Privacy Policy

Digital Edge Media Group
Last updated: 15 September 2026

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1. Introduction

Digital Edge Media Group is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal information when you:

• visit the Digital Edge website;

• subscribe to our newsletters;

• contact or work with us;

• participate in our awards or voting programmes;

• contribute to an interview, article, event or editorial feature;

• enquire about advertising, sponsorship or partnerships; or

• otherwise interact with Digital Edge Magazine or Digital Edge Media Group.

This policy also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable UK data protection laws.

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2. Who we are

Digital Edge Media Group is the trading name of James Pepper, operating as a sole trader in the United Kingdom.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, James Pepper trading as Digital Edge Media Group is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Contact details

Digital Edge Media Group
66 Paul Street
Shoreditch
London
EC2A 4NA
United Kingdom

Email: james@digital-edgemagazine.com

Website: www.digital-edgemagazine.com

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3. Information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information.

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Contact and professional information

• Your name

• Email address

• Telephone number

• Organisation

• Job title

• Professional biography

• Professional or social media profile details

• Correspondence between you and Digital Edge

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Newsletter and marketing information

• Your name and email address

• Your subscription preferences

• Records of when and how you subscribed

• Information about your interaction with our communications

• Details of unsubscribe requests or marketing objections

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Enquiry and commercial information

• Information submitted through our contact forms

• Details of services, advertising, sponsorships or partnerships you enquire about

• Contractual, invoicing and payment information

• Records relating to our professional relationship with you or your organisation

We do not normally collect or store complete payment-card information. Payments may be processed securely by an authorised payment provider.

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Editorial information

When you take part in an interview, article, report, event or other editorial activity, we may collect:

• Your name, image and professional details

• Information you provide during interviews or correspondence

• Quotations, opinions and professional insights

• Information about your career, organisation and experience

• Relevant information from publicly available professional sources

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Awards and voting information

If you vote or submit a nomination, we may collect:

• Your name and email address

• Your organisation or job title, where requested

• The name and professional details of the person you nominate

• The reason for your vote or nomination

• The date and time of your submission

• Technical information needed to protect the integrity of the voting process

• Your newsletter preference, where separately requested

Submitting a vote or nomination does not automatically subscribe you to marketing communications.

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Website and technical information

When you use our website, we may collect:

• Your IP address

• Browser, device and operating-system information

• Pages visited and actions taken

• Approximate location derived from your IP address

• Referring website information

• Cookie preferences and consent records

Some of this information is collected through cookies and Google Analytics. Non-essential cookies and analytics will only be used where the required consent has been obtained.

Sensitive information

We do not normally seek to collect special-category personal information, such as information about health, ethnicity, religion, political opinions or sexual orientation.

If such information is relevant to an editorial contribution and you choose to provide it, we will only process it where an appropriate legal basis and additional legal condition apply.

Please do not submit sensitive personal information through a general contact or voting form unless it is necessary.

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4. How we collect information

We may collect personal information:

• Directly from you

• Through website forms

• When you subscribe to our communications

• When you vote or nominate someone

• During interviews, meetings and correspondence

• Through our website and Google Analytics

• From your employer or professional representative

• From award voters or nominators

• From editorial, event or commercial partners

• From publicly available professional sources, including company websites, professional directories and LinkedIn

If somebody nominates you for an award, we may receive your name, organisation, job title and the reason for the nomination from that person.

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5. How we use your information

We only process personal information when we have a lawful reason to do so.

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Responding to enquiries

We use information submitted through our forms or sent to us directly to respond to your enquiry.

Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in communicating with readers, contributors, clients and potential partners, or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.

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Providing services and managing commercial relationships

We may use information to:

• Prepare proposals

• Provide advertising, editorial or partnership services

• Manage contracts

• Administer payments and invoices

• Maintain appropriate business records

Our lawful basis is performing a contract, taking steps before entering into a contract, complying with legal obligations or pursuing our legitimate business interests.

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Publishing editorial content

We use personal information to research, produce, edit, publish, distribute and archive interviews, articles, magazines, reports and other editorial material.

Depending on the circumstances, our lawful basis may be consent or our legitimate interest in producing responsible business and technology journalism.

Nothing in this policy is intended to limit any journalistic, academic, artistic or literary exemption that lawfully applies under the Data Protection Act 2018.

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Administering awards and voting

We use information to:

• Record and validate votes

• Assess nominations

• Prevent duplicate or fraudulent submissions

• Contact voters or nominees where necessary

• Support the judging and selection process

• Announce shortlisted individuals and winners

• Maintain an appropriate awards archive

 

Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in administering fair, credible and secure awards programmes.

Voter names, email addresses and other identifying information are not shared with nominees, judges, sponsors or other third parties. Judges may receive the professional information and supporting reasons required to assess nominees, without being told who submitted the vote or nomination.

Information about nominees may be checked against publicly available professional sources. We will not use a nominee’s information for unrelated email marketing without an appropriate lawful basis.

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Sending newsletters and marketing communications

Where you have subscribed, we may use your details to send:

• Digital Edge news and interviews

• Magazine releases

• Awards information

• Event announcements

• Relevant business and industry updates

• Information about Digital Edge services and opportunities

Our lawful basis will normally be your consent.

In limited circumstances, we may contact existing business customers about our own similar services where this is permitted by law. We may also send relevant business-to-business communications to corporate contacts where permitted, relying on our legitimate interests.

You can unsubscribe at any time by using the link included in our emails or by contacting james@digital-edgemagazine.com.

We may retain a limited suppression record after you unsubscribe to ensure that we do not contact you again.

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Improving and securing our website

We may use technical information to:

• Maintain website performance

• Understand how visitors use the website

• Improve our content and user experience

• Detect misuse, fraud or security incidents

• Remember your privacy preferences

We rely on our legitimate interests for essential website administration and security. We rely on consent where required for Google Analytics and other non-essential cookies.

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Meeting legal obligations

We may process and retain information to meet tax, accounting, regulatory or legal requirements.

Our lawful basis is compliance with a legal obligation or our legitimate interest in establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

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6. Marketing choices

Newsletter and marketing consent will be requested separately from submitting an enquiry, vote or nomination.

Marketing checkboxes on our website will be optional and will not be selected in advance.

You can withdraw your consent or object to direct marketing at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that took place before your withdrawal.

Every electronic marketing message will provide a way to unsubscribe or contact us.

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7. Cookies and Google Analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly, remember visitor preferences, understand website use and improve the visitor experience.

Strictly necessary cookies may be used without consent where they are required to operate the website or provide a service requested by you.

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors find and use our website. Google Analytics may collect information such as:

• Pages visited

• Time spent on the website

• General location information

• Device and browser type

• Referring websites

• Interactions with website content

Google Analytics and other non-essential technologies will only be activated after you have provided the required consent through our cookie-consent tool.

You can accept or decline non-essential cookies through the cookie banner. You can also change your preferences using the cookie settings available on the website.

Further information about individual cookies, their purposes and duration is provided through our cookie settings.

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8. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information.

Where necessary, we may share information with trusted organisations that help us operate Digital Edge, including:

• Website hosting and technical-service providers

• Email distribution and communication providers

• Cloud-storage and document-management providers

• Google Analytics, where the visitor has consented

• Contractors supporting our editorial, design, production, technology or administration

• Payment and invoicing providers

• Professional advisers, including accountants, insurers and legal advisers

• Regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or public authorities where required by law

• A purchaser or successor if all or part of the business is sold, transferred or reorganised

These organisations may only use personal information for the agreed purpose and must protect it appropriately.

Voter information is not provided to nominees, awards judges, sponsors or advertisers.

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9. International transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard is in place. This may include:

• Transferring information to a country recognised by the UK as providing adequate protection

• Using approved contractual protections

• Relying on another transfer mechanism permitted under UK data protection law

You may contact us for further information about the safeguards that apply to your personal information.

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10. How long we keep information

We retain personal information only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purpose for which it was collected.

Our general retention approach is as follows:

• Enquiry information is retained for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to the enquiry and manage any resulting relationship.

• Client, supplier and commercial records may be retained for as long as required for contractual, tax, accounting, insurance and legal purposes.

• Newsletter information is retained until you unsubscribe or it is no longer required.

• Limited suppression records may be retained to respect unsubscribe requests and marketing objections.

• Awards votes and nomination records may be retained for up to 24 months after the relevant voting period closes.

• Published nominee, finalist and winner information may remain available as part of the Digital Edge awards archive.

• Editorial material may be retained for editorial, evidential, legal or archiving purposes.

• Published editorial content may remain available as part of Digital Edge’s journalistic and historical archive.

• Cookie and analytics information is retained according to the settings and retention periods applied by the relevant service.

Information may be retained for longer where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

When information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or anonymised.

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11. How we protect information

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against:

• Accidental loss

• Misuse

• Unauthorised access

• Alteration

• Disclosure

• Destruction

These measures may include access controls, password protection, secure platforms, restricted permissions, software updates and appropriate arrangements with service providers.

No internet transmission or electronic-storage system is completely secure. If a personal-data breach occurs, we will investigate it and notify affected individuals and the Information Commissioner’s Office where required by law.

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12. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to your personal information

• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information

• Ask us to delete your information

• Ask us to restrict how we use your information

• Object to processing based on legitimate interests

• Object at any time to direct marketing

• Withdraw consent at any time

• Ask to receive certain information in a portable format

• Complain about how your information has been handled

These rights are not absolute. In some circumstances, the law may permit or require us to continue processing or retaining information, including where journalistic exemptions apply.

To exercise your rights, email james@digital-edgemagazine.com.

We may ask you to provide information needed to confirm your identity.

We will respond without undue delay and normally within one month. If a request is particularly complex or involves multiple requests, the law may allow us to take longer. If this happens, we will explain the reason and provide an updated timeframe.

You will not normally be charged for exercising your rights. A reasonable fee may be charged, or a request may be refused, where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive and the law permits us to do so.

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13. Complaints

Please contact us if you have concerns about how we use your personal information. We will investigate your concern and respond as soon as reasonably possible.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk

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14. Automated decision-making

We do not make decisions about individuals using solely automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

We may use technical measures to identify duplicate, suspicious or potentially fraudulent awards submissions, but material decisions will involve human review.

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15. Children’s information

Digital Edge is a business and technology publication intended primarily for a professional audience. Our website and services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from children.

If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us so that we can review and, where appropriate, delete it.

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16. Third-party websites and social media

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, publications and social-media platforms.

These organisations operate under their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for their privacy practices or how they use personal information.

We encourage you to read the relevant privacy information before providing personal information to another organisation.

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17. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our activities, website, service providers or legal obligations.

The latest version will be published on this page with the updated effective date. Where a change significantly affects how we use personal information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to the attention of affected individuals.

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18. Contact us

For questions about this policy, requests concerning your personal information or complaints about our data practices, please contact:

James Pepper
Digital Edge Media Group
66 Paul Street
Shoreditch
London
EC2A 4NA
United Kingdom

Email: james@digital-edgemagazine.com