Introduction
Hear Me Out (HMO) is a service provided by the National Justice Project (NJP). HMO is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot which seeks to help you find relevant legal and complaint services. This Policy sets out how we handle your personal information. When we handle your personal information, we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
What Personal Information do we collect, and how do we collect it?
We collect the information you provide when you use the HMO AI chatbot, or when you engage with us.
We collect your personal information when:
- you talk to the AI chatbot
- you engage with us (for example, when you make complaints or give feedback)
Why do we use and disclose Personal Information?
We’ll use your personal information to:
- Provide the HMO service to you,
- Respond to any questions, complaints, or feedback,
- Assess and understand how people use the HMO service.
We won’t disclose your personal information unless you consent or where laws require us to do so.
Disclosure to Overseas Recipients
HMO does not intend to share your personal information with any overseas parties.
Types of Entities We Disclose Personal Information
To HMO does not intend to disclose specific personal information to other entities or bodies. However, we may disclose aggregate (anonymised) data to report on focus areas and improve our services. This can include:
- Government agencies and regulatory bodies,
- Legal advisors and enforcement authorities,
- Other entities for the purpose of facilitating services you have requested.
Security of Personal Information
Storage and Protection
We take reasonable steps to keep your personal information safe. This includes:
- making sure that access to your personal information is limited
- implementing security steps such as encryption and access controls
- storing data in Australia.
Retention and Destruction
We only keep your personal information for as long as we need it to do our work. When we no longer need it, we will safely destroy or de-identify it.
Third parties
We sometimes work with or hire other companies to help us do our work (‘third parties’). These third parties may handle your personal information on our behalf. These third parties may include:
- information technology and data storage providers;
- research and statistical analysis providers;
- professional advisors.
When we work with third parties, we take steps to ensure they handle your personal information safely and responsibly. The third parties that we work with are located in Australia.
Personal Rights
You can ask to access the personal information that we hold about you, update or correct it, and ask for a copy. To do this, we may need to first confirm your identity.
What are your rights?
You have the right to:
- access the personal information that we hold about you,
- ask us to update your personal information if it is not right;
- and ask for a copy of the personal information that we hold about you.
There are some exceptions to these rights. For example:
- we can’t give you access to personal information about other people, commercially sensitive information;
- or we may not be able to destroy or delete the personal information we hold about you if laws require us to keep it.
We’ll agree to your request if it’s reasonable and lawful for us to do so. If we don’t agree, or we only partially agree, we’ll:
- write to you to explain our decision (except if it’s unreasonable to do so);
- and give you information on your options, including how to make a complaint.
How long will it take?
We’ll try to make your personal information available within 30 days after you ask us for it, but complicated requests may take more time.
Before we manage your request, we may need to confirm your identity. We do this to make sure that we keep your personal information safe.
How can you contact us?
See ‘Contact Us’, below.
Complaints
If you’re concerned about how we have handled your personal information, let us know and we’ll try to fix it.
How do we manage privacy complaints against Hear Me Out?
We’ll:
- keep a record of your complaint;
- write to you within 14 calendar days to acknowledge your complaint;
- investigate your complaint (including, for example, gathering the relevant facts,
- locating and reviewing relevant documents and speaking to relevant individuals);
- and write to you with our final response, including our view on whether we have not complied with this policy or relevant privacy laws, and what we will do to fix the issue.
We’ll usually give you a final response within 30 calendar days of receiving your complaint. If we can’t give you a response in this time, we’ll contact you to explain why and work out a new timeframe with you.
What else can you do?
If you are not satisfied with how we have managed your complaint, you can make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
- Phone: 1300 363 992
- Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
- Website: oaic.gov.au
- Complaints form: oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints
Contact Details
You can contact us at:
- Email: deanm@justice.org.au