Privacy
The Water for Life website is maintained by the NSW Department of Water and Energy (DWE). This Privacy Policy applies to all the publicly accessible pages on the Water for Life site located at http://www.waterforlife.nsw.gov.au and to all the publicly accessible pages listed in the search results web pages. DWE does not have any responsibility for the privacy policies or practices of third party sites linked to the Water for Life site. If you have any questions about the Water for Life site, or the application of this Privacy Policy or a request for access to information held please contact info@waterforlife.nsw.gov.au
Users of the Water for Life 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 1988
What information do we collect?
When you look at the pages on the Water for Life 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; and
- the type of browser and operating system you have used.
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 DWE to identify patterns of usage of the site. This will assist us in improving the Water for Life site and the services offered on it.
DWE 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 1988.
What exceptions are there to this rule?
DWE will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:
- unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published Water for Life pages;
- unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the Water for Life site;
- unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the Water for Life site by other sites;
- attempts to intercept messages of other users of the Water for Life site;
- communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed; and
- 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 enjoyment of the Water for Life site by other users.
DWE reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the Water for Life site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed.
In the event of an investigation, DWE 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 DWE for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected it is deleted.
What will we do with information provided as feedback?
DWE provides feedback facilities on the Water for Life site to allow users to provide input into the future development of the site and to comment on the provision of service by the Department.
The provision of personal details on feedback 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.
DWE 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.
Who else has access to information?
Access to the raw data is restricted to a limited number of users for the purpose of analysis and to report on the success of Water for Life in meeting DWE communication and access objectives.
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.