Privacy

This policy covers this website and the newsletter. It is written to be read, not to be survived: if something here is unclear, write to us and we will explain it in plain words.

What we collect

We do not ask for, and do not want, sensitive information: nothing about your health, your visa status, your religion, your politics or your finances. Please do not send it to us unless it is part of a story you are bringing us, and then only what is necessary.

• If you subscribe to the newsletter: your email address, and your name if you give it.
• If you create an account to comment: your email address, the name you choose to sign with, a profile picture if you upload one, and what you write. The name and the picture are public; the email address is not, and it is never shown next to a comment.
• If you write to us: whatever you put in the message, including your address for the reply.
• When you read the site: the ordinary technical information a web server receives — the page requested, the time, the browser and device type, and an approximate location derived from the network address.

Why we collect it

To send you the newsletter you asked for, to answer you when you write to us, to sign you in when you comment, to keep the site working and secure, and to understand in aggregate which stories people read so we can decide what to cover.

Your comment account

Signing in to comment uses a link sent to your email address — there is no password to remember or to lose. We use that address to sign you in and to reach you about your account, and for nothing else. Creating it does not put you on the newsletter.

You can delete any comment you have written, and change your name and picture, from the comment section itself. Write to us and we will delete the account and everything attached to it, including comments; deleting a comment that has replies leaves the replies standing, with the text gone.

The newsletter

We only email people who asked us to. Every newsletter identifies who sent it and carries a working unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately — you do not have to explain why.

We do not sell, rent or trade our subscriber list. Ever, and to anyone.

Advertising and measurement

The portal carries advertising, and advertising and audience measurement rely on third parties that set their own cookies and receive technical information about your visit. Those third parties handle that data under their own policies, which we do not control.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser. The site remains readable if you do.

Who else sees it

The services that keep the site running — hosting, database and email delivery — process this information on our instructions and are not free to use it for their own purposes. Some of them operate outside Australia, which means information may be stored overseas.

We disclose personal information otherwise only where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

Subscriber details stay until you unsubscribe. Comment accounts and comments stay until you ask us to delete them, or until we remove a comment for breaking the comment policy — a removed comment stops being visible on the site but is kept as a record of what was moderated and when. Messages sent to the newsroom are kept while they are useful to the work and then deleted. Server logs are short-lived.

Protecting sources

If you contact us as a source, treat ordinary email as readable in transit. Tell us if you need a more careful channel and we will arrange one. We do not disclose the identity of a source who asked not to be named, and we do not hand over source material voluntarily.

Your choices

Write to us and you can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, or unsubscribe. We will do it, and we will not make it difficult.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information and we have not resolved it, you can raise it with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.