privacy policy

Why do we have a privacy policy?

We want you to feel comfortable both using our site and with the privacy of your personal and confidential information.

What is covered?

The I Used To Believe privacy policy covers the collection and use of information that I Used To Believe collects when you are on the I Used To Believe website, and when you use I Used To Believe's services.

What is not covered?

Our privacy policy does not apply to the practices of companies that I Used To Believe does not own or control, or to people that I Used To Believe does not employ or manage.

What information is collected?

I Used To Believe collects information about how visitors use our website. We do not ask you to register, and we never ask for your email address, your address or your telephone number.

When you submit a belief, we record and store two further things alongside it:

The IP address you sent it from. An IP address is the number your internet connection is identified by, and in some circumstances it can count as personal information. We keep it for two reasons: to recognise when the same belief has been sent twice, and to deal with spam and abuse. It is never displayed on the website and it is never shared or sold — only this site’s administrators can see it. We also record the IP addresses of visitors our spam filter has blocked, so that it knows to keep blocking them.

The name you sign it with, if you give one. That name is published on the website next to your belief, so please do not use your full name or anything else you would rather not see in public. Leaving it blank is fine — beliefs submitted without a name appear as “Anon”, and a great many of them do.

How is the information used?

I Used To Believe uses visitor information to improve the I Used To Believe website.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Cookies help us see understand visitors to our website by tracking how you use our website, in a way that doesn't ever identify you personally. Cookies also allow web applications to respond to you as an individual, by allowing you to log in or add items to a shopping cart. The website can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. Read how to control and delete cookies.

We also use Google Analytics to analyse data about website visitors. Read the Google Analytics privacy policy.

Spam protection on the add form

The form you use to add a belief is protected by Google reCAPTCHA, which is what the “I’m not a robot” box is for. It is there to stop automated submissions, which this site receives a great many of.

reCAPTCHA is provided by Google and it collects information in order to tell people from machines — this includes your IP address and how you interact with the page. That information goes to Google, and reCAPTCHA sets its own cookies to do it. It runs only on the add page: no other page on this site loads it. Your use of reCAPTCHA is subject to Google’s privacy policy and terms of service.

If you would rather not use it, please do not submit the form.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Submitting your belief

By submitting information to I Used To Believe, you grant I Used To Believe a perpetual, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to that information at its sole discretion, including storing it on I Used To Believe's servers and incorporating it in other works in any media now known or later developed including without limitation published books. If you do not wish to grant I Used To Believe these rights, it is suggested that you do not submit information to this website.
I Used To Believe reserves the right to select, edit and arrange submissions, and to remove information from I Used To Believe's website at any time at its sole discretion.

Privacy policy changes

I Used To Believe may amend this privacy policy from time to time.