Belong Privacy Policy

​Belong has a firm commitment to maintaining the privacy of Members.

In this policy we explain how we handle information about you that we gather, store and use. For additional information about your relationship with Belong, please review our Terms of Service.
 
In this policy, “Personal Information” means the same as it does in the Privacy Act 1993 (which is: information about an identifiable individual). Other terms that have capital letters in this Privacy Policy but aren't defined here carry the same meaning as in the Terms of Service. 

A.   Use of your information
  1. Belong does not sell or rent your Personal Information to third parties. Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual, as defined by the Privacy Act 1993.
  2. Belong collects information about you through your use of the Services and the Website, including your registration details and information relating to your use of the Website and the Services, such as the content you access (like Services you have viewed and the search queries you input).
  3. Belong uses the information we collect to help us provide the Services to you, to verify your identity, to enforce or apply our terms and conditions, to protect the rights, property, or safety of BPL, our users, or others, for internal research purposes, for promoting and marketing other Services to you, and for any other use that you authorise.
  4. We release Personal Information only when we believe release is appropriate for legal compliance and law enforcement (including to government agencies with statutory law enforcement responsibilities); to facilitate court proceedings; enforce or apply our terms and conditions; or protect the rights, property, or safety of Belong, our users, or others. Government agencies with statutory roles enabling them to request data from us include but are not restricted to the Police, Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
  5. You can contact Belong to ask whether your information has been provided, or with any other privacy-related question.
  6. Where Belong uses third parties to provide Services, we may provide those third parties with some of your information if it is required to fulfill those Services. For example, we use a third party to provide some of the  software components that make up the overall Belong experience, including authentication services. We also use third party software (such as customer relationship management, marketing automation and accounting software) that holds your information, sometimes overseas.
  7. Where you request a benefit via Belong from a third party we will release only what we believe is the minimum amount of information required to facilitate the  fulfillment of the request. Examples of this could be providing name and delivery details for an online purchase, or contact details if you request an appointment with a service provider.
 
B.   Email
  1. Belong will send our members email from time to time with information relating to the Services offered and other email they elect to receive, in addition to customary business communications (order confirmations, etc.). It is our policy to immediately remove any member from any mailing list upon the member's request. All emails will contain clear and obvious instructions for how the member can remove himself or herself from that mailing list.
C.   Membership registration
  1. Our site's registration form requires you to provide us contact information and we may also require demographic information. We may use your contact information from the registration form to send you information about our company and promotional material from some of our affiliated partners. Your contact information is also used to contact you when necessary.
D.   Managing your Personal Information
  1. The Privacy Act gives you the right to access and correct your information. Contact us if you wish to access or update your Personal Information, including changing your email address, password, phone number, etc.
  2. If you wish to close your account and delete any Personal Information you have submitted to us, please contact us to make that request. We consider each request for deletion on a case by case basis taking into account our legal obligations to retain certain information.
E.   Credit and debit card security
  1. We work diligently to protect the security of your information, including bank account, credit and debit card information.
  2. We protect your credit and debit card information during transmission by using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which encrypts your information when transmitted over the Internet. Belong retains only partial card details with complete details stored in a bank authorised third party provider.

F.   Cookies and local storage
  1. Belong uses various technologies, including cookies and local storage, to collect and store information about you when you visit Belong.
  2. Cookies and local storage allow us to store information (including your Personal Information) in a file on the device you use to access Belong. We use cookies and local storage to deliver information and fresh content specific to your interests and to improve the experience of using Belong. Cookies and local storage are widely used.
  3. Belong uses "session" cookies to temporarily store information to help you use Belong. This information is used to deliver the right content to you as you use Belong and avoids unnecessarily asking you to log in. Session cookies expire immediately when you close your browser or are deleted after 30 minutes of no activity on Belong.
  4. Belong also uses "persistent" cookies and local storage to personalise the user experience, to help protect our members and to provide us with research information (such as how often members visit Belong each month). Persistent cookies allow us to track users on Belong and helps us identify users abusing the Belong service. A persistent auto-login cookie is also stored when you select the "remember me" option when logging in. The auto-login cookie is removed if you log out.
  5. We also allow some of our Service Providers to place remarketing cookies on your browser when you view their Service on the Belong website. This allows them to continue to show you advertisements when you visit other sites they advertise on, or to cap the frequency with which you see their advertisements.
G.   Advertising and third party links
  1. Products and services advertised on Belong are not endorsed by Belong.
  2. Some Belong Service Providers may request information directly from you, or link to sites that do so. Belong has no control over its Service Provider’s privacy policies, and you should review such policies prior to submitting any information to them.
  3. Belong contains non-advertising links to a variety of third party sites to enhance the member experience. Belong has no control of either the content or privacy policies of such sites, nor should such links be considered an endorsement of these sites except where otherwise noted.
H.   Other information we collect
  1. We use additional information to do internal research on our users' demographics, interests, and behaviour to better understand and serve you and our Members. This information may include the URL that you just came from (whether this URL is on our site or not), which URL you next go to (whether this URL is on our site or not), what device, operating system and browser you are using, and your IP address. We may also use information from third parties, such as geo-demographic information.
  2. Belong uses information we hold about you to provide you with a more personalised experience, such as suggesting things you might like, and suggesting search terms to you based on your recent searches.
  3. Users who log in have their IP addresses recorded. This information will only be provided to legal authorities in cases of suspected fraud or for law enforcement purposes. This information is stored securely and will not be provided to other members or non-authorised parties.
  4. If you send us personal correspondence, such as emails or letters, or if other users, Service Providers or third parties send us correspondence about your activities or postings on the Site, we may collect such information into a file specific to you.
  5. Customer service phone conversations may be recorded for internal training and quality assurance purposes. This helps us ensure the information we provide members is consistent and accurate. Phone records will be stored securely and will generally be retained for up to six months.
I.   Membership removal
  1. If you wish to have your registration removed from our directory for any reason, you may contact us and request this.
J.   Internet statistics and analytics
  1. Belong uses Google Analytics to better understand the behaviour of visitors to our website, and to improve our website. For more information, view Google Analytics' information on safeguarding your data.
  2. Belong uses Google Analytics Demographics and Interest reporting to give us insight into users behaviour, and to serve you with more relevant content. Information we collect through this reporting service is in aggregate form, and anonymous. You can opt out of Google Analytics Display Advertiser Features here.
K.   Updates to our information practices
  1. From time to time, we make changes to our information practices or alter the functionality of our website. We will publish all changes on our website.
  2. We update this statement from time to time, so we encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on privacy practices at Belong.
  3. If you have any questions about our privacy policies or any other matter, please contact us.