Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy outlines how Bleek Magazine collects, uses, and protects personal data from our readers and contributors. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy as you engage with our editorial content, including our distinctive photo essays and documentary photography focused on UK contemporary photography, the Mayfair casino scene, and broader British gambling culture.
Information We Collect
To operate our magazine and deliver compelling content, we collect personal data through interactions on our website. This includes information provided when signing up for our newsletter, registering for an account, or submitting photography for potential features, including specific submissions for our Mayfair casino photo essays or documentary projects on UK gambling culture.
Personal Information You Provide
This is information you voluntarily give to us. Examples include:
- Your name and email address when subscribing to our newsletter.
- Contact details and biography when creating a contributor account.
- Any personal data contained within correspondence or submitted photography captions and metadata.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our site, we automatically collect certain technical data from your device. This may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, and information on how you interact with our content, such as which photo essays or documentaries you view.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your experience on our website. These help manage user sessions, remember your preferences, and understand how our audience engages with our visual journalism on London’s casino scene.
Essential Website Cookies
These are necessary for the basic functions of the website, such as page navigation, accessing secure areas, and maintaining your login session. Disabling these may affect site functionality.
Analytics and Performance Cookies
These cookies, including those from third-party services like Google Analytics, help us understand how visitors use our site. They collect information on metrics like page views, time spent on our Mayfair photo essays, and traffic sources, allowing us to improve our content and site performance.
Analytics and Performance Data
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to analyse traffic and engagement with our editorial content. Our GA4 property is configured with UK data residency settings, meaning data is stored within the United Kingdom to align with UK data protection standards.
How We Use Analytics Data
The data gathered helps us understand audience interest in specific topics, such as documentary photography of British gambling culture or features on London casino interiors. We use these insights to guide our editorial direction and improve the user experience.
Opting Out of Analytics
You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on, or by managing your cookie preferences via our cookie consent banner when you first visit our site.
Third-Party Services and Data Sharing
We utilise trusted third-party services to operate our platform and share our photography. We do not sell your personal data. Limited sharing occurs only for essential operational purposes.
Content Management
Our website is built on WordPress, which involves processing data through its infrastructure. For any print sales of our magazine or photo essays, we may share necessary data (like shipping addresses) with secure payment processors to complete your transaction.
Social Media and Embeds
We may embed content from platforms like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) to showcase photography. Viewing this embedded content is subject to the privacy policy of the respective platform. Interactions with our social media accounts are governed by the policies of those networks.
Your Rights Under UK GDPR
Under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), you have significant rights regarding your personal data. As a data controller based in England and Wales, we respect and facilitate these rights.
Right to Access and Portability
You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you and, in certain circumstances, to receive that data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Erasure (‘Right to be Forgotten’)
You can request the deletion of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing. This may apply, for example, to data submitted for a photography feature that was not published.
Data Retention and Security
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy, including for our editorial operations and legal obligations.
Retention Periods
Newsletter data is kept until you unsubscribe. Contributor data and submissions, particularly those related to features on British gambling culture, are retained in line with our editorial archive policy for potential future use or reference.
Security Measures
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data against unauthorised access, alteration, or destruction. These include secure hosting, encryption, and access controls. However, no online transmission is completely secure.
Contact Information
For any questions or requests regarding your personal data and this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the details below.
Data Protection Officer
For data protection queries, including exercising your UK GDPR rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer at: [email protected]. We will respond to your request within one month.
Supervisory Authority
If you have a concern about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This policy underscores our commitment to transparency and protecting the privacy of our audience and contributors engaged with the world of UK contemporary photography and documentary storytelling.