Privacy Policy

Who We Are

Our website address is: https://forbiddeneconomics.com. Forbidden Economics is owned and managed by Angelo Dalli.

Forbiddeneconomics.com may use anonymous data about users to sell advertising space and improve performance. We do not share individual’s details with an advertiser. Any information that will be used will be anonymous aggregate statistics about our users, sales and traffic patterns with our advertisers and ad networks.

Privacy Policy

  1. This statement discloses the privacy practices for forbiddeneconomics.com, which are in compliance with The Data Protection Act, Chapter 440 of the Laws of Malta, and with the European Union Directive 2002/58/EC on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector.
  2. This Privacy Policy describes how Forbidden Economics collects, uses, shares and secures the personal information you provide; and your choices regarding use, access and correction of your personal information.
  3. Guidelines are subject to change. Should we elect to change our privacy policy we will post the changes on this page.
  4. We are not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of websites to which we may link.

What information do we gather and track about you?

  1. Subscription:  When subscribing to our newsletter you are required to supply a unique email address; which will be used to update you, by e-mail, whenever a new post is published on Forbiddeneconomics.com. We will send you a maximum of one e-mail daily, in this regard, but only if a new post has actually been published. In practice this might turn out to be as low a frequency as once or twice monthly for the time being. As a subscriber, you may also receive information about Forbidden Economics and its products. We may contact you regarding changes to the subscriber agreement. We use a double opt-in sign up method to make sure you are the one who actually wants to subscribe, not someone trying to abuse your email address; so we will use your address to confirm registration.
    During the subscription process you have the option (depending on which registration form you  use) to provide additional personal information (your name and/or surname). If you elect to do so, these will only be used to address you in a more human-friendly manner (e.g. “Dear *your name*” instead of a generic “Dear reader”) in our campaigns.

    • Our subscription forms are powered by MailMunch. You can find further information by reading MailMunch’s privacy policy and terms of service. MailMunch is Privacy Shield Certified thus able to process data in compliance with EU regulations.
    • We also avail ourselves of Mailchimp’s services in order to send our newsletter and other e-mail notifications. You can check Mailchimp’s privacy policy and terms of service for more details.
  2.  We also collect additional personal information through surveys. Forbiddeneconomics.com may use anonymous data about users to sell advertising space: this means showing advertisers how many users frequent our site, but not sharing an individual’s details with an advertiser. Any information that will be used will be anonymous aggregate statistics about our users, sales and traffic patterns with our advertisers. Should your information be required for the purposes of compliance with the law, this information will not be shared with others without your consent as much as this is permissible, save for when such action is necessary to comply with the law, protect against misuse of our property and defend our rights, or protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public.
  3. 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 anonymized 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.
  4. Email: We use email links located in our contact us page and footer to allow you to contact us directly. We will use your email address to respond directly to these questions or comments.
  5. Cookies: When one visits our website, a cookie may be sent to this person.Cookies are small pieces of data, stored in text files, that are stored on your computer or other devices when websites are loaded in a browser. They are widely used to remember you and your preferences, either for a single visit (through a session cookie) or for multiple repeat visits (using a persistent cookie). They ensure a consistent and efficient experience for visitors and perform essential functions, such as allowing users to register and remain logged in.Cookies may be set by the site that you are visiting (known as first party cookies), or by other websites who serve up content on that site (third party cookies).

Controlling cookies

You are not obliged to accept cookies and visitors may wish to restrict their use, or completely prevent them from being set. Most browsers provide for ways to control cookie behaviour, such as the length of time they are stored — either through built-in functionality or by utilising third-party plugins.

To find out more about how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org. For more details about advertising cookies, and how to manage them, visit youronlinechoices.eu (EU based), or aboutads.info (US based).

However, it’s important to note that certain cookies are essential for the functioning of the website, thus restricting or disabling them may limit the functionality of the website, or prevent it from working correctly.

What do we do with the information we gather and track?

  1. Statistical Analysis and Banner Advertising: We may perform statistical analyses of user behaviour. We will also use demographic and preference information to allow advertising banners on our web site to be targeted to whom they are most pertinent. This means that readers will see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and advertisers will send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer’s experience and the effectiveness of the ads. In this statistical analyses and banner advertisement targeting, we will disclose information to third parties only in aggregate form, meaning any process in which information is gathered and expressed in a summary form, for purposes such as statistical analysis. Personal information about you as an individual subscriber will not be provided to any third party without your consent. All our advertising is currently managed through Google’s AdSense programme.
  2. Google Analytics: Through Google Analytics and associated Google tools we determine how often users visit our site, what pages they visit when they do so, generic demographic data, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Although Google Analytics plants a permanent cookie on your web browser to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit this site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognising you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.
  3. Jetpack (by Automattic): Jetpack uses cookies in a variety of ways to support specific features that are enabled on this site. The cookies are only set when a user interacts with one of these features. Additional cookies are set for those using  the connected WordPress.com account.Some Jetpack features make use of third-party applications and services to enhance the experience of visitors. These include social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter (via the Sharing feature). As a result, cookies may be set by these third parties, and used by them to track your online activity. We have no direct control over or access to the information that is collected by these cookies.Additional cookies are set for those using wp-admin, and through the connected WordPress.com account.
  4. 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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
  5. Cloudflare: We use cloudflare’s content delivery network (CDN) services in order to improve our users’s experience worldwide. Cloudflare may use cookies to identify malicious visitors, reduce the chance of blocking legitimate users, and to provide customised services.
  6. Hotjar: Through Hotjar cookies, we allow collection in the Hotjar site to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We allow this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of our site. We collect this information in a way, which does not personally identify anyone.
    1. Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
    2. Hotjar may collect and process information which is automatically and passively collected, whilst You navigate through and interact with the content on our Hotjar Enabled Site, together with information on Your device or computer (such as cookies).
    3. The sole purpose of passively collecting Your information is to improve Your experience when using our Hotjar Enabled Site.
      1. Through the Hotjar code embedded on a Hotjar Enabled Site, the information collected and processed includes:
  • Device-specific data
    • The following information may be collected related to Your device and browser:
      • device’s IP address (captured and stored in an anonymized format);
      • device screen resolution;
      • device type (unique device identifiers), operating system, and browser type;
      • geographic location (country only);
      • preferred language used to display the Hotjar Enabled Site.
    • User interactions
      • Mouse events (movements, location and clicks)
      • Keypresses
    • 
Log data

For a sampling of visitors, Our servers automatically record information which is collected from Customer Websites and Our Site.

This data includes:

  • referring URL and domain;
  • pages visited;
  • geographic location (country only);
  • preferred language used to display the webpage;
  • date and time when website pages were accessed.​​​​

​Requirements for processing

Forbidden Economics will ensure that:

  • personal data is processed fairly and lawfully;
  • personal data is always processed in accordance with good practice;
  • personal data is only collected for specific and legitimate purposes;
  • personal data that is processed is adequate and relevant to the purposes of the processing;
  • all reasonable measures are taken to complete, correct, block or erase incomplete or incorrect data;
  • Forbidden Economics shall not be held liable for any data errors in transmission not occasioned by itself, or for any unauthorised acts of third parties.

With whom do we share the information we gather/track?

  1. We share the information we gather, in aggregate form, with advertisers and other partners. We will not release personal information about you as an individual to third parties, except under the circumstances described in Compliance with Legal Process below. Upon request, we will provide you with all of your personal information associated with your subscriber ID and information will only be sent to the email address on file associated with it.
  2. In compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, Chapter 440 of the laws of Malta, personal data may not be processed for purposes concerning direct marketing, if the data subject notifies the data controller that s/he opposes such processing. The controller shall appropriately inform the data subject of his right to oppose such processing, at no cost.

‘Email a friend’ and ‘share this article’ functions

  1. When you use this function and provide us with personal data of a third party (e.g. the name and email address), please ensure you have their consent before providing their details.

Compliance with Legal Process

  1. We may disclose personal information if we are required and permitted to do so by law, in accordance with the Data Protection Act, or we in good faith believe that such action is necessary to (1) comply with the law or with legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorised use of our web site and content; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public (amongst other things, this means that if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, information about you may be disclosed as part of any investigation into your actions).
  2. Data may be disclosed in relation to the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences, or of breaches of ethics for regulated professions through abusing the functions of the website, including the comments section, in which illegal acts are performed, including, but not limited to threats which give rise to a criminal offence and other offences which give rise to criminal liability.
  3. Personal data may also be processed without the data subject’s consent if:
    • the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
    • processing is necessary for the performance of an activity that is carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller or in a third party to whom the data is disclosed;
    • processing is necessary for a purpose that concerns a legitimate interest of the controller or of such a third party to whom personal data is provided, except where such interest is overridden by the interest to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject and in particular the right to privacy.

Corrections and Cancellations

  1. Upon request, we will a) Remove you and your personal information, from our database, thereby cancelling your registration; b) Correct personal information that you state is erroneous
  2. To request a correction or cancellation, please contact us.
  3. Please email us if you feel that we are not adhering to our Privacy Policy.