This document describes the policies and practices which apply to personal information collected by the Friends of the Earth Australia. The policy aims to comply with the current law in Australia and international best practice for this type of organisation.

The Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) collects personal information when individuals apply for membership, using the form on the web-site which may be returned as hard copy or sent on-line. The information collected includes contact details, amount and method of payment, and preferences as to the ways in which the individual is prepared to assist the FoE meet its objectives.

This information is used for the purpose of administering the affairs of the FoE and communicating with members. It may also be disclosed where necessary in connection with these purposes, but any other disclosure will only be with the individuali's prior consent or as required by law.

Personal information is also collected about individuals making enquiries about the FoE and its work, whether by post, telephone, fax or E-mail. This information is used to respond to the enquiry, and for subsequent follow-up if required. FoE will not disclose information about enquirers without their consent or as required by law. FoE does not insist on enquirers identifying themselves, respecting their right to remain anonymous, but this may limit our ability to respond and assist them.

Information is also collected about contacts in the media and other organisations. including government and business. This information is used to further the objectives of FoE and may be disclosed to third parties for this purpose, or as required by law.

Like most web sites, when someone accesses FoE's web site, log files are generated by the web server that show the IP address of the visitor, date, time, and pages visited. FoE reviews information in our web site logs from time to time and the logs are periodically deleted. Information in web logs is used in the aggregate to generate statistics about access to our site such as which parts of our site are the most popular.

FoE does not compile "audit trails" identifying which visitors have browsed what pages.

FoE does not and will not sell, rent or share our membership database or membership mailing list. The Officers may disclose information about specific members in accordance with their clearly expressed preferences about the ways in which they are prepared to assist FoE achieve its objectives.

FoE uses an E-mail group list to communicate with members and subscription to this list is opt-in, that is, we do not add email addresses to our mailing lists without express prior consent. List members can unsubscribe at any time.

Of course, if you choose to reply to or post a message to a list, other subscribers will become aware of your email address.

While FoE does not generally disclose personal information to third parties without the express permission of the individual concerned, there are some circumstances where it is necessary that we disclose information with implied consent. FoE defines "implied consent" narrowly. One example is:

• FoE's web pages and electronic mailing lists, like those of many other organisations and companies, are hosted by external organisations and/or individuals. Information that you provide to FoE via the Internet passes through one or more of these service providers' systems in order to be received by FoE, and/or, we may disclose information to such a service provider when necessary to provide you with a requested service such as to subscribe you to one of our mailing lists. In this regard FoE arranges hosting services only with organisations or individuals who have privacy policies/practices that are in accord with FoE's privacy policy.

FoE keeps membership and mailing list subscriber details and web server logs on controlled facilities that are secured against unauthorised access. Proof of identity is required before information is released to any person, including a member.

E-mail should not generally be regarded as secure. If you wish to send confidential information to us by email, we encourage you to use encrypted email (which can be arranged through our Officers).

If you want to see what information FoE holds about you, or to correct or update this information, or to be removed from our membership database and/or mailing list, please contact foe@foe.org.au

or see FoE's contact information page for our postal address and fax number.

This policy may be updated from time to time, but any changes will not reduce the privacy protection set out above and will not affect information previously collected, unless required by law or otherwise beyond FoE's control, e.g. technological changes. Any such changes to this policy that adversely affect privacy protection of FoE members or FoE's other contacts will be advised by email.

If you have any queries or comments concerning this privacy policy, contact foe@foe.org.au (preferably with subject line "FoE Privacy Policy"), or see FoE's contact information page for our postal address and fax number.