Privacy Policy

This policy outlines how we collect and manage your Personal Information in compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 1988 and, where applicable, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU).

What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?

  • Personal Information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual, or which is sensitive relating to matters such as racial origin, political views or religious beliefs.
  • This Personal Information is collected via your use of all our website Comments Section, from our Register Interest Form, from our Workshop Booking system and from our Book Purchase system.
  • The Comments Form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of all comments posted on the website.
  • We collect your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing our services and products and providing information to our clients.
  • We may also from time to time use that information for purposes of conducting direct marketing to promote our products and services, surveying interest in other products and services, sending invitations to educational or social functions or for purposes of disseminating information which we think may be of interest to our clients and contacts.
  • On some occasions (e.g. when you book a workshop) we may offer you the opportunity to OPT IN to a specific marketing list, but we will also maintain a general mailing list on which your personal information may be included irrespective of whether or not you OPT IN. You may unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time by contacting us in writing or by clicking the OPT OUT Button in any email you receive from us.
  • Except when required by law, such as when you enter into a contract to acquire products (e.g. the Book) or services (e.g. a workshop) from us, you are not obliged to identify yourself and may elect to use a pseudonym when accessing this website if you wish.

Your Consent

You will be deemed to have consented to our collection and use of your Personal Information pursuant to the terms of this Privacy Policy if you utilise this website, particularly if you post a comment, register interest, book a workshop or order a book.

How Do We Collect It?

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

How Long We Retain Your Data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Most of the Personal Information we collect is or will be stored in client files, which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Your Personal Information will only be used for the purposes specified above and will not be shared, sold or given to any third parties, unless required by Law or authorised under the exemptions set out in the Privacy Act.

Security of Personal Information

  • Your Personal Information is stored in a secure manner that reasonably protects it from interference, misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
  • When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it.
  • We generally do not contract out data storage or processing functions. If we do contract out storage or processing of data containing personal information, we will take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient of the information acknowledges the private nature of any personal information disclosed, and that the recipient undertakes to abide by the privacy obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles in respect of any personal information received, subject to any permitted exceptions to those obligations.
  • It is conceivable that personal information may be disclosed by us to a business or government agency located in a jurisdiction other than Australia (an overseas recipient) in limited circumstances. We will not disclose personal information to an overseas recipient unless it is necessary for the negotiation or performance of a contract between you and the overseas recipient (or its Australian principal) that we are arranging on your behalf (a booking), or for the negotiation or performance of a contract between us and the overseas recipient that is necessary to give effect to your booking or is otherwise in your interest.
  • We will endeavour where possible not to deal with overseas recipients unless they have undertaken to comply with Australian Privacy Principles (other than Australian Privacy Principle 1) or we believe they are subject to a law in their jurisdiction that overall is at least substantially similar to the way in which the Australian Privacy Principles protect personal information and enforcement mechanisms are available in the event of a breach of privacy. If these circumstances do not apply then we will not release your personal information unless you expressly consent.

Access to your Personal Information

  • You can request us to provide access to the personal information that we hold about you. You may request us to amend the details of the personal information we hold. We will amend the details on request provided we are satisfied that the amendment is valid. We may in some circumstances request you to provide documentary evidence or other corroboration of validity (e.g. provision of a marriage certificate or a registered deed poll to amend your name). If we do not consider it appropriate to make an amendment, we will notify you within a reasonable time including written reasons for the refusal.
  • If we refuse to amend details of any personal information that we hold following a request from you, you may request that we include in our records a statement associated with the applicable information that will make apparent to users of the information that you contest its validity (“a qualifying statement”).
  • We will not charge any fee for your access request.
  • To request access, request an amendment or request a qualifying statement, please contact us using the details provided below.

Maintaining the Quality of your Personal Information

It is important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. If you find that the information we have is not up to date or is incomplete or inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide quality services to you.

Application of the GDPR

If you are a resident of the EU you will be entitled to any additional protections available under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in respect of your Personal Information.

In particular, in certain circumstances you may have the following rights:

  • the right to have your Personal Information erased
  • the right to request the restriction or suppression of your Personal Information; all
  • the right to data portability of personal information you have provided from this website to another IT environment in a safe and secure way, without hindrance to usability.

Email

Personal information in email we receive from you, including email addresses, will only be used for the purposes given and are subject to the conditions set out in this privacy policy. However, communications over the Internet are inherently insecure. Sending personal information in an email remains entirely at your own risk and The Realm of Possibility will not be responsible for any unauthorised use of this information by third parties.

Visiting Our Website Generally

We may collect information on website activity, such as the number of visitors, the number of pages viewed, navigation patterns, what systems users have and the date and time of visits. This information is collected for statistical purposes only and will not be used to identify you.

We may also utilise “cookies” which enable us to monitor website traffic patterns and to serve you more efficiently if you revisit the site. A “cookie” is a small software file that is placed on your computer and enables our website to recognise your computer upon a return visit. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie and this will provide you with an opportunity to either accept or reject it in each instance. Please be aware that disabling cookies may impede your use of the website to some extent.

If you allow the cookie to apply then the data collected will enable better understanding of your pattern of use and areas of interest which facilitates the improvement of our website, both as to content and its ease of use.

We use two types of cookies, depending on whether you are a registered user or a casual visitor to our website. If you are a registered user with an allocated identification code then the cookie information will be linked to your user account, and you will thereby be personally identified. If you are a casual visitor (including registered users who choose not to login) then the operation of the cookie is “session based” and will expire 20 minutes after your browser ceases to be active, or upon the browser being closed. A session based cookie will not identify you personally, only the unique identification code of the computer you are using.

Cookies may be used to identify the location of your computer which assists us to tailor products and services appropriate to users in particular locations. Information about your location may be collected in a number of ways including:

  • Using your IP Address to determine the State that you are in;
  • Using your GeoLocation information to determine your exact location (a user must opt in to use this service);
  • Storing of postcode/search queries.

The information collected about your location is to help you make the most use of the website by making it easier for you to find an agent that is in your local area. This information will be stored only temporarily if your visit to the website is “session based” or if you login as a registered user in a cookie on your computer. This information is not retained or stored by us on our database and we do not distribute it to third parties.

We may also use pixel tags which interact with a user’s web browser to allow certain data about our IT systems’ interaction with users to be collected, such as whether email we have sent has been opened and viewed. The purpose of collecting this information is to assess the general effectiveness of our email transmissions and other electronic communications.

Naturally, we will become aware of your identity if you choose to provide personal information in the course of using our website, or when communicating with us by email or other electronic media, irrespective of our use of cookies or pixel tags.

This website may contain links to third-party websites. Please take note that The Realm of Possibility is in no way responsible for the content or the privacy practices on these sites.

Policy Updates

This Policy may change from time to time, and will always be available on our website. It is advisable to review this privacy statement periodically for changes.

Further information on the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles can be found on the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at: www.privacy.gov.au

Complaints

If you consider that we have wrongly failed to amend our records or not complied with this policy or the Australian Privacy Principles in our treatment of your personal information you may lodge a written complaint detailing the grounds of complaint. All complaints received will be considered by a senior manager of The Realm of Possibility and a written response, including a statement of any remedial action to be taken if appropriate, will be provided to you within a reasonable time, being not more than a calendar month.

To make a complaint please contact us using the details provided below.

Enquiries

If you have any queries about this privacy policy, the privacy practices of The Realm of Possibility, or you wish to make a request or lodge a complaint, please contact us at:

The Realm of Possibility

johnawood@therealmofpossibility.org.au