This policy explains how Zing ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, and protects information when you visit zing.co.uk. We are committed to compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) where applicable.
1. Who we are
Zing is a business advisory firm for the Games, Film, TV, and Fintech sectors, operating the website zing.co.uk.
For the purposes of data protection law, Zing is the data controller. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us using the details in section 8.
2. What data we collect
We collect the following categories of information:
- Usage data — pages visited, time on site, browser type, device type, and approximate geographic location (country/city level), collected automatically via Google Analytics.
- Form submissions — name, email address, and any content you voluntarily submit via our suggestion or correction forms. These are processed by Formspree on our behalf.
- Cookies — Google Analytics sets cookies to distinguish users and sessions. See section 5 for details.
We do not collect payment information, government identifiers, or sensitive personal data.
3. How we use your data
- Analytics — to understand how visitors use our site, which pages are most useful, and how we can improve the service. We use Google Analytics 4 with IP anonymisation enabled.
- Form responses — to review and act on suggestions submitted via our forms (e.g. suggesting a funding programme or trade association to add).
- Security — hCaptcha is used on our forms to prevent automated spam submissions.
4. Legal basis for processing
- Legitimate interests (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f) / EU GDPR Article 6(1)(f)) — analytics and site improvement. We have assessed that our interest in understanding site usage does not override your privacy rights, particularly given the anonymised nature of the data collected.
- Consent — where required by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), we will obtain your consent before placing non-essential cookies.
- Contract / pre-contractual steps — where you contact us directly with a business enquiry.
5. Cookies
We use the following cookies on this site:
- _ga, _ga_* — Google Analytics cookies used to distinguish users and sessions. Retained for up to 2 years. Set by Google LLC.
- hCaptcha cookies — set by Intuition Machines, Inc. to distinguish human visitors from automated bots on form pages.
You can control or delete cookies via your browser settings. Disabling Google Analytics cookies will not affect your ability to use this site.
6. Third-party services
We use the following third-party processors who may receive your data:
- Google Analytics (Google LLC) — website analytics. Google may transfer data to servers in the United States. Google is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. See Google's Privacy Policy.
- Formspree (Formspree, Inc.) — form submission handling. Submissions are transmitted securely and stored on Formspree's servers. See Formspree's Privacy Policy.
- hCaptcha (Intuition Machines, Inc.) — CAPTCHA verification on forms. See hCaptcha's Privacy Policy.
- Google Fonts (Google LLC) — font delivery. Your IP address may be sent to Google when fonts are loaded.
We do not sell your personal data to any third party.
7. Your rights
Under UK GDPR and EU GDPR you have the following rights:
- Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate data.
- Right to erasure — to request deletion of your data where there is no legitimate reason to retain it.
- Right to restrict processing — to request we limit how we use your data.
- Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK, or your local supervisory authority in the EU.
8. Data retention
Google Analytics data is retained for 14 months (the minimum configurable period). Form submission data held by Formspree is retained in accordance with Formspree's retention policy. We do not maintain a separate database of form submissions beyond what Formspree retains.
9. International transfers
Some of our third-party providers (Google, Formspree, Intuition Machines) process data outside the UK and EEA, primarily in the United States. Where this occurs, we rely on adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, or the EU-US and UK-US Data Privacy Frameworks to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Continued use of the site following an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
11. Contact us
For any privacy-related queries or to exercise your rights, please use the form below.