Privacy Policy:
Table of contents
About Livewire and this Privacy Statement
What Personal Information do we collect?
Photographs and other information
How do we collect your personal information?
Why do we collect your personal information?
What if we can’t collect your Personal Information?
When will we disclose your Personal Information?
Children (minors)
Access to Livewire
Security of Personal Information
Changing or Removing Information
External Website Links
Use of Cookies
How can you make a privacy enquiry or complaint?
Policy Changes
Contact Details
About Livewire and this Privacy Statement
Livewire (Livewire, we, our, us) is a secure online community for 12 up to and including 20 year olds living with illness or disability, their siblings and parents. Livewire is a program of Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia accessible at livewire.org.au (Website).
Livewire is committed to protecting the privacy of Livewire users and their parents, guardians and siblings (you, your, user). Livewire respects and upholds users rights to privacy protection under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and other applicable State and Territory privacy legislation, in regulating how it collects, uses, holds and discloses information about them (Personal Information). This privacy policy also provides information about your privacy rights and how to contact us if you have any privacy concerns.
This privacy policy may change from time to time and it is therefore important that you review it regularly. The current version of the policy will be available on the Website.
All users must satisfy Livewire member criteria, and full community access members aged under 18 are required to satisfy the parental/guardian validation procedures in order to register to access the site.
What Personal Information do we collect?
Personal information
Personal information is information and opinion about an identified person, or a person who is reasonably identifiable. In order to perform to offer our services and perform our functions and activities, Livewire has to collect, store and handle personal information, including about Livewire users.
Livewire collects personal details provided by you at registration and otherwise collected, stored and handled by Livewire for identity authentication, eligibility and Website access level allocation, as well as for purposes related to Website and account administration and management. The information we collect and use may include:
- full name;
- date of birth;
- address;
- e-mail;
- login details and password;
- telephone number;
- health condition type;
- Country or residence;
- ethnicity (NZ members only);
- parental/guardian details (including name, phone number, e-mail); and
- emergency contact details including phone number, name and relationship of your emergency contact (where you are over 18).
Once registered, users can create a profile and include personal information such as interests, health condition, pictures and videos which they may elect to make public to other users. In including such information users expressly consent to the collection of that information by Livewire, and its use and disclosure in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the terms of use of the Livewire site. The information in the user’s personal profile may be edited/updated by the user through their personal profile page.
Information will also be collected about how young people use the Livewire site (e.g. time of day, number of users, types of activities). This information will be used to improve the site for but not used to identify individual persons unless required for investigation or law enforcement purposes.
Some of the information we collect is considered sensitive information under the Privacy Act. If you choose to provide it, we may collect the following categories of sensitive information:
- health information (such as current and past medical history) and assessments;
- ethnic background; and
- personal circumstances and other information that you choose to provide.
Photographs and other information
We may feature photographs of various individuals on our Website. We take steps to ensure that these photographs are taken and displayed on our Website with the permission of the individuals (or the permission of a guardian or parent if you are under 18) involved. If you are in one or more of these photos and would like one or more removed, please contact our Privacy Officer via the contact details below.
How do we collect your personal information?
Where possible, Livewire will generally collect personal information directly from the relevant individual, including:
- when you register as a Livewire member;
- when you communicate or interact with us by telephone, email, online (including through our website) or in person;
- when you complete a form or a survey;
- when you provide us with a case study; and
- information you provide to us during attendance at our events.
In some cases we may also exchange personal information with third party sources including:
- our trusted partner organisations, suppliers and other third parties who provide services to us; and
- hospitals and medical practitioners (where they have your consent to refer disclose your information to us).
Why do we collect your personal information?
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for a variety of reasons, including:
- to provide, administer, promote and develop our programs and services;
- to verify your identity and personal information;
- to maintain and update our records;
- to manage our relationship with you;
- where your health or well-being is at risk;
- to conduct health and social research;
- to train and manage our people;
- to protect our lawful interests;
- to deal with enquiries and disputes;
- to communicate program changes, events, and updates, unless you choose to opt out of receiving this information; and
- to meet reporting obligations to government agencies or as required by law.
What if we can’t collect your Personal Information?
If you do not provide us with the personal information:
- you will not be able to access all of the features on our Website;
- we may not be able to provide you with our services;
- we may not be able to consider your application to join us as a Livewire member; and
- we may not be able to respond to your requests for information.
When will we disclose your Personal Information?
Community rules apply when using the Website including certain information that cannot be shared. This includes:
- Surnames
- Personal Phone numbers
- Personal Email addresses
- Personal Address
- Contact details and logins for other sites e.g. facebook, Instagram, SnapChat
- Links to other urls (unless approved)
- School name and location
- Locations of other places regularly frequented (e.g. after school clubs)
- Information that could be deemed harmful, offensive or inappropriate
If you become aware that you or someone else has shared any of the above information, please contact us using the contact details below.
We may disclose your personal information to various third parties for any of the purposes identified above in this Privacy Policy. The types of third parties with whom we may exchange your personal information may include:
- a parent, guardian, representative or carer;
- your emergency contact person;
- our service providers that assist us with archival, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting, banking, payment, delivery, data processing, data analysis, document management, research, website and technology services;
- our trusted third party suppliers and partners that provide services and support for our programs and operations;
- where your health and well-being is at risk, in which case we may notify relevant health services and other parties that can help us to protect you;
- health service providers involved in your ongoing care or to provide treatment, including your general practitioner, home service provider or mental health practitioner;
- government health bodies and departments when we have your consent; and
- to law enforcement agencies and other organisations where required or permitted by law.
Livewire or its trusted suppliers stores data, including personal information, in a cloud environment, with servers in various locations including Japan and the United States.
Livewire will not disclose a user’s Personal Information to other third parties unless consent has been received or the disclosure is otherwise permitted by law, including if Livewire has any concern about a user’s safety.
Livewire will monitor user generated content on the site including chat transcripts, both public and private, as well as internal messaging, posts and groups. Relevant information will be disclosed to parents or guardian, emergency contact, or the appropriate authorities if there is concern for a child’s safety or security or as otherwise permitted by this Privacy Policy or the Privacy Act.
Children (minors)
During the Livewire registration process personal information about a minor/minors, parents or guardians will be collected. Where an applicant is under the age of 18 years, Livewire will validate the registration from membership applicant’s parents or guardians prior to allowing ongoing unrestricted access to the Livewire Community. Such personal information is collected by Livewire membership services and unless Livewire has prior parental or guardian consent it will not be used or disclosed to third parties that do not work with or for Livewire. Livewire members can update their personal information online anytime.
If at any time a parent or guardian withdraws the consent for Livewire to use or disclose Personal Information collected about his or her child, Livewire will take all reasonable steps to cancel the Livewire membership and delete such Personal Information from its systems and records.
Access to Livewire
Parents will be asked for permission for young people, aged 12-17, to join Livewire and share personal information on the site. Young people aged 18 and over will have their registration request validated by Livewire before joining Livewire. Reliable third parties nominated by a member or their parents and deemed acceptable by Livewire will be contacted to confirm the identity of all potential members and their parents.
Member user name and password are used on Livewire to protect privacy and security. It is the Livewire member’s responsibility to make sure that the user name and password are not disclosed to another person.
Security of Personal Information
Livewire will take reasonable steps and precautions to ensure that the Personal Information it collects, or uses is protected from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We store personal information in electronic form, sometimes with the assistance of third parties such as data hosting providers. Livewire has systems in place to record and monitor the secure destruction or de-identification of personal information that is no longer required for any permitted purpose.
Livewire will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that Personal Information is stored securely, and that only authorised persons have access to the information.
Changing or Removing Information
Access and control over a majority of your personal information on Livewire is readily available through your member’s profile. Members may modify or delete any of their profile information at any time by logging into their account. Information will be updated immediately. Members who wish to deactivate their Livewire membership may do so by informing Livewire Member Services on (02) 8425-5971 or [email protected].
External Website Links
If any links are used that are offered through the Livewire website then the policies of the organisation operating that linked site will apply to any information the member provides once they have entered that link. Livewire is not responsible for the privacy or security of any such information.
Use of Cookies
Any personal information and any information generated through use of [Cookies] will be used in accordance with this Privacy Statement for the purpose for which it was collected as well as any other purpose related to Livewire and Livewire’s normal business operations, and also:
- Other purposes connected with the operation, administration, improvement and development of Livewire;
- For internal purposes such as to monitor site activity and trends;
- Where Livewire suspects that fraudulent or other unlawful activity has been engaged in;
- Where use is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious or imminent threat to life, health or safety or such a threat to public health or safety;
- Where such use is otherwise authorised by or under any law;
- Use of a user’s email address in order to alert a user to a change of status in their Livewire membership;
- Any changes or alterations in Livewire service that affect the user; and
- As permitted by the Privacy Act.
Livewire shares the information it gathers from Cookies, in de-personalised aggregate form, with third parties.
How can you make a privacy enquiry or complaint?
You can contact our Privacy Officer via the contact details at the bottom of this Privacy Policy if you have any queries or concerns about your privacy or our personal information handling practices more generally. We will respond to let you know who will be handling your matter and when you can expect a further response. We may request additional details from you regarding your concern, and we may need to engage or consult with other parties to investigate and deal with your issue. We will keep records of your request and any resolution. If you are not satisfied with the manner in which we have dealt with a complaint, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.
Policy Changes
Any changes made to the Livewire Privacy Policy will be updated and available on the Livewire site.
Contact Details
Livewire’s priority is to protect the privacy of all Livewire users. For any questions about this privacy policy, contact: