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Personal Data and Online Resources

Always read their Privacy Policy before giving a company personal information

Privacy Policy Awareness - How is your personal data used?

What is a Privacy Policy?

When using our online resources, we strongly advise you to read a company's Privacy Policy before entering any personal data.

A Privacy Policy is a statement or a document that declares how an organisation collects, uses, shares, discloses and stores information about a customer.

What is personal data?

Personal data is information which can be used to identify an individual. GDPR defines Personal data as: Any information relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, professional or public life. It can range from a person’s name, email address, phone number, posts on social networking sites, a computer’s IP address to medical information or bank details.

Some of our online resources require registration with your City email address and may ask for additional data such as your name and contact phone number. You may also need to enter personal information in order to use services such as alerts. Every organisation that asks for this type of data must be transparent in explaining why they are collecting personal data, what it will be used for and whether the information will be shared with any other parties. This information should be included in their Privacy Policy.

Privacy policies are normally accessible via a company’s website.

What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

Following advances in technology, the volume of personal data generated has increased in recent years. The GDPR is a piece of legislation in the UK which came into force in May 2018 replacing the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). GDPR is designed to protect the personal data and privacy of individuals, giving them more control over how their personal data is used.

GDPR applies to all countries holding personal data relating to EU nationals and all companies holding personal data are required to ensure they are GDPR-compliant.

To find out more about each of your rights, the Information Commissioner’s Office website provides detailed guidance.

Information Rights

The rights you have under the GDPR are:

  • right to be informed
  • right of access
  • right to rectification
  • right to erasure
  • right to restrict processing
  • right to data portability
  • right to object
  • rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

To find out more about each of your rights, the Information Commissioner’s website provides detailed guidance.

Contact us

If you have any questions or concerns about sharing personal data with an online resource provider, please contact e-access@city.ac.uk

If you have questions relating to GDPR in general, please contact City’s Information Compliance Team at dataprotection@city.ac.uk.

Head of Business Library Services, reviewed June 2023