Pressburst Privacy Policy

We take our privacy obligations seriously. This policy explains the information we collect, how it is used and your rights in relation to your personal data.

Pressburst is owned and operated by Pressburst Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 05867814) with registered office at Angel House, Hardwick, Witney, OX29 7QE.

By using Pressburst, you agree to this Privacy Policy, which forms part of our Terms and Conditions.

Our Role in Processing Personal Data

Pressburst Ltd acts as a data controller for personal data relating to Pressburst user accounts, service administration, security, support, billing, communications and our own business operations.

Where a school or other Customer uploads personal data within news stories, vacancies, open events, photographs, video, documents or other Customer content for Pressburst to process on its behalf, Pressburst will generally act as a data processor and the Customer will remain the data controller.

In some circumstances, including where we process information for our own administrative, security or service-management purposes, Pressburst may act as controller in relation to that processing. Our respective responsibilities are also described in our Terms and Conditions.

1. Your Personal Information

To use Pressburst, we require your name, email address and basic contact details. This information may be collected during registration, through support enquiries or when you are added to an organisation by another authorised user.

We use this information to provide access to Pressburst, administer your account, provide support and communicate with you about the service.

2. Information from Others

When you invite or add other people to Pressburst, you confirm that you have appropriate authority to provide their information.

You are responsible for ensuring that any personal data uploaded to Pressburst, including content featuring children, is processed in accordance with applicable data protection law and that any necessary permissions or consents have been obtained.

Content and information uploaded to Pressburst may be accessible to other authorised users within your organisation or, where applicable, organisations within the same multi-school group.

3. Information We Collect

We may receive personal information directly from you or from your organisation, including when another authorised user creates or administers your Pressburst account.

This may include your name, email address, organisation, role, contact information and account-related information.

We also collect standard technical and usage information including browser type, operating system, IP address, diagnostic information relating to software errors and information about how Pressburst is used.

Where appropriate, usage information may be associated with a user or organisation to help us provide technical support, understand use of the service, improve Pressburst and maintain the security and reliability of the platform.

We also record views and interactions with published content to provide usage and performance information to schools and to understand how content is distributed through Pressburst and participating partner services.

4. Cookies and Browser Storage

Pressburst does not use advertising cookies or third-party analytics services such as Google Analytics. We use limited browser storage and cookies where required for application functionality, security, reliability, diagnostics, support and operation of the service.

• Pressburst session storage: Pressburst uses browser session storage for temporary authentication and application state. Authentication information is removed when you log out and session storage is normally cleared when the browser tab or session is closed.
• SvelteKit application state: Limited browser storage may be used to preserve navigation, scroll position and other temporary interface state.
• Front: We use Front to provide customer support and in-app chat. Front Chat uses browser local storage and session storage to identify chat visitors and conversations, maintain chat state, authenticate access to conversations and support the operation of the chat service.
• Front Chat diagnostics: Front uses third-party services to support the reliability, diagnostics and real-time operation of its chat service. This includes Datadog, which sets the _dd_s cookie to group diagnostic log events from a Chat session for troubleshooting. The cookie normally expires 15 minutes after the visitor's last activity and has a maximum duration of four hours. Front Chat may also use browser storage associated with Bugsnag for error and crash reporting and Ably for real-time chat connections. These technologies are used to operate, monitor and troubleshoot the chat service and are not used by Pressburst for advertising or behavioural profiling.
• Sentry: We use Sentry to help detect, investigate and resolve software errors and improve the reliability of Pressburst. Sentry processes diagnostic information relating to application errors and may use browser storage where necessary for the operation of its services. We configure Sentry to collect only the diagnostic information reasonably necessary to identify and investigate software errors and improve the reliability of Pressburst. We do not use Sentry for advertising or behavioural profiling.

More information about the cookies, browser storage and processing carried out by these services is available in Front's Products and Services Privacy Notice and Sentry's Privacy Policy.

You can control cookies through your browser settings, although preventing essential storage or cookies may affect the operation of some Pressburst features.

General information about cookies is available from GOV.UK.

5. How We Process and Share Your Data

Pressburst application data is primarily hosted using Amazon Web Services infrastructure in the London region. Administrative access is restricted to authorised Pressburst Ltd personnel and authorised service providers where access is necessary to provide or support the service.

We use third-party service providers and subprocessors to operate and support Pressburst. These may include:

• Amazon Web Services
• Front
• Google
• SparkPost
• Transloadit
• Sentry (application error monitoring and diagnostics)

We may also use other suppliers where necessary for software development, communications, administration, security or delivery of the Pressburst service.

Some suppliers may process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where a restricted international transfer takes place, we ensure that an appropriate transfer mechanism or safeguard is in place in accordance with applicable Data Protection Laws. This may include reliance on applicable adequacy regulations or recognised contractual safeguards.

Further information about the safeguards applying to a particular international transfer can be requested by contacting legal@pressburst.app.

6. Why We Use Personal Data and Our Lawful Bases

We only process personal data where we have a lawful basis for doing so. The basis we rely on depends on the purpose for which the information is being used.

• Account administration and provision of Pressburst: we process account and contact information so that authorised users can access and use Pressburst and so that we can administer the service provided to their organisation. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on contractual necessity or our legitimate interests in providing and administering the Pressburst service.
• Customer support: we process account, contact and usage information where necessary to answer support requests, diagnose problems and assist users. We rely on our legitimate interests in providing effective customer support and maintaining the quality of the service.
• Security and prevention of misuse: we process technical, account and usage information where necessary to protect Pressburst, our Customers and users, investigate suspected misuse and maintain the security and reliability of the platform. We rely on our legitimate interests in protecting our systems, users and business.
• Service operation and improvement: we analyse how Pressburst and its features are used, investigate software errors and diagnose technical issues in order to maintain, develop and improve the service, understand feature usage and identify technical issues. We rely on our legitimate interests in operating and improving Pressburst for our Customers.
• Content distribution and performance reporting: where Customers use Pressburst to publish or distribute content, we process information necessary to provide those services and to record views, interactions and distribution performance. Depending on the circumstances, this processing is carried out on the Customer's instructions as data processor or is based on our legitimate interests in providing and improving the Pressburst service.
• Billing, accounting and legal records: we retain and process information where necessary to administer subscriptions, invoices, payments and business records. We rely on contractual necessity, our legitimate interests in administering our business and, where applicable, compliance with legal obligations.
• Service communications: we use contact details to send important information about accounts, subscriptions, security, service changes and other matters necessary for operating Pressburst. We rely on our legitimate interests in communicating effectively with Customers and authorised users.
• Optional marketing communications: where we send optional promotional communications, we rely on consent or another lawful basis permitted by applicable data protection and electronic communications law. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time.
• Legal and regulatory requirements: we may process personal data where necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests include operating and securing the Pressburst service, providing effective support, communicating with Customers and users, improving our products and services, administering our business and protecting our legal and commercial interests. We consider the impact of this processing on individuals and do not rely on legitimate interests where those interests are overridden by an individual's rights and freedoms.

7. Your Rights

Subject to applicable data protection law, you may have the right to:

• Access personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of your personal data
• Request restriction of processing
• Object to certain types of processing
• Request data portability where applicable
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

The rights available to you depend on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which we process your personal data. In particular, where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object to that processing in certain circumstances.

You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests. If you object, we will consider your circumstances and whether we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue the processing.

To exercise these rights, contact help@pressburst.app.

8. Children's Data

Pressburst is not intended for use by children. Schools and other authorised users may, however, upload news, photographs or other content relating to children.

The organisation uploading that content is responsible for ensuring that it has an appropriate lawful basis and any necessary parental, guardian or other permissions for its use and publication.

9. Security

We use encrypted connections, access controls and secure cloud infrastructure to protect information processed through Pressburst.

No internet-based system can guarantee absolute security. Where we become aware of a personal data breach, we will investigate it and make any notifications required under applicable data protection law.

10. Communications

We may send service-related communications concerning your Pressburst account, important platform changes, security, subscriptions or other matters necessary to provide the service.

Where we send optional marketing communications, you can unsubscribe using the link included in those messages.

11. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including providing the Pressburst service and meeting legal, accounting, security and regulatory requirements.

The retention period depends on the type of information, the purpose for which it is held, whether the Customer continues to use Pressburst and whether we are required to retain it for legal, contractual, accounting or security reasons.

Account and user information is generally retained while the relevant organisation has an active Pressburst account and for an appropriate period afterwards where necessary for account administration, support, security, legal or business-record purposes.

Billing and transaction records may be retained for the periods required by applicable tax, accounting and company law.

Technical and security records may be retained for a shorter or longer period depending on their purpose, including investigation of security incidents, prevention of misuse and maintenance of service reliability.

Customer content may be retained while an organisation uses Pressburst and afterwards where necessary to provide access to previously published material, meet the Customer's instructions or comply with legal or operational requirements.

Where a Customer or individual validly requests deletion, we will delete or anonymise personal data unless there is a lawful reason requiring or permitting us to retain it.

Content previously distributed or published through Channel Partners or other third-party services may remain available through those services in accordance with their own retention practices and the terms governing the original distribution.

12. Associations and Distribution Partners

Pressburst enables participating schools to distribute content to membership associations, publishers, recruitment services, school-search platforms and other participating partners.

Content is only shared where the relevant Pressburst feature, organisation settings, membership relationship or user action permits that distribution.

13. Data protection complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact us at legal@pressburst.app. We will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days and will investigate and respond without undue delay.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data. Further information is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to Pressburst, our suppliers, applicable law or the way we process information.

The current version will always be made available through the Pressburst website.