Privacy Statement

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) website is maintained by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. This Privacy Policy applies to all the publicly accessible pages on the RFS site located at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au.

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) website is maintained by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. This Privacy Policy applies to all the publicly accessible pages on the RFS site located at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au.

The RFS does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to the RFS site. If you have any questions about the RFS site, or the application of this Privacy Policy or a request for access to information held, please contact:

Privacy Officer
Locked Mail Bag 17
Granville NSW 2142

Phone (61 2) 8741 5555
Fax (61 2) 8741 5550

Users of the RFS site are entitled to expect that any information as a result of that use will be treated within the terms of the New South Wales government's privacy responsibilities and obligations. The New South Wales government's privacy practices are regulated by the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

What information do we collect?

When you look at the pages on the RFS site, our computers automatically record information that identifies, for each page accessed:

• The IP (Internet Protocol) address of the machine which has accessed it;
• Your top-level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc.);
• The address of your server;
• The date and time of your visit to the site;
• The pages accessed and documents downloaded;
• The previous site visited;
• The type of browser and operating system you have used.

Only sessional cookies are used from the RFS site to collect information. This information is unable to be retained once the user session has ceased.

The RFS also collects Feedback information (where provision of personal details is optional) and Membership details (again, where provision of personal details is optional). Details on the collection and use of this information are given further below.

How do we use the information collected?

The information collected during each visit is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for the RFS to identify patterns of usage of the site. This will assist us in improving the RFS site and the services offered on it.

The RFS will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

What exceptions are there to this rule?

The RFS will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

• unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published RFS pages;
• unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the RFS site;
• unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the RFS site by other sites;
• attempts to intercept messages of other users of the RFS site;
• communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed;
• attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the use of the RFS site by other users.

The RFS reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the RFS site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed.

In the event of an investigation, the RFS will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs.

Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by the RFS for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected it is deleted.

What do we do with the information provided in Feedback?

The RFS provides feedback facilities on the RFS site to allow users to provide input into the future development of the site and to comment on the provision of service by the RFS.

The provision of personal details on feedback forms is optional.

Users may provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address or name to any mailing list.

The RFS may publish aggregated information about feedback on the site, to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

What do we do with Membership details?

The RFS provides a membership facility for RFS users to receive email updates on RFS activities. This information is added to a mailing list in order for email updates to be sent. This information is only used for the purpose for which it was provided.

Information requested includes:

• First name;
• Last name;
• User Name;
• Password;
• Email Address;
• Phone;
• Fax.

The full provision of personal details for Membership is optional. Only a user’s correct email address is necessary to provide email updates.

Membership information is captured and stored on database servers by the RFS website’s technical service provider (see details below). These database servers are not directly connected to the internet.

The service provider does not manipulate, redistribute or utilise this information in any way shape or form unless provided with express written permission by the RFS.

Information held is periodically backed-up and stored in a secure facility as part of general maintenance. This takes place in line with the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the provider and the RFS, ensuring a high level of data integrity and maintenance.

The Service’s external web service provider is:

Adcorp
Level 1, 7 Kelly Street
ULTIMO NSW 2007
Tel: +612 8524 8500
Fax: +612 8524 8700
Email: sydney@adcorp.com.au

Your Privacy Rights

Where we collect personal information about you on this site, you have the right to request for access to that information to be provided to you. We will not keep any personal information for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is used, and information will be stored and disposed of securely. We will not disclose personal information, except in the circumstances outlined above (What exceptions are there to this rule?), without your permission or as otherwise permitted by law.

Personal information collected via this site is collected and held by the Rural Fire Service which is located at:

15 Carter Street
Homebush Bay NSW 2127

Postal Address:
Locked Mail Bag 17
Granville NSW 2142

Tel: (02) 8741 5555
Fax: (02) 8741 5550

Membership information collected via this site is collected and held by the RFS external web service provider:

Adcorp
Level 1, 7 Kelly Street
ULTIMO NSW 2007
Tel: +612 8524 8500
Fax: +612 8524 8700
Email: sydney@adcorp.com.au

Will this policy be updated over time?

Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this policy may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time. The amended policy will be posted to this site and will operate from the time it is posted.

---

Previous | Next