Personal information collected by the Biomedical Education Skills and Training (BEST) Network through the BEST Network websites is handled in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (“the Act”). This BEST Network Websites Privacy Statement describes the ways in which the BEST Network deals with personal information and other data collected through BEST Network websites.

What is Personal Information?

Personal Information is defined in the Act as being information or an opinion about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from that information or opinion. Personal Information includes, for example, names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and passport numbers.

There are circumstances in which, under the Act, information about an individual is not considered to be Personal Information, including:

• when it relates to a person who has been dead for more than 30 years; and
• when it is contained in a publicly available publication.

Collection of Personal Information

Personal Information provided by you

BEST Network websites may ask for your Personal Information for registration purposes and to allow us to communicate with you about products and services. Information that you disclose in online forums or other interactive media is considered by the BEST Network and the common law to be public information and may therefore not be subject to protection under the Act. When you send email or other communications to us, we may retain those communications. We may use your email address to communicate with you about our products and services.

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Automatic collection of personal information

The BEST Network may collect personal information and other data from you through the use of a Cookie or other automated means including server logs. A Cookie is a packet of data that a website puts on your computer’s hard disk to identify you as a visitor to that website. You may choose to disallow Cookies through your web browser settings.

The information collected by the BEST Network through automatic means may include: your server address; your domain name; your IP address; the date and time of your visit; when you login and logout, when certain errors occur, the pages accessed and documents downloaded; the previous site visited; the type of browser you used, your browser language. When BEST Network websites are used by logging into your account, the information collected by automatic means is collected on an identifiable basis. When BEST Network websites are used without an account, or without having logged in, similar information is collected on an anonymous basis.

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Use and disclosure of Personal Information

Personal information provided by you to the BEST Network will be used by the BEST Network for the primary purpose for which you provided it and for other secondary purposes directly related to that primary purpose. The BEST Network is not responsible for the privacy practices of websites external to BEST Network websites.

The information that is automatically collected during each visit to a BEST Network website is used to assist the BEST Network identify patterns of website usage and to improve and maintain the service of BEST Network websites and any services offered. The information is used in aggregated form by combining it with information collected from other users. This aggregated information may be published by the BEST Network in internal reports in a manner that does not identify individual users.

The BEST Network will not otherwise disclose your personal information without your consent unless otherwise authorised by law. The BEST Network may disclose personal information to a third party if the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of you or another person.

Personal information collected through BEST Network websites which is no longer required by the BEST Network and which need not be retained by law will be destroyed.

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Access to your Personal Information

You have a right to access your personal information held by the BEST Network. You can also request amendment to that information if you believe that it is incorrect or make complaints about the information handling practices of the BEST Network or breaches of your privacy by the BEST Network.

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Access and amendment requests, complaints and other privacy enquiries should be directed to:

BEST Network Support Officer

Email: support@best.edu.au

Web: www.best.edu.au

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