Verbalplanet.com collects and processes data used for non-marketing purposes on the basis of 'Legitimate Interest'. Legitimate Interest means we have a legal basis for collecting and processing your personal information if we have a genuine and legitimate reason and we are not harming any of your rights and interests.

When you provide your personal details to us we use your information for a variety of legitimate interests which are ultimately aimed at providing the best possible service to both language students and language tutors. In deciding what data to collect and how we use your data, we carefully consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights. Examples of where we have a legitimate interest in collecting and processing your data for non-marketing purposes include:

• Providing our basic service of facilitating language lessons between students and tutors
• Listing tutor profile information for public view by existing and potential students
• Administration and statistics to assist in running our business efficiently
• Enhancing, modifying or improving our services
• Enabling effective communication with active users of our services
• Maintaining the security of our system
• Answering questions you submit to us
• Identifying usage trends
• Requesting feedback from you regarding our service which has a minimal impact on your privacy
• Defending our legal rights
• Prevention of fraud

In all cases, we consider carefully what data to collect and how we use it. Our overriding principle is that we will not collect and process data unnecessarily and will not use it in ways which you would not expect. Where we communicate with your for the purposes of marketing, this will be done on the basis of consent which you are free to withdraw at any time.

Details of the key personal data we collect from students, whether this data is optional or compulsary to use Verbalplanet.com and who we share the data with, is shown below. A full report of all data we hold on any user is available on request.

Name - Optional - Your name will only be shared with tutors you contact. Students may use a username instead of their real name.

Email - Required - We will share your email address with tutors you book lesson time with. We may also share your email address with Trustpilot for the purposes of collecting feedback and improving our service. In this instance, Trustpilot will be acting as a data processor on our behalf. Your email address is required for us and your tutor to communicate with you. In requesting feedback, we have a legitimate interest in understanding how we can improve our service.

Skype contact details - Required - If you choose to use Skype as the communication channel with your tutor, your Skype contact details will be required before you can book lesson time. Your Skype details will only be shared with tutors you book lesson time with. You can contact tutors without providing your Skype contact details.

Profile image - Optional - If you add a photo this will appear publicly next to any feedback you leave. Your photo will also be visible to any tutor you contact. Adding a photo image to your account is optional.

Address - Optional - Your address is not shared with anyone. You will need to provide your address before you can download a PDF invoice for any classes you book.

Country - Required - Your country location will only be shared with tutors you book lesson time with. Your country is required so we can show you available class times in your local time.

Time zone - Required - Your time zone will only be shared with tutors you book lesson time with. Your time zone is required so we can show you available class times in your local time.

Details of the key personal data we collect from tutors, whether this data is optional or compulsary to use Verbalplanet.com and who we share the data with, is shown below. A full report of all data we hold on any user is available on request.

Name - Required - Your name will be visible as part of your public profile. Your name is required for communication with potential students and as part of your tutor profile.

Email - Required - We do not share your email address with anyone. It is your choice whether or not to disclose this to a student. Your email address is required for us to communicate with you.

Skype contact details - Required - Your Skype contact details will only be shared with students who book lesson time with you and are required for us to communicate with you.

Date of birth - Required - Your age will be visible as part of your public profile.

Profile image - Optional - If you add a photo this will appear as part of your public profile. Adding a photo image to your account is optional.

Native language - Required - Your native language will be visible as part of your public profile.

Detailed profile information - Required - Your detailed tutor profile will be visible as part of your public profile. All approved tutors are required to create a detailed tutor profile consisting of three core sections. Section One - 'About Me'. Section Two - 'Qualifications and Experience'. Section Three - 'Teaching Approach'. Any information you enter will be visible as part of your public profile.

City - Required - Your city/town will be visible as part of your public profile.

Country - Required - Your country will be visible as part of your public profile. Your country is required so we can show your available class times to students in their local time.

Time zone - Required - Your time zone will be visible as part of your public profile. Your time zone is required so we can show your available class times to students in their local time.

We will communicate with you by email for various reasons. Email communication will be for transactional/functional purporses or for marketing purposes. Examples of the email communications you will receive from us and our legal basis for sending emails to you is shown below.

Transactional and funcional emails - Examples of transactional/functional emails include emails which help you to create and activate your account, booking confirmation and reminder emails, feedback and follow up emails after a lesson has completed and emails which notify you of messages from tutors/students. These emails are necessary for you to use our service and assist you in communicating effectively with tutors/students. Our basis for sending you transactional/functional emails is legitimate interest. Legitimate interest means that we have a genuine and legitimate reason to send you these communications by email and they are of a type you would reasonably expect to receive as a user of our service.

Marketing emails - Examples of marketing emails include details of promotions, discounts and other offers we would like you to know about. These emails are not necessary for you to use our service but will keep you informed of updates which will benefit you. Our basis for sending you marketing emails is consent. You are free to withdraw your consent at any time by using the 'unsubscribe' link shown in the email.

Appropriate measures are taken to protect your personal information including making a regular backup of our system and data. Your account is password protected and all information is on a secure server, which only a limited number of employees can access.

Even though we take appropriate technical steps to protect your security we cannot and do not provide any guarantees regarding the effectiveness of the security we employ or our ability to prevent third parties from acting unlawfully and obtaining information that you provide to us. By using Verbalplanet.com you accept and acknowledge that data transmission over the internet cannot be guaranteed as 100% secure and that you use the website at your own risk.

Verbalplanet.com does not store financial details including debit and credit card numbers. Users will be required to enter their financial details each time a transaction is made through Verbalplanet.com. Verbalplanet.com utilizes Verisign encryption technology to ensure the protection of your financial details whilst completing transactions.

Verbalplanet.com and Verbal Planet Ltd reserve the right to monitor communications between users. All users consent to the monitoring of communication, via any of the functions we make available, for the purposes of protecting the integrity and security of Verbalplanet.com, protecting users from abuse, detecting fraud and attempts to avoid our fee structure.

Our system will issue cookies to your computer when you log on to the website. We use cookies on our site to: make it easier for you to log on; cut down the number of times you have to type in certain data; record the success of advertising, to target advertising and to track visitor usage.

The cookies used on the website do not collect your personal information. Some of our web pages may contain invisible electronic tags that allow us to count users that have visited certain pages. You cannot be identified by these tags and they are not issued by us but by the relevant advertising provider.

Some of the cookies are strictly necessary for the functionality of the site while others are used to enhance the performance and your user experience. If you choose not to use cookies during your visit, you should be aware that certain functions and pages will not work as expected.

By using Verbalplanet.com you consent to the use of cookies in the manner described above.

We keep personal data: for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for; as required by law; or to enforce or defend legal claims. Sometimes we will keep information that you have deleted, for example messages sent by you to other registered Verbalplanet.com users. We will keep this information for a reasonable time.

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) gives everyone a number of very important rights. These are:

• Transparency over how we use your personal information (right to be informed)
• Request a copy of the information we hold about you, which will be provided to you within one month (right of access)
• Update or amend the information we hold about you if it is wrong (right of rectification)
• Ask us to stop using your information (right to restrict processing)
• Ask us to remove your personal information from our records (right to be 'forgotten')
• Object to the processing of your information for marketing purposes (right to object)
• Not be subject to a decision when it is based on automated processing (automated decision making and profiling)

To request the removal of personal data or for any other matters relating to the closure of your account please contact us by email at:

administration@verbalplanet.com

When making your request please provide details of your account ID number which can be located at the top of your account settings page.

Verbalplanet.com may contain links to other websites. Neither Verbalplanet.com or Verbal Planet Ltd is responsible for the privacy policies of other sites.