Our commitment to your privacy
CHOICE, publisher of CHOICE Magazine, CHOICE Online, CHOICE Books and other CHOICE consumer products and services, abides by Australia’s National Privacy Principles and is committed to respecting your right to privacy and your right to control the accuracy of your personal information.
- We are committed to protecting your privacy in all your dealings with us: when you contact us, visit our websites, respond to one of our surveys or promotions, subscribe to one of our magazines or to our websites, buy something from us or share your experiences with us.
- We only collect personal information that is needed for or directly related to the functions and activities of the Association — for example, to deliver the advice, goods or services you have requested or to communicate promotional offers.
- We protect your details through encryption, firewalls, and building and computer security systems.
- We never share information about you with any other organisation beyond what is necessary to deliver the goods or services you have requested from us.
- You are welcome to review the information we hold about you.
- You have the right to opt out of individually addressed promotional mailings.
- We deal with complaints about privacy breaches promptly.
This policy covers information that identifies you as an individual. It also covers information from which your identity is apparent or could reasonably be ascertained (eg, by matching different sets of data held by CHOICE).
Information we collect
We only collect personal information about you if it is
- Necessary to supply you with what you request or give you the access you need — for example, if you want to:
- Subscribe to one of our magazines, websites or email newsletters;
- Respond to one of our promotional offers;
- Buy a book or other item from us;
- Ask us for advice in relation to a consumer issue; or
- Share your experiences regarding a product or service.
- Necessary to the research, planning, product development and marketing requirements of CHOICE — for example, to communicate promotional offers.
- Necessary to protect the rights or property of CHOICE, any CHOICE publication, any CHOICE subscriber or any member of the public.
- Necessary to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety.
- Required by law.
We will only collect information by lawful and fair means and we will take steps to ensure that the information we collect does not intrude to an unreasonable extent on your personal affairs.
When we ask you for information, we will tell you:
- Who we are and how to contact us;
- What information we need and why we’re collecting it;
- How you can get access to the personal information you give us if you want to check or change it;
- Any law that requires us to collect it; and
- The main consequences (if any) if all or part of the information is not provided;
We will usually collect personal information directly from you.
Sensitive information
Sensitive information is information that identifies an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information.
CHOICE does not collect sensitive information about you unless you specifically choose to volunteer it to us, for example in a letter to us about your experiences or concerns.
When we collect information for research topics such as people’s healthcare experiences, the information is usually collected anonymously and is always only used in the aggregate, for example to lobby the government for better services, unless you give your consent to being identified. You can always opt out of giving this kind of information.
Anonymity
Wherever it is lawful and practicable we will give you the option of not identifying yourself when contacting or dealing with CHOICE. So, for example, you can visit the free parts of our websites, respond to surveys, or ask us questions about consumer rights without identifying yourself. However, if you want to receive one of CHOICE’s subscription products or services, ask a question about the personal information we hold about you, buy a book directly from us, or participate in one of our prize draws you will need to give us certain personal information.
Intrusion detection
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we employ systems to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. In the event of a police investigation, and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these systems may be used to help identify an individual.
Information you may choose to provide
If you take part in an online, mail or phone survey the information we collect is usually anonymous and is only used in aggregated form unless we specifically tell you otherwise at the time we collect it. You may always choose not to participate. All information gathered in this way is kept strictly confidential.
We may also collect general demographic data so we can check aggregated results against ABS statistics to ensure they’re representative, but the identification is no more specific than your postcode and is never used on an individual basis.
Where you give us information about your experiences with products or services this may be interesting to others when we publish articles on those topics. If we wish to use your experience and you’ve provided it to us in a private communication (letter, fax, email, phone call, survey) we will always ask your permission before we publish it. You always have the right to refuse or to request anonymity.
How your personal information is used and disclosed
We will not use or disclose or permit the use or disclosure of personal information that could be used to identify an individual except in the following circumstances:
When you purchase something from us or respond to one of our promotions we will use the information you provide to deliver any information, goods and/or services you have requested. For example, if you subscribe to CHOICE Magazine, we will send you your magazines and renewal notices.
For customers we may also:
- Ask you for your email address so we can send you our e-newsletters — you can always opt out of these
- Tell you about related products or services that CHOICE provides. For example we may send you our next book catalogue.
- Invite you to participate in research to improve CHOICE products and services, for example, telephone you to ask about your interest in the latest issue of a magazine you subscribe to.
- Invite you to participate in surveys about consumer products or services, for example, send you a survey about your experiences with your bank.
- Invite you to participate in our Home Tester or similar involvement programs.
We may use information about you that was collected by another organisation to send you promotional offers on CHOICE products or services. In this case we will take all reasonable steps to make sure you gave informed consent for the information to be used in this way and we will give you the option not to receive further contact from CHOICE.
We will from time to time use the information we hold about you to send you promotional offers either individually addressed or promoted within existing products. These offers are to do with other CHOICE publications and services. We will always give you the option not to receive any further individually addressed promotional contact from CHOICE.
Where personal information you give us is disclosed to an agent of CHOICE (for example to data processing, data analysis, printing, or mailing contractors) it will only be disclosed to the extent necessary to enable them to undertake the specific task we’ve contracted them to do and we will require them to operate under conditions of confidentiality, which will be specified as a term of the contract between CHOICE and the agent. Such an agent will be required to return all original records to CHOICE, return or securely destroy any copied records and ensure that its employees are familiar with their obligations of privacy and confidentiality. Personal information collected by CHOICE will not be given, sold or rented for use by any other organisation or for any other purpose.
Any partners of CHOICE are also required to abide by Australia’s National Privacy Principles.
CHOICE does not transfer personal information about individuals to anyone else or any other organisation in a foreign country.
The quality and security of your personal information
We will take all reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we hold about you is relevant, not excessive, accurate, complete and up-to-date. Each time we contact you we will give you an opportunity to correct or update details and you may contact us at any time during business hours if you wish to check or change your personal information — see Access: How to check or correct your personal information for details.
Our customer records are protected by a range of security measures: encryption, firewalls and/or computer network security systems, restricted access and building security systems.
Personal information about former customers is retained for a period of time after the customer relationship ceases as required by law — for example, financial records must be kept for 7 years — and as part of CHOICE’s intellectual property base. During this time we may contact you to tell you about CHOICE products or services or to ask you why you left CHOICE. You can request not to receive further contact from us either by indicating so on the material we send you or by contacting us directly (see How to opt out for details).
CHOICE employees are trained in and abide by this privacy policy. Adherence to the policy is reviewed annually by CHOICE’s Quality Manager or their deputy.
How to opt out
If you do not wish to receive further promotional material from CHOICE you can
- Ring us on (02) 9577 3333
- Fax us on (02) 9577 3355
- Write to us at Privacy, CHOICE, 57 Carrington Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
You will need to give sufficient information for us to identify you, for example, your name and address plus your subscriber number if you subscribe to a magazine or your ‘clue question’ answer if you subscribe to one of our websites.
Access: How to check or correct your personal information
If you are a subscriber or other customer of CHOICE you may request access to your personal information on the CHOICE database. We encourage you to contact our customer service section if you have any concerns about the personal information we hold about you.
To see what personal information we hold on you, please write to us requesting access to it:
- Fax us on (02) 9577 3355; mark your fax: Attention Privacy Officer
- Write to us at Privacy Officer, CHOICE, 57 Carrington Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
Please include the following details so that we can identify you: your full name and address as they appear in our records, your daytime phone number and email address (if applicable), details of your subscriptions and your subscriber number (if you know it) and/or of your recent purchases from us. Because email is relatively insecure, we ask that you put this information in a letter or fax rather than in an email.
We will send you the personal information we hold about you within ten working days of receiving your request in writing. We will then work with you to alter or update any information that we both agree was inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date within a further five working days. In the unlikely event that we disagree with you about the changes you want made, we will explain why and, if you wish, add a note to your records stating that you claim the information is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. There is no charge for this service.
How to update your details
To simply update your details you can
- Ring us on (02) 9577 3333, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm EST weekdays
- Fax us on (02) 9577 3355; mark your fax Attention Consumer Services
- Write to us at Consumer Services, CHOICE, 57 Carrington Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
You will need to give us sufficient information so that we can identify you — for example your name, address and phone number plus your subscriber number in the case of a subscription to CHOICE Magazine or your email address and ‘clue question’ answer in the case of a subscription to CHOICE Online.
Changes to this privacy policy
If our privacy policy changes, we will draw your attention to our new policy through the publications or services you subscribe to or buy or through our websites.
Complaints
We are committed to dealing quickly and appropriately with any complaint you make about your privacy in relation to CHOICE’s publications, services or practices, or any CHOICE joint partner.
If you are concerned that this privacy policy may have been breached or that your privacy may have been compromised please contact us in writing immediately, setting out your concerns.
- Fax us on (02) 9577 3355; mark your fax: Attention Privacy Officer
- Write to us at Privacy Officer, CHOICE, 57 Carrington Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
Please do not contact us by email to make a specific complaint, as it is relatively insecure.
Please include a daytime telephone number where we can contact you. We will get back to you within one working day of receiving your complaint and will work with you to resolve your problem to your satisfaction within 10 further working days.
Unresolved complaints
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can refer it to the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner.
The central office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner is located in Sydney at: Level 8, Piccadilly Tower, 133 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000. Contact details:
| Privacy Hotline | 1300 363 992 (9.00am - 5.00pm EST Monday to Friday)
(for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia) |
| TTY | 1800 620 241 |
| Mail | GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 1042 |
| Fax | +61 2 9284 9666 |
| Email | privacy@privacy.gov.au |
| Web | www.privacy.gov.au |
Please note: Complaints should be made in writing to the Federal Privacy Commissioner at the above address. If you need help to make a complaint, you can phone the hotline for assistance.
More information on privacy
The Australian Privacy Commissioner’s Website:
The Internet Industry Association website:
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This article last reviewed June 2007