Our Privacy Policy will let you know:

1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you
2. What cookies are and why we use them
3. Who is collecting the information
4. How the information is used
5. With whom the information may be shared
6. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of your information
7. How you can access, update or delete your information
8. What security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of the information
9. Protecting children's privacy
10. What else you should know about your online privacy

More on Privacy - links to other Websites
Code of Conduct

Overview

Any personal or sensitive information contained in mc² email and attachments must be handled in accordance with the Victorian Information Privacy Act 2000, the Health Records Act 2001 or the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth), as applicable.

If mc² staff or group owners or moderators become aware that a member has breached confidentiality, they may then remove the offender from the group, or ask mc² staff to ban them from using mc² entirely. It is the role of the group owners and moderators to ensure that group members behave responsibly, and are aware of, and abide by, the Code of Conduct.

mc² is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following policy to understand how your personal information will be treated as you make full use of our services. This policy may change from time to time, so please check back periodically. You may always contact us with any questions regarding this policy.

Consistent with Victorian Government policy, My Connected Community (mc²) endorses fair information handling practices. mc² does not collect or record personal information, except that which you provide freely via specific online forms. Any information provided will be treated as confidential and used only for the purpose intended or stated on the form unless in exceptional circumstances where authorised by law.

Visitor logs are used on this site for statistical purposes only and include the user's server address, the user's top level domain name (eg .com .gov .au), the date and time of the visit, pages downloaded, and browsers used. No attempt will be made to identify users or browsing activity. This information will only be used to update and improve the mc² site.

Email addresses will only be used to respond to specific user queries and will not be kept or used for any purpose other than stated. Email addresses will not be added to any mailing list (other than that of any specific mc² community you join) unless consent is given, nor disclosed to any other party without users knowledge or consent.

Please read the full Privacy Policy below...

1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you?

During registration, mc² asks for your name and postcode, as well as your postal or email address. If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence. mc² also occasionally asks users to complete surveys that we use for research purposes.

2. What are cookies and how are they used?

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer as a text file. mc² uses cookies for security purposes, to help protect the contents of "Members Only" groups. This helps us ensure that when you login to mc² we can confirm that you are a member of certain groups, and that activity generated under your login identity, is actually coming from the computer you logged in with. This helps stop somebody else pretending to be you. The mc² cookie does not contain your name, email address, or any other personal details, just a unique identity code that is known only to the mc² server.

You can find more information about cookies on our Cookie Help page, or on sites such as Cookie Central.

3. Who is collecting the information?

If you are on mc² and are asked for personal information by mc², you are sharing that information with mc² alone, unless it is specifically stated otherwise. Please be aware that other web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. The information practices of those web sites are not covered by this privacy statement. In addition, moderators and other group members may also be able to access certain information that you provide to them (e.g. your email address and content that you post). mc² is not in a position to monitor or control any particular moderator's or group member's use of that content.

mc² staff do not routinely monitor the details of individual members, or the content of mc² communities or chat sessions. Appropriate staff do, however, retain the right to access all data stored on the mc² server(s); though this is only carried out for technical, statistical or administrative purposes; or when assisting members who have specifically requested help.

4. How is the information used?

The primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide you, the member, with a customised experience.

mc² may also conduct research on our member's demographics, interests and behaviour based on the information provided to us upon registration, from our server logs or from surveys. We do this to better understand our users. This research is compiled and analysed on an aggregated (not individual) basis. mc² may share this aggregated data with other agencies or business partners.

5. With whom may the information be shared?

Your name and email address will be visible to all other members of any mc² group you join. It will also be attributed to any messages you post, and may be used by mc² project staff to contact you, from time-to-time.

As a general rule, mc² will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information except when we have your permission or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that the law requires it. From time to time, mc² reserves the right to use third parties to collect or distribute information to you and other members. mc² will protect confidentiality of that information, and not allow such third parties to use that information other than in connection with the provisions of the Service. mc² may preserve Content and may disclose Content to any third party if required to do so by law or in good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is necessary to:

(a) comply with legal process
(b) enforce the Code of Conduct
(c) respond to claims that any Content violated the rights of third parties
(d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of mc2, its members and the public

6. What are the choices available to you regarding collection, use and distribution of your information?

mc² may, from time to time, send you email regarding our products and services.

mc² does not sell or rent user information to anyone. We will notify you at the time of data collection or transfer if your data will be shared with a third party and you will always have the option of not permitting the transfer. If you do not wish to allow your data to be shared, you can choose not to use a particular service or not to participate in certain surveys or other data collecting activities.

If you wish to change or delete any of your postings or details, you will have to contact your community leader (group owner) or moderator. If this is not possible for any reason, contact us. Be aware that once posted publicly, even if material is later removed, there will have been public access to that information for the period that it was visible on the mc² Website. Be aware also, that once sent, email messages, e.g. from resulting from Forum postings, cannot be retrieved.

By default, you will receive email notification when new messages are posted in the Forum of any group of which you are a member. You will also receive email Alerts when new Shared Files are uploaded, as well as when there are new Polls, Links or Events added to any of your groups. To stop getting these emails, just uncheck the tickboxesin the My Community view. For more details, see the My Communities entry on the page that details the Features of mc2 and its communities.

You may change your email address &/or password at any time by editing your My Profile (you must login first). If you have forgotten your password, you may request it be emailed to you. Go to: Forgotten Password. For all other problems signing in, please view Login Help. You can choose to have your account and email address eliminated from our databases entirely by contacting the Vicnet Help Desk.

8. What security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of the information?

Your account information is password protected so that only you have access to this personal information. We recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone. Remember to Log Out of mc² every time you have finished a session [link: top right], to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence. You should also log off your computer and close your browser window when you have finished your work. You may also wish to use the browser's Clear History function.

Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, mc² cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your transmission, we make our best efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

See also:

• Security
• Using a Public or Shared Computer

The safety and privacy rights of children are very important to us. mc² is a general audience web site. mc² does not share personal information about users with third parties and we do not sell or rent personal information about any of our users, regardless of age. While mc² will make every reasonable effort to ensure that children's privacy and other rights are not compromised, it is ultimately the responsibility of parents to monitor their children's Internet usage, e.g. ensuring that children do not voluntarily give away any identifying information, such as their contact details. See also: Children and the mc² Code of Conduct

For information about Internet filtering software, look at the Vicnet Content Regulation page and Vicnet Net Censorship page. See also: CyberSmart Kids Online.

10. What else should I know about my privacy?

Please note that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online, including in your correspondence within your individual groups, that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you disclose personal information online that is accessible to others, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return.

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any information about yourself. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online.

Download the Privacy Policy

More on Privacy

You may also be interested in reading further information on Privacy, but please note our Disclaimer about information on Third Party sites:

Privacy Victoria
The Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, or Privacy Victoria, is an independent statutory office established by the Victorian Information Privacy Act 2000. Ten Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) are the practical core of the Information Privacy Act. From 1 September 2002 Victorian Government organisations and local councils must comply with the Information Privacy Act. See also Privacy Laws

Federal Privacy Commissioner
The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner is an independent Office. Our purpose is to promote an Australian culture that respects privacy. Privacy is an important community value. We also recognise that the right to privacy should be balanced against other important social interests such as the free flow of information, and the need for government and business to operate efficiently. Our Office has responsibilities under the Federal Privacy Act 1988. This page consolidates the legislation, regulations, codes, determinations and guidelines which affect private sector business, health service providers and Commonwealth and ACT government agencies: Federal Privacy Law

Multimedia Victoria - Privacy

Department of Human Services (Victoria)
This site has been developed to assist you in understanding privacy legislation, Departmental policies and related privacy issues. Advice is also offered on how to protect information privacy while supporting the delivery of other public interests, such as law enforcement and public health and welfare.

Electronic Frontiers Australia
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. is a non-profit national organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms and rights. EFA is independent of government and commerce and is funded by membership subscriptions and donations from individuals and organisations with an altruistic interest in promoting civil liberties.

Privacy Laws in Australia
About Australian legislation relevant to on-line privacy and related government proposals, inquiries, reports, etc. Includes information about the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (C'wlth) and the National Privacy Principles.

Internet Industry Association Privacy Code
This Code is intended to position Australian businesses who deal with personal information, particularly (but not only) over the Internet, as trusted people to deal with. The enforceability through the co-regulatory regime is a world first in online privacy protection.

Vicnet: Content Regulation
The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999 became effective on January 1, 2000. In accordance with amended Australian Government legislation, Vicnet is now obliged to notify users within Australia about issues relating to Internet content. Filtering software is available from sites such as: Cyber Patrol and Net Nanny

Vicnet: Net Censorship
Can software effectively block access to pornography on the Internet? The issue of bias has to be considered in filtering software designed to protect people from accessing "undesirable" Websites:

• Who decides what you see and what you don't?
• Can a filter really make the Internet experience "safe" for kids?
• Does it give you a false sense of security?
• Do you know or control what sites are "blocked"?
• Can any software adequately replace parental guidance or supervision?

CyberSmart Kids Online
This site from the Australian Broadcasting Authority will help you and your family to find out how to be cybersmart and use the Internet safely.

Victorian Health Service Commissioner
Includes Health Privacy Principles

See also:

• Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project from W3C. Includes P3P Validator
• P3P Toolbox includes P3P Implementation Guide, which covers What P3P is and how P3P works
• Attorney General's Department and Privacy
• NSW Privacy Commission
• Australasian Legal Information Institute - Privacy in Australia
• Federal Privacy Law

Code of Conduct

• Who may use mc² ?
• Netiquette
• Security
• Email
• Illegal Activities
• Copyright
• General Code of Conduct
• Privacy Policy
• Disclaimer
• Terms & Conditions
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Content Regulation & Filtering

Please note that all responsibility for the content of each community at mc² lies with the Community Leader/Owners, who have administrative rights to edit and delete the contents of their own online community (see the disclaimer). The mc² project staff, Community Owners and Moderators; reserve the right to take appropriate action, without notice, to remove any content deemed inappropriate, and any user or group in breach of the Code of Conduct.

Vicnet reserves the right to alter this document at any time. It is the responsibility of mc² Users to have read the most up-to-date Code of Conduct on the mc² site at: mc2.vicnet.net.au/code, and the latest Vicnet Acceptable Use Policy.