Privacy Information

Townsville City Council knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. Townsville City Council is committed to protecting your privacy. This notice describes our privacy policy.

By visiting Townsville City Council Online, you are accepting the practices described in this Website Privacy & Security Statement.

What Personal Information About Customers Does Townsville City Council Gather?

The information we learn from you helps us continually improve your experience whilst visiting our site. If any aspects of our privacy policy change, we will post changes here on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, and how we use it.

Information You Give Us

We receive and store information you enter on our website or give us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, however by doing this you might not be able to take advantage of many of the features of our site.

We use the information that you provide us for such purposes as responding to your requests, improving both the content and functionality of our site, and most importantly, communicating with you.

Automatic Information

We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your Internet browser accesses the various areas of Townsville City Council Online. A cookie is a small tag of information stored by your Internet browser on your computer. Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can customise your browser not to accept cookies without first notifying you.

Does Townsville City Council Share the Information It Receives?

Information about our community is an important part of our business and as such we do not sell, trade or make available your personal information to others. We share information provided by you only with other business units within Townsville City Council.

Security for Online Payments

Why do I need security when making a payment on the Internet?

As the Internet is essentially a large global network of computers, owned by many different individuals and businesses, there are no definitive regulations, legislation or security mechanisms in place to protect personal information sent via the Internet from misuse by third parties.

How Secure Is Information About Me?

When you choose to make an online payment here at Townsville City Council Online, we will connect you to a secure web server, and then directly to the CommSecure. Townsville City Council does not store, view or retain any of your credit card details.

We use 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to secure your credit card details whilst being transmitted over the Internet. SSL protects the information you submit to us by scrambling it. This makes it extremely difficult for third parties to intercept the information which in turn, greatly reduces the chance of your credit card details being misused.

How do I know if I am in a secure site?

A "secure" area is recognised by the closed padlock or an unbroken key coming into view in the bottom status bar in your web browser. You can also check to make sure that a valid site certificate is being used. A site certificate is used to validate a site's authority to use SSL and authenticates the website's state of security. This enables you to check the site's validity yourself. You can do this by double clicking on either the closed padlock or the unbroken key.

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.1 please be aware that there is a known bug which causes Internet Explorer to return the error message "This certificate has failed to verify for all its intended purposes". Clicking on the Certificate Path tab in the dialog box will confirm that the certificate status is OK.

Conditions of Use, Notices and Revisions

If you choose to visit Townsville City Council's website, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our legal Information, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of the law of the state of Queensland. If you have any concern about privacy whilst visiting Townsville City Council Online, please send a thorough description to iTComm Services, Townsville City Council, 103 Walker St, Townsville 4810, and we will try to resolve it. Please check our website frequently to view recent changes.