Who am I?

My name is Robert Batten. I am an author of Science-Fiction and Fantasy from Australia (you can read more about me here). I run this website under the URLs robertbatte.net and bloodcapital.com. Whenever I refer to my site, I mean any content under those two URLs.

I am committed to protecting the privacy of everyone I deal with and this privacy policy captures how I intend to do that. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact me.

To make this policy as simple as possible, I’ve organised it in the following way:

1. Interactions: in this section, I specify what personal information I gather about you, grouped by different types of interaction (e.g. browsing the website vs. purchasing a product). For each type of interaction, I describe how the data is used.
2. Rights: in this section, we explain what rights you have over the data we collect and how you can exercise those rights.
3. Contact: in this section, we explain how you can contact me.

Interactions

This section explains the data I collect for each type of interaction you may have with me (e.g. browsing the website, sending me an email, purchasing a product, etc.).

Browsing the website

When you browse my site, I collect anonymous usage statistics to help run the website. I currently use Google Analytics to do this, but reserve the right to change to a different analytics provider at a later date. This data will only be used to analyse site traffic in an anonymous manner.

Cookies

My website uses cookies to track various information that enables it to function. 

For example, if you leave a comment on my 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.

Embedded content

Articles on this site may include embedded content (for example, I may include an embedded YouTube video or a Google Form for a survey). 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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. 

I try to limit my use of embedded content. Where I do use it, I try to stick to reputable sites.

Purchasing a product

I may choose to offer products for purchase from the website. If you choose to purchase one of those products, I will capture personal information to facilitate the sale. Records of that sale must be kept for legal accounting purposes, but I will avoid capturing or keeping any information not directly related to the sale. I will never store payment credit card information.

In some cases, I will provide links to products on other sites (e.g. books for sale on Amazon). When doing so, I may use a referral link that earns a commission if a purchase is made. When this happens, I receive anonymous information from the vendor regarding referred purchases, but no personal information that can identify you.

Information captured when you purchase a product or service will only be used to support the delivery of that product or service.

Subscribing to my newsletter

If you subscribe to my newsletter, I will ask you for your email address and name. I will require you to confirm the email address is yours (using a “double opt-in” email). In addition to your name and email address, I will track: details of your sign-up and confirmation (to prove you registered for the newsletter), plus tracking information/statistics for newsletters you receive. This information will only be used to send you the newsletter emails you registered for and to improve the quality of the newsletter.

Giveaways

I occasionally run giveaways either through my site or using a third party. In some cases, the terms of the giveaway require you to sign-up to my newsletter. When I run giveaways, the rules and entry form will always explicitly state whether you are signing up to my newsletter as part of the entry. 

Contacting me

If you contact me, I will keep a record of the communications. Please do not send me sensitive personal information (especially not credit card details) by email. I will not use your contact information (or any other information you provide through this communication) for any purpose other than the subject of the communication or as agreed with you during the communication.

I don't sell your information

I do not sell personal information, nor give it away. I take reasonable steps to ensure your data is secured. I may use third-party services to enable the services I provide, such as email newsletters. Some of these processes will require me to save personal information in the third-party service. However, I only use reputable service providers and are careful to only save the bare minimum data necessary to provide the service.

What are your rights?

The data I collect about you is yours. You can:

• Request to review the data I have on you.
• Ask me to correct the data if you find an error.
• Unsubscribe from my emails.
• Ask to be “forgotten”.

Note: depending on where you live, local laws may provide you additional rights which I will respect to the best of my ability.

Reviewing the information I possess

You have the right to review all personal information I have that relates to you. If you request this, I will take reasonable efforts to identify all possible personal information that could be linked to you and provide a copy of that after verifying your identity.

Note: I will not be able to provide copies of any personal information if providing you that personal information would breach another individual’s privacy. In this circumstance, however, I will be transparent and let you know the information exists and why I was unable to provide it to you.

Correcting your data

If, on reviewing your data, you find an error, you may ask me to correct the information and I will take reasonable efforts to do so.

Unsubscribing from emails

If you have subscribed to my newsletter, you may unsubscribe at any time. Every newsletter I send will have an unsubscribe link included, but you may also contact me directly and I will manually unsubscribe you.

Ask to be forgotten

In some jurisdictions, this is referred to as the right to erasure.

If I possess personal information related to you and you wish me to delete it, you can request to be forgotten. If you do so, I will take reasonable steps to delete all personal information I hold about you. Importantly, please note the following exceptions:

• I am legally required to retain some data for a set period. For example, my records of sales made through the site must be retained for tax purposes. If I hold such personal information, I will not be able to delete it until the mandatory retention period expires.
• I am unable to remove specific personal information from some backups. I keep backups of my website and some systems to help recover from disasters. Some of these backups are not stored in a way I can access, except as a full restore of the site/service when recovering from a disruption. As such, it is not possible to selectively delete data stored within those backups. However, the data in the backups is “put out of use” — I cannot access it except as described above, so your privacy is protected.
• I must keep some data to deliver services to you. If you wish to be forgotten, but there are services I am actively delivering to you, I will be unable to delete that data unless you cancel the services. In this circumstance, I will discuss your options with you (for example, I may delete all data except that which is required for the service).

What's the difference between unsubcribing and being fogotten?

If you unsubscribe, you will no longer receive emails. However, that doesn’t mean your details have been deleted. Your email address would still be in the database with an “unsubscribe” flag set. This helps to ensure you are not accidentally re-subscribed at a later date. If you are “forgotten”, your data is permanently deleted from my records as if I’d never collected it.

Right to restrict or object to processing

In some circumstances, you may wish me to stop using your personal information, but not delete it. If this is the case, you may contact me and we will discuss an appropriate arrangement.

Contacting me

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or would like to exercise any of the rights described, you can email me at [email protected]. There are additional contact options available on my contact page.