The State Services Authority is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2000.

This statement outlines the Authority’s website privacy statement and applies to your interactions with the Authority’s website (www.ssa.vic.gov.au), as well as the Register of Lobbyists’ website (www.lobbyistsregister.vic.gov.au), which the Authority is responsible for administering.

This privacy statement does not extend beyond these websites to other linked websites and you are encouraged to review each linked website’s privacy statement.

Anonymous access to our site
You can access our homepage and browse our website without disclosing your personal information. The Authority does not and will not seek to identify individual users with the information automatically collected by the website.

Collection
We collect personal information about you when you:

• submit an electronic form via the website, requesting us to provide services or information or to take action;
• take part in an online survey;
• subscribe to the "eNews" newsletter email updates detailing new items added to the State Services Authority website;
• submit messages or comments to email addresses displayed on this website; or
• participate in the Register of Lobbyists and provide personal information to be registered as a professional lobbyist.

Cookies
We use cookies to provide us with information to assist in making the site more usable. A cookie is a block of data that is shared between a web server and a user’s browser. Cookies may give the server information about a computer’s identity and website visiting patterns and preferences. Cookies are not used to identify individual users.

Web Statistics Data Collection
The State Services Authority currently uses one web measurement service provider. This is Omniture SiteCatalyst HBX.

Omniture SiteCatalyst uses first party cookies both to differentiate requests from different web browsers and to store helpful information that can be used by the application at a later time. In particular SiteCatalyst uses cookies to define new visitors, help analyse clickstream data within the website, and track historical activity on the website for responses to particular activities.

SiteCatalyst cookies contain no personally identifiable information. All cookie data are anonymous and are used to distinguish one web browser from another. The SiteCatalyst cookies belong to the State Services Authority website.

Clickstream Data
Clickstream data refers to visitor logs and statistics that provide useful information about users’ online experiences without identifying individuals. Typical clickstream data collected includes:

• a visitor’s computer address (i.e. Internet Protocol (IP) address) and relevant domains
• times and dates of site visits
• pages accessed (including most visited and least visited) and files downloaded
• browsers and operating systems used by visitors.

The Authority’s website uses clickstream data purely for statistical purposes (such as the most popular searches and the times of the day that the website is used most and least) without identifying individual users.

Use and Disclosure
Your personal information will be used consistently with the purpose for which it was provided to us.

We may share personal information with our contracted service providers – for example, our IT, website or survey contractors – but we ensure that the same level of privacy protection applies regardless of who undertakes the work.

We will not disclose your personal information to a third party without your consent, unless we are required to do so by law or other regulation.

Security
We have technology and security policies, rules and measure to protect the personal information that we have under our control. However, there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. If you are concerned about conveying sensitive material to the State Services Authority over the Internet, you might prefer to contact us by telephone or mail.

Once any personal information comes into our possession, we will take reasonable steps to protect that information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Access and Correction
To request access to or correction of your personal information held by the State Services Authority, please contact us. You should be able to access information directly, without the need to make a formal FOI application.

However, in certain cases, for example, where another person’s privacy is concerned, you will need to make an FOI request. For FOI applications, contact:

FOI Officer
State Services Authority
3 Treasury Place
Melbourne VIC 3002

Telephone: 9651 5809

Email: