Who we are
People in Maritime is a professional network for the maritime industry. It is currently a pilot, first used at the RINA Southern Joint Branch event in October 2026.
We are the data controller for the personal information described on this page. That means we decide how it is used and we are responsible for looking after it under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
For anything about your information, email [email protected].
What we store
We only store what the service needs to work. This is all of it.
Your account
Your name, your email address and your password. The password is stored as a one-way hash, so nobody, including us, can read it.
Your profile
Your discipline, organisation, city, country, a short story about yourself, the topics you are interested in and what you are open to, such as coffee, technical conversations or mentoring. You decide how much of this to fill in.
Your hub
The maritime centre you belong to, such as Southampton or Rotterdam. It decides which area you hear about events and people from. When you sign up, we place you in the nearest hub by asking a geolocation service roughly which city your internet (IP) address is in. We keep only the hub, not your IP address or that location, and you can change your hub at any time from your profile.
Your visibility choices
Which parts of your profile other people can see, and a "discoverable" switch that decides whether your profile can be found without your personal QR code.
Events you join
Which events you have joined, and whether you have chosen to be visible to other attendees at each one.
People you meet
When you scan someone's code, we store an encounter: a record that you met them, when, and at which event if there was one. You can add a private note to it. Only you, its author, can see that note. The person you met cannot see it, and we never show it to anyone else.
Connections and messages
If you and another person both agree to connect, we store that connection and the messages you send each other. Only connected people can message each other, and only the two of you can read your conversation.
Security
If you turn them on, your two-factor authentication settings and any passkeys you register. For a passkey we store only a public key; the private part never leaves your device.
Pilot activity
A log of product actions, such as joining an event, looking at a profile, recording a meeting or connecting. We use it only to measure the pilot: counting how many people used each part of it, so we can tell whether People in Maritime is useful enough to keep building. The results are counts of people. The log is never sold or shared. When someone without an account opens a personal code or an event page, we count the visit without recording anything about who they are.
How you found us
If you sign up after opening someone's code, a card they shared or an event page, we note which of these it was and, for a code or a card, whose it was. We use it only to count how people find the pilot. That person is not told.
What we never collect
- Your phone number. It is never asked for, and never exchanged when two people meet.
- Your phone's contacts or location. Your city is whatever you type in. The only location we work out is the rough one used once to choose your hub.
- Data from other networks. There is no social sign-in during the pilot, so nothing is pulled in from anywhere else.
Who can see what
- Your public profile page shows only the fields you have made visible. You always see your full profile on your own page.
- If you switch off "discoverable", your profile can only be opened by someone who has your personal QR code, usually because you showed it to them.
- At an event, other attendees see you only if you have joined it and chosen to be visible there.
- Private notes are seen only by the person who wrote them.
- Messages are seen only by the two people in the conversation.
People in Maritime is not a sales directory. Nobody can buy access to lists of members, and we never sell your data.
Why we are allowed to use it
The UK GDPR requires a lawful basis for each way personal information is used. Ours are:
- Providing the service you signed up for (contract): your account, profile, hub, visibility choices, events, encounters, connections, messages and the emails that go with them.
- Legitimate interests: keeping accounts secure, preventing abuse, measuring the pilot in aggregate, and asking one short feedback question after an event. You can object to any of these by emailing us.
- Legal obligations: where the law requires us to keep or disclose something.
Emails we send
- Account emails: verifying your email address and resetting your password.
- Connection emails: when someone asks to connect with you, and when someone accepts your request.
- Message emails: when a connection sends you a new message.
- New events in your hub: one email for each new event added in your hub, unless you created it or have already joined it. You can change your hub from your profile, or switch these emails off in your account settings.
- One feedback question, about a week after an event you joined, asking whether you followed up with anyone and whether you would use People in Maritime again.
We do not send marketing emails or newsletters, and we never give your email address to other organisations for their own use.
Cookies
We use three cookies, all of them needed to run the site:
- A session cookie that keeps you signed in.
- A security (CSRF) cookie that stops other websites from submitting forms as you.
- An appearance cookie that remembers whether you prefer light or dark mode.
There are no advertising cookies, no analytics cookies and no third-party trackers. Because these cookies are strictly necessary, you will not see a cookie banner.
If you add People in Maritime to your home screen, your browser also keeps a copy of the app's files so it opens quickly on a poor connection. That copy holds the app itself, not your personal information.
Who else handles your data
We use a small number of service providers to run People in Maritime: a hosting provider for the servers and database, an email provider to deliver our emails, and a geolocation service that is sent your IP address once, when you sign up, to find your nearest hub. They process data only on our instructions, under contracts that require them to protect it. If any of them processes data outside the UK, we make sure the transfer has the safeguards the UK GDPR requires.
We will disclose information if the law requires it, for example in response to a valid court order. Otherwise we do not share your data with anyone.
How long we keep it
We keep your information for as long as you have an account. When you delete your account, your profile, your notes, the meetings you recorded, your connections and your messages are deleted straight away.
Other people's records of meeting you are theirs, so they are not deleted. We remove you from them: your name, profile and link to you are gone, and the record shows only that they met a former member, when, and at which event, with any private note they wrote. Entries in the pilot activity log stay only as anonymous counts, with the link to you removed. Copies in our backups disappear as those backups expire.
Your choices and rights
You stay in control of your information:
- Edit or hide your profile whenever you like, field by field, or switch off "discoverable".
- Rotate your QR key from your code screen. Your old code stops working immediately, so anyone holding it can no longer use it to find you.
- Download your data from settings. This export is being built for the pilot; until it is ready, email us and we will send you a copy.
- Delete your account from settings. This removes your profile, your notes, the meetings you recorded, your connections and your messages. Other people keep their own records of meeting you, with your name and profile removed.
Under the UK GDPR you also have the right to access, correct and erase your personal information, to restrict or object to how it is used, and to take it with you. To use any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will reply within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this notice
If we change how we use your information, we will update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant, we will email you before it takes effect.
See also our terms of use.