Privacy Policy

Last updated: February 18, 2025

Purpose

This privacy policy (this “Privacy Policy”) will explain how I protect and make use of your personal data when you visit and use this website: www.secondlaneeditorial.com

“Personal data” means any personal identifiable information that relates—directly or indirectly—to a natural person.

This website’s hosting platform is IONOS Inc. (IONOS). I am the owner and data controller of this website, operating under the registered business name of Second Lane Editorial Services. I provide editing and proofreading services to writers and organizations.

This Privacy Policy describes the following topics:

• The personal data I will collect
• How I will use and store your collected data
• Who has access to the data collected
• The data protection rights of users who visit this website
• This website’s cookie policy

BC's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

I am committed to meeting the obligations set out under British Columbia's PIPA regarding common privacy principals that guide how I handle the personal information you give me. For users in the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the United Kingdom, this website is GDPR compliant.

IONOS prioritizes data protection and adheres to relevant regulations such as the GDPR and the e-Privacy Directive. 

Consent

By using this website you agree that you consent to the conditions set out in this Privacy Policy.

Because the legal basis for me to process your personal data is that you have provided your consent to that processing, you may withdraw your consent at any time. If you withdraw your consent, it will not make processing which I completed before you withdrew your consent unlawful. 

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints, or you would like to withdraw your consent, please contact me at: contact@secondlaneeditorial.com

You also have the right to directly make a complaint to a supervisory authority by contacting the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC) or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC). You may also contact your local data protection authority in Europe. 

Legal Basis for Processing

I collect and process a minimum amount of personal data about users who visit this website, including users in the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the United Kingdom, only when I have a legal basis for doing so.

For users who visit and use this website, I rely on the following legal bases to collect and process your personal data:

• You have provided your consent to the processing of your data for one or more specific purposes.
• Processing of your personal data is necessary for me to pursue a legitimate interest. My legitimate interest is not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. My legitimate interest is to provide information to you who are using this website, so that I can offer you editorial services to operate my editing business.
• Processing of your personal data is necessary for me to take, at your request, steps before entering into a contractual agreement with you, or for the performance of a contract to which you are a party. If you do not provide the personal data necessary to perform a contract or fulfil an agreement, I am unable to respond to your request for information about my editorial services (e.g., my availability or a quote) or contact you during the process of an ongoing editing project. 

Personal Data Collection

I only collect data that helps me achieve the purpose set out in this Privacy Policy. I will not collect any additional data beyond the data listed below without notifying you first. 

This website’s host, IONOS, collects personal data when you visit this website to enable certain functions that run this website. For information about IONOS’s policies and commitment to privacy, see IONOS’ privacy policy.

Data Collected Automatically

When you visit and use this website depersonalized information about you may be automatically collected and stored such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, geolocation, hardware and software details (e.g., browser type and version, operating system), including the clicked links, content viewed, referral URL, date, and timestamp.

Data Collected in a Non-Automatic Way

I may also collect the following data that you volunteer to give me when you perform certain functions on this website:

• First and last name
• Email address
• Basic information related to your enquiry about my editorial services (e.g., type of manuscript or document, word count, some description of the material, your profession or type of employment

This data may be collected using the following methods:

• Via the Contact Me form that you voluntarily complete
• Through follow-up email(s) or phone call(s) pertinent to the editorial project

How I Use Your Personal Data

I will only use data collected on this website for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy or indicated on the relevant pages of this website. 

I will not use your data beyond what I disclose in this Privacy Policy. I do not use generative AI when I edit your work.

The data that is collected automatically from you when you use this website has these following purposes: 

• To ensure server stability and security
• To analyze and optimize server performance
• To detect and prevent potential attacks or abuse
• To get statistics to learn about site traffic and activity

The collected statistical data that powers IONOS Analytics is available to me in the form of graphs. These graphs show me depersonalized information such as visitor numbers and visitor behaviour (e.g., number of sessions, duration of a session, landing and exit pages).

The data that I collect from you when you volunteer to give me your personal information enables me to do the following:

• Contact and respond to you, the user, who is requesting my editorial services
• Track and record clients/projects for my internal accounting and bookkeeping (e.g., to send you an invoice and log details for business and tax requirements)
• Confirm your agreement to this policy and to the terms and conditions of my editorial services

How I Store Personal Data

When you send me your document(s) or a sample of your manuscript, I save these and your personal information to my passcode-protected computer and to my cloud storage, as well as to an external hard drive. I also use other digital storage such as Goggle Drive (Google Docs), Microsoft (Word, Excel), and Adobe (Acrobat Reader) depending on the type of document(s) you send me. Some of these offer an additional two-step authentication safeguard, and they all have privacy statements which detail how they treat personal data in compliance with data privacy obligations. 

How Long I Store Personal Data

Once the purpose of collecting your personal data has been achieved, which is generally at the end of our contractual agreement, I will retain your personal information for at least one year to ensure that it’s available to access upon request in case it concerns a decision that directly affects someone. 

I may store your information longer than this one-year period if and when you become a recurring client and you give me permission to do this. Otherwise, I will only keep a record of your invoice data for the amount of time that is necessary to satisfy my accounting and tax requirements. When I no longer have any legitimate need to keep your personal data, I will delete your personal information from all devices and storage services. 

Your personal data that you enter into the Contact Me form is immediately forwarded to my destination email address, and then it is automatically deleted by IONOS. 

IONOS generally does not store visitors’ depersonalized data; nevertheless, retention periods may vary depending on the type of data collected and the purpose of collection.

Who I Share Personal Data With

I share your personal data with IONOS, so they can provide website services to me. Your personal data may also be shared with third parties who provide services on my behalf and comply with data privacy requirements such as cloud storage, invoicing, billing, and accounting. 

However, third parties will not be able to access user data beyond what is reasonably necessary to achieve the given purpose. I will not share, trade, distribute, or sell your personal information to third parties, except if legal reasons arise:

• If the law requires it
• If it is required for any legal proceeding
• To prove or protect my legal rights

If you follow links from this website to another website, please note that I am not responsible for and have no control over their privacy policies and practices.

How I Protect Your Personal Data

This website uses an SSL (Secure Socket Layer, or https) certificate to establish an encrypted link between the website and visitor. All the data that this website collects is stored on IONOS’ servers in secure facilities for a limited period of time only, and all other personal data that you send me is only accessible to me and stored to my passcode-protected computer.

While all reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that your personal data is secure and users of this website are protected, there always remains the risk of harm. The internet as a whole can be insecure at times and, therefore, I am unable to guarantee the security of your personal data beyond what is reasonably practical. 

International Data Transfers

When your personal data is transferred to Canada from abroad, it will be protected as described in this Privacy Policy in compliance with applicable legal requirements for transferring personal data internationally. 

Your Rights as a User

In British Columbia and in Canada, you have information and privacy rights under the Personal Information and Protection Act (PIPA) which are similar to those of the GDPR. Under the GDPR you have the following rights:

• Right to be informed
• Right of access
• Right to rectification
• Right to erasure
• Right to restrict processing
• Right to data portability
• Right to object

If you would like your personal data to be deleted or modified in any way, or if you would like to exercise any of your other rights under the PIPA or the GDPR, please contact me at:

contact@secondlaneeditorial.com

Children

I will not knowingly collect or use personal data from children under 16 years of age. If I learn that I have collected personal data from a child under 16 years of age, the personal data will be deleted as soon as possible. If a child under 16 years of age has provided me with personal data, their parent or guardian may contact me.

Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small text file that is passed and stored to your hard drive when you visit a website. Its purpose is to collect data relating to the user’s browsing habits. In your settings you can choose to be notified each time a cookie is transmitted, and you can also choose to disable cookies entirely in your internet browser, but this may decrease the quality of your user experience. For more information about cookies, see the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) website page about cookies.

Like other hosting platforms, this website’s host, IONOS, uses first-party cookies (put on your device directly by the website) to track user engagement so that they can improve user experience and provide certain services such as session management, load balancing, and security. This website does not track users over time and across third-party websites by default. A cookie banner is not posted when you visit this website because third-party tracking is not used.

Modifications

This Privacy Policy may be modified from time to time to keep up to date with the law and reflect any changes to this website’s data collection process. The date of the latest update will be indicated at the top of this page.