By using this Website and the Content available on and through it, you are agreeing to be bound by this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use.

The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to set out how the LCV will deal with personal information gathered by the website when you visit and use the site. Personal information collected by LCV is governed by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.

Site visit data

The LCV website is operated by LCV without the use of an external service provider. When visiting the LCV website, a record of your visit is logged. The following information is supplied by your browser or recorded by our servers:

• the user’s server address
• the user’s operating system, e.g., Windows, Mac OS
• the user’s top-level domain name, e.g., .com, .gov, .au, .uk
• the date and time of the visit to the site
• the pages accessed and the documents/data downloaded
• the previous site visited
• search terms used
• the type of browser used.

We use the site visit data for the purposes of:

• monitoring, developing and improving the quality of the LCV website
• dealing with your inquires and requests
• usage statistics such as determining traffic through the server, download statistics, etc.
• providing you with information about LCV services and products.
• This site visit data may be aggregated for analysis with identifiable characteristics removed. We may publish or provide this aggregated data to other people, for instance, site/page usage statistics around a particular data set may be provided to the original data provider.

We may also provide usage statistics to the LCV Board of management. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the server’s logs.

Collection and use of personal information

When you email us, use an online form, submit content or data, enter a user profile, access restricted pages or contribute your details to a forum or as a contributor or expert:

• we will record your name, email address, telephone number, postal address, organisation, area of interest and such other personal information as provided
• we will only use your details to communicate with you, respond to your requests and enquiries and for directly related purposes as stated on the pages or forms where you submit it
• you may opt-out of receiving communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions in any email we send
• your details will not be added to an external mailing list without your consent
• we will not use your details for any other purpose unless otherwise required to by law, we will not disclose any information you submit without your express permission or except where we may be required by law to disclose certain information.

Note also that if you provide your personal information associated with biodiversity-related data or records, then users of that data will be able to see the personal information provided and may use that personal information to verify the details of the particular record, to acknowledge/attribute you as the creator of the record, or contact you to request greater access, further information or support.

Certain personal information may be required, such as name and email address, to provide a particular LCV service or product, e.g., data set, to you or respond to your inquiries. This information may also be used by the LCV to inform you of additional related products or services or obtain your feedback on the service or product.

We will, at your request, provide you with access to any information which we have collected about you through this portal in accordance with Information ‘Privacy Principle 6, Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)’.

To gain access to this information you should contact us: viclandcovenantors@gmail.com.

If you believe that any information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact us and we will revise the relevant information in accordance with Information ‘Privacy Principle 7, Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)’.

We will also, at your request, delete any personal information we have collected about you. To contact us for any of the reasons listed, please contact LCV Support by sending an email to: viclandcovenantors@gmail.com.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file that a website sends to your browser when you access information at that site. Upon receipt of the information, your browser saves the information on your hard disk (unless your browser doesn’t support cookies).

Each time you use your computer to access that same website, the information that was previously received is sent back to the website by your browser. It records information necessary for certain website functions, such as remembering your preferences or settings.

The LCV may use cookies for some of its interactive features. However, these cookies collect only enough information to enable website functions. If you don’t want to accept cookies, you can set your browser and/or firewall to block them. You will still be able to access most LCV content but some interactive features may be unavailable.

Interaction with the LCV website

There are a number of interactive features on the LCV website that you may in future be able to contribute to, e.g., forums, mailing lists, reviews, annotations, message boards and emails. Online forms and forums record information on clearly labelled fields.

The information you provide will be solely used for the purposes stated on the form/page.

Please keep in mind if you directly disclose or post personal information through the LCV website on pages such as sightings information, forums or message boards, this information becomes available to anyone with access to the internet and may be collected and used by others.

We suggest that you use your discretion and exercise caution when providing your personal information. Therefore, we recommend that you refrain from posting any information that you do not want to be seen in these public areas.

External links

This site contains links to other sites. LCV is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Security of information

Your personal information will not be released unless the law requires or permits it or your permission is given. We provide a secure environment and a reliable system, but you should be aware that there may be inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the internet.

For those who do not wish to use the internet, LCV provides alternative ways of obtaining and providing information.

Using the Content

If you use or download Content from the LCV website you:

• recognise that most of it is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and will respect those rights
• agree to acknowledge, reference or attribute the relevant data provider (using any specific attribution wording they may have provided) in any derived information product, work or publication that is based on the relevant Content
• will comply with any Data Provider Terms (see below) that the data provider may indicate regarding its use, e.g., personal use only, non-commercial use, not make derivatives etc.
• will not remove any identifier of ownership or terms of use that is associated with the Content or data record
• recognise that the Content is provided without any warranty regarding its quality, accuracy, completeness, currency, relevance or suitability for any particular purpose and that you use the Content at your own risk (see Disclaimer)
• respect any restrictions regarding the availability of the data, such as sensitive data.

Your use of Content may also be subject to specific terms and conditions imposed by a data provider (Data Provider Terms). You must comply with these Data Provider Terms. Where they exist they will be available through the metadata with the Content or shown with the Content.

If you want to use Content otherwise than in accordance with the data provider’s licence, you need the approval or permission of the data provider.

Contributing to future forums, making comments, posting information (Contributions, sharing)

Children’s Contributions and use of Content should be supervised by an adult.

You are legally responsible for your Contributions

The LCV may decide in its sole discretion what Contributions are published on the LCV website.

You must not submit Contributions that:

• are defamatory, malicious, threatening, offensive, abusive, obscene, or otherwise unlawful or that violates laws regarding harassment, discrimination, racial vilification, privacy or contempt
• are intentionally false or misleading
• are an infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights
• seek to promote or endorse commercial products or services or to solicit business
• deliberately provoke other community members, or are inappropriate, repetitive or off-topic
• compromise your privacy or that of other contributors or that contain inappropriate personal information
• compromise sensitive data or confidential information around a particular species or observation.

You should be aware that your Contributions may remain online indefinitely.

Copyright

This LCV website and its Content are protected by copyright law. Copyright in this material resides with the LCV or various other data providers as indicated.

The LCV has accessed Content from many different sources. All reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that we have properly acknowledged/attributed the source of the Content and obtained the necessary permissions. If however, you believe that we have not properly accessed your Content please contact louise.nicholas@landcovenantors.org.au and we will address your concerns.

Many of the trademarks or logos displayed on the LCV website such as the LCV Logo are the registered trademarks of LCV. The trademarks of third parties are also displayed on this LCV website. All these trademarks cannot be used without the express written permission of the LCV or the relevant third party.

Disclaimer

The LCV website, linked websites and Content are intended to provide information for general and scientific use, to assist research and public knowledge, discussion and policy development.

The LCV makes the LCV website and Content available on the understanding that you use them at your own risk – they are provided ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ and you exercise your own skill, judgement and care with respect to their use or your reliance on them.

The LCV and data providers give no warranty regarding the quality, accuracy, completeness, currency, relevance or suitability for any particular purpose of the Content or the LCV website.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the LCV (including its employees and contractors) and data providers exclude all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages (including indirect, special or consequential damages, loss of business, revenue/profit, loss of time, etc.), costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from your use of the LCV website or Content or inability to access the LCV website.

If you find any inaccurate, out of date or incomplete Content on the LCV website, or if you suspect that something is an infringement of intellectual property rights, you must let us know immediately by contacting louise.nicholas@landcovenantors.org.au or the data provider of the Content.

Personal information

Our Privacy Policy also forms part of the LCV Terms of Use and it describes how we use your personal information when you use the LCV website. Whenever you give us personal information you are consenting to its collection and use in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

As a user of the LCV website, you must not use any personal information made available to you on this LCV website for any purpose other than:

• in the case of an individual who made a particular record, eg sighting/observation data, to verify the details of that record and/or to acknowledge them as the relevant creator, and
• in the case of an individual administering a dataset, to contact them directly to request greater access, further information and/or support.

Links to external websites

The LCV is all about bringing together Landholders with covenants and information land management from a host of sources around Australia and internationally. As such, the LCV provides links to a range of external websites; however, we do not have direct control over the content of the linked websites nor the changes that may occur to the content on those websites.

It is your responsibility to make your own decisions about the accuracy, completeness, currency, relevance, or suitability for any particular purpose of the content on external websites.

The LCV is not responsible for, and does not endorse, the content on external websites.

The LCV publishes links to external websites at its discretion and reserves the right to remove user-posted links to external websites for any reason and at any time.

Security of the LCV website

The internet exists across insecure, public networks and there is a risk that transmissions to or from this website may be intercepted and modified by third parties or that files obtained from or through this website may contain computer viruses, disabling codes, worms or other defects.

The LCV accepts no liability for any interference with or damage to your computer system, software, or data occurring in connection with or relating to the LCV website or its use including the tools provided. You are encouraged to take appropriate and adequate precautions to ensure that whatever is selected from this website is free of viruses or other contamination that may interfere with or damage your computer system, software or data.

You must not try to circumvent the security features of this LCV website, or tamper with, hack into, or in some other way disrupts any computer system, server, website, router or other device used to host this website or make it available.

Email addresses on the LCV website

The presence of email addresses on the LCV website does not infer consent to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages (email) to those addresses.

General

These Terms of Use are governed by the law applicable to Victoria and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State. No delay, neglect or forbearance on the part of LCV in enforcing these Terms of Use will be, or deemed to be, a waiver. Nor will it prejudice any rights of the LCV.