This privacy statement applies to the City of Melton Conversations website. This site is owned and operated by Melton City Council (Council) using software licensed from Social Pinpoint. For details on how Melton City Council collects and protects your personal information, refer to our Privacy Policy and Website Privacy Statement. For details of how Social Pinpoint may access personal information, please refer to Social Pinpoint’s Privacy Policy.

By creating an account and registering to take part in Melton City Council’s Community Engagement Platform, I understand and consent to Melton City Council:

• Collecting my personal information & account information for the purposes of statistical research tied to the Community Engagement obligations in the Local Government Act 2020.
• I understand that Council’s primary use of the data is to accurately measure whether Council as part of the process of strategic decision making has engaged with a representative sample of the Melton Community.
• Where accepted as an additional registration preference, I also consent to Council using my account preferences to notify me of community engagement opportunities and surveys based on the areas of interest listed on my account; and sending newsletters.
• In accordance with the Terms of Use users may contact Council to update or terminate their account.

Melton City Council takes the privacy of participants using this site very seriously. Registration of your demographic data and personal information is optional and not required for participation in the program. Personal information will also be de-identified for analysis purposes.

Our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is regulated by the Victorian Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. You can find more information about your privacy rights at the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.

Social Pinpoint Digital Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd (ABN: 12 148 958 927) collects, protects and uses your personal information through its online software applications (the “Software”).

This Software is operated by an external operator (the “Operator”) who licences the Software from Social Pinpoint and may, from time to time, collect information for various reasons outlined in their Privacy Policy, Privacy Statement, or any other applicable Agreement.

By using our Software, you consent and agree to this Privacy Policy.

What information is collected?

Personal Information

The Operator may collect a range of personal information from you when you use our Software, depending on their specific requirements and needs. Personal information may be collected in a range of ways including through a registration process or through various activities and interactions on the site.

The type of personal information collected will vary between Operators and may include (but may not be limited to) the following types of information, when this information is shared:

• Your name
• Email address
• Profile picture
• Phone number
• Your IP address
• Other unique ID numbers
• Social network account IDs
• Physical address, postcode, or other locational attribute
• Demographic information such as age, gender, etc.
• Information about your preferences
• Your recorded thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc. as expressed by you.

You will need to check the Privacy Policy of the Operator to confirm what personal information is collected. Your personal information may be accessed by Social Pinpoint in fulfilling our duties and responsibilities to the Operator.

Service Metadata

In addition to any information you may provide us when using our Software, service metadata may also be automatically collected from you when you visit the Operator’s website. Service metadata provides us with information about how the Software is used and helps us improve our products and services.

The types of metadata that may be collected through your use of the Software includes (but is not limited to):

• Device and browser information
• Which pages you visited, links you clicked, etc.
• The duration of your visit.
• Whether you performed certain actions (e.g. provided information, downloaded a file, etc.)

In some cases, this metadata may be linked to your personal information, if you have provided this information through the Software.

Cookies

Cookies are small data files collected by your web browser and stored on your local device. They contain a de-identified or anonymous unique identifier and are used to recognise and remember information.

When you use our Software, we may use technologies such as cookies to store information about your visit. If you have provided us with personal information, cookies may be associated with this information.

We use this information to better understand how people use our Software to improve our products and services, and also to detect fraud or abuse of the Software.

Cookies may be used for a number of purposes including (but not limited to):

• Sessions - We may store a de-identified session identifier which is no longer accessible after you close your browser. This identifier helps allow you to proceed through multiple pages of the site quickly and easily without having to authenticate or reprocess each new area you visit.
• Social networking - In some instances social networking cookies may be used to enable you to authenticate through your existing social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or to let you share information you find interesting. This information may be used by social networking sites to advertise with you.
• Analytics - We use cookies to store information and metadata about your visit including usage data such as which pages were visited, how long you stayed on the site, which links you clicked, etc.
• Monitoring - We use cookies to monitor the health of the application and to be notified of any bugs or errors.
• Performance - We may use cookies for load balancing to ensure websites provide a continuous service for users.

In some instances, the Operator may have also enabled third party services that may use additional cookies. The Operator is responsible for notifying you of these additional cookies.

If you do not wish to have cookies enabled, or wish to be notified of their use, most modern browsers will allow you to adjust this in the settings. Please note that disabling the use of cookies on our software may result in restricted/impacted functionality, and you may not be able to take full advantage of the service.

Links

This Privacy Statement does not apply to third party websites or digital services which may be linked to from content published by either Social Pinpoint or the Operator. We recommend you read the privacy statement of the relevant service when you access these sites.

How do we use your information?

Social Pinpoint may access the information collected by the Operator (personal or otherwise) in order to:

• allow you to access the service
• send you updates and information where you have consented or would reasonably expect to receive them
• respond to your enquiries
• maintain our licenced software
• detect and rectify fraud or other behaviour that violates any terms of use
• service requests from the Operator
• comply with our contractual or legal obligations
• monitor sites to ensure adequate safety and security
• conduct de-identified research
• improve our Software and services

How do we protect your information?

Social Pinpoint takes the privacy of your information very seriously, and we use industry standard practices to keep your data safe and secure.

If the Operator is a government entity, we may also be subject to additional privacy protections in their jurisdiction which, depending on your location, may include:

• Australia - Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles.
• New Zealand - Privacy Act 1993.
• Canada - The Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

Social Pinpoint will not disclose your personal information to any third party for any reason, unless we are compelled to do so by law. We will not use your personal information for any other purposes outside those stated in this policy, including for direct marketing purposes, without your express consent.

How do I access or change my personal information?

In some cases you may be able to access your personal information by logging into your account (if the Software provides this functionality), where you can update your personal details.

You may also request a copy of, or change to, the personal information we hold, unless there is a legal or contractual reason not to do so. This may require the notification or consent of the Operator in some cases.

In accordance with the Terms of Use users may contact Council to update or terminate their account.

Contact us

If you have a suggestion on how to improve the Privacy Policy, have a complaint in relation to the collection, use or and disclosure of your personal information, or you suspect that Social Pinpoint may have breached any applicable privacy laws, you can contact our Privacy Officer by email at: info@socialpinpoint.com

The Privacy Officer will review all complaints received and respond to each complainant upon due consideration. We may require further information to respond to your request, or may refer you to the Operator when appropriate.

Social Pinpoint will endeavour to respond to your request or inquiry within 30 days.

Changes to this Policy

We reserve the right to modify this policy from time to time, in our sole discretion, and the modified policy shall be effective immediately.

The following Terms and Conditions govern the use of City of Melton Conversations (“the site”). The software platform is owned by Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd and operated by Melton City Council (Council).

By accessing and using this site, you are choosing to accept and comply with the Terms presented throughout this agreement as well as the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy. These Terms apply to all visitors and users of this site.

Linked sites, affiliated services or third-party content or software have their own Terms that you must comply with. If you disagree with any of the Terms presented in this agreement, you may discontinue using the site immediately.

If you are under 18 years old, please ensure that your parent or guardian understands and accepts these Terms and Conditions (including the Privacy Policy and Moderation Policy).

What are the conditions with a user’s account?

While using the site, you must not violate any applicable laws and regulations. It is our duty to protect the confidentiality of content you provide on our site in accordance with our Privacy Policy. When you create an account with us, you must always provide us with accurate information. Failure to provide accurate information violates the Terms, which may result in immediate termination of your account on our service. You are responsible for protecting your own password you use for this site and for any activities undertaken under that password. Unauthorised use of your password or account must be immediately reported to us. In some cases, we or our agents may require access to your user accounts to respond to technical issues.

We are not responsible for the content on the site that has been provided by the users of the site. Any content posted by you is subject to the rules of our Moderation Policy. Your contribution to the site may be edited, removed or not published if we consider it inappropriate (refer to Moderation Policy). Contributors should also be aware that their posts may remain online indefinitely. Where practical, you may choose not to identify yourself, deal with us on an anonymous basis or use a pseudonym.

What do we require from our users?

You must understand and agree that, without limitation:

• all information, data, images and other materials are the sole responsibility of the person from whom the content originated;
• you are prohibited from advertising or offering to sell or buy any goods and services
• you cannot transmit content that contains software viruses or programs designed to change or destroy the functionality of any computer software or hardware; or
• you cannot collect or store personal data about other users of the site
• you cannot impersonate any person or entity, including without limitation to a Council representative
• you cannot interrupt or interfere with the site or servers or networks connected to the site
• you cannot attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site or other use accounts

Can your account be suspended or terminated?

We may terminate or suspend access to your site and/or account immediately, without prior notice, including without limitation if you breach the Terms. We may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all the related files and information in your account. After your account has been terminated, the content you have posted may also remain indefinitely on the site.

If you want to terminate your own account, please send an email to engagementprojects@melton.vic.gov.au.

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed in accordance with the laws of Victoria, Australia, without regards to its conflict of law provisions.

Indemnification

Melton City Council, its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, licensors and other partners are not responsible for any loss, liability, claim, or demand, including legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising from a breach of this agreement and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth above.

What content do we own?

This website contains the copyrighted material, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other proprietary information (“Intellectual Property”) of Melton City Council and its suppliers and licensors. Council owns and retains all proprietary rights in the intellectual property. All intellectual property in the content of this site including without limitation to text, software, source code, pages, documents and online graphics, photographs, sounds, audio, video and other interactive features are owned by or licensed to us.

Any original content that you submit or post on our site may be made available to the public and allows users to share your content (with the end user acknowledging your contribution) under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Australian License.

Except for Intellectual Property which is in the public domain or for which you have been given written permission, you may not copy, alter, transmit, sell, distribute any of the Intellectual Property on this site.

We are not responsible for your communications or dealings, including payment and delivery of goods or services, with a third party found via our website. Any loss or damage incurred from those communications or dealings are solely between the user and the third party.

Disclaimer and Warranties

Users must agree that you use of the site is at your own risk. We make no warranty that the site will meet your requirements or be uninterrupted or error-free. Any material that the user downloads through the site is done at their own risk and are responsible for any damages to their computer system or loss of data.

What happens if these Terms change?

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time without notice. The most recent version of the Terms can be seen on this page. By continuing to access or use our site after those revisions become effective, you agree and will comply to the revised terms. If you do not agree to the revised terms, please discontinue using our site.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at engagementprojects@melton.vic.gov.au.