. It helps us measure how you interact with our websites content by tracking your user journey and site interactions. The cookies store non-identifiable information about your browsing history, we use this data to analyse patterns and trends to help improve your experience.
    • If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
    • If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
    • When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
    • If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
  • The data Google Analytics stores about you:
    • Non-identifiable data such as, visits, pages views, time on site, and the journey you take through the site.  For more details on Google Analytics please visit their website http://www.google.com/analytics/
  • Third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.  Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

If you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our site, you can do this through your browser settings. The “help” function within your browser should provide information about this. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.