Privacy Policy Effective - 1 June 2007
What is StudyVoices.com
StudyVoices.com is an online community for the benefit of international students who are currently studying in Australia or thinking about studying in Australia. It is also a great way for those students who have already completed their studies in Australia to tell others of their experiences. StudyVoices allows our members to set-up unique profiles that can be linked and networked together. StudyVoices members can then view each others' profiles, communicate with other students on the service, share photos, post journals and comments, and describe their interests. There is also a great forum where all the most up-to-date news can be shared.
To enrich our members' experience, we request and display some personal information to other members and visitors, which allows our members to identify each other and expand their network of friends. StudyVoices members can change their profile information at any time and can control how other members communicate with them.
Studyvoices.com cares deeply about online privacy. If you have any questions concerning this privacy policy, please email us at privacy@studyvoices.com
Chat Rooms, Journals and Web Logs, Message Boards, Classifieds and Public Forums
Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily post public information to journals, web logs, message boards, classifieds or any other public forums, that that information can be accessed by the public and can in turn be used by those people to send you unsolicited communications.
Information Collected and Used by StudyVoices.com
StudyVoices.com collects information submitted by members and users such as name, email address, and age to authenticate members and users and to send relevant notifications to those members and users.
StudyVoices.com also collects other profile data including, but not limited to, personal interests, gender, age, education and occupation in order to assist members in finding and communicating with each other.
In addition, StudyVoices.com records and stores non-personally identifiable information including IP address, profile information, aggregate user data, and browser type, from members and visitors to the site. This data is used to manage the website, track usage and improve the StudyVoices services. This non-personally identifiable information may be shared with third parties from time to time to provide more relevant services and advertisements to members. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes.
User profile information including members' pictures and first names are displayed to people in order to facilitate user interaction in the StudyVoices.com online community. Email addresses may also be used to invite new friends to join StudyVoices, to add users to members' friends' networks, and to send notifications related to the website. With the exception of inviting friends, adding friends, and notifications, a member's email address is not shared or displayed to people within a member's personal network. Members within a personal network communicate with each other on StudyVoices.com through the StudyVoices.com service, without disclosing their email addresses. Member's full names are never directly revealed to other members. To facilitate searching and finding friends and other members on the website, StudyVoices.com allows members to search for other members using first and last name, email address, and schools and/or companies where members may have attended or worked.
We may also use a member's email address to send up-dates, a newsletter or news regarding StudyVoices.com. Members may choose not to receive emails of this type by contacting privacy@studyvoices.com
From time to time, StudyVoices or a partner may sponsor a promotion, sweepstake or contest on StudyVoices.com. Members may be asked to provide personal information including name, email address or home address, or to answer questions, in order to participate. StudyVoices may then transfer that personal information to certain advertising partners that you have explicitly requested to receive information from. It will be clear at the point of collection who is collecting the personal information and whose privacy statement will apply.
Invitations and Other Communications to Non-Members
It is anticipated that StudyVoices members will soon be able to invite friends to join the service by sending invitation emails via an automated invitation system. When this occurs StudyVoices.com will store the email addresses that members provide so that the respondents may be added to the friend's list of the member sending the invitations, and also to send reminders of the invitations. StudyVoices.com will not sell these email addresses or use them to send any other communication besides invitations or invitation reminders (up to 3 per email address). Recipients of invitations from StudyVoices.com may contact privacy@studyvoices.com to request the removal of their information from our database.
In particular, you may prevent StudyVoices.com email invitations and other messages from being sent to any email address you control by sending a single email with the subject "BLOCK" to privacy@studyvoices.com. Please note that the email must come from the account you wish to block.
Links
StudyVoices.com contains links to other sites. StudyVoices.com is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices of these other sites. When linking to another site a member or user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. StudyVoices.com's privacy policy only governs information collected on StudyVoices.com.
Correcting/up-dating or Removing Information
StudyVoices.com members may modify or remove any of their personal information at any time by logging into their account and editing their profile.
Email choice/opt out
Members who no longer wish to receive up-dates, newsletters or notifications from StudyVoices may contact privacy@studyvoices.com to advise they no longer wish to receive such information.
Third Party Advertising
Various advertisements appear on StudyVoices.com. Our web advertising partners may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad-server to recognise your computer each time they send you an online advertisement. In this way, ad-servers may compile information about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw their advertisements and determine which ads are clicked on. This information allows an advertising network to deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This privacy statement does not cover the use of cookies by any other advertisers.
Security
StudyVoices.com member accounts are secured by member created passwords. StudyVoices.com takes precautions to ensure that member account information is kept private. We use reasonable measures to protect member information that is stored within our database, and we restrict access to member information to those employees who need access to perform their job functions, such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. Please note that we cannot guarantee the security of member account information. Unauthorised entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of member information at any time. For any additional information about the security measures we use on StudyVoices.com please contact us at privacy@studyvoices.com.
Sharing and Disclosure of Information Studyvoices.com Collects
Except as otherwise described in this privacy statement, StudyVoices will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary:
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(a)to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by StudyVoices.com, whether or not a response is required by applicable law; or
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(b)to enforce the StudyVoices.com Terms of Use Agreement or to protect our rights; or
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(c)to protect the safety of members of the public and members and users of StudyVoices.com; or;
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(d)unless StudyVoices has been expressly requested and authorised by a member to disclose that member's personal information to a particular third party.
What if StudyVoices is Sold?
StudyVoices reserves the right to transfer members' personal information to a successor in interest that acquires rights to that information as a result of the sale of StudyVoices or substantially all of its assets to that successor in interest. For more information see the "changes in our privacy policy" section below.
Changes in our Privacy Policy
From time to time StudyVoices may make changes in our privacy policy. If we make changes, we will post them on our website to make members and users aware of what the changes are so that they will always be aware of what information StudyVoices collects, how it is used, and when it may be disclosed. A member or user is bound by any minor changes to the policy when she/he uses the site after those changes have been posted. If, however, StudyVoices is going to use members' personally identifiable information in a manner materially different to that stated at the time of collection, StudyVoices will advise of such development by posting a notice on StudyVoices.com for 30 days.
Contacting the Website
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of StudyVoices.com, or your dealings with StudyVoices, please contact us at privacy@studyvoices.com.