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Privacy

Thank you for visiting www.hcn.com.au, the website of Health Communication Network Limited ABN 76 068 458 515 (HCN).

 

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy, we provide this Privacy Policy to explain our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used at this site.

 

If you have any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy for this site or its implementation you may contact us by emailing to hcn@hcn.com.au.

 

Our website Privacy Policy covers the following areas:

  • The information we collect
  • How we use the information
  • The use of cookies
  • Analysing site usage
  • Use and Disclosure of your personal information
  • Storing and securing your personal information
  • Access to information we hold on you
  • Links to other websites
  • Concerns and complaints
  • Changes to this Privacy Policy
  • More information on privacy

1. The information we collect

 

Our servers automatically record information about your usage of this site, namely, the time you visited and the pages called up. We obtain this information through the use of "cookies". If you don’t want us to retain any information, you can remove all cookies through the use of Preferences in your browser program and also set your browser not to accept cookies in future. For more information about "cookies" please see below.

 

Sometimes, if we are featuring a particular service on the site, to enable us to either provide that service to you or give you more information on it we may request further personal information from you. Any such further information will only be collected with your consent. We do not collect information on you from other organizations or websites.

 

From time to time at the site, you may be able to order products, arrange services, enter contests, vote in polls or otherwise express an opinion, subscribe to one of our services such as online newsletters, or participate in one of our online forums or communities. The types of personally identifiable information that may be collected at these pages include: name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, fax number, credit card information, and information about your interests in and use of various products, programs, and services.

 

Sometimes you can submit information about other people. For example, you might submit a person's name and e-mail address for that person to receive information or a product. The types of personally identifiable information that may be collected about other people at these pages include: recipient's name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number.

 

Also, we may collect certain non-personally identifiable information when you visit many of our web pages such as the type of browser you are using (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system you are using, (e.g., Windows '95 or Mac OS) and the domain name of your Internet service provider (e.g., AOL, Ozemail).

 

2. How we use the information

 

We may use the information you provide about yourself to fulfil your requests for our products, programs, and services, to respond to your inquiries about our offerings, and to offer you other products, programs or services that we believe may be of interest to you.

 

We will not provide any of your personal information we obtain through this website to our site advertisers or to any other parties without your express consent.

 

We sometimes use this information to communicate with you, such as to notify you when you have won one of our contests or when we make changes to anty agreements we may have with you or to fulfil a request by you for an online newsletter.

 

We use the information that you provide about others to enable us to send them information or products. From time to time, we also may use this information to offer our products, programs, or services to them.

 

The information we collect in connection with our online forums and communities is used to provide an interactive experience. We use this information to facilitate participation in these online forums and communities and, from time to time, to offer you products, programs, or services.

 

We sometimes use the non-personally identifiable information that we collect to improve the design and content of our site and to enable us to personalise your Internet experience. We also may use this information in the aggregate to analyse site usage, as well as to offer you products, programs, or services.

 

We will disclose information we maintain when required to do so by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena. We also may disclose such information in response to a law enforcement agency's request.

 

Our agents and contractors who have access to personally identifiable information are required to protect this information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy by, for example, not using the information for any purpose other than to carry out the services they are performing for our site.

 

Although we take appropriate measures to safeguard against unauthorized disclosures of information, we can give you no assurance that personally identifiable information that we collect will never be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy. Inadvertent disclosures may result, for example, when third parties misrepresent their identities in asking the site for access to personally identifiable information about themselves for purposes of correcting possible factual errors in the data.

 

If we propose to disclose personally identifiable information to companies not owned by us who want to market products or services to you, we will provide you with an opportunity to opt out or block such uses.

 

We may on occasion combine information we receive online with outside records to enhance our ability to market to you those products or services that may be of interest to you.

 

Finally, our site will not use or transfer personally identifiable information provided to us in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing you with an opportunity to opt out of these unrelated uses.

 

3. The use of cookies

 

Cookies are items of information transferred from a website to your computer’s hard disc to assist with record keeping. For example a cookie enables your computer to recognise that you have visited this website. Most web browsers are programmed to accept cookies. Cookies don’t identify users, but they do identify browsers. Cookies can be disabled (see below).

 

Cookies have a positive benefit in that they can enhance your enjoyment of what we can offer through this website. For example they can assist us to ensure that information provided to you is relevant to your interests. Through cookies we can collect aggregated information on how people use the website and which advertisements are effective. With this information we are better able to improve the website and the services and information it provides. Cookies also enable us to monitor our site registration system, for example, by identifying a site visitor who may have previously been a member.

 

For information on how to disable cookies, go to: www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm.

  

4. Analysing site usage

 

We may use a third party independent service to measure and analyse usage across the site. Any service we use would have expertise in internet measurement technologies as well as market research and trend analysis. Use of such service may involve coding being placed on pages on the site to enable the following information on site usage to be collected:

  • the number of unique visitors to the site;
  • The average length of time these unique visitors spend on the site when they visit; and
  • The entry and exit points onto the site for these unique visitors.

This coding may be derived from software provided by the independent service and would be transparent to a user. Such software stores a cookie in the browser which contains a unique identifier and enables the independent service to track the number of unique visitors to the site. This unique identifier used by the independent service would not identify a user personally. We will not marry any data collected by the independent service with any personal information collected on the site.

 

This coding may not be disabled completely however. If you disable cookies in your browser the effect would be that the independent service is unable to track you as a unique visitor to the site and will read you as a new visitor each time you browse a new page on the site. See section 3 as to disabling cookies.

 

The independent service would collect and collate aggregate and not personal information which is then provided to us to assist with our analysis of site usage. This independent service data may also be accessible by media organizations and research companies for the purpose of comparing usage patterns with similar internet web sites.


5. Use and disclosure of your personal information

 

We will not use or disclose any of your personal information without your express consent, unless:

  • we are required by law;
  • where it is necessary to provide you with a service requested by you;
  • to implement the terms of use of this site; or
  • we consider it necessary to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety.

6. Storing and securing your personal information

 

We will use our best endeavours to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is kept secure, accurate and up to date. This information is kept in secure servers within controlled premises. Also, our employees, agents and contractors are required to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.

 

Unfortunately, however, we will not be responsible for events which may arise from unauthorised access to your personal information. To assist in preventing unauthorised access it is important for you to maintain the confidentiality of any password(s) used on another person.


7. Access to information we hold on you

 

If you visit the site as a visitor we don’t collect any personal information about you. If you wish to know what information we hold about you where you have provided personal information to us through the site please send us an email providing details of the nature of the personal information provided and when it would have been provided. We will endeavour to respond to your request within 30 days.

 

8. Links to other websites

 

Sometimes we provide links on the site to other websites. These sites are not under our control, however, and we can’t accept responsibility for the contents or operators of those sites. We don’t provide any of your personal information to these sites nor does any such information automatically pass to them with the linkage. Before you disclose any personal information for that other site you should read the terms of use and privacy policy for that site.


9. Concerns and complaints

 

We take seriously and will work to address any problems or concerns in relation to the site. If you have a problem or a concern please email us.


10. Changes to this Privacy Policy

 

We recognise the necessary to improve and change particularly where the site acquires new features. Accordingly we may change both our Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy at any time. Changes will be notified by posting an updated policy on the site.


11. More information on privacy

 

If you want more information on privacy issues and the manner in which privacy is protected in Australia you should consult the website of the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.gov.au.