Privacy Policy

Who we are

Alex Read Theatre Performances Inc is a local arts-based charity set up to support Telling Stories that Matter.

The Alex Press is a community news and stories site set up in association with Toorak Times. Our website address is www.thealexpress.com.au.

General to this site

www.thealexpress.com.au and the social sites connected to this brand.

This Privacy Policy applies to information that identifies you, or from which you can reasonably be identified, such as your full name or name and postal address (“personal information”). This Policy describes how we handle the personal information we collect when we provide our services. Our services include newsletters, digital services subscription, advertising, websites, mobile sites, applications (“apps”), and widgets, competitions, and customer surveys (collectively, “TAP Services”).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to personal information collected by our journalists, local contributors via the “Write of Us” portal, and photographers for the purpose of gathering news. We handle the information we collect in the course of journalism in accordance with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards, which can be found at: www.presscouncil.org.au/privacy-principles. As well as Section 15 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) CLICK HERE

This Privacy Policy otherwise applies to information about anyone who interacts with us, including advertisers, subscribers, and people who use TAP Services (both registered and unregistered users).

What information do we collect?

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

We collect personal information to provide TAP Services and for our business operations. If you choose not to provide the information we request from you, we may not be able to provide you with the services you require. We describe the main types of personal information we collect and the main reasons why we collect that information below.

Registration Information is the information you provide to Us when you register for or acquire TAP Services. This may include information you provide us to:

create an account
contribute local news and stories
become a subscriber
become an advertiser
post comments
receive a newsletter
enter a competition.

Registration Information may include, for example, your name, if you are a local, postal address, email address, or a bio.

You are able to use some TAP Services without providing any personal information (for example when browsing our digital products as a casual user) or by providing an alias. We usually tell you when you are able to use TAP Services in this way.

Public Information and Posts include comments or content that you post to the online TAP Services and the information about you that comes with those posts. This may include your name, user name, comments, likes, tweets, status, profile information, and picture(s). Public Information and Posts are available to everyone who views our websites and may be displayed in search results on external search engines, even after you cancel your account with us.

Information from third-party Social Media. If you access or log in to a TAP Service through a third-party social media service or connect a TAP Service to your social media profile, we may also include information from that social media service. This may include

your user name for that service
any information or content you have permitted the social media service to share with us (such as your profile picture(s), email address, followers or friends lists)
any other information you have made public (including other posts you make using your social media profile).

We do not collect your social media profile password. When you access TAP Services through your social media profile, or when you connect a TAP Service to your social media profile, you authorise us to collect and handle your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Activity Information – cookies and other technologies. When you visit The Alex Press websites (including to access and use TAP Services) we and certain third parties such as Facebook may collect information about your visit. For example, in order to connect you to the TAP Services, our servers receive and record information about your computer, device, and browser, which may include your IP address, browser type, and other software or hardware information.

If you access the TAP Services from a mobile or other devices, we may collect a unique device identifier assigned to that device, geolocation data, or other transactional information from that device.

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

How do we use your information?

We use the information we collect about you to provide TAP Services to you. As part of our service to you we may use your personal information:

to fulfill administrative functions associated with these services (for example billing, credit, and account management)
to enter into contracts with you or third parties; to measure and improve TAP Services and their individual features; to improve your experience by delivering content (including editorial, marketing, and advertising) we think you will find relevant and interesting; for other marketing and client relationship purposes
to allow you to comment on content, and participate in competitions, or rewards programs
to provide you with customer support
and to respond to your inquiries.

Where your personal information is contained in an advertisement that we publish for you, we may also use your information to publish that advertisement in other media or sites. We do this in accordance with our terms and conditions for the initial publication. If you include personal information in any posts or in a letter, email, or text message to an editor or journalist, we may publish your name and suburb to identify you as the author of that post if we publish it in any media.

When we collect your information, we may explain that we will use and disclose your information in other ways. For example, if you win a competition, we may disclose your information to relevant regulatory authorities and publish your details in accordance with the competition terms.

We may also remove certain information or alter the information we collect about you so you can no longer be identified from that information. We do this so that we can use it or disclose it to third parties for other purposes.

We use the information we collect about you for the following additional purposes:

- Research and data analysis. We may also use your information for research and data analysis to improve TAP Services. We may do this research or engage a service provider to do this.
- To allow service and content providers to assist us in providing and managing the TAP Services. We may make your information available to certain third-party service and content providers who help us manage or provide the TAP Services or provide The Alex Press with related services. This might include providers of cloud services, website hosting service providers, debt collection service providers, and direct marketing service providers. These third parties may be located in a range of different countries including the United Kingdom, United States of America, and Singapore. Our agreements with these third-party providers require them not to use your information except for the purpose for which your information was provided. We also require them to comply with relevant privacy laws.
- To allow social sharing functionality. If you log in with or connect a social media profile with your TAP Services account, we may share your personal information (including your user name, picture, tweets, likes, and posts) with other TAP Services users and your friends or followers linked to your social media profile. We may also share the same information with the social media service provider. By logging in with or connecting your TAP Services account with a social media profile, you authorise us to share your personal information with the social media service provider, other users, and your friends or followers. You understand that the social media service provider may handle this information in accordance with its own privacy policy. If you do not want your personal information shared in this way, please do not connect your social media profile with your TAP Services account and do not participate in social sharing on TAP ServicesTAP ServicesTAP ServicesTAP ServicesTAP ServicesTAP ServicesTAP Services.
- To provide co-branded services and features. We may offer co-branded services, such as competitions or other promotions together with a third party (“Co-Branded Services”). When this happens, we may share the information you submit in connection with the Co-Branded Service with the third party, or with our service providers who assist us to host Co-Branded Services. The third party’s use of your information will be governed by their own privacy policy. We will obtain your consent to share your personal information with the third party. If you do not provide this consent, you may not be able to access that co-branded service.
- To deliver relevant advertisements and content and operate News platformss. The Alex Press and our advertisers and advertising networks may use the information we collect about you to provide you with relevant advertisements and editorial content when you use TAP Services. We may also use your personal information so that relevant advertising can be provided to you when you use services or visit websites of other organisations. We may combine information that we hold about you with information about you that we collect from other trusted businesses with whom you also have a relationship or from public sources and we may associate your browser and/or device with other browsers or devices you use. We may also share information we hold about you with those trusted businesses so that they can do the same thing. We and those trusted businesses do this in order to enable the development of consumer insights about you so that each of us can serve you better. This includes being able to better understand your preferences and interests, personalise your experience, enhance the products and services you receive, and to tell you about products and services. Where those insights are provided to others for their own marketing purposes, such insights do not contain any information that personally identifies you. We may also use third-party service providers to undertake the process of creating these consumer insights. In addition, we engage third-party advertising networks to help us target our messaging to you through interest-based and contextual means. Through these ad networks like Adsense, we can track your online activities over time and across third-party websites and apps by obtaining information through automated means, as described above. This data collection takes place both on our sites, apps and through marketing emails and newsletters which we send you and on third-party websites and apps that participate in these ad networks. This process also helps us track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.
- To contact you. From time to time, we may send you promotional materials or other information which we think may interest you. For example, we may send you an invitation to participate in various activities (such as customer surveys) or special offers i.e. Tickets to a local show/performance.
- To protect the rights of The Alex Press and others. We may share your information with other third parties where we are lawfully entitled to do so. This includes when we have a reasonable basis to believe that sharing your information is necessary to:

protect, enforce or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of The Alex Press, our related companies or their employees, volunteers, agents, and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements and our terms of use)
protect the safety, privacy, and security of users of the TAP Services or members of the public; protect against fraud or for risk management purposes
comply with the law or legal process in any country
or respond to requests from public and government authorities.

To complete a merger or sale of assets. If The Alex Press owners sells all or part of its business or assets, we may disclose your information to the party or parties involved in the sale transaction. We may also do this if The Alex Press is involved in a merger or transfer of all or a material part of its business. We may disclose your information prior to the sale, transfer or merger so that the party or parties involved can consider the transaction and complete any due diligence.

How do we protect your information?

We use reasonable measures to safeguard the personal information we hold about you from loss, theft and unauthorised use, disclosure or modification, including:

System security. We take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access to our online and computerised systems by using measures such as firewalls, data encryption, virus detection methods, and password-restricted access.
Property security. At our business premises restrict access to those premises.
Team member training. We train our Team to handle your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws.
Third parties. We take reasonable steps to ensure that third parties who store or assist us to store your personal information adopt appropriate security measures.

What rights do you have over your data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Please visit the Alex Read Theatre Preformances Inc Privacy Disclaimer for additional information and how to contact us regarding private information. www.artperformances.org.au/privacy-disclaimer

You can also email news@thealexpress.com.au