Privacy statement

Friday 20 April, 2007
The Cancer Council Victoria Public Privacy Statement
9 August 2006

The Cancer Council Victoria

The Cancer Council Victoria is an independent, volunteer-assisted charity whose core business is cancer control. It conducts and supports research, delivers statewide support and prevention programs, and is a strong advocate for reducing the physical and emotional burden of cancer.The Cancer Council Victoria is a business name of the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, which was set up as a charitable body in 1936 by an Act of Victorian Parliament (6213). This Act was subsequently consolidated as the Cancer Act 1958.

The Information Privacy Principles

The Cancer Council is bound by two Victorian laws that are designed to protect the privacy of individuals. These comprise Information Privacy Principles and Health Privacy Principles by which we must abide. You can find out more about the Information Privacy Act 2000 by calling the Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner on 1300 666 444 or by visiting the website at http://www.privacy.vic.gov.au/, and about the Health Records Act 2001 by calling the Victorian Health Services Commissioner on 1800 136 066 or by visiting the website at www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/.

The Cancer Council Victoria respects and upholds your rights to privacy protection under the Information and Health Privacy Principles by regulating the way in which we collect, use, disclose, hold and destroy your personal information. We have a detailed policy and set of procedures to ensure that only authorised staff have access to your personal information and that it remains confidential and only used for appropriate purposes and in accordance with the policy.

This privacy statement covers all personal information held by us*, whether it is information or an opinion about any individual whose identity is apparent or can be reasonably ascertained from that information or opinion. This includes information we have collected from people over the telephone, through mail, personal contact or over the internet.

Our Privacy Policy is also designed to ensure compliance, in the case of specific human research projects, with the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Government's Privacy Act 1998.

Why we collect your personal information

Within The Cancer Council Victoria there are many reasons for collecting information about individuals including:

To meet Cancer Act 1958 (Vic) requirements, including those relating to the Cancer Registry

• For our research and surveys
• So we may send out information about our services or cancer-related issues
• So we may provide support and counselling in regard to cancer prevention, treatment and management
• So we may provide information and resources about fundraising
• To maintain our donor and sponsorship databases, to assist in income development
• So we may contact our volunteers and committee members
• To evaluate applications for employment.

How we collect your personal information

We collect your personal information when you provide it to The Cancer Council Victoria in a number of ways including:

• when you request a product or service from us, such as ordering resources
• by participating in one of the Cancer Council's many community fundraising and information events
• when you respond to our fundraising mail
• when you give consent to and take part in trials, surveys etc

• when you join a committee.

How we keep your personal information secure

The Cancer Council takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, improper disclosure or unauthorised destruction. The Cancer Council applies generally accepted standards of technology and operational security to keep personal information secure.

If you provide us with your personal information, it is securely stored in our databases, which are accessed only by authorised staff at the Cancer Council.

All hard copy data is disposed of appropriately when no longer required.

Using your personal information

Any personal information that we collect about you will only be used by us for the reason it was collected in the first instance, unless:

• it could be reasonably expected that the Cancer Council would use the information for a related purpose
• you have specifically agreed to the related purpose
• the information is not sensitive and the use of the information is for our direct marketing, for example, information about our events.

You are able to opt out of receiving further information from the Cancer Council unless there is a legal requirement for the Cancer Council to provide such information.

If you would like to opt out of receiving any further information or requests from the Cancer Council please contact us on the number below.

Disclosing your personal information

The Cancer Council Victoria does not lend or give away any information collected from any of our activities:

• With your consent
• To lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to your health or safety
• When required by law
• In preparation for or conduct of legal proceedings in a court or tribunal
• In the public interest, for example, to lessen or prevent a serious threat to public health or safety.

Personal information about our supporters is never sold or provided to any third parties for marketing purposes.

Contracted service providers who handle information relating to the Cancer Council's supporters are legally bound by their contracts to comply with the Cancer Council's Privacy Policy and the Information Privacy Principles.

Visiting our websites

As most websites do, we track usage patterns on our websites. Specifically, it records:

• Internet providers
• date and time of visits
• pages accessed and documents downloaded
• search items entered.

This information does not identify individuals and is used only to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of the sites to help us make it more useful to you.

Sometimes we need to store temporary information, which can personalise your visit to our site, using cookies. Cookies are simply an alternative for storing information used by web page scripts in your computer's browser rather than on a server. Cookies cannot gather any more information about you than what is already publicly available when you surf the web or what you offer in a web form.

We will only record your email address if you send us a message. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.

The Cancer Council Victoria websites contain links to other sites of interest. The Cancer Council does not control, and is not responsible for, the content or privacy practices of those websites. Please check the Privacy Statements on other websites before you provide your personal information to them.

By using the Cancer Council's websites, you agree that the Internet is inherently insecure and accordingly, the Cancer Council cannot provide any definite assurance regarding security or personal information. The Cancer Council Victoria will not be liable in any way in relation to any breach of security or any unintended loss or disclosure of that information.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

The Cancer Council Victoria may, without notice, amend or modify its Privacy Policy by posting the amended Privacy Policy to The Cancer Council Victoria's website.

How to access, correct or update your personal information

If you have any complaints, questions or concerns about information The Cancer Council Victoria holds about you or about the accuracy of that information, please contact the Cancer Council on (03) 9635 5000 or enquiries@cancervic.org.au

If you would like to access the information that we hold about you, you can write to the Cancer Council.

If you know that the information that we hold about you is incorrect please contact us so we can update our records as soon as possible. In the unlikely event that we are unable to provide you with access to your personal information for legal reasons as specified in the Information Privacy Act and Health Record Act, we will provide you with reasons for denying access.

How to contact us

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact The Cancer Council Victoria:

Phone: (03) 9635 5000
Email: enquiries@cancervic.org.au
Address: 1 Rathdowne Street, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

The Cancer Council Victoria Privacy Policy also applies to PapScreen Victoria, Quit Victoria, VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, SunSmart, Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium and the Victorian Cancer Biobank