Privacy Policy

FurlongLab is an independent editorial publication focused on UK horse racing and the systems used to bet on it. This privacy policy explains what personal information the site collects from visitors, how that information is used, on what legal basis it is processed, and the rights every visitor retains under the law of England and Wales and the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation as amended by the Data Protection Act 2018.

The data controller

The data controller responsible for the personal information processed through this site is the editorial team operating FurlongLab. Because the site does not run an account system, an e-commerce checkout or a newsletter that requires registration, the volume of personal information held is deliberately small, and most of it is held only for the duration of a single visit.

What information is collected

Three categories of information are collected when you use FurlongLab. The first is information your browser sends automatically when it requests a page: the internet protocol address it is connecting from, the user agent string that identifies the browser and operating system, the page you have requested, the page you have come from and the time of the request. This is standard server log information and is used to keep the site operating, to detect abuse, and to produce aggregated statistics on which articles are read.

The second category is information stored in cookies and similar technologies in your browser. The cookies used on this site are described in the separate Cookie Policy, which forms part of this notice. Essential cookies are used to remember your cookie preferences and to maintain technical session state. Analytics cookies, where loaded, are used to produce anonymous usage statistics.

The third category is information you provide voluntarily. If you contact the editorial team using a public contact channel, the message you send and the address you send it from will be processed for the purpose of replying to you. The site does not run a contact form or a newsletter signup at the present time, so this category is small.

The site relies on three legal bases under Article 6 of the UK GDPR. The legitimate interests of the publisher in operating, securing and improving the site cover server log information and essential cookies. Consent covers any non-essential cookies and any tracking technology that is loaded only after you have indicated agreement on the cookie banner. The performance of a contract or pre-contractual measures does not currently apply because no commercial transactions take place on this site.

How the information is used

Server log information is used to keep the site online, to investigate technical errors, to detect and respond to security incidents such as scraping or denial of service attacks, and to compile aggregated, non-identifying statistics that help the editorial team understand which articles attract readers. Voluntary correspondence is used only to reply to you and is retained for the period reasonably necessary to deal with the matter you raised and any follow-up that might arise from it.

FurlongLab does not sell personal information. It does not share personal information with advertisers, data brokers or analytics resellers. It does not use personal information to build profiles of individual readers for marketing or for any other purpose.

How long information is kept

Raw server logs are retained for a short period for the purposes set out above and are then either deleted or aggregated to a non-identifying form. Cookie data is retained on your own device for the period set out in the Cookie Policy and you can clear it at any time using your browser settings. Voluntary correspondence is retained for as long as the matter raised is open and for a reasonable period after closure, after which it is deleted unless there is a specific legal reason to retain it.

International transfers

The site is hosted on infrastructure that may store and process data in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and other jurisdictions. Where personal information is transferred outside the United Kingdom, the transfer is made on the basis of an adequacy decision, the United Kingdom International Data Transfer Agreement, the United Kingdom addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses, or another safeguard recognised under the UK GDPR.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to be informed about how your personal information is processed, the right to access a copy of the personal information held about you, the right to have inaccurate information corrected, the right to ask for information to be erased in certain circumstances, the right to restrict or object to processing in certain circumstances, the right to data portability where the processing is automated and based on consent or contract, and the right not to be subject to a solely automated decision that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you. None of those automated decisions are made on this site.

To exercise any of these rights, contact the editorial team using a public contact channel published on the site at the time of your request. The team will respond within the statutory period, which is normally one calendar month, and may extend that period by a further two months where the request is complex or where several requests have been made.

The right to complain

If you believe that personal information has been processed in a way that does not comply with the UK GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information on how to make a complaint is published on the ICO’s official website. You are encouraged to raise the matter with the editorial team first so that the issue can be addressed quickly, but you are not required to do so before contacting the regulator.

Changes to this policy

This privacy policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in the law, in the technology used on the site, or in editorial practice. The date at the top of this page indicates when the most recent change was made. Material changes will be brought to the attention of regular visitors by a notice on the home page for a reasonable period after publication.