What is a privacy policy?

A privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that sets out some or all of the ways a business collects, uses, and manages a customer’s personal information. It is also known as a ‘responsible use of data’, or a ‘use of private and confidential information policy’. But for our purposes, let’s just stick to calling it a privacy policy because that’s a lot easier to remember.

What is personal information?

Under the Privacy Act there is a long winded definition as to what constitutes ‘personal information’. But the Readers Digest condensed version is that personal information is your name (that one was sort of obvious), signature, address, email address, credit card information, telephone number, date of birth, medical records, bank account details and commentary or opinion about a person.

Who needs a privacy policy and why?

The Privacy Act does not apply to small businesses (with an annual turnover of less than $3m). However, a small business may choose to “opt in” to the Privacy Act to increase consumer confidence and trust. In saying the above, if you provide Health related services then you will need a privacy policy, irrespective of how much you turn over.

How do you comply with Australian privacy laws?

  1. Have a clear and current privacy policy in place;
  2. Your privacy policy must be available free of charge. Most business make their privacy policy available on their website where it can easily be read, downloaded and printed.
  3. You need to be able to respond to individuals who request details about what information you hold, how you use it and if you have shared it with others.
  4. Your privacy policy must:
  • Include details about the kind of personal information you collect, how you collect that information and how you hold that information;
  • Explain how the personal information is used;
  • Advise how an individual may complain about access to the information and make corrections to any personal information; and
  • Indicate whether the information is likely to be disclosed to overseas recipients.

Examples?

Prime examples of businesses that collect personal information are Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

So, when we sign up to a Facebook account, we agree for Facebook to store the personal information that we provide to it, such as our name, date of birth, mobile number and our relationship status. Now, customers or clients will probably be wondering why on earth would Facebook want to use this information? Well, Facebook could use it for a variety of reasons, such as for market research or for demographic information or marketing purposes.

Are privacy policies easy to draft/make?

Generally, the answer to that is yes. The requirements of a privacy policy are fairly straightforward, and are outlined above. The complexity arises in ensuring that all the potential uses that you will want to make with the personal information you collect are covered in the privacy policy. Also things can get a lot more complicated pretty quickly if you operate in the health sector, then you definitely need a privacy policy that is tailored specifically for your services and industry.

Privacy and Policy

This Privacy Policy regulates how we use, store and protect your personal information. This Privacy Policy is the integral part of our Terms. All capitalised terms used in this Privacy Policy has the similar meaning ascribed to them in the Terms, unless otherwise stated herein. By using Our Website in any way, or by buying from us, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy.

1. We respect your privacy

  • We are committed to safeguarding personal privacy. Unless given consent to do otherwise and/or otherwise permissible by and/or required by law, we will only collect and use personal information as set out below.
  • Throughout this Privacy Policy, we refer to your ‘personal information’, which means information which identifies you as an individual or which renders you reasonably identifiable.
  • This Privacy Policy has been developed and implemented in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
  • We may in our absolute discretion revise this Privacy Policy at any time without notice. We will post any changes to this Privacy Policy on Our Website and so we encourage you to check this Privacy Policy from time to time.

2. Your Personal Information

Personal information that may be requested or provided by you includes, but is not limited to:

  • contact information such as your full name and email address;
  • your phone number;
  • your individual preferences;
  • financial information about you;
  • your credit card details;
  • information regarding your personal interests and interesting and relevant information about you;
  • location data;
  • sensitive information about you;
  • your online behaviour and interests based on your online browsing activity (including social interactions);
  • information automatically collected by our software to include IP Address, cookies data, performance specifications of the user’s hardware and software, date and time of access to Our Website and the URL of the page requested;
  • information about your experience with our Services;
  • the contact details of third parties. If you are asked to provide details about other people, please ensure that these individuals are happy for their details to be given to us and used for the purposes set out in this policy (which may include using their details for marketing and social media purposes);
  • any other personal information which you directly provide to us;
  • any other personal information requested or required for the purpose of provision the Services.

3. Sensitive Information

  • We will only collect sensitive information with your consent, including where you have provided it to us voluntarily. Where you provide us with any sensitive information (including, but not limited to, information about your religious or political beliefs) in connection with what is requested by Our Website, we will only use this information for the purposes stated on Our Website and will share this information with our trusted third parties in the manner stated on Our Website or in this Privacy Policy.

4. Collection of Personal Information

We will only collect any personal information about you with your consent including as provided in this Privacy Policy or if it is otherwise lawful to do so. The only personal information collected by us is what has been provided to us in accordance with this Privacy Policy or has been provided to us lawfully by third parties.

Active Information Collection

  • Personal information may be collected by us if you:
  1. have previously provided us with personal information prior to this Privacy Policy coming into effect, either directly from you personally or via a third party;
  2. purchase any product or service via Our Website;
  3. subscribe to any alerts, information releases, news, newsletters, updates and media releases about our products or services;
  4. complete and submit any forms to us;
  5. communicate with any other users on Our Website;
  6. contact us directly in person or via any medium including but not limited to by mail, telephone, social media and via the contact form on Our Website;
  7. participate in any offers, promotions or marketing activities;
  8. interact with Our Website for a specific purpose; or
  9. interact with or browse Our Website generally.
  • Personal information is requested in order to facilitate or provide you with Services, certain content, and information about such content, products or services, any marketing materials, newsletters, electronic newsletters (e-newsletters), news and media releases / launch information, and also to advise you of other Services, offers, or events which may be of interest. You are not obliged to provide personal information. However, failure to do so may result in us being unable facilitate or provide you with certain content or Services, upcoming promotion, competition, offer or event information or accept competition entries (where applicable).
  • We may also obtain your personal information from legitimate third party sources including list brokers, social media websites and other data providers or organisations that share data in circumstances where it is lawful and/or you have given permission for them to do so.

Passive Information Collection

  • We may also collect information which tells us about visitors to Our Website. For example, we may collect information about the location, date, time and duration of visits and which pages of Our Website are most commonly accessed. This information is generally not linked to the identity of visitors. By accessing Our Website via links in an email we have sent and/or by accessing Our Website generally, you consent to the collection of such information where it is personal information.
  • Certain information can be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information) using various technologies, such as Unique Device Identifiers (UDI), cookies, Internet tags or web beacons, and navigational data collection (log files, server logs, clickstream). In certain circumstances, this information may be considered anonymous information or personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
  • Your Internet browser automatically transmits to Our Website you are browsing some of this anonymous information or personal information, such as the URL of the website you just came from, the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the UDI (if applicable) and the browser version your device is currently using.
  • Our Website may also collect anonymous information or personal information from your device through cookies and Internet tags or web beacons. You may set your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent or to refuse cookies altogether, but certain features of Our Website might not work without cookies and this may limit the services provided by Our Website. Cookies and other technical methods may involve the transmission of information either directly to us or to another party authorised by us to collect information on our behalf. For more information about cookies and how you can opt out, you can visit https://totalreblocking.com.au/
  • We may use passively collected anonymous information or personal information to provide better service to Our Website’s visitors and customers, customise Our Website based on your preferences, compile and analyse statistics and trends, and otherwise administer and improve Our Website for your use.
  • By accessing Our Website, you consent to information about you being collected, compiled and used in this way.

5. Eligibility

  • The collection of personal information is neither intended for, nor directed to, persons who are under the age of eighteen (18) years old. Persons under age eighteen (18) may only use Our Website with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian.

6. Purpose for collection, use and disclosure of personal information

Personal information will be collected, held, used and disclosed for the following primary purposes jointly and/or severally:

  • For the purposes for which it was collected (as set out in this Privacy Policy);
  • To maintain the functionality of Our Website, including the provision of information to you relating to the content available on Our Website and e-commerce transactions conducted via Our Website;
  • To send you any technical, administrative or legal notices, whether or not these are important to Our Website;
  • To fulfil obligations in respect of any transaction made on Our Website;
  • To provide you with information about your transactions, content and services, to provide direct marketing materials, events, special offers, competitions and promotions in person and via any medium including mail, telephone or any other form of electronic, emerging, digital or conventional communications channel;
  • To maintain our relationship with you;
  • To render Services to you;
  • To provide you with newsletters via mail and electronic newsletters (e-newsletters);
  • To respond to enquiries, complaints and complaints handling;
  • To improve Services, Our Website and system administration;
  • To record statistical data for marketing analysis and to conduct market research;
  • To share personal information with our promotional partners and other trusted third parties in the manner described below;
  • To the extent permissible by law, for any other purpose as may be deemed reasonably necessary by us in the circumstances.

7. Protection of Personal Information

  • We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of your personal information. Except as stated in this Privacy Policy and/or as except as otherwise permitted by law, such information will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes without your consent.
  • These exceptions include, but are not limited to, data entry, database management, promotions, products and services alerts, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), and providing customer service (the “Service Providers”). These Service Providers are under a duty of confidentiality to us and are only permitted to use the personal information in connection with their functions and not for their own purposes (including direct marketing).
  • We may disclose your personal information to any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.
  • We reserve the right to use or disclose any information, including personal information, as needed to satisfy any law, regulation or legal request, to protect the rights or property of us, or any member of the public, to protect the integrity of Our Website, to fulfil your requests, or to cooperate in any law enforcement investigation or an investigation on a matter of public safety.

8. Storage and Security of Personal Information

  • We will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any personal information recorded (including your credit card details). The information is stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities. This service may be performed on our behalf and data may be hosted by our selected data storage providers. In some cases these facilities may be overseas or may be operated by cloud computing.
  • The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. We cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, or receive from us. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorised disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that personal information that we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

9. Links to Other Websites

  • Our Website may contain links to the websites of other organisations which may be of interest to you. Their inclusion cannot be taken to imply any endorsement or validation by us of the content of the third party website. Linked websites are responsible for their own privacy practices and you should check those websites for their respective privacy policies, practices or statements. We are not responsible, nor does it accept any liability, for the conduct of organisation linked to Our Website.

10. Access and Correction to Your Personal Information

  • You have the right to access and review your personal information that may be recorded on our database. Information may be reviewed by contacting our privacy officer via email – see Our Website for the address. A small administrative fee may be payable for the provision of information. Please allow 30 days for this request to be processed.
  • We reserve the right to refuse to provide you with information that we hold about you, in certain circumstances set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

11. Data Retention

  • We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary or your account is active or as needed to provide you with services on Our Website. If you no longer want us to use your personal information to provide you with services, you may close your account. However, we may retain and use your personal information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreement.

12. Sale of Company

If we merge with, or are acquired by, another company or organisation, or sell all or a portion of our assets, your personal information may be disclosed to our advisers and any prospective purchaser or any prospective purchaser’s adviser, and may be among the assets transferred. However, personal information will always remain subject to this Privacy Policy.

13. Changing and Deleting Information we have about you

  • Information contained on the database may be deleted if you send a request to our privacy officer via email – see Our Website for details. Please allow 30 days for this request to be processed.
  • We will process your request provided this does not in any way interfere with our obligations under this Privacy Policy and/or provided that such deletion does not in any way amount to a violation or breach of any law, then we may consider taking such reasonable steps as we in our discretion decide to take, in relation to the possible or potential deletion of the information. Where we have decided to delete the information, you agree that deletion of information may result in us being unable to facilitate or provide you with information about certain transactions, other content, services or product information, upcoming promotion, competition or event information, and/or provide certain content or Services.
  • We are not responsible for removing your personal information from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.