Privacy Policy

Effective Date:  21 April 2021

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We are required by law to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and the General Data Protection Regulation, also known as GDPR.

If you live in the UK, Europe or use data services in the UK or Europe, as of 25 May 2018, you will have increased digital rights under the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. Please click here if you live in the UK or EU, to understand how we respect your Privacy in these regions.

Regardless of your location, we support your digital rights to have your data deleted, at any time. To request this please contact privacy@thesocialindex.com.

1. Our Commitment to Your Privacy 

1.1   The Social Index Pty Ltd ACN 163 118 250 (“We/Us/Our”) respects your privacy.  So that you may understand how We deal with your Personal Information, We have set out how and why We collect, hold, use, manage and disclose Personal Information in this Privacy Policy.

1.2    We will update this Privacy Policy from time to time at Our discretion, so you should visit Our website regularly to see the latest copy of the Privacy Policy.

1.3  Our business activities and functions include:

1.3.1   promoting, offering, selling and performing services to provide organisations and individuals with information relating to social media profiles.  This includes reviewing, copying, editing and summarising information (including text, images, sounds, video or other data) that is publically available on websites or social media applications;

1.3.2   any business activities related to any of these activities.

1.4     Where We provide our social media reports or related services, We obtain consent to the use and disclosure of individual’s Personal Information and other information that has been posted on publically available websites or in social media applications in our social media reports and related services, through having obtained consent:

1.4.1  from the individual about whom the post is made; and/or

1.4.2 from the individual who has posted the information; and/or

1.4.3 from the owner/licensee of the website or social media application from which we source the information, who in turn has obtained the relevant consents.

1.5    Some of the key phrases that are used in the Privacy Policy include “Personal Information” and “Sensitive Information”.  Both of these terms are defined in the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth).

1.6    “Personal Information” is defined to mean information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.

1.7    “Sensitive Information” is defined to mean information or an opinion about an individual’s:

1.7.1         racial or ethnic origin;

1.7.2         political opinions;

1.7.3         membership of a political association;

1.7.4         religious beliefs or affiliations;

1.7.5         philosophical beliefs;

1.7.6         membership of a professional or trade association;

1.7.7         membership of a trade union;

1.7.8         sexual preferences or practices;

1.7.9         criminal record;

1.7.10     health information;

1.7.11     genetic information about an individual that is not otherwise health information.

We also ask for gender as some names are not gender specific and this helps us ensure we are looking at the correct profiles

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2  What Personal Information do We Collect and Hold?

2.1   We may collect and hold the following types of Personal Information:

2.1.1   information (which may include Sensitive Information) that is posted on any publically available website or social media application, including any text, sound, images, video or other information;

2.1.2    name, date of birth and relationship to other individuals (e.g. record of next of kin or emergency contact);

2.1.3    address, phone number, fax number, email address, Skype address and other addresses/contact details/identifiers used in electronic communications or business cards;

2.1.4     voicemail recordings left in Our phone system and images that individuals have made publicly available or provided to Us;

2.1.5    video and sound recordings from Our security systems;

2.1.6    information about the products or services that you purchase or consider purchasing from Us, Our suppliers or business associates;

2.1.7    information about enquiries made to Us, Our suppliers or business associates;

2.1.8    information you provide when you raise a support enquiry or when We are working with you to resolve a technical or administrative query;

2.1.1    information that you provide in response to market research, surveys or competitions that are conducted for Us;

2.1.2    information that is provided in respect of employment, contract work, work experience or similar, whether solicited or unsolicited;

2.1.3    credit card or details of other payment methods used on Our website or to purchase Our products and services.

2.2   We collect and hold Sensitive Information:

2.2.1   as part of Our business activities as described in sections 1.3 and 2.1 of this Privacy Policy;

2.2.2    where the Sensitive Information is directly linked to the individual’s employment records and Our collection, holding and use is permitted by the Privacy Act for the purpose managing the individual’s employment record;

2.2.3    where Sensitive Information is provided to Us in connection with the individual seeking employment, contract work, work experience or similar, whether solicited or unsolicited.

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3 How do We Collect and Hold Personal Information?

3.1  We collect Personal Information in a number of ways, including:

3.1.1  from publicly available websites and social media applications;

3.1.2  through Our website;

3.1.3   through communications with you, including letters, emails, telephone calls, facsimiles, surveys, competitions and via social media applications;

3.1.4  through communications with others;

3.1.5   in the course of providing Our products and services to you, including providing support through Our support service;

3.1.6   in the course of Our business functions and activities.

3.2  We hold Personal Information:

3.2.1  in Our hard copy files;

3.2.2  in other systems that We use in connection with Our business, some of which may be owned and operated by Our suppliers;

3.2.3   in the database associated with Our website.

3.3   Providing it is lawful and practical, We will give you the option of not identifying yourself, using a pseudonym, or not providing Personal Information when you enter into a transaction or deal with Us.

3.4   If you elect not to provide Us with Personal Information then We may not be able to provide you with the information, products, services or support that you may want.

3.5   We may receive other unsolicited Personal Information in the course of Our business.  We will deal with this unsolicited Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

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4  The Purposes for which We use Personal Information

4.1    We collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information for the following purposes:

4.1.1    providing information and reports on organisations or individual’s social media profiles;

4.1.2    pursuing Our business activities and functions;

4.1.3    allowing the technical support personnel to provide assistance to you (or your employer), if needed;

4.1.4   facilitating transactions between you (or other people who you are acting for) and Us or between you (or other people who you are acting for) and other people and organisations who are accessible via Our website or other electronic means;

4.1.5   facilitating payment for the purchase of products or services through Our website or otherwise.  In this case you will be directed to (or We may use to facilitate the transaction) a third party website (a secure internet payment gateway) approved by the relevant financial institution to enter your credit/debit/charge card or other payment mechanism details.  This third party may in turn integrate the payment software with a third party payment application provider who assists in managing the payment transaction;

4.1.6  performing any of the features on Our website, e.g. conducting surveys, market research, mail outs, competitions, using social media or proving information online;

4.1.7   conducting surveys, market research, mail and competitions off line;

4.1.8   direct marketing;

4.1.9    improving the quality of Our website and Our products and services;

4.1.10   developing or adding additional products and services from Us or existing or new people and organisations that are accessible via Our website;

4.1.11   training and quality assurance purposes;

4.1.12   administrative purposes;

4.1.13   allowing the technical support personnel to manage Our infrastructure, systems, databases other applications or tools;

4.1.14    statistical analysis of the usage of Our website or applications or tools that are accessed via the website;

4.1.15   complying with the law, including privacy legislation.

4.2  We do not provide Personal Information relating to an individual to third parties except:

4.2.1  to provide our social media reports or related services, but subject always to the restrictions in this Privacy Policy;

4.2.2   in the other circumstances set out in this Privacy Policy; or

4.2.3   as required by law.

4.3   Under no circumstances will We sell or otherwise provide any Personal Information to third parties so that they may use that Personal Information to market their products or services to you.

4.4    If you have given Us your consent to provide you with direct marketing communications We may collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information in accordance with that consent to enable Us to provide you (or other people who you are acting for) information about, and offer you (or other people who you are acting for), products and services.

4.4.1   If you give Us consent to provide you with direct marketing communications We will provide a simple means where you can request not to receive direct marketing communications.  You may also request that We do not provide your Personal Information to any of Our suppliers or business associates in order for them to provide you with direct marketing communications.  If We use a third party source to obtain Personal Information about you for the purpose of direct marketing to you, you may request that We disclose the source of that information.  We will respond to any request made under this clause within a reasonable period and at no cost to you.

4.4.2   You consent to Us using any Personal Information that We collect for any one of the purposes in this Privacy Policy for any of the other purpose stated in this Privacy Policy other than direct marketing.  We will seek specific consent to use Personal Information for direct marketing purposes.

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5 Disclosure of the Personal Information Overseas

5.1   We may send Personal Information overseas in the following circumstances:

5.1.1    where We have a supplier assisting Us with providing assistance with Our business activities and functions.  We have no control over where these suppliers hold or process their data and it is impractical for Us to be able to advise you of the countries where the Personal Information may be held or processed.

5.1.2   where Our website, or any hosting service We use to support Our managed services, software or software as a service, is hosted by Us or a third party, and the hosting facilities and/or the back-up/disaster recovery sites are located overseas.  We have no control over where these third party providers host the website and it is impractical for Us to be able to advise you of the countries where the Personal Information may be held or processed.

5.1.3   where a third party application is being used in connection with Our interactions with you, e.g. when We use email or Skype, the third party providers of the relevant application have their applications hosted overseas.  We have no control over where these third party providers host their applications and it is impractical for Us to be able to advise you of the countries where the Personal Information may be held or processed.

5.2  The countries to which We know the Personal Information may be sent include:

5.2.1   Australia

5.2.2   the United States;

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6  Use of Social Media

Our website uses social media includes blogs, Twitter feeds, and links to other social media, including Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Pinterest etc.  The nature of social media is that these applications actively enable exchange and disclosure of any information, whether personal or otherwise, that is included within those applications.  All information, including Personal Information that you enter in those applications may be used, stored, handled and disclosed in any way that is consistent with the privacy policies of the relevant applications, if any.  All information that is posted in a blog, twitter feed or other social media in connection with the website should be considered as public information that may be used, copied and adapted by any person for any means and should not be posted unless you are prepared to specifically state what restrictions on use there may be with that information or are prepared to accept that it may be used, copied, adapted, stored, handled and disclosed to any other person in any way.

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7  Cookies, Metadata and Site Data Activity

7.1    A cookie is a small piece of computer code which remains on your computer and contains information which helps Us identify your browser.

7.2    When you visit Our website and applications and tools on it, the cookie records the authentication to allow your user id to login.  We use the information gathered by cookies to identify your web browser so that when you log in on the next occasion your use of the website and other applications and tools on it is easier and faster because the website has remembered your details.

7.3    If you do not want Us to use cookies then you can easily stop them, or be notified when they are being used, by adopting the appropriate settings on your browser.  If you do not allow cookies to be used some or all of the website or other applications or tools on it might not be accessible to you.

7.4    Sometimes information that you upload is provided with associated metadata.  If you do not want Us to use the metadata you must remove it before uploading it onto the website and other applications and tools.

7.5    We may collect data that is associated with your visit, including the pages your visit, the activities you do, the preferences you make, the applications and tools you use and the purchases you make and the competitions you enter etc.  We may also collect information relating to the computer, mobile phone or other device including the device type, the browser, location, IP address and search words used.  We may collect, use, disclose and store this information in any of the ways set out in this Privacy Policy.

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8  Links to other Websites and Applications

Our website includes links to other websites, applications and tools that are not owned or operated by Us.  We not responsible for the content of those websites, applications or tools, nor for any products, services or information contained in them or offered through them.  You should review the privacy policies and terms and conditions of use of those websites, applications and tools when you visit them. We do not endorse, recommend, condone or represent the companies or any content on any third party linked website and may terminate the link or linking program at any time.

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9  How to Access and Seek Correction of Your Personal Information  or Complain

9.1   If you want to find out what Personal Information We hold on you or you believe any of your Personal Information that is held by Us is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading or it is not necessary for Us to continue to hold it, you can contact Us, and We will either provide you with access to the Personal Information (in so far as We are required to do so by law,) or We will correct it, as applicable, within a reasonable period.  We may make a reasonable charge for giving you access to your Personal Information, but We will not charge for you making the request, correcting Personal Information or making a statement as to why We are not correcting your Personal Information.  You can contact Us by:

9.1.1  email at the following email address privacy@thesocialindex.com; or

9.1.2  using the contact Us webform on Our website.

9.2   If you wish to complain about a breach of any Australian Privacy Principle that binds Us, a registered privacy code that binds Us or this Privacy Policy you should contact Us by:

9.2.1  email at the following email address privacy@thesocialindex.com; or

9.2.2  using the contact Us webform on Our website.

9.3    We will use Our best efforts to respond to any complaint within 5 business days of the date of receipt.  We will attempt to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.  If you are not satisfied with how We deal with your complaint you may contact the Australian Information Commissioner, whose contact details can be found at http://www.oaic.gov.au/.