SPR Website Terms & Conditions

Society for Psychical Research

Introduction

Here at the Society for Psychical Research (“SPR”, “we” or “us”), we take your privacy and security and that of our website very seriously. We’re committed to protecting the privacy and security of any and all information you give us. We operate these website facilities and the SPR in general in accordance with UK and European law under GDPR, and we take these responsibilities very seriously. For more information about the SPR and the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR please see our full Privacy and Data Protection Policy. Please take the time to read this Cookie and Website Terms and Conditions which constitute the terms and conditions for use of the SPR website. We consider that by using the SPR website and the facilities contained within it, that you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this policy and other policies which form a part of these Website Terms and Conditions such as our full Privacy and Data Protection Policy. These Terms and Conditions explain how we collect, use and store the personal information you provide to us through the use of our website. We regard all such information as ‘personal information’ in that it might by itself or in combination with other information serve to identify you or anyone else, or is capable of doing so, under the terms of the GDPR.

These Terms and Conditions may change from time to time and, if they do, the up-to-date version will always be available on the SPR website. Please note that by continuing to use the SPR website you are agreeing to any updated versions. We therefore advise you to check for updates of these Terms and Conditions on a regular basis.

General

The SPR website is constantly evolving and is viewed and used ‘as is’ in its current condition at any particular time. The SPR ensures that this website is safe and secure at all times as our first priority, but that there may be some minor functional issues which might impair the user experience of our website due to the evolving nature of our website. The Society for Psychical Research is a research charity which is also a corporate body and is constituted as a charitable company set up to study a broad range of psychical phenomena. The SPR has chosen to hold no corporate view on the nature and existence of the phenomena we were set up to study as our primary mission is the scientific study of these phenomena and the discussion of them by our membership. For more information on this please see our Mission Statement, the SPR’s Privacy & Data Protection Policy and our ‘About’ page on this website.

Therefore, any views on the subject of psychical research expressed through this website on the nature of the phenomena we study that are to be found on this website are provided by the society to the society’s membership and the public for information and do not necessarily constitute the view of the society however these views may be expressed.

Third-party websites

The SPR offers bibliographical research services through the LEXSCIEN Online Library which is a third-party service provided by C-FAR. This service is independent of the SPR and therefore provided and maintained by C-FAR which is available to other associates of C-FAR and thereby the general public.

All external links to third-party websites are included for the information and convenience of researchers and those interested in the subject including SPR members. Any links included to SPR Member’s own websites are provided for information and convenience only.

Please note that the SPR is not responsible for the content of external websites, and inclusion of material from any external source does not imply any form of endorsement of that content.

Communications through or via the SPR website

The SPR website currently contains two portals though which messages can be sent on the ‘Contact us’ and ‘Report an experience’ pages as well as email addresses though which website users can contact us. We ask website users who use these facilities to be polite and to respect our staff and volunteers and to remember that the SPR website is in this respect a channel of communication between people on either side of the computer screens involved.

Payments made to the SPR through the SPR website

The SPR does not handle financial transactions made through our website directly. We use an intermediary facility to do this, and all transactions are handled in a secure and confidential way by PayPal who guarantee the safety, security and integrity of their service. No financial details relating to a website user’s bank account or credit card details are held or are retained by us when a payment is made to us via PayPal. PayPal simply act as an intermediary in order to transfer the necessary funds from the payees’ account to our account. Reference numbers for the transaction are produced and recorded so that the necessary payments can be securely identified for accountancy purposes only. These serve to identify the payment made so that we know that the transaction has taken place, and we can identify who made the payment and the amount of money involved. We will only use this accountancy data for accountancy purposes, and we will only hold or retain this accountancy data for the minimum period it is safe to do so under GDPR and UK Company Law.

Cookies Policy

The SPR website uses cookies to improve your experience on our website. The SPR has decided to reduce the use of cookies to the minimum. You can find out more below about what cookies are, the cookies we use and how to switch them off should you wish to do so. You can indicate your acceptance of our use of cookies in accordance with this policy by clicking “OK” in the appropriate place on the banner that appears on our site when you first visit the SPR website. However, please note that if you do not click “OK” but you continue to browse the site then there may be some minor functional impairment to your ability to use all the resources and facilities of the SPR website in an efficient and effective way.

The inherent safety and security of the SPR website will remain the same whatever decision you make about accepting cookies, or not.

Whatever your decision may be over the acceptance of cookies, or otherwise, these Terms and Conditions will still apply to your use of our website.

What are web cookies?

Web cookies are small files that are placed on your computer or mobile device by a website when you visit it. They contain details of your browsing history on that website and distinguish you from other users. Cookies send data back to the originating website on each subsequent visit or allow another website to recognise the cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device and, for instance, remember your preferences and generally improve your online user experience. This policy refers to the general term “cookie” which is the main method used by the SPR’s website to collect information from your computer when you visit our website. The web browser in your computer or mobile device may also store information about your browsing history and you need to be aware of this. If you would like to know more about cookies and how they work, please visit the third-party websites:

www.aboutcookies.org
www.allaboutcookies.org

What Cookies do we use?

When you visit the SPR website the following types of cookies may be downloaded onto your computer or mobile device.

Analytical and Performance Cookies

We may use analytics service providers for website traffic analysis and reporting. Analytics service providers generate statistical and other information about the use of the SPR website by using cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how often visitors return to the site, how long they stay and how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us improve the way our site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. The information generated relating to the use of the SPR’s website may be used to create anonymised statistical reports about the SPR’s website which may also be retained by our analytics provider which is currently Google Analytics.

Functional Cookies

We may use functional cookies to allow the SPR website to remember choices you have made in relation to the SPR website so that we can provide a more personalised website experience to website service users by delivering content to you which is more relevant to your needs.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These are cookies that are required for the administration and operation of our website. We use these cookies to ensure the SPR website is functioning correctly and to enable website users to move around the SPR website and use its features and functions.

Third-party Cookies

The SPR has a presence on various social networks which are currently Twitter and Facebook, but we may include more in the future. We try to make it as easy as possible to share content and to see what content is popular on these networks that we consider may be of interest to our website users. We have therefore added buttons to our website to facilitate this sharing. When we added these buttons they include ‘plugins’ which gives the social media websites concerned the ability to use cookies.

These cookies are likely to be of the analytical or performance types of cookie described above and are used by advertising networks and providers of external services such as web traffic analysis services and content recommendation engines over which we have no control.

How do I turn cookies off?

If you do not wish to install cookies or you do not agree with the way we use cookies on our website, you can change the settings in your internet browser so that cookies can be rejected by your browser. Please note that if you opt for rejecting cookies then you may not be able to use all the resources and facilities of our website. For more information on this topic please consult the “Help” section of your browser or visit:

www.aboutcookies.org
www.allaboutcookies.org

ENDS.