Sam Raincock Consultancy

Digital Forensics Expert Witness Services
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Privacy Policy - raincock.co.uk Website 

Introduction

This Privacy Policy outlines Sam Raincock Consultancy ("we", "our" or "the Company") practices with respect to information collected from users who access our website at raincock.co.uk ("Site") or otherwise share personal information with us (collectively: "Users"). 

Grounds for data collection 

Processing of your personal information (i.e. any information which may potentially allow your identification through reasonable means; hereinafter "Personal Information") from website is necessary for monitoring the site's use in order to assist improving it, requested communications made via this site and for compliance with legal, forensic science regulator, financial regulatory obligations to which we are subject.

When you use the Site, you consent to the collection, storage, use, disclosure and other uses of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

We encourage our Users to carefully read the Privacy Policy and use it to make informed decisions. 

What information do we collect?

We collect two types of data and information from Users. 

The first type of information is un-identified and non-identifiable information pertaining to a User(s), which may be made available or gathered via your use of the Site (“Non-personal Information”). We are not aware of the identity of a User from which the Non-personal Information was collected. Non-personal Information which is being collected may include your aggregated usage information and technical information transmitted by your device, including certain software and hardware information (e.g. the type of browser and operating system your device uses, language preference, access time, etc.) in order to enhance the functionality of our Site. We may also collect information about your activity on the Site (e.g. pages viewed, online browsing, clicks, actions, etc.).

The second type of information is Personal Information which is individually identifiable information, namely information that identifies an individual or may, with reasonable effort, identify an individual. Such information includes:
  • Device Information: We collect Personal Information from your device. Such information includes geolocation data, general type of device use (such as if the device is a computer/mobile/tablet and the type of OS), browser use and other information which relates to your activity through the Site.
  • Contact Information (via form submission): When your use the contact form you will be asked to provide us with certain details such as: full name; email, telephone number and any other information you choose to provide.

How do we receive information about you?

We receive your Personal Information from various sources:
  • When you voluntarily provide us with your personal details when using the contact form.
  • When you use or access our Site in connection with your use of our services;
  • From third-party providers, services and public registers (for example, traffic analytics vendors).

What information do we collect?
We do not sell or share Users’ information with third parties, except as described in this Privacy Policy.

We may use the information for the following:
  • Communicating with you in relation to your submitted query.
  • For statistical and analytical purposes, intended to improve the Site.
In addition to the different uses listed above, we may transfer or disclose Personal Information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies and subcontractors.

In addition to the purposes listed in this Privacy Policy, we may share Personal Information with our trusted third-party providers, who may be located in different jurisdictions across the world, for any of the following purposes: 
  • Hosting and operating our Site;
  • Storing and processing such information on our behalf; 
  • Performing research, technical diagnostics or analytics;
We may also disclose information if we have good reason to believe that disclosure of such information is helpful or reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (ii) enforce our policies (including our Agreement), including investigations of potential violations thereof; (iii) investigate, detect, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities or other wrongdoing, suspected fraud or security issues; (iv) to establish or exercise our rights to defend against legal claims; (v) prevent harm to the rights, property or safety of us, our users, yourself or any third party; or (vi) for the purpose of collaborating with law enforcement agencies and/or in case we find it necessary in order to enforce intellectual property or other legal rights.

Retention

We will retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our policies. Retention periods will be determined taking into account the type of information that is collected and the purpose for which it is collected, bearing in mind the requirements applicable to the situation and the need to destroy outdated, unused information at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Under applicable regulations, we will keep records containing client personal data, account opening documents, communications and anything else as required by applicable laws and regulations. 

We may rectify, replenish or remove incomplete or inaccurate information, at any time and at our own discretion.
 

Cookies

We and our trusted partners use cookies and other technologies in our related services, including when you visit our Site or access our services. 

A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a website assigns to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enabling automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our Services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help ensure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our Services. 

The Site uses the following types of cookies:

a. 'session cookies' which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed; 

b. 'persistent cookies' which are read only by the Site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in; 

c. 'third-party cookies' which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third-party analytics companies who monitor and analyse our web access.

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but Personal Information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.

We also may use a tool called “Google Analytics” to collect information about your use of the Site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users access the Site, which pages they visit, when they do so, etc. We use the information we obtain from Google Analytics only to improve our Site and services. Google Analytics collects the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit sites, 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. 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 Service and the Google Privacy Policy (external links open via a new page).

Third-party collection of information

Our policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent you disclose your information to other parties or sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Accordingly, we encourage you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third party that you choose to disclose information to. 

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, nor to individuals whom we do not employ or manage, including any of the third parties which we may disclose information to as set out in this Privacy Policy. 

Contact

The company provides expert witness services which within the UK are usually subject to legal privilege.   It is also essential that work is conducted following strict expert witness rules and often MOUs, and complex stipulations of the use of case data.   It is anticipated that contact via this site, email and telephone will be via legal professional only and if so will be subject to Legal Privilege.

It is recommended that any other party contacting the company does so via their legal team only.   The company does not provide services directly to members of the public.   You should note that by contacting the company directly this may mean that the provided data/information are not subject to Legal Privilege.

Since Legal Privilege and use of data within digital forensics cases is complex and due to the cases worked on by the company involving illegal materials (including terrorism, IIoC etc.), for legal professionals, it is important to contact SRC if you are unsure about the storage and use of such case data or other personal/otherwise information.    The company can then discuss this with you directly regarding the requirements and usual legal process.    

Marketing

Collected data via this site does not involve the contact of persons directly for the purposes of marketing.    

Updates or amendments to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to periodically amend or revise the Privacy Policy; material changes will be effective immediately upon the display of the revised Privacy policy. The last revision of this document occur on 26th January 2025. 

How to contact us

If you have any general questions about the Site or the information the company collects about you and how we use it, you can contact the company via privacy@raincock.co.uk (Note that this email address does forward to sam@raincock.co.uk since SRC is a sole practitioner business meaning it will be Sam dealing with your enquiry).   

For legal instructions, handling of case data is often complex, sensitive and subject to various legal and other conditions.   Also as an expert witness, instructions are subject to Legal Privilege and the Expert Witness rules.  The company can discuss with legal professionals directly, the potential requirements and usual process with respect to obtaining and use of case data.