Privacy Notice
This notice explains what information Firm Beacon collects, why we collect it, how long we keep it and the choices you have. We have tried to keep it short and in plain English.
1. Who we are
Firm Beacon is an online service that checks publicly available law-firm websites for regulatory information such as the SRA number, the SRA clickable logo, complaints information and price and service details. For the purposes of data-protection law, the operator of Firm Beacon is the data controller for the information described in this notice.
2. Information we collect
We collect only what we need to run the service:
- Account information — your email address and a hashed password. We never store your password in readable form.
- Monitoring settings — the public website URLs you add, the display names you give them, the services you select for pricing checks and your alert preferences.
- Scan results — the findings, page lists, screenshots and change history produced when the scanner checks a website you added.
- Billing information — your plan, payment status, order references and subscription identifiers. We do not see or store card numbers (see section 4).
- Operational logs — standard technical logs (such as IP addresses and request times) used to keep the service secure and diagnose faults.
3. How we use your information
We use this information to provide the service you signed up for: running scans, showing reports, sending the alert and account emails you request, processing subscriptions and protecting the service against abuse. We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
4. Payments
Payments are processed by Lava.top, an independent payment provider. Your card details are entered on and handled by their systems, not ours. We receive and store confirmation of the payment, the amount and subscription identifiers so we can activate and manage your plan. Lava.top's own privacy policy applies to the information you give them.
5. What the scanner visits
The scanner only visits publicly accessible web pages of the websites added by our users, the same pages any visitor could open in a browser. It does not submit forms, create accounts, bypass access controls or collect information about individuals from those pages beyond what is needed to report the regulatory findings.
6. Cookies
Firm Beacon uses a single session cookie that keeps you logged in. It is essential for the service to work. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
7. Who we share information with
We share information only with the suppliers needed to run the service: our hosting provider (which stores the application data), Lava.top (payments) and our email delivery provider (account and alert emails). Each acts under its own contractual and legal obligations. We may also disclose information where the law requires it.
8. How long we keep information
We keep your account information and scan history while your account is active. Screenshots are automatically deleted after a short retention period. If you delete your account, the associated data is removed from the live system immediately and from backups within our backup-retention cycle (up to 30 days). Payment records may be kept longer where accounting rules require it.
9. Security
Passwords are stored as salted hashes, the service runs over HTTPS, access to the server is restricted, and backups are encrypted in transit. No online service can promise perfect security, but we keep the amount of personal data we hold deliberately small.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export or delete the personal information we hold about you, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can delete your account and its data yourself at any time in Account settings. For anything else, contact us and we will respond within a reasonable time, normally within one month.
11. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to your local data-protection authority. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), ico.org.uk.
12. Changes to this notice
If we change this notice in a meaningful way, we will update the date at the top and, for significant changes, tell you by email or with a notice in the service.
13. Contact
A support contact will be published here shortly.