Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

At NINEMSN, we are committed to protecting and maintaining your privacy. As part of our normal operations we may collect your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes the type of personal information that NINEMSN may collect and how we use, store and disclose this personal information. It applies to your conduct on the NINEMSN network, which includes the online websites and mobile sites bearing the NINEMSN header and footer, as well as downloadable apps (the "NINEMSN Network").

This Privacy Policy is in addition to the general Terms of Use governing the NINEMSN Network and should be read in conjunction with such Terms of Use.

Microsoft Products and Services

The NINEMSN Network provides access to leading global Microsoft products and services such as Hotmail, Messenger, Bing and Windows Live ID (“Microsoft Products”). The use, storage and disclosure of any personal information that you may provide whilst utilising Microsoft Products via the NINEMSN Network are described in the Collection and Use of Information by Microsoft section of this Privacy Policy.

NINEMSN AND PRIVACY

NINEMSN’s Commitment to Privacy

When you deal with NINEMSN, whether online or otherwise, NINEMSN takes its privacy obligations seriously. Generally, NINEMSN will handle personal information collected online consistently with the way that it handles personal information collected offline.

This Privacy Policy is designed to tell you about how NINEMSN uses and manages personal information provided to, or collected by NINEMSN. We believe you should be made aware of our practices so you can make informed decisions about how you allow us to use your personal information.

NINEMSN is bound by the National Privacy Principles (“NPPs”) contained in the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) (the “Privacy Act”). Where appropriate, we will handle personal information relying on the media exemption (but complying with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards), related bodies corporate exemption and the employee exemption in the Privacy Act.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

In this ever changing world NINEMSN may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws, technologies and changes to NINEMSN’s operations. All personal information held by NINEMSN will be governed by NINEMSN's most recent Privacy Policy. The most recent Privacy Policy will always be available on our website or by contacting the NINEMSN Privacy Officer (contact details set out below).

WHAT KIND OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES NINEMSN COLLECT AND HOW DOES NINEMSN COLLECT IT?

The type of information we collect

The types of personal information we collect will vary depending on the nature of your dealings with NINEMSN and the NINEMSN Network. In general, the type of personal information NINEMSN collects and holds could include (but is not limited to) your name, address (postal and email), contact details, geographic location (including your suburb or post code), gender, transaction details relating to your use of NINEMSN and/or Microsoft products and services and any preferences you tell us about.

How we collect your information

We may collect your personal information over the internet, over the phone, when you write to us or when you participate in a survey, questionnaire, competition or other marketing campaign.

In order to access some NINEMSN or Microsoft services and products, you will be asked to sign in with an e-mail address and password, which we refer to as your Windows Live ID credentials. You can use your Windows Live ID credentials to sign in to many different NINEMSN and Microsoft services, websites and products, as well as those of select NINEMSN partners. By signing in on one NINEMSN or Microsoft website, product or service, you may be automatically signed into other NINEMSN or Microsoft websites, products and services that use Windows Live ID. If you access services via a mobile phone, you may also use your telephone number and a PIN as an alternative credential to your username and password. As part of creating your credentials, you may also be requested to provide questions and secret answers, which we use to help verify your identity and assist in resetting your password, as well as an alternate e-mail address. Some services may require added security, and in these cases, you may be asked to create an additional security key. Finally, a unique ID number will be assigned to your credentials which will be used to identify your credentials and associated information.

Collection of information which is not ‘Personal Information’

We also collect additional information about your interaction with the NINEMSN Network websites, services and products and Microsoft Products without identifying you as an individual. For example, we use website analytics tools on our websites to retrieve information from your browser, including the website you came from, the search engine(s) and the keywords you used to find our site, the pages you view within our site, your browser add-ons, and your browser's width and height. We also use technologies, such as cookies and web beacons (described below), to collect information about the pages you view, the links you click and other actions you take on our sites and services. Additionally, we receive certain standard information that your browser sends to every website you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times and referring Web site addresses. We also deliver advertisements (see the Display of Advertising section below) and provide website analytics tools on non-NINEMSN and Microsoft websites and services, and we collect information such as page views on these third party sites as well.

When you receive newsletters or promotional e-mails from NINEMSN, we may use web beacons (described below), customised links or similar technologies to determine whether the e-mail has been opened and which links you click in order to provide you with more focused e-mail communications or other information.

Information we collect from other sources

In order to offer you a more consistent and personalised experience in your interactions with NINEMSN, information collected through one NINEMSN or Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other NINEMSN or Microsoft services. We may access information about you from third-party sources and platforms (such as social networking sites, databases, online marketing companies and ad targeting companies) and supplement the information we collect with information obtained from those third party sources. For example,

• we may use services from other companies that enable us to derive a general geographic area based on your IP address in order to customise certain services to your geographic area.
• if you connect your third-party social networking service profile (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Windows Live) to the NINEMSN Network, we may access and use your username, profile image, location information, interests, activities, ‘likes’, connection list and age for those services; and
• we may obtain third party information relating to your advertisement interaction and viewing data, such as ad click-through rates and information about how many times you viewed a particular advertisement

HOW NINEMSN USES PERSONAL INFORMATION

• operating and improving our websites, products and services
• providing you with news and information about our products and services;
• providing you with more effective customer service;
• enabling us to conduct customer research;
• making the websites, services or products that form part of the NINEMSN Network and the Microsoft Products easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information;
• performing research and analysis aimed at improving our products, services and technologies;
• displaying content and advertising that are personalised and customised to your interests, preferences and experiences.
• sending marketing and promotional material that we believe you may be interested in. This material may relate to any of NINEMSN’s businesses or a third party business which we believe may be of interest to you;
• conducting competitions or promotions on behalf of NINEMSN and selected third parties;
• verifying your identity;
• investigating any complaints about or made by you, or if we have reason to suspect that you are in breach of any of our Terms of Use or that you are or have been otherwise engaged in any unlawful activity; and/or
• using personal information as otherwise required or permitted by any law (including the Privacy Act).

We also use your personal information to communicate with you, including by email, mail or telephone. With your permission, we may occasionally send you product surveys or promotional mailings to inform you of other products or services available from NINEMSN, Microsoft and their related entities and information about other NINEMSN or Microsoft products and services. If you have opted in to receive newsletters, communications or special offers from NINEMSN you may, in some circumstances, also receive newsletters, communications or special offers from NINEMSN’s third party partners.

COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION BY MICROSOFT

Any information that you provide whilst subscribing to NINEMSN newsletters and/or utilising Microsoft Products that you access through the NINEMSN Network may be collected and used both by NINEMSN (in which case this Privacy Policy will govern our collection and use of your personal information) and Microsoft Corporation (and its affiliates) (in which case the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement will apply to Microsoft’s collection and use of your personal information).

OPTING IN AND UNSUBSCRIBING

Opting In

At the point NINEMSN collects information from you, you may be asked to “opt in” to consent to us using or disclosing your personal information other than in accordance with this Privacy Policy or the Privacy Act. For example, you may be asked to opt-in to receive further information or communications from our advertisers and partners which do not fall into one of the categories described above.

Opting Out / Unsubscribing

You will generally be given the opportunity to “opt out” from receiving communications from us or from third parties that send communications to you in accordance with this Privacy Policy. For example, you will be given the option to unsubscribe from newsletters, emails and other marketing or promotional material sent by us. You may “opt out” from receiving these communications by clicking on an unsubscribe link at the end of an email.

If you receive communications purporting to be connected with us or our services that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this policy, or in breach of any law, please contact the NINEMSN Privacy Officer (contact details set out below).

CO-BRANDED WEBSITES

NINEMSN has relationships with online business partners which permit users of the NINEMSN Network to link directly to websites operated by these partners. Some of these sites may be "co-branded" with the NINEMSN header and footer; however, these sites may not be owned, operated or maintained by or on NINEMSN’s behalf.

Before disclosing your personal information to any such co-branded sites, you should read the relevant privacy policies attaching to those sites. These co-branded sites may collect personal information from you that may be shared with NINEMSN. This Privacy Policy will apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner.

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES FROM THE NINEMSN NETWORK

To the extent that the NINEMSN Network contains links to sites operated by third parties that are not co-branded sites and are not related to NINEMSN products, services or events or Microsoft Products (“Linked Websites”), the Linked Websites are not controlled or maintained by NINEMSN. We may collect personal information from Linked Websites in our role as a website portal. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those companies. Before disclosing your personal information to Linked Websites, we advise you to examine their privacy policies. These Linked Sites may collect personal information from you that may be shared with NINEMSN. This Privacy Policy will apply to any personal information we obtain in this manner.

USE OF COOKIES

What is a cookie?

A “cookie” is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web server. Cookies contain information that can later be read by a Web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.

The NINEMSN Network uses cookies to enable you to sign in to our services and to help personalise your online experience. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to store your preferences and other information on your computer in order to save you time by eliminating the need to repeatedly enter the same information and to display your personalised content. The NINEMSN Network also use cookies as described in the What kind of personal information does NINEMSN collect and how does NINEMSN collect it? and Display of Advertisements sections of this Privacy Policy.

Cookies and Windows Live IDs

When you sign in to a website using your Windows Live ID credentials, your unique ID number is stored in an encrypted cookie on your hard disk. This cookie allows you to move from page to page at the site without having to sign in again on each page. When you sign out, these cookies are deleted from your computer. Cookies are also used to improve the sign in experience. For example, your e-mail address may be stored in a cookie that will remain on your computer after you sign out. This cookie allows your e-mail address to be pre-populated, so that you will only need to type your password the next time you sign in. If you are using a public computer or do not otherwise want this information to be stored, you can select the appropriate radio button on the sign-in page, and this cookie will not be used.

Declining cookies

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to sign in or use other interactive features of the NINEMSN Network websites and services that depend on cookies, and some advertising preferences that are dependent on cookies may not be able to be respected. If you choose to accept cookies, you also have the ability to later delete cookies that you have accepted. If you chose to delete cookies, any settings and preferences, including advertising preferences, controlled by those cookies will be deleted and may need to be recreated.

USE OF WEB BEACONS

What is a web beacon?

The NINEMSN Network may contain electronic images known as “web beacons” - sometimes called single-pixel gifs - that may be used to assist in delivering cookies on our sites and allow us to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services.

NINEMSN may include web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or our newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon. We may also employ web beacons from third parties in order to help us compile aggregated statistics regarding the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns or other operations of our websites. We prohibit web beacons on our websites from being used by third parties to collect or access your personal information.

Finally, we may work with other companies that advertise on the NINEMSN Network to place their Web beacons on NINEMSN sites in order to allow us to gather statistics and better target advertisements on the NINEMSN Network website that may result in a purchase or other action on the advertiser's site.

NIELSEN//NETRATINGS

NINEMSN utilises the Nielsen//Netratings Australia auditing system on the NINEMSN Network. Nielsen//Netratings Australia collects data and uses cookies on the NINEMSN Network. For further information about Nielsen//Netratings Australia’s collection of data, use of cookies or to access Nielsen//Netratings Australia’s opt-out tool, please visit nielsen-online.com

DISPLAY OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Advertising on the NINEMSN Network

Many of the websites and online services we offer, as well as those of our partners, are supported by advertising. Through the Microsoft Advertising Platform, we may display advertisements on the NINEMSN Network (including the websites and mobile sites bearing the ninemsn header and footer), and the sites of our advertising partners including the Microsoft Media Network third party ad network.

How we personalise our advertising

When we display online advertisements to you, we will place one or more persistent cookies on your computer in order to recognise your computer each time we display an advertisement to you. The cookies we use for advertising have an expiry date of no more than two years. Because we may serve advertisements on many different websites, we are able to compile information over time about where you, or others who are using your computer, saw and/or clicked on the advertisements we display. We use this information to make predictions about your characteristics, interests or preferences and to display targeted advertisements that we believe may be of interest to you. We may also associate this information with your subsequent visit, purchase or other activity on participating advertiser’s websites in order to determine the effectiveness of the advertisements.

• demographic or interest data, including any you may have provided when creating a Windows Live ID account (e.g. age, postal code, gender), demographic or interest data acquired from other companies, and a general geographic location derived from your IP address;
• the pages you view and links you click when using the NINEMSN Network and its advertising partners’ websites and services;
• the search terms you enter when using Microsoft Internet search services, such as Bing; and
• information about the users you most frequently interact with through Microsoft’s communications or social networking services, such as Messenger.

Your advertising choices

When we display personalised targeted ads, we take a number of steps designed to protect your privacy. For example, page views, clicks and search terms used for ad personalisation targeting are stored separately from your contact information or other data that directly identifies you (such as your name, e-mail address, etc.). We also give you the ability to control your preferences to receive this type of advertising via the NINEMSN opt out tool. For more information or to use our opt-out tool, you may visit www.youronlinechoices.com.au which offers a single location to opt-out of ad targeting from member companies.

Third party personalised advertising and YourOnlineChoices

Online advertisements on the NINEMSN Network are primarily served by Microsoft Advertising Platforms. We also serve advertising campaigns via other ad serving networks, to display advertisements on our sites. These companies currently include, but are not limited to Media Mind, Double Click, Facilitate, Eyewonder and Mediaplex.

These companies may offer you a way to opt in or opt-out of ad targeting based on their cookies, and some of them are also signatories to the Australian Guidelines for Third Party Online Behavioural Advertising. You may find more information on these companies’ websites or by clicking here.

WHO MIGHT NINEMSN DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO?

Except as described in this Privacy Policy, NINEMSN will not disclose your personal information outside of NINEMSN, its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates (including Microsoft and Nine Entertainment Co) without your consent.

NINEMSN may disclose personal information it collects about you for a variety of purposes in connection with NINEMSN providing its products, services and special offers to you (including to our agents, related bodies corporate and contractors).

We occasionally engage other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as handling the processing and delivery of mailings, providing customer support, hosting websites, providing debt recovery services, processing transactions, facilitating the connection of your third-party social networking service profile with the NINEMSN Network or performing statistical analysis of our services. Those service providers will be permitted to obtain only the personal information they need to deliver the service. They are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose than for delivering the service to NINEMSN in accordance with NINEMSN’s instructions and policies.

We may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of NINEMSN or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the products or services; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of NIENMSN employees, customers or the public.

We may also disclose personal information as part of a corporate transaction such as a merger or sale of shares or assets.

HOW DOES NINEMSN TREAT SENSITIVE INFORMATION?

In referring to 'sensitive information' NINEMSN means information relating to a person's racial or ethnic origin, membership of political bodies, religions, trade unions or other professional or trade association, sexual preferences, criminal record and health information.

If you decide to provide NINEMSN with sensitive information, it is NINEMSN’s policy that this information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise or use or disclosure of this information is allowed by law.

MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information collected on the NINEMSN Network and Microsoft Products may be stored and processed in Australia, the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities. Some of NINEMSN’s third party contractors and service providers may perform some of their services overseas. For instance, a third party contractor may utilise a server hosted overseas as a method to send emails to NINEMSN customers. In all instances where this occurs, NINEMSN takes reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information is handled in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We take physical, electronic and managerial steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is secure from unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. We only permit your details to be accessed by authorised personnel and we educate our staff about their responsibilities under the NPPs. NINEMSN has also appointed a Privacy Officer to oversee NINEMSN’s management of personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act.

Additionally, we take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information when we no longer need it. We also impose strict requirements of security and confidentially on all third parties as to how they store, handle and deal with personal information.

In striving to ensure that the security, integrity and privacy of personal information submitted to our site is maintained to the highest level, NINEMSN regularly reviews and updates its security measures in light of current technologies. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet or publically available website can be guaranteed to be totally secure and you need to be aware of this when using any websites on the NINEMSN Network.

UPDATING PERSONAL INFORMATION

NINEMSN endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. NINEMSN encourages you to contact it as soon as possible in order to update any personal information it holds about you. The contact details of NINEMSN's Privacy Officer are set out below.

You have the right to check what Personal Information NINEMSN holds about you. Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to obtain access to any personal information which NINEMSN holds about you and to advise NINEMSN of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some limitations to this right set out in the Privacy Act, which mean that we can refuse to provide you access to that information in limited circumstances, including where granting you access might have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals, if the request is frivolous or vexatious; or if the information relates to anticipated legal proceedings.

To make a request to access any personal information NINEMSN holds about you, please contact the NINEMSN Privacy Officer in writing as set out below. NINEMSN will require you to verify your identity and specify what personal information you require.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON PRIVACY

For more information about privacy issues in Australia, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner's website.

HOW TO CONTACT THE NINEMSN PRIVACY OFFICER

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, complaints regarding how we handle your personal information or would like to make an access request, please contact NINEMSN by writing to Privacy Officer, ninemsn Pty Limited, Locked Bag H50, Australia Square Sydney NSW 1215 or via e-mail privacyofficer@mi9.com.au.

ninemsn Pty Limited is an Mi9 company.