AMSA Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement

The Australian Marine Sciences Association Inc. (AMSA) is not an organisation defined as being covered by the Privacy Act (1998) but voluntarily chooses to be guided by the APPs as a matter of good practice and seeks to follow relevant aspects of Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) developed by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-news ) in order to protect the privacy rights of the people it interacts with. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this website and other aspects of AMSA's operations.

Privacy Policy

AMSA is an organisation that, due to its nature, relies on accurate personal information about its members and other people seeking information on marine science. This information is collected to enable AMSA to communicate with you effectively, manage your membership efficiently and provide services and resources to inform you. AMSA is committed to protecting your personal privacy, and implements stringent procedures and systems for the collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information.

What kind of information do we collect?

When you become an AMSA member you agree to provide us with certain types of information. Personal information that AMSA collects and holds includes, but is not limited to:

• Members' official and preferred names, titles, address, telephone, email and facsimile contact details (private and business)
• Members' areas of research interest
• Financial details including credit card numbers, bank account information, and financial status of membership
• Information required to nominate members for honours and awards, such as qualifications, occupation, academic history, work experience and achievements, areas of practice and areas of interest
• Information from persons who participate in the AMSA annual conference and other AMSA sponsored seminars, surveys, conferences or other events and programs
• The usage of digital media including email tracking

Financial information

If you choose to make a payment using the secure payment facility available at this site you will be asked to provide your payment details, your name, a mailing address and your email address. These details are required so that we can send a tax invoice/receipt.

AMSA does not store details of your financial payment method. All transaction data are stored on a secure server site hosted by a Contracted Service Provider that employs industry standard security technology. See "Security of your personal information" below for further details.

AMSA does not identify users or their browsing details. However, in the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency or other government agency may exercise its legal authority to inspect our Internet Service Provider's logs.

How we collect your information

We collect most personal information directly from you, for example, when you fill in an application for AMSA membership or membership renewal. Information may also be collected directly from you when you deal with us personally, over the telephone, send a letter, or visit the AMSA website. Further information is collected voluntarily from you when standing for election for a position on AMSA National Council or a State Branch, or joining a working committee such as those organising the AMSA annual conference.

There may be occasions when a third party provides information about you, such as when you are nominated for an honour or award. Students applying for or renewing student membership of AMSA are also required to provide their supervisor's email address.

AMSA also collects information about members and non-members who register for the AMSA annual conference and any AMSA sponsored events, seminars and conferences.

How we use your information

AMSA may use and disclose your personal information for the primary purpose of collection, or for reasonably expected secondary purposes which are related to the primary purpose, or for purposes to which you have consented, and in other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act. We will use your personal information to keep you informed about matters relevant to marine science, provide you with a particular service and contact you about matters pertaining to membership of AMSA. This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Assessing membership applications
• Processing payments of membership applications
• Making decisions relating to nomination or election to a position on National Council or other working committees
• Providing membership services such as the AMSA Bulletin, AMSA mailing list, and other member benefits
• Inviting you to partake in the AMSA annual conference, technical seminars, professional development activities, networking activities and surveys
• Contacting Council members to distribute meeting minutes and business papers

Website usage information collected

When you browse the AMSA website, our system automatically makes a record of your visit and uses the information for statistical purposes, mainly to see which webpages are the most popular and what files are downloaded. This information is analysed to determine this website's usage statistics (including reading of the AMSA bulletin), and help us maintain a useful and informative website. However, no attempt will be made to identify individual users or their browsing activities except when an inspection of our internet service provider's log files are required to:

• comply with the law, any regulatory requirement, court order or other legal process
• defend or take any legal proceedings
• protect or defend our rights or property, or that of others

We collect no personal information about you unless you voluntarily choose to participate in an activity through the AMSA website that involves the provision of personal information, such as:

• sending electronic mail to this website
• participating in a survey on this website
• undertaking a payment or other transaction through this website
• suggesting a link from this website to an external website

If you choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way affect your ability to use this website. Most activities also offer the option to print out forms and communicate by facsimile or post for those who do not wish to email or send an online form to AMSA.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file sent by the AMSA web server onto the user's web browser software when the user accesses this website. The AMSA website has been developed to store cookies on your computer/device only where absolutely necessary: for example, website usage cannot be tracked without them.

Some parts of this website may use a cookie to maintain contact through a session. The cookie allows AMSA to recognise you as an individual as you move from one page of this website to another. This cookie will expire on the close of your browser session or on the closing down of your computer.

Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used.

No attempt will be made to identify anonymous users or their browsing activities unless legally compelled to do so, such as in the event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider's log files.

Social media and third party links

Social Media
Our website includes social media features, like Facebook. These features may collect information about your IP address and which page you're visiting, and they may set a cookie to make sure the feature functions properly. Social media features and widgets are hosted by a third party on external websites. Your interactions with those features are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide them, and AMSA cannot be held responsible for the privacy policies of these websites.

Links
Our website contains links to the websites of other organizations and resources. AMSA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the changing content of external websites. For more information, refer to our disclaimer statement.

Access to and accuracy of your personal information

You may access your personal information through the secure member services section on our website. Alternatively, on request, we will provide you with access to your personal information.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date. If you find that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date you can correct it yourself through the member services section. Alternatively, contact us immediately and we will do it for you.

Security of your personal information

AMSA protects any personal information that we hold about you from misuse and loss. We protect your privacy by restricting access to your personal information to those staff or authorised office bearers who need it, either to process information or to provide you with membership services.

Your personal information may be stored as hardcopy documents, or as electronic data that is stored on secure servers. We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores and premises. We also take all reasonable steps to maintain computer and network security. All electronic data are stored on Australian based servers, i.e. data is stored in Australia. We do not store credit card details on our servers. The server is protected by multiple firewalls for both application and hardware. Each account on the server is isolated which limits disclosure by other client sites. We use SSL details to encrypt data in transit by the member and AMSA.

AMSA will keep your information for as long as it is needed to provide you with the services you have requested from us. We will take reasonable steps to destroy personal information when we no longer need it. If you choose to end your membership, you may also contact us and request that your personal information be destroyed.

Privacy complaints, questions, suggestions for improvement

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or if you have any privacy concerns or complaints, you should direct them to us by writing to The Secreatary at:

secretary@amsa.asn.au
OR
The Secretary
Australian Marine Sciences Association
PO Box 220
Campbelltown
SA 5074

A written complaint must include a return address, and identify the basis for the complaint. Complaints will be discussed and (if required) actioned by the AMSA National Council at the first meeting after the complaint is received (please note the Council meets 3 times a year). If the matter is urgent, it will be dealt with via an out-of-session Council meeting.

AMSA also welcomes members' feedback on its privacy policy. Suggestions for the improvement of this policy can be directed in writing to the AMSA Secretary at the address above, for consideration by the AMSA National Council at its next meeting.

Updated: 01 Nov 2017