Tracking and Targeting Policy

In this policy, ACM, us, we or our means Rural Press Pty Ltd (ACN 000 010 382) and its Related Bodies Corporate* (as that term is defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)), partnerships and joint venture entities.

This Tracking and Targeting Policy is incorporated into our Privacy Policy.

ACM collects data about your browsing activity on our network. We may also use non-personal information that we collect about you on our network to identify you on third party websites where we have an arrangement in place to serve ads on those third party websites. We may also collect anonymous internet usage data from third parties. One of the reasons we collect usage data is to display targeted advertisements or content on our network and also on third party websites. For that purpose, usage data is collected and assigned to one or more pre-defined categories (for example “holiday seekers”). If this infers a particular interest, a cookie is placed in your web browser which may determine the type of targeted advertising or content that you receive. We target advertisements and content in order to improve your user experience – so that you are served advertisements and content that we believe may be more relevant or useful to you.

To create consumer profiles, we also collate data from other sources across our network including memberships, surveys and competitions. We will only use this data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and other applicable laws.

Advertisements or content may also be “targeted” to users based on:

  • the type of content displayed on a given web page;

  • the geographical location of a user (i.e., identified by an IP address);

  • specific searches undertaken by a user; or

  • the type of customer (e.g., member versus subscriber).

Other reasons we may collect anonymous usage data include:

  • to limit the number of times users are served certain ads;

  • to monitor the performance of advertising campaigns;

  • to audit, research, and analyse usage in order to maintain and improve our services, and to develop new services;

  • to ensure that our ad-serving technologies function properly; and

  • to provide you with recommendations, based on your usage patterns.

We will not target advertisements based on the following market segments:

  • racial or ethnic origin; or

  • political opinions; or

  • membership of a political association; or

  • religious beliefs or affiliations; or

  • philosophical beliefs; or

  • membership of a professional or trade association; or

  • membership of a trade union; or

  • sexual preferences or practices; or

  • criminal record; or

  • health information; or

  • genetic or biometric information that is not otherwise health information.

If we ever seek to target advertisements based on the above market segments, we will first obtain your express consent.

We will not create categories designed to target children under the age of 15 years (however, this does not prevent us from marketing children’s products to an adult audience).

Cookies

In some cases we may also collect information through the use of cookies and other tracking devices. When you access our website, we may send a “cookie” (which is a small summary file containing a unique ID number) to your computer. This enables us to recognise your computer and greet you each time you visit our website, without bothering you with a request to register or log-in. It also helps us keep track of products or services you view, so that we can send you news about those products or services. We also use cookies to measure traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our websites have been visited, and to measure transaction patterns in the aggregate. We use this to research our users’ habits so that we can improve our online products and services. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser so that your computer does not accept them. We may also log IP addresses (the electronic addresses of computers connected to the internet) to analyse trends, administer the website, track user movements, and gather broad demographic information.

We may also collect anonymous data (which is not personal information) relating to your activity on our websites (including IP addresses) via cookies, or we may collect information from you in response to a survey. We generally use this information to report statistics, analyse trends, administer our services, diagnose problems and target and improve the quality of our products and services. To the extent this information does not constitute personal information, the APPs do not apply and we may use this information for any purpose and by any means whatsoever.

LiveRamp

In addition to cookies and other tracking devices, ACM uses LiveRamp’s ATS on its websites to facilitate targeted advertising (including by third parties).

LiveRamp’s ATS functions as follows: when you enter your username or email address on an ACM website, LiveRamp will (on that website) automatically generate a pseudonymised digital fingerprint (a LiveRamp ID) for you, that is then transferred (without any personal information) to LiveRamp for the purpose of targeted advertising across the LiveRamp ecosystem, using the profile developed for each LiveRamp ID.

ATS provides a privacy-centric and transparent solution for people-based advertising. ATS enhances addressability for publishers while providing visibility and control for individuals. ATS allows publishers to match user data with a LiveRamp ID in real-time, enabling people-based advertising on authenticated, cookieless inventory across the internet. Click here to learn more about LiveRamp. If you’d like to opt out, please click here.

Third party advertisers purchase advertising products from us that enable them to target particular types of users of our network, for advertisements served both on our network and also on third party websites.

We also permit advertisers to embed their own cookies in advertisements and we allow other third parties to use cookies and other tracking technologies on our websites. Generally, advertisers will embed cookies in advertisements to monitor the performance of their advertising campaign, but they may also collect anonymous usage data relating to browsing activity on our network. We do not, however, permit advertisers to use any usage data obtained from our network to target advertisements or content to users off our network. We encourage advertisers to have a privacy policy that outlines their data collection activities and usage. Please refer to such third party privacy policies for more information.

We will only provide personal information to an advertiser in accordance with our Privacy Policy or otherwise with your consent. To the extent that user data does not constitute personal information, we are entitled to deal with that information in any manner we see fit.

The Australian Digital Advertising Alliance (ADAA) has also developed an information website (Website) to educate consumers about third party online behavioural advertising (Third Party OBA). The Website answers frequently asked questions, explains how the technology works, and allows users to manage their online advertising preferences.

We adhere to industry “best practice” for the storage of anonymous usage data. Security firewall, data encryption, and authorisation access are used to safeguard data held by us.

We only store usage data for a reasonable period following the date of collection, or longer as required by law. You have the right to opt-out of Third Party OBA on our network. To opt out, go to Your Online Choices and follow the simple “one click” process.

Opting-out means that the display advertising you see on our network may not be tailored to your interests or preferences on the web browser you are using. Anonymous usage data may, however, continue to be collected by us for other purposes (including those outlined above).

Our websites may feature Roy Morgan proprietary measurement software, which will allow you to contribute to market research, like Digital Content Ratings. To learn more about the information that Roy Morgan software may collect and your choices with regard to it, please see the Roy Morgan Privacy Policy at https://www.roymorgan.com/privacy-policy.

You can also manage cookies in your web browser privacy settings. See Your Online Choices for more information.

For more information regarding how we treat personal information and, in some cases, non-personal information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

For more information about this policy, or our tracking and targeting practices, or if you would like to make a complaint to us in connection with this policy, please send an email to privacy@austcommunitymedia.com.au. If you would like to make a complaint in connection with Third Party OBA, you can also go to Your Online Choices.