Privacy, explained plainly.

Refreshing Media Ltd, company number 11708819, is the data controller for personal information processed through Debbie.

Our registered office is 100 Lodge Road Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, ST4 6RH. Contact privacy@debbie.org.uk about your information or data-protection rights.

Google Analytics remains off unless you choose to allow it. When allowed, it helps us understand use of public pages so we can improve the site. We send a public page path stripped of query strings and fragments, the page title, a similarly shortened referrer and ordinary browser, device and approximate regional information. Google Analytics also uses random cookie identifiers. We do not send contribution, story or memorial text, form entries, names, email addresses, private references or access codes.

Analytics does not run on private contribution management, story or memorial email confirmation, donation confirmation or moderation pages. Advertising signals and automatic enhanced measurement are disabled. You can decline without losing access to Debbie and change your choice through the footer. Our lawful basis for the related personal-data processing is your consent. See the cookie information for the storage names and durations.

If you choose to contribute, we process the words you submit, your selected question, optional display name, optional broad connection to cancer, optional contact email, consent confirmations, internal audit references, moderation status and relevant dates. Short-lived security information is also used to provide private contribution management and reduce spam and repeated misuse.

We do not ask for a legal name, address, telephone number, NHS number, hospital, diagnosis or medical records. Contact emails are kept private and separated from public content. There are no public profiles or direct messages.

If you submit to Living with cancer or Life beyond treatment, we process the public name, title, first-person story and optional photograph and accessibility description you choose to share. We also process your private contact email, confirmation records, consent confirmations, moderation status and relevant audit dates. The email is required for dependable private contact about changes, removal and rights concerns, but it is never published.

A photograph is optional and, during the pilot, must show only the adult contributor. You must own its copyright or have the copyright owner's permission. Uploaded JPEG, PNG and WebP files are checked, resized, stripped of embedded metadata and re-encoded as a new JPEG. The original upload is not retained. The processed photograph stays outside the public website and is served only while the exact story is approved and published.

If the same browser safely presents a valid private confirmation for the same email address, another story can use that prior confirmation. Otherwise we send a single-use link which expires after 48 hours. Recognising a confirmed email does not publish a story or bypass moderation.

A Kitchen Table contribution or first-person story may reveal physical or mental health information. This is special-category personal data. The relevant form asks separately for explicit consent to review it and, if selected, publish it for the purpose of sharing lived experience.

You choose whether to contribute and how much to say. You can withdraw consent and request removal through the available private route. Public forms do not reveal whether an email address or contribution exists. Newsletter or marketing consent will never be bundled with community consent.

If you submit a memorial, we process the name, optional dates, tribute, optional photograph and accessibility description you choose to share. We also process your private contact email, confirmation records, moderation status and relevant audit dates. The email is required so we have a dependable private route for changes, removal, privacy and photograph-permission concerns, but it is never published with the memorial. We send a single-use, expiring link to confirm access to that address before a memorial can be published.

Every memorial and photograph remains private until reviewed. Uploaded JPEG, PNG and WebP files are checked, resized and re-encoded as a new JPEG before storage. This removes hidden photograph metadata such as location and device details. The original upload is not retained. The processed photograph is stored outside the public website and is served only while its memorial is approved and published.

A deceased person's information is not personal data under UK GDPR, but a tribute or photograph may still identify living people. We accept a photograph containing identifiable living adults only where the contributor declares that they checked with each person and every one agreed to that exact photograph appearing publicly on Debbie. That declaration is a safety and moderation control. It is not a claim that Debbie contacted each person or collected their data-protection consent directly. During the pilot, photographs must not show an identifiable living person who is currently under 18. Contributors also declare that they own the photograph copyright or have its copyright owner's permission for Debbie to process and publish it. The lawful basis for publishing a living adult's image will be documented before photograph submissions open.

Published memorials are public and may be copied, shared, indexed or archived by others. If you are shown in a memorial photograph and want it reviewed or removed, use the private report control on that memorial or email privacy@debbie.org.uk. We can remove the photograph from public view while the concern is checked, without asking the memorial contributor for permission. When the concern affects only the photograph, the written memorial can remain public.

Nothing is published automatically. An authorised person reviews each contribution, story and memorial. During the pilot we publish only the version the contributor previewed and submitted, with long dashes converted to standard punctuation for consistency. We do not otherwise rewrite it or crop an uploaded photograph. If selected, the approved words, chosen public name, optional perspective and optional photograph are public. Search engines, archives and other people may copy or share public material, so removal from Debbie cannot guarantee removal of every external copy.

Square’s hosted checkout asks for your first name, surname, phone number and receipt email, as well as the payment details it needs to process your contribution. We will not receive or store your full card number. We may receive your contact details, contribution amount and frequency, date, currency, payment status, transaction or refund reference and related correspondence.

We use that information to administer contributions, receipts, cancellations, refunds, fraud prevention and service security, and to meet accounting, tax and other legal obligations. Square also processes information under its own privacy notice for buyers ↗.

We use information to review contributions, stories and memorials, operate moderation and reporting, respond to withdrawal or correction requests, protect users and the service, maintain an accountability record and meet legal obligations. Request notes and contact details are private. Our internal processing record documents the applicable Article 6 lawful basis and, where health information is involved, the Article 9 condition for each purpose.

Accounting and transaction records are normally retained for six years from the end of the relevant company financial year. Community and memorial records are kept only for their documented moderation, accountability and erasure periods. We will not sell personal information or add contributors to marketing without separate consent.

Information is shared only where necessary with providers that help us operate the service. 20i hosts the website, database and Debbie email; Square provides optional hosted payment processing; and, only when you allow analytics, Google provides website measurement. We assess provider terms, processing roles, security and relevant international-transfer safeguards. Each provider also handles information under its own published privacy information.

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you rights to access, correct, delete or restrict your information, object to processing and receive a portable copy.

Email privacy@debbie.org.uk to make a request or privacy complaint. You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office ↗.

We review the data-protection impact assessment, lawful-basis map, retention schedule, service providers, access controls and tested deletion, safeguarding and breach-response processes as the Kitchen Table, first-person story walls and In loving memory services develop.