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.