Privacy, Freedom of Information & Legal Policy

The Be Connected website is produced and maintained by the eSafety Commissioner in partnership with the Department of Social Services (DSS). This page outlines how the eSafety Commissioner and staff assisting her ('eSafety') collects, manages and protects personal information as well as how we've made the Be Connected site as accessible as possible.

Quick links:

Accessibility Statement

Be Connected is committed to providing a free learning website that is accessible to all.

We are continually working on improving the accessibility and usability of our website by working towards Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, 2.0 Level AA (WCAG 2.0 AA).

If you have any questions or feedback regarding the accessibility of this website, please contact us at BCaccessibility@esafety.gov.au.

Contact options

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service:

  • Teletypewriter (TTY) users phone 133 677 and connect to 1800 880 176.
  • Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727 and connect to 1800 880 176.
  • SMS relay users text 0423 677 767 and connect to 1800 880 176.
  • Internet relay users connect to the National Relay Service and connect to 1800 880 176.

If you require a translating or interpreting service, you can contact us through the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Document format

Documents on this website are available in PDF formats.

You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDFs. It is available as a free download from the Adobe website. The Accessibility Resource Centre at Adobe provides a number of tools that can help people who use speech readers to read the content of PDF documents. These tools work by converting PDF documents to text readable by speech readers. These tools are free and most require no downloading of files.

Resizing text

You can resize the text on this website.

To zoom in, hold down the Ctrl key then press the + key.

To zoom out, hold down the Ctrl key then press the - key.

Further assistance

If we can assist you in any other way to access our information, please contact us for further assistance.

Copyright Notice

The Commonwealth owns the copyright in all material produced by the eSafety Commissioner.

With the exception of coats of arms, logos, emblems, images, other third-party material or devices protected by a trademark, the content of this website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Topics titled ‘Getting to know your device’, ‘Getting started online’ and ‘More online skills’ and their constituent courses and activities on this website are third party materials belonging to the Good Things Foundation. While you may reproduce, share, print in whole format these three topics and their constituent courses and activities, you may not copy, reproduce, modify or edit these three topics or their constituent courses and activities in any way. No content in these three topics may be used for commercial purposes.

Attribution CC BY


Attribution

Material produced by the eSafety Commissioner and obtained from this website is to be attributed as:
© Commonwealth of Australia 2018

All other rights are reserved.

Disclaimer

This disclaimer is intended to be read in conjunction with use of this website.

The material on this website is general in nature. It is made available on the understanding that the Commonwealth is not thereby engaged in rendering professional advice.

Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.

The Commonwealth monitors the quality of the information available on this website and updates the information regularly. However, the Commonwealth does not guarantee, and accepts no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this website or on any linked site.

In some cases, the material may incorporate or summarise views, guidelines or recommendations of third parties. Such material is assembled in good faith, but does not necessarily reflect the considered views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

Links to other websites are inserted for convenience and do not constitute endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated organisation, product or service.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives individuals a legally enforceable right of access to government documents, subject to specific exemptions. It applies to Australian Government ministers and most agencies.

The eSafety Commissioner is an agency for the purposes of the FOI Act.

Staff of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are made available to assist the eSafety Commissioner perform her functions and exercise her powers.

In certain circumstances, eSafety has adopted the ACMA's policies, procedures, systems and guidelines.

As Be Connected is a Federal Government initiative undertaken jointly by eSafety and the Department of Social Services (DSS), you may also be able to request access to information through DSS. For more information, please see the DSS Freedom of Information guidelines.

Information Publication Scheme (IPS)

As part of our obligations under the FOI Act, we publish a range of information as part of our information publication scheme (IPS).

The ACMA also publishes an FOI publication plan that outlines how the IPS requirements will be complied with.

We also publish an FOI publication plan that outlines how we will implement the IPS requirements.

FOI disclosure log

We publish a freedom of information disclosure log that lists the information we've released in response to FOI access requests, subject to exceptions.

How to make a request under the FOI Act

If you want to request access under the FOI Act to one or more of the documents we hold, your request must:

  1. be in writing
  2. state that the request is an application for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
  3. provide information about each document you are seeking to access to enable us to process your request, and
  4. provide a postal, email or fax address for us to reply to.

You can lodge your request via:

  • Email: enquiries@esafety.gov.au
  • Online form: available on our contact us page
  • Post: The FOI Coordinator, Office of the eSafety Commissioner, PO Box Q500, Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230

A third party can also make a request on your behalf, if you provide written authority.

Time for processing your request

We will notify you of our decision within a 30-day period commencing the day after we receive your request, unless that period is extended or suspended in accordance with the FOI Act.

Charges for processing your request

There is no application fee for an FOI request. The first five hours of decision making time are free for all applicants.

Charges may be imposed to reimburse eSafety for the costs incurred in searching, copying, reproducing or sending the information contained in your request.

There are no processing charges for requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you.

The main charges are:

  • search and retrieval - $15 per hour
  • decision making - $20 per hour
  • photocopy - 10 cents per page
  • inspection - $6.25 per half hour.

If we do decide to impose a charge, we will notify you beforehand. You can also ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for certain reasons, including financial hardship or on the grounds of public interest. You can find more information on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's FOI charges webpage.

Access to documents

We may refuse your request to access documents, if the document falls within a specific exemption in the FOI Act. This includes that disclosure would, or could reasonably be expected to, prejudice the conduct of an investigation into a possible breach of the law or have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of eSafety Commissioner's operations. We may also refuse access where the information is available to the public for a fee or other charge.

The eSafety Commissioner's work in relation to offensive or illegal content under Schedule 5 and 7 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 is a specific exemption in the FOI Act.

Review of a decision

You can request in writing that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another officer in our agency. We will advise you of the outcome of our review within 30 days of receiving your request.

Information Commissioner review

You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our decision on internal review within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party). The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Commonwealth Ombudsman who may investigate our actions.

Enquiries

If you have any enquiries about the FOI process, please contact us through enquiries@esafety.gov.au or an option on our contact page.

Privacy

Overview

The Be Connected website and Get Started app are produced and maintained by the eSafety in partnership with the Department of Social Services.

The eSafety Commissioner is responsible for promoting online safety for all Australians.

This privacy policy summary outlines the key points about how the eSafety Commissioner and staff assisting her ('eSafety') handles, manages and protects personal information.

eSafety collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information to undertake the eSafety Commissioner’s functions and activities under the Enhancing Online Safety for Act 2015, the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Telecommunications Act 1997.

eSafety handles information in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

More information is available in the Be Connected main privacy policy.

As Be Connected is a Federal Government initiative undertaken jointly by eSafety and the Department of Social Services (DSS), you may also be interested in the DSS's privacy policy.

Collection

eSafety collects personal information by lawful and fair means. eSafety usually collects personal information directly from you, for example, when you provide us your details during website registration, updating your profile, completing feedback surveys, taking part in interviews or focus groups, attending promotional events, through an enquiry form or in relation to a complaint.

eSafety sometimes collects personal information from a publicly available source or third party, if permitted under legislation, if doing so enables us to better perform regulatory action.

Personal information may also be collected through the Be Connected website and our use of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. eSafety uses this information to improve the Be Connected website, receive feedback from the community and increase engagement with you.

Use and disclosure

eSafety only uses or discloses personal information for the purpose for which it was collected or in other permitted circumstances, such as where you consent for it to be used or disclosed for another purpose.

eSafety will not disclose sensitive information about you unless you agree or in other limited circumstances, such as when the eSafety Commissioner is required or authorised by law.

We only disclose personal information in order to help us fulfil a regulatory function, with your consent or where otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act. We may disclose your personal information to other government agencies, third parties and contract service providers participating in the Be Connected project. This may include overseas recipients and bodies undertaking research or surveys that you consent to participate in.

The Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 lets us provide your information to specific authorities without your consent in certain circumstances, including an authority of a foreign country responsible for regulating matters relating to the capacity of children to use social media services and electronic services in a safe manner.

You may also choose to engage with us through a social networking service or our website. The companies we use for these purposes may also store information overseas.

Access and correction

You can request access to the personal information eSafety holds about you. We will provide you access in most circumstances.

You can request that eSafety correct your personal information. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information we hold about you if we consider it inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

How to make a complaint

You can complain to eSafety in writing about how we have handled your personal information. eSafety will respond to your complaint within 30 days.

You can contact eSafety from our contact page.

Collection Notification - Be Connected

Website Registration

The eSafety Commissioner and staff assisting ('eSafety') handle your personal information in accordance with our obligations and responsibilities under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act).

eSafety is collecting your personal information for the purpose of registering you with the Be Connected website, which is produced and maintained by eSafety in partnership with the Department of Social Services (DSS). This is consistent with a regulatory function we have under the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 that allows us to collect this information.

This information is necessary for us to complete your registration. If we don't collect this information, you may be unable to register fully with the service.

We only disclose personal information in order to help us fulfil a regulatory function, with your consent or where otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act. We may disclose your personal information to other government agencies, third parties and contract service providers participating in the Be Connected project. This may include overseas recipients and bodies undertaking research or surveys that you consent to participate in.

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information on:

  • the Privacy Act
  • requesting access to your personal information
  • requesting a correction to your personal information, and
  • how we deal with complaints about our handling of personal information.

If you have any questions, please contact us from our contact us page.

Public Consultation and Engagement

The eSafety Commissioner and staff assisting ('eSafety') handle your personal information in accordance with our obligations and responsibilities under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act).

The eSafety Commissioner is collecting your personal information as part of our Be Connected consultation and engagement activities. These activities include but are not limited to interviews, focus groups, conferences or other events.

When you participate in these activities, we may record personal information such as your image or voice. All or part of these recordings may be used for audio, visual and other publications such as brochures, booklets, videos, reports, press releases and social media posts.

These publications are for the purposes of education, information, promotion, public relations and media engagement connected with eSafety and its Be Connected program. This is consistent with a regulatory function we have under the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 that allows us to collect this information.

eSafety may share these publications with other parties for these and related online safety purposes.

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information on:

  • the Privacy Act
  • requesting access to your personal information
  • requesting a correction to your personal information, and
  • how we deal with complaints about our handling of personal information.

If you have any questions, please contact us from our contact us page.

Last modified: Friday, 23 September 2022, 3:36 PM