Privacy policy

Last updated: 13 December 2022

The Conversation Media Group Ltd ACN 142 923 653 (we, our) is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set out in the Australian Privacy Act 1988(Cth) (Privacy Act) and Privacy law in New Zealand as outlined in the New Zealand Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 2020 (the Privacy Act).

This policy sets out how we handle Personal Information, including the Personal Information of our authors, commenters and readers (users), in accordance with the Privacy Act, and how you can exercise your rights under the Privacy Acts.

We may amend this policy from time to time. 

We are a media organisation within the definition used in the Privacy Act. As such, for all our dealings with Personal Information in the course of journalism we may rely on the exemption contained in section 7B (4) of the Privacy Act. We are committed to observing the Australian Press Council Privacy Principles and ensuring that we comply with the New Zealand Media Council Privacy Principles.

‘Personal Information’ is information or an opinion about an individual who is reasonably identifiable (including names, addresses, birth dates, or email addresses).

We collect your Personal Information directly from you and from third parties. The types of Personal Information we collect depends on the circumstances in which the information is collected. For example, we may collect Personal Information when you create an account for, or publish an article or comment on The Conversation, which may include:

• information required to create an account: user name; login details including email address or, if you login using an existing social media account (such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn), limited information about that account;
• optional information: job title; for contributors, other contact details including phone number; information that you may include in your account profile, for example, profile pictures, contact details, professional history, expertise or interests; and comments that you may make on articles published by The Conversation.

We collect Personal Information when you donate to us online or over the phone. The types of Personal Information we collect from donors includes contact information and bank or credit card details. We do not store bank details or credit card information.

We also collect your Personal Information from third parties. For example, if you create an account for The Conversation using a social media account, we may collect Personal Information, including your name and email address, from your social media account.

We also collect website analytics – anonymised statistics about how people use The Conversation. These statistics help us understand how our users, as a group, use The Conversation, and aren’t linked to specific individuals.

We use cookies to enable some functions on The Conversation, including login functions, and for website analytics.

The purposes for which we use, collect and disclose your Personal Information will depend on the circumstances in which we collect it. Whenever practicable we endeavour to inform you why we are collecting your Personal Information, how we intend to use that information and to whom we intend to disclose it at the time we collect your Personal Information.

We may use or disclose your Personal Information:

• for the purposes for which we collected it (and related purposes which would be reasonably expected by you);
• for other purposes to which you have consented; and
• as otherwise permitted or required by law.

Some of the specific purposes for which we commonly collect, use and disclose your Personal Information include:

• to sign you up as a contributor or create your profile on The Conversation;
• to allow you to comment on articles published by The Conversation;
• to allow other media outlets to republish and attribute articles you have written;
• if you have requested notifications, to deliver email notifications to you;
• if you are a donor, to contact you regarding your donation or to deliver direct marketing to you (where you have consented to us doing so, or it is otherwise permitted by law);
• to allow you to participate in surveys or provide feedback to The Conversation; or
• if you have subscribed to one or more of our newsletters, to deliver email newsletters to you.

If you sign up to The Conversation, we will publish your author/user profile on The Conversation. Your profile will contain your name and you may choose to include additional information. Author profiles generally contain information about professional experience and expertise.

If you comment on an article published by The Conversation, we will publish your comment together with your name, which is linked to your profile.

Beyond those circumstances, we generally don’t publicly disclose user Personal Information. We don’t sell our users’ Personal Information.

We may be required to disclose your Personal Information; for example, where required by law or a court order or to third parties which assist the operation of The Conversation. This may include disclosing your Personal Information to the following types of third parties (depending on the purposes for which we have collected your Personal Information):

• our Related Bodies Corporate;
• our licensees who operate overseas editions of The Conversation;
• our contractors and other third parties that provide goods and services to us including:
• website and data hosting providers; analytics, marketing and profiling service providers; and our accountants, insurers, lawyers, auditors and other professional advisors and agents;
• if you are an individual contractor to us or a prospective employee, to HR related service providers (e.g. for outsourced payroll processing, background checks);
• any third parties to whom you have directed or permitted us to disclose your Personal Information (e.g. referees); and
• otherwise as permitted or required by law.

Where we disclose your Personal Information to third parties we will use reasonable efforts to ensure that such third parties which assist with the operation of The Conversation only use your Personal Information as reasonably required for the purpose we disclosed it to them and in a manner consistent with the APPs.

If you post information to public parts of our websites or to our social media pages, you acknowledge that such information (including your Personal Information) may be available to be viewed by the public. You should use discretion in deciding what information you post.

We store Personal Information on computer databases and/or in hard copy and will take reasonable physical and electronic security measures to protect any records that we hold which contains Personal Information. We destroy or permanently de-identify Personal Information in a secure manner when we no longer need it. We do not store bank details or credit card information.

We are committed to keeping your Personal Information secure and will use all reasonable precautions to protect it from loss, misuse or unauthorised access or alteration. However, except to the extent liability cannot be excluded due to the operation of statute, we exclude all liability (including in negligence) for the consequences of any unauthorised access to, disclosure of, misuse of or loss or corruption of your Personal Information. Nothing in this Privacy Policy restricts, excludes or modifies or purports to restrict, exclude or modify any statutory consumer rights under any applicable law including the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

You have the right to access the Personal Information that we hold about you.

We handle any access request in accordance with the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act provides some exemptions to access requests. We may require that you provide proof of your identity in order to grant your access request.

It is free to make an access request. However, depending on the scope of your request, we may charge an administration fee for the time we spend locating, compiling and explaining the information you ask for. If we need to charge a fee, we will let you know up front and confirm that you would like us to proceed.

If you would like to request access to your Personal Information, please contact us at privacy@theconversation.edu.au.

We take reasonable steps to maintain the accuracy of your Personal Information.

Under the Privacy Act, you also have the right to ask us to correct any Personal Information we hold about you. We encourage you to contact us if you become aware that the Personal Information we hold about you is incorrect or to notify us of a change in your Personal Information.

We handle any correction request in accordance with the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act provides some exemptions to correction requests.

If you would like to request a correction to the information that we hold about you, please contact us at privacy@theconversation.edu.au.

See also: our policy about when we’ll remove content

If you have any complaints concerning our privacy policy or the way in which we have dealt with your Personal Information, please email us at privacy@theconversation.edu.au.

If you make a complaint, we will assess your complaint and respond within 30 days.

If you aren’t satisfied with the way in which we handle your complaint, you can complain to the Australian privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or in NZ the Privacy Commissioner website.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please email us at privacy@theconversation.edu.au

If you would like to delete your user profile please email us at privacy@theconversation.edu.au