Privacy policy

This privacy policy explains how ReadAndRateIt ("ReadAndRateIt", "we", "us") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal data when you visit readandrateit.life or contact us by email or telephone. We publish this site from Singapore and comply with the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA) and its subsidiary regulations.

Please read this policy together with our Terms of use and Cookie policy. If anything is unclear, contact us at [email protected] or +65 6339 2814.

1. Data controller

The organisation responsible for your personal data is ReadAndRateIt, registered at 1 Temasek Avenue, #21-04, Millenia Tower, Singapore 039192. We operate readandrateit.life as an independent book companion site for House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden. We are not the book's publisher and we do not process orders — purchases are completed on Amazon via external links.

We do not maintain a separate data-protection officer role. Privacy enquiries may be directed to the same contact details above. We aim to acknowledge privacy requests within five business days and to complete them within thirty days unless complexity requires an extension permitted under the PDPA.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

• Visitors who browse pages on readandrateit.life;
• Individuals who email [email protected] or call our listed Singapore number;
• Individuals whose browsers store cookies or similar technologies as described in our Cookie policy.

It does not apply to third-party websites we link to — including Amazon, Google Maps, Wikimedia-hosted images, or font providers. Those services operate under their own privacy policies. When you leave our site or interact with embedded content, their terms govern.

3. Personal data we collect

3.1 Data you provide directly

When you email us, we receive your email address, message content, attachments (if any), and standard email metadata such as timestamps and routing headers. When you telephone us, we may hear your voice and, if you choose to leave a voicemail, a recording on our provider's system. We do not operate web contact forms on this site.

We do not ask for your NRIC, passport number, payment card details, or health information. Please do not send sensitive identifiers unless strictly necessary — and consider whether email is an appropriate channel.

3.2 Technical data collected automatically

Our hosting provider may log IP addresses, browser user-agent strings, requested URLs, HTTP status codes, referrer URLs, and timestamps when you load a page. We use these logs to keep the site available, diagnose errors, and detect abuse. We do not merge server logs with marketing databases or sell log data.

3.3 Cookies and similar technologies

We may store essential cookies required for basic site operation and, only with your consent where required, analytics cookies. Details — including cookie names, purposes, durations, and providers — are listed in our Cookie policy. Your consent choice itself may be stored as a cookie or local storage entry and is treated as personal data linked to your browser session.

4. Purposes of processing

We process personal data only for legitimate, specified purposes:

• Responding to enquiries. To read and reply to emails or return phone calls about the book, editorial corrections, or business matters.
• Operating the website. To deliver pages, fonts, and images; maintain security; and troubleshoot outages.
• Remembering cookie preferences. To avoid showing the consent banner on every visit and to honour your choices about non-essential cookies.
• Improving content (aggregated). If you consent to analytics, we may review pseudonymous statistics such as page views and approximate referral sources. We do not build individual profiles for advertising.
• Legal compliance. To respond to lawful requests from authorities or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims if ever necessary.

We do not sell personal data. We do not rent mailing lists. We do not run behavioural advertising on readandrateit.life.

5. Legal bases

Under the PDPA, we rely on:

• Consent — where you opt in to non-essential cookies or voluntarily provide information beyond what is necessary to browse the site;
• Legitimate interests — to operate a small editorial website securely, balanced against your privacy because logs are short-lived and not used for profiling;
• Contractual or pre-contractual steps — if you contact us about a commercial arrangement and we need your details to respond;
• Legal obligation — where retention or disclosure is required by applicable law.

6. Disclosure to third parties

We share personal data only with processors who help us run the site:

• Hosting provider — stores files and generates server logs in the Asia-Pacific region;
• Email provider — delivers and stores correspondence sent to [email protected];
• Telecommunications provider — routes calls to our Singapore number;
• Analytics provider (if enabled) — receives pseudonymous usage data only after cookie consent;
• Google Maps — when you load the embedded map on our contact page, Google may process data according to its own policy.

Each processor acts on our instructions for limited purposes. We require appropriate safeguards where data leaves Singapore. If a provider sub-processes data internationally, we assess whether the destination offers comparable protection or whether contractual clauses apply.

7. Retention

• Email threads: kept until the conversation is complete, typically weeks to a few months. Deleted on request unless we must retain minimal records for disputes.
• Server logs: rotated by our host, generally within ninety days.
• Cookie consent records: up to six months, then the banner may reappear.
• Analytics: retained per the analytics vendor's schedule if you opted in; we do not maintain a separate warehouse.

8. Your rights under the PDPA

Subject to exceptions in the PDPA, you may:

• Ask whether we hold personal data about you and obtain a copy;
• Request correction of inaccurate data;
• Withdraw consent for processing that relies on consent (without affecting prior lawful processing);
• Ask us to consider ceasing collection or deleting data where retention is no longer necessary.

Submit requests to [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before releasing data — for example by asking you to write from the same email address you originally used or to confirm details only you would know. We will not charge a fee for reasonable access requests unless the PDPA permits a fee for manifestly unfounded or excessive requests.

If we cannot fulfil a request in full, we will explain why — common reasons include legal retention obligations, ongoing correspondence you have not asked us to delete, or data that has already been anonymised in aggregated analytics. You may also contact the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) in Singapore if you believe your rights have been infringed after we have had a reasonable opportunity to respond.

9. International visitors

Although we operate from Singapore, readers may access readandrateit.life from anywhere in the world. If you contact us from outside Singapore, your data may be processed in Singapore and in the countries where our hosting or email providers maintain infrastructure. By using the Site or emailing us, you acknowledge that cross-border transfers may occur subject to safeguards described in this policy.

10. Automated decision-making

We do not use personal data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. Analytics, if enabled, are reviewed manually in aggregated form and are not used to deny anyone access to the Site or to treat individual visitors differently in any automated way.

11. Security

We use HTTPS, access controls, and reputable hosting infrastructure. No method of transmission over the Internet is completely secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security but we review practices periodically and limit internal access to correspondence and logs. Staff with access to [email protected] mailboxes are instructed not to forward reader emails to personal accounts or unrelated third-party chat applications.

12. Children

This site discusses a true-crime book intended for adult readers. We do not knowingly collect data from children under thirteen. If you believe a child contacted us, email us and we will delete the information promptly. Parents or guardians who discover that a minor has emailed us may request deletion without providing the child's full message content — a description of the date and subject line is usually sufficient for us to locate the thread.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect legal or operational changes. The "Last updated" date at the top will change accordingly. Material changes may be highlighted on the homepage for a reasonable period. Continued use after updates constitutes acceptance where permitted by law. Previous versions are available on request for comparison if you contacted us before a change took effect.

14. Contact

ReadAndRateIt
1 Temasek Avenue, #21-04, Millenia Tower, Singapore 039192
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +65 6339 2814