Ownership and Principal Objective

MedWorm is currently owned and maintained by Jamila Hanan (formerly known as Frankie Dolan) who is committed to ensuring that MedWorm data is kept secure, that personal data is kept private, and that any statistical data collected from MedWorm is utilized with the objective of either improving MedWorm functionality or the advancement of knowledge in the area of health, science and medicine.

Data Collected

When users browse MedWorm, the following statistical data is collected:
Ip address, browser agent details, the url address navigated from and the page navigated to. Where possible an IP address is linked to a country, a state, and sometimes a town. In addition, where available, an IP address is linked to a server name and owner, which may provide the name of the company to which the server belongs.

If a user creates a ‘My MedWorm’ account, an email address is entered and stored in MedWorm, in addition to a password, which is kept in encrypted format in the MedWorm database. Email addresses are not shared with or sold to anyone and are not used for marketing purposes, except in the instance where a user may opt in to receive additional information. Email addresses are simply used to help you maintain your own account on MedWorm, as a unique identifier to log in and out off your MedWorm account, and for communications with Jamila where necessary to help with the maintenance of your MedWorm account. You may also opt to have data sent to you via email should you wish, and may at some time in the future be able to have further alerts sent to you via email as MedWorm functionality is further developed.

If a user should decide to post a public comment on MedWorm they are prompted to enter a public user name of their choice.

No other personal data is currently collected on MedWorm. However, My MedWorm accounts are associated to:
- Favourite feeds that a user has subscribed to.
- A history of items read on MedWorm, for each user’s personal use, of which items can be deleted as the user desires.
- Public comments to items that may be made by the user on MedWorm.
- Privately saved items and any private notes added to those items by the user.
- Data sources that a user may have submitted for inclusion in MedWorm.
- Support requests that a user has made.
None of the My MedWorm account data is made public or shared with any third party. In addition, such data is only utilized by Jamila for statistical purposes to verify that MedWorm is fully functional and being utilized to maximum effect. In the future there may be the option to share some of you’re My MedWorm data with other MedWorm users should you decide, such as the feeds that you subscribe to or the items that you have read, but this would never happen automatically without your consent and would always be a matter of individual choice.

My MedWorm accounts may be deleted by the user at any time should they wish.

Cookies

If you create a My MedWorm account you may opt to be automatically logged on to MedWorm when your return to the site. This functionality utilizes a cookie which is stored on your local computer. It is not advised that you select the check box for automatic log on when using publicly available computers. The cookie is not used for any other purpose other than the automatic log on to My MedWorm accounts. In addition, My MedWorm utilizes third party statistical tracking services: Google Analytics, Quantcast and Statcounter. These services also install cookies where possible, to enable the use of their software which provides statistical information regarding site usage.

Data Usage

Any personally associated data collected via the My MedWorm account facility, as detailed above, is strictly for use by the user that created the account. Jamila does not share this data with anyone. Only the user of the account may elect to share any of their data with other MedWorm users in the future, should they decide. Jamila only looks at this data on a statistical level to ensure correct MedWorm functionality and usage.

Data collected when site visitors browse MedWorm, as detailed above, is in line with what most other websites collect when you browse the internet. Jamila never associates such information from automatic data collection with individuals.

Any statistical data that may be shared with other organisations regarding MedWorm’s usage at the IP level will only be done if considered beneficial to the purpose of furthering knowledge and subsequent developments in the area of health, science and medicine that may be of benefit to society. Should any organisation desire that their IP address never be shared in relation to MedWorm usage, they should contact Jamila Hanan via the MedWorm contact form and she will ensure that their IP address is removed from any statistical reports, to ensure complete anonymity for their organisation. Statistical data could potentially be used in the future for research and subsequent scientific publications; in such instances IP addresses and any associated names names of organisations would not be published, unless specific authorization had been requested.

Statistical data will be used to provide MedWorm users details on popular data sources and data items within MedWorm, but Jamila ensures that such shared information will only be done at a very general level (i.e. popular items within a category for a particular country or possibly industry sector) and will not compromise either the organizational or individual’s privacy in any way.

An organisation's activity on MedWorm would only be publicly revealed if that organisation had been posting misleading comments or acting maliciously on the MedWorm site, and it was considered in the public interest to do so.

Advertising

Ads served on the MedWorm and MedWorm Dailies websites are served by MedWorm's ads partner Medica. Please see the Medica privacy policy here for information on privacy matters and cookies used in relation to those ads.

Changes to Policy

Any changes to the way that data is handled by MedWorm, or new data collected, as MedWorm functionality develops and the site grows, will be posted here. It is the intention that MedWorm will always hold true to its principal objective regarding data privacy, as detailed above. If MedWorm ownership or management ever passes to someone other than Jamila Hanan in the future, she will do everything she is able to ensure that the future owner also agrees to such objectives.

If you have any queries or objections to this privacy policy, please contact Jamila Hanan via the enquiries form on the About MedWorm page.