Privacy Policy
How GeoMed collects, uses, shares, protects and retains personal information, the legal bases we rely on, and the rights and choices available to you.
Effective date: 25 October 2026. Last updated: 25 October 2026.
1. Introduction
1.1 GeoMed ("GeoMed", "we", "us" or "our") operates the health education website geomed.cc and its related pages, tools, newsletter and comment features (the "Site"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and to handling personal information lawfully, fairly and transparently.
1.2 This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how and why we use it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, how we protect it, and the rights and choices you have. It applies to all visitors and users of the Site. It should be read together with our Cookie Policy and Terms of Use.
1.3 "Personal information" (also called "personal data") means any information that identifies, relates to, describes or could reasonably be linked to an identified or identifiable individual.
2. Summary of key points
- You can read the Site without creating an account or telling us who you are.
- We collect personal information only when you choose to provide it (contact form, newsletter, comments) and limited technical data needed to operate and secure the Site.
- We do not sell personal information for money, and we do not ask you to enter your own health information.
- The Site displays advertising from Google AdSense. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to show, personalise and measure advertisements, where permitted and, where required, with your consent.
- Calculators and tools run entirely in your browser; what you type is not sent to us.
- You have rights over your personal information, described in section 13, and you can contact us at any time through our contact page.
3. Who is responsible for your information
3.1 GeoMed is the controller (or "business", under some laws) responsible for personal information processed through the Site, except where a third party such as Google acts as an independent controller for its own purposes, as explained in section 8.
3.2 You can contact us about any privacy matter through our contact page. Please mark your message "Privacy" so it reaches the right person.
4. Information we collect
4.1 Information you provide to us
| Source | Personal information | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Contact form | Name, email address, subject, message content and any information you include in it | Name, email and message are required to send a message |
| Newsletter sign-up | Email address, date and time of subscription, consent wording accepted | Email is required to subscribe |
| Blog comments | Display name, optional email address, comment text, date and time | Name and comment are required; email is optional |
| Correspondence | Any information you provide when you email or otherwise communicate with us | Voluntary |
4.2 Information collected automatically
- Device and log data: IP address, date and time of access, pages requested, referring URL, browser type and version, operating system, device type, language settings and response codes, recorded by our web server and by Cloudflare.
- Security data: temporary counters of requests from each IP address used to prevent spam, brute-force attempts and abuse, and security signals used by Cloudflare to distinguish people from automated traffic.
- Cookies and similar technologies: as described in our Cookie Policy, including preference cookies set by GeoMed, security cookies set by Cloudflare, and advertising cookies and identifiers set by Google and its partners.
- Advertising data collected by Google: when advertisements load, Google may collect your IP address, device identifiers, approximate location derived from your IP address, browser information, pages viewed and interactions with advertisements.
4.3 Information we do not collect
- We do not require registration for readers and do not build reader profiles.
- We do not ask for, and you should not provide, sensitive information such as health conditions, medical records, government identification numbers, financial details, or information about racial or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or political opinions.
- Anything you enter into calculators and tools is processed locally on your device and is not transmitted to or stored by us.
4.4 Sensitive information you choose to share
Health information is a special category of personal data under many laws. If you choose to include health information in a message or comment, you explicitly consent to us processing it solely to respond to your message or to moderate your comment. Please do not post your own or anyone else's health details in public comments. Comments containing personal health details may be edited or rejected to protect you.
5. How and why we use personal information
| Purpose | Information used | Legal basis (UK/EEA and similar laws) |
|---|---|---|
| Operating, maintaining and delivering the Site | Device and log data, necessary cookies | Legitimate interests in providing a functioning website |
| Security, fraud and abuse prevention, rate limiting | IP address, log data, security cookies | Legitimate interests in protecting the Site and its users; legal obligation where applicable |
| Responding to enquiries, corrections and complaints | Contact form and correspondence data | Legitimate interests in responding to you; contract where you request something from us |
| Sending the newsletter | Email address, consent record | Consent |
| Moderating and publishing comments | Comment data | Legitimate interests in hosting a safe discussion; consent for any health information you include |
| Displaying non-personalised advertising | Device data, advertising cookies for frequency capping, fraud prevention and measurement | Legitimate interests in funding a free service; consent where required for cookies |
| Displaying personalised advertising | Advertising cookies and identifiers | Consent where required by law |
| Remembering your preferences | Preference cookies and local storage | Legitimate interests; strictly necessary for the function you requested |
| Improving content and fixing errors | Aggregated log data, correction reports | Legitimate interests |
| Complying with law and enforcing our Terms | Any relevant information | Legal obligation; legitimate interests in establishing, exercising or defending legal claims |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your interests and rights and concluded that they do not override ours. You may object to this processing (see section 13).
6. Automated decision-making
We do not make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you based solely on automated processing. Automated tools are used only for security (for example detecting spam or attacks). Google may use automated systems to select advertisements, as described in its own policies.
7. How we share personal information
7.1 We do not sell personal information for money. We share personal information only as described below.
7.2 Service providers (processors). We use trusted providers who process information on our behalf, under written terms requiring them to protect it and use it only on our instructions:
| Provider | Service | Information involved |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual private server hosting provider | Hosting of the Site, database and backups | All information stored on the Site |
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Domain name service, content delivery network, security and attack mitigation | IP address, request and device data, security cookies |
| Email service provider | Sending replies and newsletters | Email address, name and message content |
7.3 Independent third parties. Some providers process information for their own purposes as independent controllers:
| Third party | Purpose | Information involved |
|---|---|---|
| Google LLC and Google Ireland Limited (AdSense) | Serving, personalising and measuring advertising; fraud prevention | Cookies and identifiers, IP address, device and browsing information on our pages |
| Google Fonts | Delivering typefaces used on the Site | IP address and browser information sent when fonts load |
| jsDelivr | Delivering standard code libraries and icon files | IP address and browser information sent when files load |
7.4 Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with a law, regulation, court order or lawful request by a public authority; to enforce our Terms; to protect the rights, property or safety of GeoMed, our users or others; or to detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues.
7.5 Business transfers. If GeoMed is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganisation, sale of assets or similar transaction, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Policy or to protections at least as strong.
7.6 With your consent. We may share information for any other purpose with your consent.
8. Advertising and Google AdSense
8.1 GeoMed uses Google AdSense to display advertisements, which helps keep the Site free.
8.2 Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visits to this Site and/or other sites on the internet.
8.3 You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices, or, in the European Union and United Kingdom, www.youronlinechoices.eu.
8.4 For information on how Google uses data when you use our Site, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services. Google's own privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy.
8.5 For visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, personalised advertising cookies are used only with consent, collected through a consent message that complies with the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework as required by Google. If you do not consent, you may still see non-personalised advertisements, which use cookies or similar technologies only for frequency capping, aggregated reporting and combating fraud and abuse.
8.6 We do not provide advertisers with your name, email address, messages or comments.
9. International data transfers
9.1 Our service providers and third parties may process personal information in countries other than the one where you live, including the United States, member states of the European Union and other countries where they operate. These countries may have data protection laws different from those of your country.
9.2 Where Applicable Law requires, we and our providers rely on appropriate safeguards for such transfers, such as adequacy decisions, the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or certification under frameworks such as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. You may contact us for more information about the safeguards used.
10. Data retention
10.1 We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.
| Information | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Contact messages and correspondence | Up to 24 months after the matter is resolved, or longer if needed for a complaint, legal claim or legal obligation |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe; proof of consent and unsubscription is retained for as long as needed to demonstrate compliance |
| Published comments | For as long as the comment remains published, or until you ask us to remove it |
| Rejected comments | Deleted after moderation |
| Web server logs | Approximately 14 days, then automatically deleted |
| Rate-limiting counters | Minutes to hours, then automatically deleted |
| Database backups | A rolling set of recent backups, each overwritten as newer backups are created |
| Cookies | As listed in our Cookie Policy |
10.2 Data held by Google, Cloudflare and other independent third parties is retained under their own policies.
11. Security
11.1 We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration and destruction, including:
- encryption of data in transit using HTTPS (TLS);
- restricted administrative access with individual accounts, strong authentication and short session lifetimes;
- a firewall limiting network access to essential services;
- security headers, a content security policy and protection against cross-site request forgery;
- rate limiting and moderation to prevent abuse;
- regular backups and software updates.
11.2 No method of transmission over the internet or of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
11.3 Data breaches. If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority and, where required, affected individuals, without undue delay and in accordance with Applicable Law.
12. Your choices
- Cookies: you can manage cookies through the consent message (where shown), your browser settings and the opt-out tools described in our Cookie Policy.
- Personalised advertising: use Google Ads Settings or the industry opt-out pages in section 8.
- Newsletter: unsubscribe at any time through the contact page or any unsubscribe mechanism in our emails.
- Comments: use a first name or nickname, leave the email field blank, and ask us to remove a comment at any time.
- Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control: there is no common industry standard for responding to "Do Not Track" signals, and the Site does not currently respond to them. Where Applicable Law requires us to treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, we will do so for the browser that sends it.
13. Your rights
13.1 Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights:
- Access: to confirm whether we process your personal information and to receive a copy.
- Rectification: to have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected.
- Erasure: to have your information deleted, subject to legal exceptions.
- Restriction: to ask us to limit how we use your information.
- Objection: to object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to object at any time to direct marketing.
- Portability: to receive information you provided in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and to have it transmitted to another controller.
- Withdrawal of consent: to withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
- Complaint: to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.
13.2 How to exercise your rights. Contact us through our contact page, describing your request. We will respond within the time required by Applicable Law (generally within one month, which may be extended where permitted). We may need to verify your identity before acting, and we may ask an authorised agent to provide proof of authority. Requests are free of charge unless they are manifestly unfounded or excessive.
13.3 No discrimination. We will not deny you access to the Site, or provide a different quality of service, because you exercised your privacy rights.
14. Additional information for specific regions
14.1 European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland
The legal bases we rely on are set out in section 5. You have the rights described in section 13 under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, or the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, as applicable. You may complain to the supervisory authority in the country where you live or work or where an alleged infringement occurred, although we would appreciate the chance to address your concern first.
14.2 California and other United States states
If you are a resident of California or another U.S. state with a comprehensive privacy law (such as Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas or Oregon), the following applies:
- Categories collected in the last 12 months: identifiers (such as name, email address, IP address and online identifiers); internet or other electronic network activity information (such as pages viewed and interactions with advertisements); approximate geolocation derived from IP address; and inferences drawn by advertising partners. Sources and purposes are described in sections 4 and 5.
- Sale and sharing: we do not sell personal information for money. The use of advertising cookies by Google and its partners for personalised advertising may be considered "selling" or "sharing" for cross-context behavioural advertising under some state laws. You can opt out using Google Ads Settings, by blocking third-party cookies in your browser, or by enabling Global Privacy Control, and you can contact us to make a request.
- Sensitive personal information: we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that require a right to limit under California law.
- Your rights: to know, access, correct and delete personal information; to opt out of sale, sharing and targeted advertising; and to appeal a decision about your request by replying to our response. To exercise them, use our contact page.
- Minors: we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16.
14.3 Other countries
Many other countries, including those in Africa, Asia and Latin America, have data protection laws granting rights similar to those in section 13 (for example, the Kenya Data Protection Act 2019, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, Brazil's LGPD and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023). We will honour requests made under the law that applies to you, and you may complain to the data protection authority in your country.
15. Children's privacy
15.1 The Site is a general audience health education resource and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under 16 where a higher age applies, without verifiable parental consent.
15.2 If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us through the contact page and we will delete it promptly.
16. Third-party websites
The Site and its advertisements may link to websites and services operated by others. This Privacy Policy does not apply to them, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please review the privacy policies of any third-party site you visit.
17. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements or other factors. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when it was last revised. If we make material changes, we will highlight them on the Site and, where required by law, seek your consent.
18. Contact us
For questions, requests or complaints about this Privacy Policy or our handling of personal information, please contact us through our contact page, marking your message "Privacy".
Last updated 25 October 2026