BT Privacy Policy - Using our websites

BT's privacy policy also applies to information collected when you use any of our websites.  

You do not have to register to access most of our websites. However, if you provide information via the "contact us" or any of the other interactive features, you indicate your consent to our use of your personal data in the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

• If you do register on one of our websites, we may ask you to provide personal details such as name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and, where appropriate, BT account number. We also ask you to choose a password, and to complete a password security question and answer, in case you forget your password for any reason.
• Once you have registered on one of our websites, we may keep a record of your use of any of the services made available via that particular website. (Please see "When does BT use cookies" below for more information on how we do this).
• If you choose not to register with us and only browse our websites, we may gather information to help make your visit to our website more satisfying.  However, this information will not identify you personally. (Please see "When does BT use cookies" below for more information on how we do this).
• If you do not wish to register, you will still be able to use and order some of the services offered via our websites.  We will only ask you to provide such information as necessary to enable us to carry out the transaction in question.  We will not use that information for any other purpose.   You should note that some services are only available if you register on the website first.

If you have registered for any of the services available through our websites you may choose to cancel that registration at any time.  You can do this in one of two ways:

• return to the original registration page and following the instructions for cancelling the registration; or
• send an e-mail to us by completing the feedback form

Please ensure you inform us of the service which you wish to cancel.

If you do either of these, your personal details will be deleted from our website database. If you have registered you have direct control over information in your personal profile on our website. You can access and change this information at any time by using the "Update Your Profile" link.

Over and above what BT does to safeguard your privacy and security on-line, there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from Internet fraud:

• Choose a password (letters and digits) you can remember but others will not guess, change it regularly and, if you do write it down, keep it somewhere safe and secure.
• When you have finished your session on our website, make sure you prevent your details being seen by anyone that you do not wish to see them.  So, if you have registered and logged in, remember to log off. 
• Clear any cache so there is no record of any transactions left on screen - both Netscape and Internet Explorer let you do this. 
• We also recommend you then close your browser so any history of the session is cleared.   As an extra precaution, your session on bt.com will time out if you have not used the site for 30 minutes.
• We collect information from visitors to our websites to help us to make improvements to the websites and to the services we make available. We know, for instance, how many visitors there are to each website, when they visited, for how long and to which areas of our website they went. We may share this information with our advertisers and to other companies which offer their goods or services on our websites. It helps to show these organisations how effective our websites are as sales channels for their products.  You or any other individual cannot be identified from the information we share as the data is aggregated and anonymised.
• We do not use this information to:
  • identify individuals visiting our website; or
  • analyse your visits to any other websites (except that we do track you if you go to websites carrying our banner, but we do not identify personal details while we do this); or
  • track any internet searches which you may make while on our website.

When do we use Cookies?

A "cookie" is a text file which is allocated by our server to your personal computer (PC) when you visit our website. If you want to know more about cookies please go to www.allaboutcookies.org which explains how cookies work and how you can manage their use.  We use "cookies" to collect information from visitors to our websites and registered customers.

Our servers use two different types of cookies. The first type is known as a "session-based" cookie and is allocated to your PC only for the duration of your visit to our website.  It helps you to move around the website faster. This cookie automatically expires when you close down your browser.

The second type of cookie known as a "persistent" cookie is allocated to your PC only if you agree by selecting the "Remember Me" function.  This cookie, if chosen, will remain on your PC for a period of time.

This cookie allows us to:

• welcome you as an individual when you log on to our website
• limit how often you see particular advertisements or announcements on our website
• identify your defaults if you have set up a customised homepage
• provide you with relevant self-help information 
• track where you have come from if you have come to our website from another website
• track how many times you visit a page or advertisement

We do not store information regarding your telephone number, account or payment details in the cookie, and this information cannot be accessed using it.  BT's cookies do not collect any information regarding the use of your PC or your internet browsing in any way.

Please note that as the cookie is based on your PC, we will not find it if you visit our websites using a different PC to the one you registered on.

How do you disable cookies?

All types of cookies can be removed from your PC but there may be some deterioration in the service you receive (for example, you may receive many pop up boxes containing the same advertisements or you may not be able to access a page you earlier personalised). 

Your browser lets you choose whether to accept, not to accept or to be warned before accepting cookies. These settings can be found in the advanced preferences -

In Internet Explorer select: Tools menu / Internet options / Security / Custom Level

In Netscape 4.x select: Edit menu / Preferences / Advanced

For removing the "Remember Me" cookie, just untick the box when you sign in.

Are third party sites covered by this policy?

Third party internet sites that you can link to from BT's websites are not covered by our Privacy Policy, so we urge you to be careful when you enter any personal information online. BT accepts no responsibility or liability for these sites.

Other companies which advertise or offer their products or services on our website may also allocate cookies to your PC. The types of cookies they use and how they use the information generated by them will be governed by their own privacy policies and not ours.