Abridge Solutions Pty Ltd (Abridge) recognises the
importance of protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information
collected about our customers. For the purposes of this Privacy Statement, the
word customers includes visitors to our web sites, subscribers to and users of
our services, purchasers of our products and advertising customers.
We
are bound by the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988
(Commonwealth) in relation to the handling of personal information. Where
appropriate we will handle personal information relying on the media exemption
(but complying with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards), related
bodies corporate exemption and the employee exemption in the Privacy
Act.
Personal Information
We collect personal information when we
provide our services to you. Generally we will tell you why we are collecting
information when we collect it and how we plan to use it or these things will be
obvious when we collect the information.
We usually collect personal
information directly from you although sometimes we may use agents or service
providers to do this for us. We may also acquire lists from other sources, both
from other companies and from other public documents.
Use of
Information
We usually collect personal information such as your name,
address, telephone number, and in some instances, your financial details. When
you are online, we collect information regarding the pages within our network
which you visit and what you click on. As a general rule we do not collect
sensitive information. However, if we do, it will usually be for the purposes of
providing our goods or services and if the law requires us to, we will seek your
consent to collect it.
We use your information to provide our services to
you, to fulfil administrative functions associated with these services, for
example billing, to enter into contracts with you or third parties and for
marketing and client relationship purposes. Where your personal information is
contained within an advertisement which we publish for you, we may also use your
information for publication of that same advertisement in other media, in
accordance with the terms and conditions of the initial publication.
We
may share your information with other companies which are related to Abridge
Limited, within Australia. We or they may also use your personally identifiable
information to assist us in improving our products and services and any of us
might be in touch to let you know about goods, services, or promotions which may
interest you.
Use by Third Parties
Abridge may disclose
your information to its service providers and contractors from time to time to
help us to provide and market our goods and services to you. We may also share
your information with third parties who provide prizes for competitions or
reader offers. If we do this we generally require these parties to protect your
information in the same way we do.
Use of Aggregate Data
We
may collect certain non-personal information to optimise our goods and services
including our Web pages for your computer (e.g., the identity of your Internet
browser, the type of operating system you use, your IP address and the domain
name of your Internet service provider). We may use such non-personal
information for internal purposes, including but not limited to improving the
content of our sites.
Abridge may use personally identifiable information
in aggregate form to improve our goods and services including our Web sites and
make them more responsive to the needs of our customers. This statistical
compilation and analysis of information may also be used by Abridge or provided
to others as a summary report for marketing, advertising or research
purposes.
Security
Abridge strives to ensure the security, integrity
and privacy of personally identifiable information of our customers. We use a
variety of physical and electronic security measures including restricting
physical access to our offices and firewalls and secure databases to keep
personal information secure from misuse, loss or unauthorised use or
disclosure.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be
guaranteed to be totally secure.
Access to Personal
Information
You have a right to access most personal information we
hold about you and if we deny access in some circumstances we will tell you
why.
To request access, please contact our staff as set out at the end of
this document.
Public Information
Any information posted on
bulletin boards and/or communicated in chat areas becomes public information.
While Abridge strives to protect and respect your privacy, we cannot guarantee
the security of any information you disclose in a chat room or bulletin
board.
Cookies
Cookies are data that a Web site transfers
to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies can
facilitate a user's ongoing access to and use of a site. They allow us to track
usage patterns and to compile data that can help us improve our content and
target advertising. If you do not want information collected through the use of
Cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or
accept the Cookie feature. But you should note that Cookies may be necessary to
provide you with features such as merchandise transactions or registered
services.
Online Links to Third Party and Co-Branded Sites
Abridge may
establish relationships with business partners that allow visitors to our
Internet sites to link directly to sites operated by these partners. Some of
these sites may be "co-branded" with our logo; however, these sites may not be
operated or maintained by or on our behalf. These sites may collect personal
information from you that may be shared with us. This Privacy Statement will
apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner.
Abridge is
not responsible for the content or practices of Web sites operated by third
parties that are linked to our sites. These links are meant for the user's
convenience only. Links to third party sites do not constitute sponsorship,
endorsement or approval by Abridge of the content, policies or practices of
those third party sites. Once you have left our site via such a link, you should
check the applicable privacy policy of the third party site.
What else you
should know about privacy on the Internet
Remember to close your browser
when you have finished your user session. This is to ensure that others cannot
access your personal information and correspondence if you share a computer with
someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or
Internet caf?. You as an individual are responsible for the security of and
access to your own computer.
Whenever you voluntarily disclose personal
information over the Internet that this information can be collected and used by
others. In short, if you post personal information in publicly accessible online
forums, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.
Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your
username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and
responsible whenever you are using the Internet.
For further
information
Please contact our Administration Staff (email:
) to ask for access to your information or if you have a complaint
concerning your information privacy or if you would like more information about
our approach to privacy.
