Privacy Policy
Who we are
Our website address is: http://macraestephen.co.uk.
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Contact forms
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
We do not share your data with third parties. Solicitors practice rules make it a breach of professional conduct to breach a client’s right of confidentiality.
There are certain statutory exceptions to the rules re sharing of data but these are very limited.
There are occasions when it will be necessary for us to disclose certain data in the process of carrying out work which clients instruct us to do for them but in these instances it would be made clear to you what data was going to be shared and the reasons for this.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Where we send your data
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Contact information
MacRae Stephen & Co.
57 High Street, Fraserburgh, AB43 9ET
Tel: 01346 514545 Fax: 01346 510147
Email:
Additional information
How we protect your data
At MacRae Stephen & Co we operate, so far as possible, a paperless system. Your data is stored in an encrypted form on our server. The data is stored on an offsite server. Both servers are securely locked in a physically safe environment and the data is encrypted so even if the servers were stolen no data would be recoverable. The link between the servers is a secure encrypted VPN (Virtual Private Network) which provides additional security when data is being transferred. Insofar as our archive is paper based (pre 2015) our files are stored in a locked store.
What data breach procedures we have in place
We take the storage of data very seriously. Our on site server is securely locked in a custom built comms cabinet to keep it physically safe. Both this server and the off site server, which is also kept locked away keep daily logs of what data is transferred between then through the VPN. The log would show if there was any unusual activity and the servers would also draw this to our attention. All data on the servers is encrypted and transfers between the servers are through an encrypted VPN.
What third parties we receive data from
We receive data electronically by way of e mails and attachments. These may be clients, other solicitors and agencies such as Registers of Scotland or Searching Companies which we use as part of our conveyancing operation. Our system is fully virus proofed and designed to be secure against hackers. We have a hardware firewall which protects us from unsolicited attempts to access our system. Each computer which is connected to our system has a software firewall to add to this security.
What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data
We do not process your data in this way. The only automated process in our system is the transfer of data between our two servers which is done for the purpose of having an offsite back up of our data in case of failure or destruction of our on site server.
Industry regulatory disclosure requirements
As a firm of Scottish solicitors we are regulated in the matter of data storage and file retention by the Law Society of Scotland.