Privacy Policy

AAP MESSAGE CONNECT is a division of Australian Associated Press Pty Limited (ABN 88 006 180 801) of 3 Rider Blvd, Rhodes, NSW 2138. We respect the privacy of our clients, business contacts and suppliers. We understand that the privacy of your information is important to you.

This privacy policy outlines the type of personal information that we collect and how it is used. It also explains your rights in relation to that information.

By providing us with personal information, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of that information in accordance with this policy. It is therefore important that you read and understand this policy. If you have any questions in relation to this policy please contact us at the following email address: privacy@aap.com.au.

1. What Kind of Information Is Collected?

(a) As a client of AAP MESSAGE CONNECT

We will ask you for personal information when you register with us to use an AAP MESSAGE CONNECT service. Depending on the AAP Message Connect service you use, the information we collect may include your name and your contact details, the identity and contact details of your employer and details of the products and services that you are interested in. This information is used to provide you with our service(s), to invoice you for your use of the services and to respond to any queries which you may have in relation to the services. At the time of collecting this personal information, we may also request other information about you to assist AAP in identifying which of our current and future products and services may be of interest to you.

We may also use this information to improve the range of services available to you, by sending you information on our products and services, and on products and services offered by our affiliates, from time to time. Please see below for instructions on how to opt-out of such communications.

We also collect personal information about you when you send us an email, in which case we collect your email address and whatever information you choose to include in the contents of the email. We use this information to respond to your email and to provide the services.

We may also send site and service announcement updates to clients. You are not able to unsubscribe or opt-out of service announcements. We may also communicate with you in connection with the provision of services and issues relating to your account(s) with us via email, telephone or other methods. We may log your IP address and the use of your username and password. We will use this information to confirm your compliance with the terms of your agreement with us, to monitor your use of the website and for billing purposes. Unless you are using our Broadcast Messaging Service or Inbound Messaging Service, we do not collect user specific information regarding the activity of our users after login; however, we may use aggregated information (such as page hits and page views) for statistical purposes to improve the range of our products and services. Aggregated information is de-identified so that it does not contain any of your personal information.

(b) Broadcast Messaging Service and Inbound Messaging Service

If you are using AAP's Message Connect Broadcast Messaging Service, then as part of that service we collect and store:

• messages (including attachments and recipients' addresses) sent using the service; and
• address lists of intended recipients that have been provided to us by our clients for forwarding messages.

If you are using AAP's Message Connect Inbound Messaging Service, then as part of that service we collect and store messages addressed to our clients (including attachments and senders' details).

We will only use this information in accordance with the terms and conditions of the AAP Broadcast Messaging Services Agreement and the AAP Inbound Messaging Services Agreement.

(c) General - Cookies

We may use cookies on the AAP MESSAGE CONNECT website. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's browser. Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you may set your browser to refuse cookies.

2. Does AAP MESSAGE CONNECT give personal information about clients to anyone else?

We do not, and will not, sell, share or rent personal information relating to our clients to any third party, except that (a) we may share information with our subsidiaries and affiliates for similar uses to the uses outlined above; (b) we may provide information when required in order to respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process; (c) in the event of a sale of the AAP MESSAGE CONNECT business or of AAP, such information could be part of the business transferred; and (d) we may provide information to our service providers.

3. How Secure is Your Personal Information?

We take reasonable steps to ensure the security of personal information held by us from such risks as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. Our IT systems are password protected, protected by firewalls and satisfy other industry standard security measures, and if personal information is held on paper files, it can only be accessed by authorised personnel.

4. How Can You "Opt-Out" of Communications From Us?

Where we have given you the option to "opt-out" of receiving certain types of communication from us, or from having your personal information used in certain ways, you can exercise your right to "opt-out" by contacting Privacy Officer at privacy@aap.com.au.

Please note that the only way to unsubscribe from service announcements is to cancel your subscription to the relevant service.

5. What Rights do You Have in Relation to Personal Information We Hold About You?

Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to seek access to information we hold about you (although there are some exceptions to this). You also have the right to ask us to correct information about you which is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

If you wish to exercise your rights under the Privacy Act to seek access to, or to correct, the personal information we hold about you, please contact AAP's Privacy Officer by e-mail at privacy@aap.com.au, or by mail to PO Box 3411, Rhodes Waterside, Rhodes NSW 2138. When contacting AAP's Privacy Officer, please provide as much detail as possible to assist us to follow up your request.

In the first instance, we will generally provide you with a summary of the information we hold about you. We will assume (unless you tell us otherwise) that your request relates to our current records about you. These current records will include personal information about you which is included in our computers, databases and in paper files, and which may be used by us on a day to day basis.

To provide you with access to this personal information, we will ordinarily provide you with a print-out of the relevant personal information from our databases, or with photocopies of records which are held only on paper files. If personal information about you (for example, your name & address details) is duplicated across different databases, we will generally provide you with one print-out of this information, rather than multiple print-outs. Ordinarily, we will not charge you for the cost of providing this type of access to these records.

For legal and administrative reasons, we may also store records containing personal information in our archives. You may seek access to the records held by us which are not current records, but if you do so, we may charge you for the cost of providing access.

Also please be aware that if the relevant personal information was collected before 21 December 2001, we will only provide you with access in accordance with section 16C of the Privacy Act 1988. This states that we only need to give you access to personal information collected before 21 December 2001 if we use and disclose that information after that date, and if providing access would not create an unreasonable administrative burden or unreasonable expense.

If you are of the view that personal information about you is not accurate, complete or up to date, please provide AAP's Privacy Officer with your request for correction. Our policy is to consider any requests for correction in a timely manner.

6. Contacting AAP MESSAGE CONNECT and AAP

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy, or if you have a complaint about the handling of your personal information, please contact AAP's Privacy Officer by one of the following means:

Email:	privacy@aap.com.au
Mail:	PO Box 3411 Rhodes Waterside Rhodes NSW 2138

7. Changes to this Privacy Statement

We may change this privacy policy from time to time, by posting changes to this site. We encourage you to visit this site periodically. This policy was last updated on 17 May 2006.

8. Australian Privacy Commissioner

If you are not satisfied with the way in which we handle your enquiry or complaint, you can contact the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner by any of the following methods: Tel: 1300 363 992 (for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia); TTY: 1800 620 241 (this number is dedicated for the hearing impaired only, no voice calls); mail: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001; Fax: +61 2 9284 9666; or email: privacy@privacy.gov.au.