Last updated: 13 August 2026

Who we are

Sonic Code Media is a privately operated hobby website available at:

https://soniccodemedia.com

It is operated by William Jay, who is responsible for personal information processed through the website. Sonic Code Media is not a company or separate legal entity.

For privacy enquiries, objections or requests concerning your personal information, contact:

gdpr@soniccodemedia.com

Information we collect

Depending on how you use the website, we may process:

• Your name, email address and messages you send
• Your email subscription preferences and confirmation records
• Information you provide when creating or managing an account
• Information submitted when leaving a comment
• Masked IP address and approximate geographic location
• Browser, operating-system and device information
• Pages visited, links followed, downloads and referring pages
• Login, security and abuse-prevention information
• Technical information required to operate and protect the website

We do not sell personal information or use website analytics information for behavioural advertising or cross-site profiling.

Website analytics

We use a self-hosted website analytics system to understand how visitors use the website, identify popular content, measure the effectiveness of links and campaigns, and improve its performance and usability.

Analytics information is processed within our own website environment and is not sent to an external analytics provider.

The analytics system may record:

• Pages visited and the order in which they were viewed
• The date, time and approximate duration of a visit
• The referring website or campaign
• Links, downloads and other actions taken on the website
• Browser type, operating system and device category
• Screen and technical device information
• Approximate geographic location
• A privacy-reduced technical identifier used to distinguish visits

The analytics system operates without analytics cookies. IP addresses are masked by removing two bytes, and only the masked address is used when deriving approximate location information. User identifiers are pseudonymised and referrer query parameters are removed.

Although these measures reduce identifiability, we treat website analytics information as personal data under the UK GDPR.

Our lawful basis is legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR. Our legitimate interest is understanding the use and performance of the website so that we can maintain it, improve its content and identify technical or usability problems.

We consider this processing proportionate because the analytics system is self-hosted, analytics cookies are disabled, IP addresses are masked, access is restricted and the information is not used for advertising or cross-site profiling.

Detailed raw visitor records are automatically deleted after 180 days. Aggregated statistical reports may be retained for longer to compare website performance over time.

You may opt out of website analytics below. Opting out will prevent this browser from being included in future analytics tracking.

Previous analytics information

We previously used other local and external analytics services. Their active tracking was discontinued on 13 August 2026.

Historical information collected before that date may remain temporarily within local records, backups or the relevant provider’s systems until it is deleted or expires under the applicable retention arrangements.

This historical information is not used for behavioural advertising or sold to other organisations.

Email subscriptions

If you subscribe to email updates, we may collect:

• Your email address
• Your selected subscription categories
• The date and status of your subscription
• Records showing that you confirmed your subscription
• Delivery, unsubscribe and suppression information

We use this information only to send the updates you requested and administer your subscription.

Our lawful basis for sending subscription emails is consent. You may withdraw consent at any time by using any unsubscribe link provided in an email or by contacting:

gdpr@soniccodemedia.com

When somebody unsubscribes, we may retain a minimal suppression record to ensure that the address is not inadvertently resubscribed or contacted again. Our lawful basis for retaining this record is legitimate interests and, where applicable, compliance with legal obligations.

Email information may be processed by service providers that deliver email on our behalf. Those providers are permitted to process the information only for providing the relevant service.

Contact forms and correspondence

When you contact us, we process the information you provide so that we can read, manage and respond to your enquiry.

This may include:

• Your name
• Your email address
• The contents of your message
• Limited technical information used for delivery, security and spam prevention

Our lawful basis is legitimate interests where we respond to ordinary enquiries.

Where an enquiry concerns a possible agreement, purchase or service, processing may also be necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

Correspondence is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the enquiry, any resulting relationship and applicable legal or administrative requirements.

Accounts and comments

If account registration or commenting is available, we may process the information you submit together with relevant account, moderation and security information.

Comments and associated metadata may be retained while the comment remains published and for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Manage discussions
• Recognise legitimate follow-up comments
• Prevent spam and abuse
• Maintain an accurate publication record
• Resolve complaints or disputes

Account holders may be able to view, update or delete certain profile information. We may retain information where necessary to protect the website, resolve disputes, prevent misuse or comply with legal obligations.

If profile images are enabled, a privacy-protected representation of an email address may be sent to an external avatar service to determine whether an associated image exists. That external provider processes information under its own privacy terms.

Media uploads

If visitors are permitted to upload images, they should avoid uploading files containing embedded location information such as EXIF GPS data.

Depending on how a file is processed and displayed, other visitors may be able to download the image and extract embedded information.

Cookies and local browser storage

The website may use strictly necessary cookies or similar browser storage required for:

• Website security
• Login sessions
• User preferences
• Comment preferences
• Consent choices
• Essential website functions

If you log in, additional cookies may be used to maintain your session, remember display preferences and support account security.

If you choose to save your details when leaving a comment, convenience cookies may remember your name, email address and website for future comments.

Optional cookies or similar technologies associated with embedded third-party content are subject to the choices provided through our consent controls where consent is legally required.

Our self-hosted website analytics operates without analytics cookies.

You can delete or block cookies through your browser settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent parts of the website from working correctly.

Embedded content and external links

Pages may contain embedded video, audio, images, social-media posts or other content supplied by external platforms.

Embedded content can behave as though you visited the external platform directly. When such content loads, the external provider may receive:

• Your IP address
• Browser and device information
• Details of the page containing the embedded content
• Information about your interaction with that content

The external provider may also use cookies or similar technologies. If you are logged into that external service, it may associate your interaction with your account.

Where legally required, optional embedded content or associated tracking will be controlled by the consent choices available on the website.

External websites and platforms operate under their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, availability or content of websites we do not control.

Search-performance information

We may receive aggregated information about how the website appears in search-engine results, including:

• Search terms
• Impressions
• Clicks
• Average search positions
• Pages appearing in search results
• Technical indexing information

This reporting is used to understand and improve the website’s visibility and technical performance. It does not normally identify individual visitors to us.

Security and abuse prevention

We process limited technical information to protect the website, forms, accounts and administrative systems against:

• Spam
• Fraud
• Malicious traffic
• Automated abuse
• Unauthorised access
• Security attacks

This information may include:

• IP addresses
• Browser user-agent information
• Requested web addresses
• Timestamps
• Failed login attempts
• Security events
• Automated abuse-prevention results

Our lawful basis is legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR. Our legitimate interest is maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, availability and security of the website and protecting its visitors.

Security records are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary to investigate incidents, block recurring abuse and protect the website. Records may be retained for longer where connected with a particular security incident, complaint, dispute or legal obligation.

Backups

Website information may be copied into encrypted or access-controlled backups used for disaster recovery, security and service continuity.

Backups are stored with a secure cloud infrastructure or backup-services provider acting on our behalf. Backup copies are retained and replaced according to a rolling backup schedule.

Information deleted from the live website may remain within a backup until that backup is automatically overwritten.

Backups are not used for marketing or ordinary business activity and are accessed or restored only when reasonably necessary.

Who receives your information

Where necessary, personal information may be processed by limited categories of service provider acting on our behalf, including:

• Website-hosting and infrastructure providers
• Secure cloud-backup providers
• Email-delivery providers
• Security and abuse-prevention providers
• Providers of embedded media and external content
• Professional advisers
• Public authorities where disclosure is legally required

We do not sell personal information.

Providers acting on our behalf are permitted to process information only for the relevant service and subject to appropriate contractual, confidentiality and security requirements.

We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to:

• Comply with a legal obligation
• Respond to a valid request from a court or public authority
• Establish, exercise or defend legal rights
• Investigate fraud, abuse or a security incident
• Protect the rights, safety or property of the website operator or other people

International transfers

Some external service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where UK data-protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, an applicable lawful transfer mechanism will be used, such as:

• UK adequacy regulations
• An approved UK international data-transfer agreement
• An approved UK addendum to recognised contractual clauses
• Another transfer mechanism permitted by UK law

How long we retain information

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

In particular:

• Raw website analytics records are deleted after 180 days
• Aggregated analytics reports may be retained for longer
• Subscription information is retained until you unsubscribe or the service ends
• Minimal suppression records may be retained after unsubscribing
• Account information is retained while the account remains active and as reasonably necessary afterwards
• Comments and associated metadata may be retained while the comment remains published
• Contact correspondence is retained according to the nature of the enquiry and any resulting relationship
• Security records are retained according to operational and incident-response requirements
• Backup copies are replaced according to a rolling backup schedule

Information may be retained for longer where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, investigate misuse or comply with a legal obligation.

Lawful bases

Depending on the purpose, we process personal information under one or more of the following lawful bases:

Consent

We rely on consent where you request email updates or agree to optional cookies or similar technologies.

You may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not make earlier processing unlawful.

Legitimate interests

We rely on legitimate interests where processing is reasonably necessary to:

• Understand and improve the website
• Respond to ordinary enquiries
• Maintain website security
• Prevent spam, fraud and abuse
• Administer accounts, comments and subscriptions
• Maintain appropriate records
• Establish, exercise or defend legal rights

We balance these interests against the rights and reasonable expectations of visitors.

Contract or steps before a contract

Where applicable, we process information necessary to respond to a request made before entering into an agreement or to perform an agreement with you.

Legal obligation

We may process or retain information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you the right to:

• Ask whether we process your personal information
• Request a copy of your personal information
• Have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Request restriction of processing
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent
• Request transfer of information you provided, where applicable
• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.

Your right to object

You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.

If you object, we will stop processing the relevant information unless there are compelling legitimate grounds to continue or the information is required to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

You may opt out of website analytics using the control provided in the Website analytics section.

Making a data request

To exercise your rights, contact:

William Jay
Email: gdpr@soniccodemedia.com

Please describe your request clearly and identify the relevant account, email address, comment, message or other interaction where possible.

We may request information reasonably necessary to:

• Confirm your identity
• Locate the relevant records
• Protect information from unauthorised disclosure

We normally respond within one month. Where legally permitted, this period may be extended for a complex request, in which case we will explain the reason.

Complaints

Please contact us first if you have concerns about how your information is processed so that we have an opportunity to resolve the matter.

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

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Children’s information

The website is intended for a general audience and is not specifically directed at children.

If you believe that a child has submitted personal information without appropriate permission, contact gdpr@soniccodemedia.com so that the matter can be reviewed.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when the website, its features, its service providers or applicable legal requirements change.

The date at the top of the page shows when the policy was last revised.

Where a change materially affects how personal information is used, additional notice will be provided where reasonably necessary.