Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Information you provide

• Account data — name, email address, and profile photo when you create an account or sign in via a social provider (Google)
• Comments and contributions — any content you submit, such as article comments or reader feedback
• Newsletter subscription — your email address when you subscribe to our newsletter
• Contact messages — name, email, and message content when you reach out through our contact form

Information collected automatically

• Usage data — pages visited, time on site, referral source, clicks, and scroll depth
• Device data — browser type, operating system, screen resolution, and language preference
• IP address — used for security, fraud prevention, and approximate geographic location (country/region level)
• Cookies — small data files stored on your device (see our Cookie Policy for details)

2. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information to:

• Provide and maintain the Site and its features
• Authenticate your identity and manage your account
• Send you newsletters and editorial updates (only with your consent)
• Respond to your enquiries and support requests
• Analyse usage patterns to improve content and user experience
• Detect, prevent, and address technical issues and security threats
• Comply with legal obligations

3. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Consent — when you subscribe to the newsletter or accept non-essential cookies
• Contract performance — when we need your data to provide account-related services
• Legitimate interest — for analytics, security, and improving the Site, balanced against your rights
• Legal obligation — when we must retain data to comply with applicable laws

4. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We may share information with:

• Service providers — hosting, email delivery, and analytics platforms that process data on our behalf under strict contractual obligations
• Authentication providers — Google when you use social sign-in
• Law enforcement — when required by law or to protect our legal rights

5. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy:

• Account data — retained while your account is active and for up to 30 days after deletion
• Comments — retained while the associated article is published
• Analytics data — aggregated and anonymised data may be retained indefinitely; raw logs are deleted after 90 days
• Newsletter subscription — retained until you unsubscribe

6. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data and obtain a copy
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data
• Eraseyour personal data (“right to be forgotten”)
• Restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Port your data to another service in a machine-readable format
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest
• Withdraw consent at any time for consent-based processing

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@vivaportugal.com. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encryption in transit (TLS), secure authentication, access controls, and regular security reviews.

8. International Transfers

Your data may be processed in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). When this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

9. Children’s Privacy

The Site is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through a notice on the Site. The “Last updated” date at the top indicates the most recent revision.

11. Contact

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at privacy@vivaportugal.com.