What information does Intervergent collect?

When visiting our website, we may collect personal information such as:

•    De-identified technical data such as internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access the Intervergent Network; and
•    Web analytics data which we may collect directly or use third party analytics tools, to help measure traffic and usage trends of our website. These tools collect information sent by your browser or mobile device, including the pages you visit and other information that assists us in improving our products and services. We collect and use this analytics information in cumulative form such that it cannot be manipulated to identify a particular individual user.

Employment applications

For employment applications we will collect information about you and your occupation and qualifications including information contained in your CV (for recruitment purposes).

How we collect your personal information

Usually we collect your personal information directly from you. Intervergent may collect your personal information from you in various ways, including via the Intervergent website, telephone and email.

We use cookies and similar technologies (such as web beacons and proprietary measurement software) on the Intervergent website to analyse trends, administer our services, diagnose problems, improve the quality of our products and services, track users' movements around the Intervergent website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole.

A cookie is a small text file that the we may place on your device to store information. We may use persistent cookies (which remain on your computer even after you close your browser) to store information that may speed up your use of the Intervergent Network for any of your future visits to the Intervergent Network. We may also use session cookies (which no longer remain after you end your browsing session) to help manage the display and presentation of information while accessing our website. You may refuse to use cookies, web beacons or some of the proprietary measurement software features by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser or the settings section of your mobile or tablet device. However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the Intervergent Network.

Intervergent uses social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram to advertise and communicate with the public about its activities. Intervergent may collect your personal information when you communicate with us by using these social networking services, and the social networking services will also handle your personal information for their own activities. These social networking sites have their own privacy policies.

Why does Intervergent collect and use your personal information?

We may disclose de-identified information of our users to third parties that collect and process data for analysis, research and quality assurance purposes, such as:

•    Third parties who provide data analytics (such as Google Analytics) to help us improve our service and products, and our users’ experience, including by monitoring aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and demographic patterns;
•    Third party security entities to prevent various types of data processing abuse attempts and block suspicious behaviour (such as Google reCAPTCHA);
• Third party service providers to manage our advertising on other websites. Our ad network providers use cookies and web beacons to collect information about your activities on the Intervergent Network to serve you with advertisements regarding our products and services, and to help determine the effectiveness of our promotional or advertising campaigns.

Data quality and security

Intervergent will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information which we may collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we rely on the accuracy of the personal information as entered by you or provided to us by third parties.

Intervergent will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Intervergent implements security measures including:

•   IT security procedures including network firewalls, password protection, intrusion detection, encryption, and site monitoring.

Before disclosing personal information to an entity or person located overseas, Intervergent takes steps to ensure that the recipients of such information do not breach the APPs in relation to the information, by including relevant contractual provisions.

We will only retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or for legal purposes.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we handle your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

Access to, deletion of and correction of your personal information

You have a right to request:

•   access to your personal information;
•   that your personal information be deleted or de-identified; or
•   that we correct inaccuracies relating to your information.

In some circumstances, we may not be able to comply with a request that you make in respect of your personal information. For example, we may be required to retain certain information that you ask us to delete for various reasons, such as where there is a legal requirement to do so. Where these reasons to refuse a request in respect of your personal information exist, we will advise you of those reasons at the time you make your request.

If we do agree to your request for the deletion or de-identification of your personal information, we will delete or de-identify your data but will generally assume that you would prefer us to keep a note of your phone number on a register of individuals who would prefer not to be contacted. That way, we will minimise the chances of you being contacted in the future where your data is collect in unconnected circumstances. If you would prefer us not to do this, you are free to say so.

If you request that your personal information is changed, and if Intervergent does not agree to change your personal information, we will enclose your statement of the requested changes with your personal information.

If you would like to obtain access to, delete or request changes to your personal information you can contact us.

Intervergent can charge a reasonable fee for the time and cost of collating, preparing, and photocopying material for you if you request access to your personal information.

Where we have obtained your consent to handle your personal information, or consent to send you information, you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will cease to carry out the particular activity that you previously consented to, unless we consider that there is an alternative reason to justify our continued handling of your personal information for this purpose, in which case we will inform you of this condition.

An updated version of this privacy policy will be released upon the launch of our first project the mobile application Hilfe.

Complaints

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, if Intervergent does not agree to provide you with access to your personal information; or if you have a complaint about our information handling practices, you can contact us via the details below.

We will respond within 30 days of receipt of a complaint. If you are not satisfied with our decision, you can contact us to discuss your concerns.

If the complaint remains unresolved, you have the option of notifying the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Contact details can be found at OAIC's website: www.oaic.gov.au