Privacy Statement

Introduction

Your privacy on the Internet is important to us. Because we gather certain types of information about the users of www.aare.edu.au we think you should fully understand the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices for www.aare.edu.au - what information we gather and how we use it. This Statement only addresses our activities from our service providers. Other sites (including those to which the Website links and third party sites) may have their own privacy policies and practices, which we do not control.

Ownership

This privacy statement discloses the privacy practices of the WWW site of AARE , which is owned by the Australian Association for Research in Education Inc. and operated as www.aare.edu.au.

Questions regarding this Statement should be emailed to aare@aare.edu.au

General Privacy Information

AARE's site contains links to affiliate associations, advertisers and third party Internet sites and services such as universities which may collect data in connection with e-commerce, etc. They each have separate privacy and data collection practices, independent of AARE and AARE has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily and publicly disclose personal information on any online service or Web site - for example on message boards, through email, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Further, while we strive to protect your personal information, AARE cannot absolutely ensure the security of any information you transmit to us.

Ethical Use of Information

All of the information AARE collects on its general site [excluding the e-commerce section], both what you tell us and what we collect through the use of cookies, is "aggregated". This means that the information from many users is grouped together in a way that does not disclose the personal information of any particular user. We may use this aggregated information to evaluate AARE services such as the publication of members' conference papers , and in order to evaluate which new services we should make available on our Web site. AARE will not disclose any information about any individual without the individual's consent, except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process.

This Statement answers the following questions below:

1. What information is tracked and gathered on the Website?
2. How is the information used?
3. What kind of security is in place?

1. What information is tracked and gathered on the Website?

Interactive Activities

Website users who participate in interactive activities (e.g., downloading conference papers, collecting information and general forms from AARE, use E-commerce for purchases, etc.) on the Website may be asked to submit certain personal information, which may include the user's name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and/or credit card information. This information may be used as follows: for internal purposes; to contact users for member service reasons; to bill users for products and services and to fulfill orders; to contact users when necessary for notifications and confirmations; and to send users information about the Website and promotional materials from AARE. Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings. Unique identifiers, such as ID and passwords, may be collected to verify a user's identity and for use as account numbers in the Website record system in the future, for example to set-up and use a members only section of the website.

IP Address

AARE can use your IP address to help diagnose problems with its servers, and to administer the Website. Your IP address is also used to help identify you and your information seeking on www.aare.edu.au . For example it can be used to trace locations which are downloading AARE members' research papers. AARE's ISP software aggregates the data. AARE will not interrogate the system on behalf of members.

Cookies

A cookie is a small data file that certain websites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user ID that a website uses to track the pages you have visited. The only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to the user that has no meaning outside the assigning website. A cookie cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other websites.

If a user does not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows the user to deny or accept the cookie feature. However, users should note that cookies may be necessary to provide the user with certain features available on the Website.

2. How is the collected information used?

All information collected is "aggregated" -- meaning that the information from many users is grouped together in a way that does not disclose the personal information of any particular user. AARE may use this aggregated information to evaluate the success of various services and to evaluate which new services should be made available on the Website.

3. What kind of security is in place?

The Website contains links to third party Internet websites and services which may collect data. They each have separate privacy and data collection practices, independent of AARE. Therefore, AARE has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies or actions and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Whilst AARE will strive to protect your personal information, AARE cannot absolutely ensure the security of any information you transmit in connection with the Website except for the e-commerce operations via DirectOne which are completely secure.Please refer to DirectOne website for full details of their security system.

Security

AARE utilizes a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information. All user contact information is only accessible by a limited number of employees who have special access rights to the system. Passwords and credit card numbers are encrypted in DirectOne's secure database which is located behind a firewall. All sensitive/credit information supplied by users is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted in DirectOne's databases as stated above. Because password and credit card information has been encrypted, it is completely invisible to any employee who accesses it, including AARE Office Services staff.

Peter Jeffery
10 February, 2001.