Policy Statement
The ABC (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy when you interact with us, our content, products, or services. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Purpose of this Policy
This policy explains our personal information handling practices. It describes how we may collect, use, and disclose information about you or your use of our content, products, or services.
ABC Program Material is not subject to the Privacy Act; it is governed by the ABC Code of Practice and ABC Editorial Policies.
You can find the date of the most recent review of this policy at the end of this document.
1. Collection of Personal Information
1.1 How we collect personal information
The main circumstances in which the ABC collects personal information about you are:
(a) when you provide it to us
If you register as a user of ABC digital services, by creating an ABC Account, you will provide information to us as part of your registration. You may also give us information when you make a purchase from us, sign up to receive ABC newsletters or enter competitions, contribute user generated content, participate in research or surveys or otherwise participate in ABC functions or activities. For information about our collection and retention of payment information see below.
Payment information
If you use Shopify to complete your transaction, your personal information (including credit card information) will be collected and used by Shopify. For more information, you can read the Shopify Privacy Policy here.
If you use your credit card and the transaction is manual rather than electronic, the imprinted record will be stored by us for the period that financial records are required to be retained.
(b) when someone else provides it to us on your behalf
Sometimes someone else such as a parent, carer or friend might provide us with information about you so that we can provide you with products or services. In some circumstances, we may also collect information about you from our ABC online store fulfilment partners. Other times we may collect personal information about you from publicly available sources, including social media sites, or when you sign up for an ABC Account via another account such as Google or Facebook.
For more information about our practices in relation to children, see below.
Additional information for parents and young people
The digital services provided by the ABC allow access by children and some are specifically designed for children; ABC KIDS for pre-school children and ABC ME for older children are examples. The online protection of children is a shared responsibility between the ABC, the parent or carer, and the child. We strongly encourage parents and carers to monitor and participate in their children’s use of the ABC’s digital services.
The ABC aims to ensure that children and young people who engage with our online spaces understand the possible risks they face and how to minimise them. ABC digital services designed for children are subject to House Rules which guide participation and are designed to maintain safe and appropriate behaviour. House Rules include restrictions on the types of personal information the ABC allows children to communicate publicly. Content submitted to ABC children’s sites is largely pre-moderated in order to enforce the House Rules and protect children.
If your child is participating in ABC online community activities, we recommend you read the House Rules for that space with your child and explain anything to them that they may not understand.
The ABC policy in relation to Cookies, Beacons, Local Storage and Other Technologies described below applies to all ABC properties, including those specifically designed for children. Parents and carers should also be aware that if their children are using social media sites that were not designed for their age group, they will be exposed to the various tracking and analytic technologies applied by third parties when they access or share ABC content on or via those sites.
(c) when we collect it in relation to your use of digital services
We also collect information about your use of our digital services through the use of technologies like cookies, beacons and local storage.
When you use our websites, mobile sites, mobile applications, email newsletters or applications on any other devices such as Apple TV, Chromecast or PlayStation, these technologies may be used to improve your user experience and our digital services.
If you are a registered ABC Account holder, or newsletter subscriber, we may link the information collected about you to your account.
If you are not a registered ABC Account holder, or newsletter subscriber, then we will track this information by reference to digital information such as an IP address, or an identifier for your device or browser, and will not seek to identify you.
If we do not collect information about you or your use of our digital services, we may not be able to provide you with certain digital services, or we may not be able to tailor or enhance your reading, viewing or listening experience.
Use of Cookies, Beacons, local storage, and Other Technologies Across our digital services
What are these technologies?
“Cookies” and “local storage” are technologies that allow websites, applications and emails to gather information and store it on your computer or device. This information is used to identify your browser or device so that these websites and applications can follow your user activity over time and remember things such as your personalised settings and preferences.
A “beacon” is a signal sent from your computer or device to a server on the Internet. Websites, applications and emails use software that reads cookies, local storage and other information stored on your computer or device and sends beacons to record that information. This may include information about your user activity, including behavioural data such as your viewing history and location data such as your IP address, as well as information about your personalised settings and preferences.
Why do we use these technologies?
The ABC uses these technologies in a variety of ways to deliver, measure and improve our services and products. These uses generally fall into one of the following categories:
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Site and application functionality: To enable interactive features such as forums, voting, some games, and online shopping. For instance, cookies allow our servers to keep track of your customer details between visits to our websites. They can allow us to remember your place in a video so you can pick up where you left off or remember your preferences and settings so you get your local weather or preferred radio station. In order to deliver similar functionality, some ABC websites and applications may also ask your permission to collect geolocation data.
- Promotional targeting: Placing cookies on your device or browser also means we can serve you promotional information that you might be more interested in. The promotional information can appear on third party digital services, such as Google and Facebook, as well as ABC digital services. It also allows us to control the number of times you see that promotional information and measure how effective the campaign has been.
- Audience analytics: The aggregate information gathered from these technologies helps us to improve our products and understand how people use our services.
- Personalised content and services: Information about what content is viewed allows us to customise our services with more relevant content like tailored trends or recommendations. For example, by knowing what articles you have already read, cookies can help us make smarter and more relevant suggestions about what new content you might enjoy or find useful.
-
-
-
-
-
Third party cookies, beacons, local storage and other technologies
The ABC allows a number of its suppliers to use cookies, beacons, local storage and other technologies on ABC digital services to gather information about visitor activity in order to deliver their services.
These third parties may include:
a) marketing and promotions service providers including social media platforms, such as Facebook, and digital advertising services, such as Google Ads;
b) analytics service providers, such as Google Analytics (more information here) and Chartbeat; and
c) ratings service providers such as Nielsen, which measures digital audiences in Australia (more information here), and OzTAM, which measures broadcast video on demand and live streaming audiences in Australia.
In addition, if we embed posts, photos or videos from third parties, such as Facebook and YouTube, those third parties may use cookies, beacons, local storage and other technologies in relation to that content. If you then “share” that content, the service you have chosen to share content through may also use these technologies. The ABC cannot control the use of cookies, beacons, local storage and other technologies in relation to embedded content, or content sharing, and does not block third parties from using these technologies in these ways.
The ABC does not collect personal information about you when we allow third parties to use cookies, beacons, local storage and other technologies on our digital services.
Controlling and deleting cookies
Popular browsers will usually give users a level of control over cookies.
You can set your browsers to accept or reject all, or certain, cookies. You can also set your browser to prompt you each time a cookie is offered.
Most cookies are easy to delete, and the ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how. Some digital services may not load properly or function as intended if cookies are disabled, however it is up to you to determine the balance of convenience and computer privacy that you are comfortable with.
Some browsers offer a ‘Do Not Track’ (DNT) setting, which sends an additional piece of information when a cookie is downloaded that the user does not wish to be tracked. However, the ABC’s digital services do not recognise DNT settings.
The ABC uses beacons in combination with cookies to track activity. If you turn off a browser’s cookies, the beacon will still record your visit anonymously, however your unique information will not be recorded. If you turn off cookies then we may not be able to personalise or customise content for you, which will affect your user experience.
Our applications and email newsletters do not offer these controls.
Information that is personally identifiable to the ABC
If you have registered for an ABC Account, or subscribed to an ABC newsletter, we may combine information from your registration with the information we collect about your use of our digital services, and other information you provide to us. This is done in order to analyse how you and other people use our digital services in detail and, where you have opted to receive such communications, to send you email and other communications that might be of interest to you. This information may also be used to provide personalised services or content suggestions based on your previous use of our digital services. The combined information may include information that is collected about your use of our digital services while you are not signed in, and information that was collected before you registered or signed in. Where the combined information can be used to identify you, we may use and disclose it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
1.2 Purposes for which we collect, use, and disclose personal information
ABC Audiences and Customers
The purposes for which we collect, use and disclose personal information include:
- to provide our products and services to you (including physical delivery);
- to enhance our content and services using your contributions;
- to help us understand more about our audiences;
- to improve our products and services, including conducting surveys and performing research and analysis;
- to serve our audiences with personalised and relevant content;
- to manage our relationship with you, including:
(a) communicating with you, including providing information about activities, products, services and events which we consider may be of interest to you;
(b) billing you for any products or services that we charge for;
(c) investigating any complaints made by or about you;
(d) managing any request by you to return or exchange a product at a later date; and
(e) otherwise offering you assistance, including, by providing technical support;
- to moderate user content on social media sites;
- to conduct events, competitions or promotions on behalf of the ABC or industry third parties we have entered into agreements with;
- for statistical and research purposes;
- to obtain professional services as required including legal, accounting or insurance services;
- if permitted or required by law;
- otherwise with your consent; or
- for purposes directly related to any one or more of the above.
We will not send you unsolicited direct marketing emails, without your prior consent, unless we are permitted to do so by law. We will always give you the option to opt out of further communications. We may send you electronic communications for account administration purposes for so long as you are a registered user or customer of the ABC.
1.3 Disclosure of personal information
We may disclose your personal information that we collect to our:
- technology service providers, including, internet service providers, app service providers, cloud hosting service providers, software suppliers, and maintenance and support service providers and security services on a confidential basis so that they can provide services to us;
- ABC online store fulfilment partners and delivery service providers;
- marketing and promotions service providers; and
- analytics service providers.
As described above in the section on “Third party cookies, beacons and other technologies”, we may also allow some of our marketing and promotions service providers, as well as our analytics and ratings service providers, to collect information about your use of ABC digital services along with identifiers for your device or browser.
We may separately disclose the information we collect about your use of ABC digital services to third parties along with those same identifiers. This includes disclosure to marketing and promotions service providers, via a technology service provider called Tealium, in order to serve you with more personalised and relevant content. We may also disclose this information to some of our other technology service providers.
Some third parties, such as Google and Facebook, may be able to match information about your use of our digital services with personal information they already have about you. The information we disclose to Facebook, via Tealium, may also show them your email address but only if it is already used for an account on their site.
These third parties may be located in Australia or outside Australia, including but not limited to New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Israel, India, Canada and the USA.
The ABC has a statutory obligation to take contractual measures to ensure that its contracted service providers do not do an act or engage in a practice that would breach an Australian Privacy Principle if done or engaged in by the ABC.
The ABC will not sell or receive payment for licensing or disclosing your personal information.
The ABC may include links to third party content on its website and in other electronic communications. The ABC does not have any control over the privacy practices of those third parties. Please check the website of each relevant third party for details of their privacy policies. The ABC does not control who links to the ABC’s site.
1.4 Options to enter into additional privacy terms
We will sometimes give you an option to use products or services which are provided in conjunction with other entities such as social media platforms. If we do this, you should be given privacy information before being asked to consent to the terms and conditions of that service. You should read the privacy policy and terms and conditions of each service very carefully before deciding whether to accept them. You should also be careful to ensure that you only post information online if you are happy for it to be and to remain publicly available.
1. Seeking access to, and updating, information we hold about you
You have the right to request access to personal information that is held by the ABC about you. Requests for access will be dealt with by the ABC in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) or Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
You also have the right to request the correction of any of your personal information that the ABC holds. The ABC will take reasonable steps to make appropriate corrections to personal information so that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date. To seek access to, or correction of, your personal information please contact the ABC Privacy Officer, whose details are below.
2. Making a complaint
The ABC welcomes feedback about privacy issues and will attend to all questions and complaints promptly. Please contact our Privacy Officer using the details below if you would like to make a complaint. If the ABC takes more than 30 days to respond to your privacy complaint, or if you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The OAIC can be contacted on 1300 363 992 or at www.oaic.gov.au
3. Privacy Officer contact details
If you wish to contact our privacy officer, please use the following contact details:
By email: privacy.abc@abc.net.au
By mail:
ABC Privacy Officer
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
GPO Box 9994
Your State or Territory
Related documents
This policy should be read in conjunction with the following related documents:
Questions?
If you have any questions about this policy, please contact the ABC Privacy Officer, privacy.abc@abc.net.au
October 2020