Heartland has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this web site.

Please note this statement is as at 24 September 2005. Heartland is continually evolving and from time to time, we may make changes to our web site’s function or our information practices. We will update this statement accordingly.

Personal Information

Heartland does not sell, rent, publish or give away your personal information to third parties.

However, please be aware that we may be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under certain circumstance. We can disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us to legal liability.

We may also release membership and other personal details in order to enforce our Terms and Conditions; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Heartland, our members or others.

Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. We maintain a secure private network for storage of your personal information.

Cookies

Heartland uses cookies to improve your experience and keep track of your preferences. We use cookies to save your login details so that you don’t need to re-enter them each time you visit Heartland. We also use cookies to protect our members by enabling us to identify members abusing the Heartland service and to provide us with research information e.g. how often a member visits Heartland

Email

Members will receive email alerts that they have elected to receive. You can remove yourself from any of the alerts you have elected by using the Edit My Alerts facility.

Heartlands will send members regular (monthly) updates and news. These updates will have clear and obvious instructions on how you can remove yourself from the mailing list.

It is Heartlands policy to remove you from a mailing list immediately upon your request.

Membership Registration

Heartlands member registration form requires you to provide contact details and some demographic information (e.g. the name of your community). We may use the contact information from the member registration form to send you information about the latest on Heartlands and our promotional material (e.g. competitions).

Membership Removal

If you wish to terminate your membership, you can either email us or you can remove yourself using the edit membership form.

Controlling Your Password

You are responsible for all actions taken under your name, email address and password. We recommend that you do not disclose your Heartland password to any third party.

Other Information We May Collect

We collect additional information to help us develop and improve the Heartland service. This may include the URL you have just come from, the url you go to, what browser you are using and your IP address.

When members login Heartland records their IP address. This information may be used to track abuse of Heartland and will be passed onto legal authorities in the event of suspected fraud or other illegal activity. IP addresses can be used in conjunction with Internet Service Providers to identify a user. This information is therefore stored securely and Heartland will not pass this onto other members or un-authorised parties.

Credit Card Security

Heartland is committed to securing not only your personal information but also any credit card information you may provide us with. For businesses, clubs or groups who pay for a directory listing using a credit card, we protect your credit card information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software. This encrypts the information you input.

Once the payment has been processed, your credit card information is deleted and can no longer be accessed by Heartland.

Advertisers and Third Party Links

This site contains links to other web sites. Heartland is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

We also have some banner advertising. These ads may contain cookies. While we use cookies in other parts of our Web site, cookies received with banner ads should be treated as an external site to Heartland.

Competitions

Heartland may run promotions and competitions in which we ask for members or visitors contact information (e.g. their email address). We may use contact data from our competitions to send visitors and member’s information about Heartland and our future competitions. The visitor’s or member’s contact information is also used to contact them when necessary usually for prize delivery.

Noticeboards and Directory Web Pages

Noticeboards are available to members who use the Heartland site. In addition listed businesses, clubs and community groups have a directory listing and webpage. Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information. Always exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal information.

Heartland does not use or tolerate spam (unsolicited commercial email). You are not licensed to add any Heartland member to your mail list (email or physical) whose name may be available on our site, without their express consent.

How to change your details

You can change your membership registration details by using the Edit My Details facility on your community page, once you are logged in.