Beacon Crawler collects data from publicly available sources, and public availability is not a licence to collect anything. Responsible data collection requires clear policies on what is collected, how it is used, and how individuals can opt out. This page describes those policies.
Data Sources
Beacon Crawler only collects data from sources where the information is intentionally published:
- Company websites: contact pages, team pages, and about pages where businesses list their details so they can be contacted
- Business directories: listings that businesses have submitted or consented to
- Professional profiles: publicly visible information on professional networking platforms
- Industry listings: sector-specific directories and databases
The crawler does not access:
- Private areas behind login walls
- Personal social media profiles
- Data from breached or leaked databases
- Information that has been marked as private or restricted
The same boundaries apply to contact data harvesting.
GDPR Compliance
For data involving individuals in the UK and EU, Beacon Crawler operates under a legitimate interest basis as defined in GDPR Article 6(1)(f). The legitimate interest is B2B commercial communication with professionals in their business capacity.
This means:
- Only business contact data is collected: business email addresses, work phone numbers, and professional roles
- Personal data such as personal email, home address, or personal phone is excluded
- Data minimisation applies, so only the data needed for the stated purpose is collected
- Individuals can exercise the right to erasure, and their data is deleted from all systems
- Individuals can exercise the right to object, after which opt-out requests are processed and the person is added to a suppression list
Opt-Out Mechanisms
Anyone whose data has been collected by Beacon Crawler can request removal at any time. Removal requests are processed within 72 hours, and the individual is added to a permanent suppression list to prevent re-collection.
Opt-out requests can be made via email to Digital Royalty. The suppression list is checked before any data is used or distributed, so opted-out individuals are never contacted.
Robots.txt and Rate Limiting
The crawler respects robots.txt directives on every website it accesses. If a site’s robots.txt disallows crawling, the crawler does not access that site.
All crawling operates within polite rate limits that do not impact target site performance. The crawler identifies itself in its user agent string and does not disguise its activity.
Data Retention
Collected data is retained only as long as it is needed for the stated purpose. Data that is no longer relevant is purged. Retention periods are reviewed regularly, and data that has not been used within a defined period is automatically flagged for deletion.
Accountability
Digital Royalty is the data controller for all data collected by Beacon Crawler. We maintain records of processing activities, conduct regular reviews of our data practices, and update these policies as legal requirements evolve. You can read more about who we are on our company overview.
If you have questions about how your data has been collected or used, or if you want to exercise your rights under data protection law, contact us.
