Privacy

Overview 

This Privacy Policy explains how your personal and health information will be treated when you access and interact with the iCanQuit website managed by Cancer Institute NSW (the Institute).

The privacy practices of the Institute are regulated by Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (“the Acts”).  The Institute may use third party providers to assist us from time to time. In the event that we contract such a provider, they are bound by the same privacy and confidentiality conditions as the Institute. Links to other websites, external to the Institute, are sometimes included in web pages for the convenience of website users, but the Institute does not have any responsibility for the privacy practices of third party websites linked to the the Institute's website.

What information is collected through the iCanQuit website?

If you register as a user of the iCanQuit website, the Institute will collect the contents of any electronic forms you complete, including posts made on website forums.  This information includes (but is not limited to) your email address, year of birth, postcode and details of your smoking habit.

Personal and health information may also be collected by the Institute when you fill in and submit other forms that are included on the iCanQuit website, or if you provide any written feedback about the use of the website.

How is information collected through the iCanQuit website used and distributed? 

Personal and health information collected through this website is used for the Institute’s functions under the Cancer Institute (NSW) Act 2003. 

Uses include:

  • contacting users of the website to participate in research, including seeking feedback about the website to allow us to improve it;
  • sending promotional material to users of the website;
  • responding to enquiries from users of the website;
  • enabling NSW Quitline, including Aboriginal Quitline and Multilingual Quitlines to contact you, by providing NSW Quitline with your contact details (if you have filled out a form requesting this);
  • other statistical, research and administrative purposes.

The Institute does not disclose information that identifies an individual, or might potentially identify them, to third parties without the consent of the person involved, unless it is authorised or required to do so by law. The Institute may be required to disclose this kind of information to a law enforcement agency where there is reason to suspect there has or have been:

  • unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the iCanQuit website;
  • unauthorised attempts to access files which are not published on the iCanQuit website;
  • attempts to intercept messages of other users of the iCanQuit website;
  • communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed;
  • attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server; and
  • other potential breaches of the laws of the State of NSW or the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Institute may create a de-identified version of information collected through this website, and use this de-identified information for research purposes. This can involve the disclosure of the de-identified information to third parties, including publication of the information in peer-reviewed journals and other publications.

Are you required to provide personal or health information?

Information relating to your use of this website is collected automatically when you visit, and it is not possible to prevent this information being collected.

When providing personal or health information through forms on this website, you can choose not to provide certain information where the form indicates that the information is optional.  However, some information may be necessary to complete the form.  If you do not provide this information, you may be unable to register as a website user or do any other thing that requires you to first submit the information.

Is the information stored securely? 

Personal and health information will be kept in safe custody, sufficient to prevent unauthorised access, and will be properly handled to ensure its safety, integrity and confidentiality.

Can I access or modify information I have provided through the website? 

You can change information provided as part of your personal profile on the iCanQuit website at any time.  

Otherwise, any request to correct or update any incorrect information should be made to the Webmaster at: cinsw-prevention@health.nsw.gov.au

Requests to delete information provided to the Institute may be made by contacting the Webmaster at: cinsw-prevention@health.nsw.gov.au  

Web statistics and cookies

The iCanQuit website keeps logs of visitors who browse it contents.  The information collected in user logs includes the IP address of the device you are using, and is used to assess and improve the effectiveness of the iCanQuit website.

“Cookies” are small pieces of text data that a web server can store on, and later retrieve from, a user's computer. They do not personally identify you, but do identify your browser. This website uses “persistent cookies”, which are stored on your computer, contain an expiration date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour. They record your preferences in relation to your use of the site and provide us with other information about your enquiry that allows us to recognise your browser if you return to this website in the future. They help the Institute to understand what parts of the site users find the most useful and improve the effectiveness of the website.  Persistent cookies also allow advertising by the Institute hosted on third party websites to be specifically targeted in accordance with your browsing preferences.

The cookies on this site do not read the information on your hard drive. They do not make your computer perform any actions or make your computer send information to any other computer via the internet. The Institute makes no attempt to associate cookies with users' names or identities. Our server cannot find out your name or email address, or anything about your computer, by using cookies.

Google Analytics

The iCanQuit website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate individual IP addresses with any other data held by Google.

The Institute uses reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage. This allows us to target content more efficiently to visits originating in NSW. The type of information collected includes:

  • the geographical area visits originate from (based on the IP address used to access the internet)
  • how visits are referred to our site
  • pages frequently visited
  • time spent on pages
  • actions carried out (i.e. watch a video, download an information sheet)

Google AdWords Remarketing

Google AdWords Remarketing service is used which advertises across the internet to previous visitors to our website.

Google AdWords Remarketing displays relevant advertising content based on which sections of the iCanQuit website you have visited. This is done by placing a cookie on your machine. A cookie is a small file sent to your browser from a web server to be stored on your computer. Cookies do not allow access to your computer or any data/ files contained in your computer (see more information below). It will not identify you in any way. Google AdWords Remarketing allow us to tailor any promotion and marketing content so it is relevant and suits your needs. For example we may promote a quit smoking campaign.

Any data collected as part of our use of Google Adwords Remarketing will be in accordance with the iCanQuit privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.

If you do not wish to be a part of our Google AdWords Remarketing, you can opt out by visiting Google Ads Preference Manager:

https://www.google.com/settings/ads

Then go to the “opt-out settings” where you can opt out of all interest based ads on Google and across the web.

For more information about Google Analytics visit https://www.google.com.au/policies/privacy/. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google external. This may have some impacts on the functionality of our site. 

Facebook pixel

Facebook pixel is used on the Cancer Institute NSW website and some of our other sites (primarily iCanQuit) to collect analytics and target Facebook promotions if you are a Facebook user. 

You can find the Facebook privacy policy here: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy

If you are a Facebook user you can control how Facebook uses information to personalise ads and opt out here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/settings.

You can opt out of all third party tracking and related advertising cookies (including Facebook and Google) that could be used on your web browser here: http://optout.aboutads.info

Do you want to know more about how your privacy is protected? 

If you have a general privacy enquiry or complaint regarding the Institute, please contact: 

The Privacy Officer

Cancer Institute NSW
PO Box 41
Alexandria NSW 1435
Tel: (02) 8374 5600
Fax: (02) 8374 5709
Email: CINSW-Privacy@health.nsw.gov.au

 Last updated: 17.09.2017