Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing

VPAC’s Privacy Policy

The Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing (VPAC) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information. This Privacy Policy embodies this commitment and applies to personal information collected by VPAC and its members, contractors and agents (collectively, VPAC).

VPAC adheres to the Information Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 1988.

Information we collect and how we use it

VPAC generally collects personal information in order to properly and efficiently carry out its functions.

In addition to this general Privacy Policy, where more detailed information is needed to explain our privacy practices, we may publish separate privacy notices to describe how we will handle personal information that we collect.

Communication - emails and Electronic Forms

VPAC servers record your email address if you send us a message online. Your email address will not be added to a mailing list, unless you have provided it to us in order to subscribe to one of our subscription services or obtain a HPC user account.

Where you choose to send us a completed electronic form that includes your personal details, we may collect personally identifiable information, such as name, address and email address.

The information collected by email or electronic forms will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it, and we will not disclose it without your consent, except where authorised or required by law.

Log information (Browsing)

When you use VPAC’s online services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your server address, your top level domain name (for example, .com, .gov, .au, .uk, etc), the date and time of visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents viewed, the previous sites visited, and the browser type, browser language, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

Cookies

A cookie is a small file containing a string of characters to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. It is information that your web browser sends back to our web site server whenever you visit it again. We use cookies to ‘remember’ your browser between page visits. In this situation, the cookie identifies your browser, not you personally. No personal information is stored within VPAC’s cookies.

Use and disclosure

VPAC uses/processes your personal information for the purposes of carrying out its functions.

1. Access and alteration of records containing personal information

When you provide personal information in relation to VPAC’s services, we will allow access to your personal information. This will enable you to find out the nature of the personal information held by VPAC, correct your personal data if it is inaccurate, or to delete such data at your request (subject to restrictions on such access/alteration of records under the applicable provisions of any law of the Commonwealth).

2. Information sharing

We only share personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

• Where you are reasonably likely to have been aware, or made aware by way of a privacy notice, that your personal information is usually passed to the relevant parties;
• Where you have consented;
• Where we believe on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your life or health or that of another person.
• Where the disclosure is required or authorised by or under law; or
• Where the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the protection of the public revenue.

3. Information security

We take all reasonable steps:

• to protect the personal information that we hold against loss, against unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure and against other misuse; and
• to ensure that, where we have given personal information to a VPAC contractor (that carries out service for VPAC), that contractor complies with the Information Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act.

4. Data integrity

VPAC processes personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Policy or any applicable programme-specific privacy notice. We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we process is accurate, relevant, up-to-date, complete and not misleading.

Enforcement

VPAC regularly reviews its compliance with this Policy. If you have any questions/complaints about privacy, confidentiality or access to your personal information, please send an email to info@vpac.org.

Changes to this policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time.