Thank you for visiting the Be Free To Sing® website. Be Free To Sing of Victoria, Australia (hereafter referred to as 'BFTS') understands that you care about how your personal information is collected and managed. BFTS respects your right to privacy and is committed to safeguarding your privacy as a BFTS website visitor or BFTS student.
This Privacy Policy applies when you visit or use the BFTS website, and when BFTS is providing relevant services to you. This Policy should be read in conjunction with the Cookies Policy, Terms of Use and Disclaimer.
If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy or any other agreement that governs your use of BFTS services, you should not use the BFTS website and its services.
As a matter of good privacy practice, BFTS is guided by the Australian Privacy Principles prescribed under the Privacy Act 1988 ('the Privacy Act').
1. What is personal information - how and why is it collected?
- Personal information is information or an opinion that identifies an individual.
- BFTS collects your personal information directly from you when you use any BFTS services, interact with BFTS (eg via the BFTS website, social media posts, chats, emails and/or online video sessions) or as otherwise required by law.
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BFTS collects your personal information for the primary purpose of providing information and services to you. BFTS may also use your personal information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. Examples of personal information collected by BFTS directly from you are:
- when contacting BFTS you provide your name and email address so you can be contacted in return;
- when registering for a BFTS course, BFTS collects additional information about you including, but not limited to, details to confirm eligibility for course enrolment and class scheduling, and to establish students' level of singing experience prior to commencement of classes;
- when you provide a testimonial for the BFTS website and/or BFTS social media platform only your first name will be used. Be aware that any information you choose to make publicly available, will be available for others to see. If you subsequently request to have this information removed, copies may remain viewable on social media platforms, in cached and archived pages on other websites or if others have copied or saved the information;
- when you opt in to receive any marketing communications from BFTS. These are only sent to you if you have requested or subscribed to them. You can opt out of any BFTS marketing communications at any time by unsubscribing yourself or please contact BFTS via the email address listed in Section 8 below and your request will be actioned immediately.
- An IP address is a number used to identify computers/devices when connected to the internet. IP addresses of website visitors may be logged by the BFTS website and/or in web server logs to monitor and maintain website security and to troubleshoot and maintain functionality of the website. The BFTS website and web server logs do not store personal information such as people's names or email addresses. Non-personally identifiable information in aggregated and anonymised forms may be used to improve BFTS services including: administering the BFTS website, understanding and optimising how the BFTS website is used, identifying user demands, and assisting in meeting BFTS website visitor and BFTS student needs generally.
- Where reasonable and practicable to do so, BFTS will collect your personal information only from you. However, in some circumstances BFTS may be provided with information by third parties. In such a case BFTS will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are made aware of the information provided to BFTS by the third party.
- When BFTS collects personal information, where appropriate and where possible, BFTS will explain to you why BFTS is collecting the information and how BFTS plans to use it.
- BFTS' services are not directed to persons under eighteen (18) years of age and BFTS does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If BFTS becomes aware that a child under 18 has provided personal information to BFTS, it will be deleted as quickly as possible. If you are the parent or guardian of a child and you believe they have provided BFTS with personal information without your consent, then please contact BFTS via the email address listed in Section 8 below.
2. Disclosure of personal information
- BFTS does not and will not deal in or sell personal information or any other information you have provided.
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Your personal information may be disclosed in a number of circumstances including:
- to third parties where you consent to the use or disclosure;
- to protect the copyright, trademarks, legal rights, property or safety of BFTS, BFTS students or third parties; and
- where required or authorised by law.
- Information collected may from time to time be stored, processed or transferred between parties located inside and outside of Australia.
3. Storage and security of personal information
- Your personal information is stored in a manner that reasonably protects it from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. The security of your personal information is important to BFTS, however remember that no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While BFTS strives to use reasonable means to protect your personal information, BFTS cannot guarantee its absolute security. In the event there is a breach of BFTS' security and your personal information is compromised, BFTS will promptly notify you in compliance with the applicable law.
- BFTS retains your personal information for as long as is needed to provide services to you and as otherwise necessary to comply with contractual, regulatory, security or legal requirements. When your personal information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, BFTS will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your personal information.
4. Access to personal information
- You may request access to your personal information that BFTS holds, subject to certain exceptions under the Privacy Act. BFTS will not charge any fee for your access request, but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your personal information to you.
- In order to protect your personal information, please be as specific as possible so that BFTS can try to accommodate your request. BFTS may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.
- To seek access to your personal information that BFTS holds, please contact BFTS via the email address listed in Section 8 below.
- BFTS will respond to your request in a reasonable period of time (usually within 30 days).
5. Updating personal information
- BFTS will take reasonable steps to make sure that your personal information that BFTS holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you find that your personal information that BFTS holds is inaccurate, incomplete or is out-of-date, please contact BFTS via the email address listed in Section 8 below as soon as practicable to request BFTS to update and/or correct your personal information and ensure that BFTS can continue to provide quality services to you.
- To make a request for the deletion of your personal information that BFTS holds, please contact BFTS via the email address listed in Section 8 below. Please note that deletion requests are subject to BFTS' record-keeping obligations and any overriding contractual, regulatory, security or legal reasons.
- BFTS will respond to your request in a reasonable period of time (usually within 30 days).
6. Links to/from other websites
- The BFTS website may contain links to other websites that are provided for your convenience only. This Privacy Policy is not applicable to other websites that you may access from the BFTS website. BFTS is not responsible for the privacy practices of such websites.
- BFTS cannot guarantee the safety of websites that you may access via links on the BFTS website.
- BFTS does not control who links to the BFTS website.
BFTS encourages you to be aware of the personally and non-personally identifiable information collected and managed by third-party services by reading the policies on their websites:
7. Changes to this Privacy Policy
BFTS reserves the right to make amendments and corrections to this Privacy Policy at any time. Please review this page from time to time to check for new and updated information.
8. Privacy Policy and privacy-related enquiries
BFTS welcomes feedback about privacy issues and will attend to questions or concerns promptly. If you have any feedback, questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about BFTS' use of your personal information, please do not hesitate to get in touch at