Privacy Policy.

BCE Alliance ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of everyone who interacts with our website and community. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and retain it, and the rights available to you under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy applies to data collected through:

• The BCE Alliance website and its contact and membership forms
• Our LinkedIn presence and any integrations with LinkedIn
• Event registration and community participation

By using our website or submitting your details through any of our forms, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy.

BCE Alliance is the data controller responsible for your personal data. If you have any questions about how we handle your data, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at:

We collect personal data only where it is necessary for a legitimate purpose. The categories of data we may collect include:

We do not collect sensitive personal data (such as health information, ethnicity, or political opinions) through our website.

We process your personal data on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Consent — where you have actively submitted a form or opted in to receive communications from us.
• Legitimate interests — to operate and grow the BCE Alliance community, send relevant event and content updates, and maintain the security of our website, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Contract — where processing is necessary to fulfil a commitment made to you, such as registering you for an event.
• Legal obligation — where we are required to retain or disclose data to comply with applicable law.

We use the personal data we collect to:

• Process membership applications and community registrations
• Send invitations to BCE Alliance events, roundtables, and programmes
• Share thought leadership content, newsletters, and community updates
• Respond to enquiries submitted through our website forms
• Facilitate connections between community members via LinkedIn
• Improve the performance, security, and relevance of our website
• Comply with legal and regulatory obligations

We will not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

BCE Alliance maintains an active presence on LinkedIn and may use LinkedIn integrations to facilitate community engagement. When you interact with our LinkedIn page or connect with us through LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn's own privacy policy governs data processed on their platform. We encourage you to review LinkedIn's Privacy Policy.
• We may receive basic profile information (name, role, organisation) when you connect with or follow BCE Alliance on LinkedIn.
• We use this information solely to engage with our professional community and do not sell or share it with third parties for marketing purposes.

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure the site functions correctly and to understand how visitors use it. The types of cookies we use include:

• Essential cookies — required for the website to operate. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies — used to understand visitor behaviour and improve the site experience. These are only set with your consent.
• Preference cookies — used to remember your settings and choices on the site.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with trusted third parties only where necessary to operate our community and website, including:

• Technology providers — hosting, website infrastructure, and form processing services that support the operation of this website.
• Event partners — where you register for a co-hosted event, relevant details may be shared with the co-organiser for event administration purposes only.
• Legal authorities — where we are required to disclose data by law, court order, or regulatory authority.

All third-party processors are required to handle your data in accordance with UK GDPR and are bound by appropriate data processing agreements.

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our general retention periods are:

• Community membership data — retained for the duration of your membership and up to 2 years after your last interaction with BCE Alliance.
• Event registration data — retained for up to 3 years following the event.
• Enquiry and contact form submissions — retained for up to 2 years from the date of submission.
• Website analytics data — retained in aggregated, anonymised form for up to 26 months.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure — you may request that we delete your personal data, subject to certain legal exceptions.
• Right to restrict processing — you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability — you may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object — you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@bcealliance.com. We will respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection.

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include secure hosting infrastructure, access controls, and regular security reviews. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of our website following any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.