Legal Notice

Privacy

Bendigo Community Telco Privacy Statement
03/09/2004

Introduction
Definitions
Personal Information
Sensitive Information
Control and Collection of Personal Information
What personal information is collected and how do we use it
Personal Information we may collect from our websites
Disclosure of your personal information
Consistency and accuracy of your personal information
You have the right of access to your personal information
Security of your Personal Information
Children and Minors
Additional information about privacy
How to contact us

Introduction

Bendigo Community Telco is committed to providing you, our valued customer with the highest possible customer service standards. Privacy is a major concern to most of our customers, and we address this concern seriously.

After the 21st December 2001, new provisions to the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 come into effect. The new provisions set out a number of principles that relate specifically to the protection of your personal information.

The following document outlines important information concerning the privacy protection we provide with regard to your personal information. As this document relates specifically to the use of our online service, we recommend you read the document carefully and check regularly for updates to this document.

Definitions:
Personal Information -

Personal information is information or an opinion (including information or an
opinion forming part of a database) whether true or not, and whether recorded
in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can
reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion. This includes all personal information regardless of its source.

Personal information relates to a natural living person. A natural person is a
human being rather than, for example, a company, which may in some
circumstances be recognised as a legal 'person' under the law.

Sensitive Information -

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information. It means information
or opinion about an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions,
membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations,
philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association,
membership of a trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record or health information about an individual.

Control and Collection of Personal Information:

Primarily, Bendigo Community Telco collects data, however a duly appointed reseller of Bendigo Community Telco may initially collect account details.

All collected information described in this document is controlled by Bendigo Community Telco (ABN 88 089 782 203) 5 View Point, Bendigo Victoria, 3550.

What personal information is collected and how do we use it:

There are numerous ways that Bendigo Community Telco collects personal information. These can include:

Via direct methods such as you completing information on an application form, via telephone or fax, or by entering information in a web-site application form. This collection generally relates to the application for services, but can also apply to providing additional services.
We can source information from third parties such as related companies, your representatives or from a credit-reporting agency.
From publicly available information sources
From any organisations listed under "Disclosure of your personal information"

The personal information we require to provide for your service is:

Your name
Gender
Your home and/or postal address
Telephone and fax numbers
Date of birth
A source of primary identification (drivers licence, probationary licence, etc.)

We may also require information relating to your employment, length of time at your current address, previous address and previous employment details.

If you wish to pay for your account and services via credit card, we may need to collect the credit card details from you. Typically this will include:

The credit card number
The expiry date
The type of card
The name on the credit card
The credit card verification number

Bendigo Community Telco may use your personal information in a number of ways. This includes, but is not limited to:

Allow us to identify you.
Provide you with any services you have requested.
Manage and administer any services you have with us. This includes billing and collecting debts.
Use of your information for internal marketing, to allow us to customise your service to better suit your needs.
Inform you of new services and products
Research purposes to allow us to properly provision our services

From time to time, Bendigo Community Telco may offer you promotional and marketing material that may enhance or improve your services with us.

Whilst we provide the opportunity for all customers to accept or refuse such material, it may be impractical to obtain prior consent from you. We will give you the opportunity to be removed from any further communications in the context of any such message.

You may wish to notify us in advance of your wish to not receive account or service offerings such as the abovementioned. If this is the case, please notify us by sending an email to support@impulse.net.au or calling us on
(03) 5454 5000.

Personal Information we may collect from our websites:

As part of ongoing statistical, marketing, administrative and security analysis, we may collect information regarding a visit to one of our websites.

This can include:

The date and time you accessed the site
The IP address you were using at the time
Your path through the site (which pages you accessed)
How long you spent on each page you visited
Whether you were referred (via a hyperlink) to our website
Where you went to from our website
The type of web browser and operating system you use
Any errors encountered or problems that have occurred

Disclosure of your personal information:

As outlined in the aforementioned "What personal information is collected and how do we use it", Bendigo Community Telco may disclose your personal information to specific third parties. When such disclosures are made, they are subject to all privacy and confidentiality protections.

Some of the organisations we may disclose information to:

Upstream service providers
Outsourced billing companies
Outsourced debt-recovery companies
Outsourced installation or repair service companies
Your duly appointed representatives (either an appointed agent or legal agent)
Any professional advisory services we use, including our legal advisors, auditors or accountants
Any government and regulatory body or authority, as mandated or otherwise authorised by law
Credit-reporting and fraud-checking agencies
Credit providers for credit related purposes such as creditworthiness, credit rating, credit provision and financing
Our related companies

Consistency and accuracy of your personal information:

Whilst Bendigo Community Telco takes all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is complete and up-to-date, as well as being consistent across all services you may have with us, we require you to keep us up to date on any changes to your personal information.

To assist us in this matter you should:
· Inform us of any errors or omissions you find or are aware of such as your name, address or contact numbers.
· Let us know if you change any of personal details, such as moving house, changing your name or changing your contact details.

Bendigo Community Telco provides customers with multiple means for updating and correcting information. To request changes to your account, simply email support@impulse.net.au or contact the office on (03) 5454 5000 between office hours.

You have the right of access to your personal information:

By law, you have the right to access your personal information, except where:

The request is frivolous or vexatious requests
Existing or anticipated legal dispute resolution proceedings are underway and where discovery would not grant access to the personal information
Access would prejudice negotiations
Access would be unlawful
Denial of access is required or authorised by law

If you believe that information we have about you may be inaccurate or out-of-date, please let us know immediately so that we can update the information accordingly.

Security of your Personal Information:

Bendigo Community Telco takes security very seriously and will take all reasonable precautions to ensure that any and all data collected is up-to-date and in a secure environment where only authorised persons can access the data.

Bendigo Community Telco cannot guarantee the security of any transmission via the Internet and as such cannot be held responsible for any unauthorised access of your personal information delivered to you, or received from you via the Internet.

By maintaining a difficult to guess password and constantly updating your password, you can help us to secure your personal information. Bendigo Community Telco will not be held responsible for any unauthorised access due to an unsafe password.

If you believe there has been an unauthorised access to your personal information (in that someone is aware of your username and password), please contact us immediately to have the password changed. We will endeavour to ensure that your request is followed as long as the request is reasonable and within our capabilities.

Account payment details such as credit card numbers should not be emailed or transmitted other than through our secure server payment options. These servers use the highest available encryption methods to protect the transmission of sensitive information.

Children and Minors:

The Privacy Act does not specify an age after which individuals can make their own privacy decisions. Determining the decision-making capabilities of a young person can be a complex matter, often raising other ethical and legal issues.

Bendigo Community Telco's terms and conditions specifies that minors (those under the age of 18) must have the consent of a parent or guardian before using our service. A person must be over the age of 18 to open an account.

With this in mind, Bendigo Community Telco strongly recommends that children and minors be supervised while using the Internet.

Additional information about privacy:

Additional information regarding the privacy act and the National Privacy Principles (NPP) can be sourced from the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner's website at: http://www.privacy.gov.au

How to contact us:

To contact Bendigo Community Telco, you have four options:

Office Location:
5 View Point
Bendigo, Victoria 3550.

Telephone:
(03) 5454 5000 during office hours
(0409) 337 726 after hours

Fax:
(03) 5454 5001

Email:
support@impulse.net.au