CONFIDENTIALITY

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The Internet is not as secure or private as communication in an office would be. Email and other communications can be intercepted by hackers, for whatever reasons, and data on the computer itself, even after being deleted, may leave a footprint that could be recovered, by law enforcement officers, for example.

Unless you are a household name, it is in fact extremely rare that a hacker would find counselling exchanges of any interest. This factor is , for some people, a major source of security.

If you are usually comfortable sending personal information about yourself (not your credit card or bank account) in regular email correspondence, or in private chat windows, you will probably feel comfortable about this process. We will take all measures possible to ensure that confidentiality is observed, and will not divulge any identifying information that you have given us without your consent.

However, UK law requires us to take action with regard to contemporary terrorism and child abuse.

All personal information received from you is kept securely on our personal computers and deleted when the contract is completed.

Identifying details are omitted in the professional consultation that takes place with our supervisors.

Even before the internet, when private notes might be typed on a computer, other family members might have found a copy of the notes. You might want to "delete" material from your computer, and only keep printed notes in a secure place, if this might be a concern in your household. Even after deleting files on your computer, there are other storage places on your computer which retain copies of the deleted files. If you are not aware of how this happens, check with someone knowledgeable about computers, and have them show you the "cache" files and also the "history" files on your directory. Always think about "what could happen" if others, who have access to your computer, might see copies of your work.

If you are using a computer at work, remember that management probably have a right to access to all the information stored on your work computer. A Hotmail account is more private as long as you log off correctly after use. This is especially important in an Internet café.

Many companies have a policy on using work computers to send private emails. The management have the right to access all information being stored on that computer.