Privacy Policy

MESS is committed to protecting your privacy and any personal information we collect. MESS complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy explains how we may collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal and sensitive information. MESS is committed to safeguarding personal privacy. It recognises that individuals have a right to control how their personal information is collected and used. Unless given consent to do otherwise, MESS will only collect and use personal information as set out below. 

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy personal information may mean some or all of the following:

  •  a Member, Casual User, or User’s  name
  •  contact details
  •  date of birth
  •  emergency contact details
  •  bank account and/or credit card details
  •  student identification details
  •  employment details, payment history and sensitive information

Collecting personal information 

MESS will not collect or monitor any personal information about an individual without their consent. The only personal information collected is what is provided voluntarily by a Member or prospective Member during the process of obtaining Membership, a User or prospective User during the process of obtaining, applying to participate in or purchasing a product, service or an event ticket. MESS collects personal information primarily to enable it to provide Members and Users with its services. MESS may also use the information for informing you of Member discounted events and offers or for any other purpose permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Personal information is collected directly from Members or future Members when they personally complete and submit the online form to become a Member of MESS . This can be done online via our website.

Use of tracking technologies

MESS may use tracking technologies such as cookies or web beacons to make use of the website and services as convenient as possible. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to a computer’s hard disk for record keeping purposes. Web Beacon is a technical method that sends information related to the access to websites, when you browse websites, open or preview an HTML-formatted email. Most web browsers are set to accept tracking technologies such as cookies or web beacons. These tracking technologies do not themselves personally identify users, although they do identify a user’s browser. These tracking technologies allow MESS to monitor the MESS website, and to record how many people are using the different parts of the studio. It is possible to set the browser to refuse tracking technologies such as cookies or web beacons, however, this may limit the services provided by the MESS web site. 

Using and disclosing your personal information 

Personal Information will be used for the following primary purposes:

  • To fulfil obligations under a Member’s Membership Agreement, Casual User’s Agreement  and/or any other contract between a Member/User and MESS that may arise during normal operations of the organisation;
  • To provide information about products, service and/or special offers to Members; and
  • To obtain opinions or comments about products and/or services from Members.

MESS may employ other companies or service providers from time to time to assist us in providing our services, including (but not limited to) marketing, market research, mail-house services, hosting and product development services, analysis of Member lists and/ or consulting services. These third parties may have access to personal information that is needed to perform their specific function. They cannot use that information for other purposes. 

MESS recognise the trust with which individuals provide personal information, and such information will not be used or disclosed for any other purposes without consent, except in exceptional cases when disclosure may be required by law or is necessary to protect the rights or property of MESS, any MESS group company, or any member of the public, or to lessen a serious threat to a person’s health or safety.

Contact by MESS

MESS does not send advertising information without obtaining prior consent. If an individual receives communications from MESS which they do not wish to receive, they may remove their name from the database by contacting MESS directly.

Member’s Right of Access 

Members and Users have the right to review, amend or delete personal and/or sensitive Information that may be recorded on the MESS database. A request may be made to delete personal and/or sensitive information, and all reasonable steps to delete the information will be made, except where it is required to be retained for legal reasons. Deletion of information may result in MESS being unable to provide Member benefits listed in the MESS Terms & Conditions. 

Storage and security of personal and/or sensitive information

Any personal information is stored on secure hard drives if in digital format, or in locked areas if in hardcopy format. MESS employees and any 3rd party data processors are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal and/or sensitive information held by MESS. MESS only permits authorised personnel to access your information and information will only be disclosed to third parties where they have the appropriate authority. We destroy or de- identify personal information we no longer need, wherever possible. 

MESS and links to other websites

MESS provides links to web sites outside of the MESS site. These linked sites are not under the control of MESS, and MESS is not responsible for the conduct of companies linked to the MESS web site, nor for the performance or otherwise of any content and/or software contained in such external websites. 

Problems, queries or complaints

For further information regarding this Privacy Policy or to make a complaint about the steps taken by MESS to protect your personal information or privacy, please contact MESS directly at admin@mess.foundation. We will investigate any complaints received in writing and do our best to resolve them as soon as possible.