PRIVACY POLICY

Welcome, and thank you for visiting Schwartz Books Pty. Ltd.

We are committed to protecting your privacy through compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”), the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP”) and any related privacy codes, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Please read this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) carefully as it forms part of our Terms and Conditions. This Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose and store your personal information.

As journalism and publishing forms a large component of our business, we may rely on certain exemptions in the Privacy Act with respect to the handling of your personal information, including the exemptions with respect to journalism. In this regard, we will comply with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards. We may also rely on other exemptions in the Privacy Act, including the related bodies corporate and employee records exemptions. Information on the collection and use of Personal Information in the course of journalism can be found at the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards website at: presscouncil.org.au/privacy-principles. To the extent of any inconsistency between this Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act, the Privacy Act prevails.

Please take a few minutes to read this Privacy Policy. By using the Schwartz Sites listed in point 1.2 or participating in our competitions and prize draws, you are consenting to the collection, use, disclosure and storage of your personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Capitalised terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy are given the meaning to those terms in our Terms and Conditions, into which the Privacy Policy is incorporated by reference.

1.      OBJECTIVE

1.1       This Policy will give you an understanding of:

• the types of personal information we collect;
• why we collect, store, use and disclose personal information;
• how we collect and otherwise handle personal information;
• how you can manage your personal information;
• when we disclose your personal information;
• how we deal with data security and third-party links;
• how we deal with data breaches;
• how we administer changes to this Policy;
• our direct marketing policy;
• sending your information overseas;
• assigning and transferring of your information;
• limitation of our liability; and
• how you can contact us.

1.2       The websites located below (collectively, “Sites”), redirected domains, mobile applications (apps) and digital properties made available on those Sites are owned and operated by Schwartz:

• https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/
• https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/

2.  TYPES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT

2.1.      Personal Information

2.1.1    The APP requires us to manage personal information in an open and transparent manner. Personal information when used in this Privacy Policy has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act but it generally means any information that can be used to personally identify you, for example, your name, gender, date of birth, contact details (including phone numbers and email addresses), occupation and possibly financial information, including your credit card, direct debit or PayPal account information. The personal information may be collected through our Sites, over the phone, or otherwise. 

2.1.2    We collect personal information about customers, prospective customers and users of the Sites that is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities. If you do not provide us with the information we request, we may not be able to supply you with our products or services.

2.1.3   Your personal information may be processed for the purposes of operating the Sites, enabling you access to protected parts of the Sites, providing our products and services, and ensuring the security of our Sites.

2.1.4    At the time of collection or as soon as practicable after we collect your personal information we will either notify you of how you may access this Privacy Policy or provide this Privacy Policy to you.

2.1.5    The legal basis for this processing is based on:

• your consent through either your voluntary submission of the personal information or the submission of your personal information by your friend or colleague and agreeing to the terms of this Policy;
• the personal information being necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party;
• the carrying out of pre-contractual measures; and/or
• any other legitimate interests as detailed in this Policy.

2.1.6    You may provide us with your payment information, such as your credit or debit card details in order to purchase an offering on our Sites. We may collect this information when you interact with any payment details or forms on the Sites.

2.1.7    On the Sites you may have the ability to comment or participate on blogs, discussion forums or other parts of the Sites that allow you to post your comments. We may collect this data on our platform when you choose to comment or participate (“Public Data”). You should be aware that any information you provide in this manner may be made broadly available for others. This Public Data includes information such as your profile information, your time zone, and any information you input. You are responsible for what you make public.

2.1.8    We may receive information when you view content on or otherwise interact with our Sites (“Log Data”). We may receive this Log Data automatically. This Log Data includes information such as personal information from your interaction with us and its content, our services and our advertising, including (without limitation) device identifiers, device type, geo-location information, connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Sites, mobile network information, time, date, referring URL, the type of operating system and browser, ad data, IP address, server address, date and time of your visit to our Sites, information of documents you download, pages visited, search terms, cookie information, and standard web log data. The Log Data may be processed for the purposes of operating our Sites, providing our services, ensuring the security of our Sites, maintaining back-ups of our databases, and communicating with you.

2.2.      Cookies and Other Similar Technologies

General

2.2.1    Subject to our obligations under the Privacy Act, we may use cookies and similar technologies like pixels, web beacons and local storage to collect and store personal and non-personal information about how you use our Sites and our offerings.

2.2.2    Cookies are files that store information on the device on which you are using or accessing our Sites. Cookies also retain your details and preferences, so you can easily continue your browsing session upon return to our Sites. If you do not want to activate cookies, you can opt out of receiving them by amending the settings of your internet browser, although you may find that some parts of our Sites will consequently have limited functionality and personalisation if you do so.

2.2.3    We may collect information about your browsing behaviour, such as the number of times you have visited, the date you visited and the amount of time you spend on our Sites. We may also receive anonymised data via cookies about performance and errors that occur while you use our Sites.

2.2.4    We may also log IP addresses contained in Log Data (the electronic addresses of computers connected to the internet) to analyse trends, administer the website, track user movements, and gather broad demographic information.

2.2.5    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 because it does not identify you or anyone else, the APP does not apply and we may use this information for any purpose and by any means whatsoever. The collection of such information, whether by us or by data aggregators, is subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Advertising information

2.2.6    Cookies and other similar technologies help us serve relevant ads to you more effectively. They also help us collect aggregated audit data, research, and performance reporting for advertisers. Pixels enable us to understand and improve the delivery of ads to you, and to know when certain ads have been shown to you. Since your web browser may request advertisements and web beacons directly from ad network servers, these networks can view, edit or set their own cookies, just as if you had requested a web page from their site.

2.2.7    Although we do not use cookies to create a profile of your browsing behaviour on third-party sites, we do use aggregate data from third parties to show you relevant, interest-based advertising. We may track your response to our advertisements, emails and content, determine your ability to receive HTML-based email messages, learn how many users open an email, and allow our service providers to compile aggregated statistics about an email campaign that we are running. This information may be shared, only when anonymised, with third parties to assist them in understanding the performance of advertising in our services.

2.2.8 We engage with Nielsen and Roy Morgan to provide independent audience measurement and audience metrics for some of our websites and apps. You can opt out of third party audience measurement by Nielsen and Roy Morgan on our Sites, please visit:

https://www.nielsen.com/content/corporate/policy/en/cookie-policy.html

http://www.roymorgan.com/digital-privacy

2.2.9  Opting out does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Sites, but, instead, opting out will result in the ads you see not being matched to your interests.

2.2.10  Your mobile operating system (iOS for Apple phones, Android for Android devices, and Windows for Microsoft devices) may let you opt-out from having certain device identifiers used for interest-based advertising. You should refer to the instructions provided by your mobile device’s manufacturer; this information is typically available under the “settings” function of your mobile device.

2.3.    Third Party Analytics Tools

2.3.1  We may use third-party analytics tools to:

• analyse usage trends on our Sites, including the tracking and reporting of Site traffic, ad conversion tracking, traffic analysis and marketing optimisation; and
• collect this data in aggregate form so that it cannot identify any individual.

2.3.2  Third-party analytics tools collect non-personal information such as the web pages you visit, add-ons, and other analytics data that assists us in improving our products and services. These tools might include, but are not limited to, Google Analytics, Google AdWords conversion tracking, Google Tag Manager, or Facebook Ads conversion tracking. Third-party cookies may be placed on your device by our service providers, for example, to help us understand how our products or services are being used. Third-party cookies may also be placed on your device by our business partners to advertise the service to you elsewhere on the internet.

2.3.3  We reserve our rights to modify, add or remove any third-party analytics tools. By using our Sites, you consent to the processing of any non-personal data these tools will collect in the way and for the purposes described above.

3.      WHY WE COLLECT, STORE AND USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

3.1       We collect, store and use your personal information through lawful and fair means, so we can perform our business activities and functions.

3.2       We also hold personal information which we use and/or disclose for purposes other than our primary purposes (“secondary purposes”). You provide your consent to us storing and using your personal information for the following secondary purposes:

• for internal operations such as record keeping, database management, data analytics or training;
• to send you marketing and promotional messages and other information that may be of interest to you, including information sent by, or on behalf of, our business partners;
• to manage, research and develop our products and services;
• to maintain and develop our business systems and infrastructure, including testing and upgrading of these systems;
• to administer competitions, rewards, surveys, or other promotional activities or events sponsored or managed by us or our business partners;
• to communicate with you, including by email; and/or
• to verify your identity, investigate any complaints about or submitted by you, or if we have reason to suspect that you are in breach of any of our terms and conditions.

3.3       We may also use personal information to meet our internal and external audit requirements, information security purposes, and as we otherwise believe to be necessary or appropriate:

• under applicable law, which may include laws outside your country of residence;
• respond to requests from courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, and other public and government authorities, which may include such authorities outside your country of residence; and
• to protect our rights, privacy, safety, property, or those of other persons.

3.4       With your consent, we may collect personal information about you or from your authorised representatives for the purpose of providing you with our services and marketing other services which we consider may be of interest to you or obtaining your feedback. For example, we may send you service-related emails (e.g. updates of Terms and Conditions, news, technical and security notices, and changes and/or updates to features of our offerings and this Privacy Policy).

4. HOW WE COLLECT AND USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

4.1       We generally collect personal information directly from you when you:

• share your information with us on our Sites;
• communicate with us over email, online chat systems, the phone or in person;
• participate in one of our surveys or competitions;
• interact with our Sites and advertising;
• purchase our products or services; and
• use or access our Sites and have set your internet browser to allow us to use cookies to store information from your browser or device.

4.2 We may also collect personal information for the purpose of providing marketing messages in the event you give inferred permission by:

• making your email address or phone number public, such as online or in a directory;
• not stating that you do not wish to receive commercial messages; and
• your phone number or email address is for an individual or office holder,
• provided that the relevant marketing messages relates directly to your role or function.

4.3       Subject to clause 6.2, we may also collect your personal information from third parties, including:

• service providers;
• credit reporting bodies;
• marketing companies;
• referrals who may have referred you to us; and
• organisations with whom we have an agreement to share information for marketing purposes.

4.4       By providing personal information to us, you consent to us collecting, using, disclosing and storing your personal information in accordance with this Policy.

4.5       We will allow our customers to transact with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym wherever that is reasonable and practicable.

4.6       You can choose not to provide us with your personal information. However, this may mean that:

• we will not be able to provide you with our products or services, or be limited in how we can do so;
• we will not be able to interact with you;
• we will not be able to process and open an account for you; and/or
• we will not be able to properly investigate or resolve any complaint you submit.

4.7       We do not disclose personal information to third parties for the purpose of allowing them to send marketing material to you. However, we by providing us with your personal information and data or allowing your colleagues to provide us with your personal information, you expressly consent and allow for us to provide your data to third-party marketing and affiliate companies for the purposes of those organisations providing us with marketing services.

5.      ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

5.1       You may contact us to correct, delete, or update your personal information. We may need to obtain proof of your identity before implementing your request and may refuse to provide you with certain information where permitted or required by law.

5.2       The APP 12.34 permits us to deny you access to your personal information if:

• access would be unlawful or pose a serious and imminent threat to an individual’s life, health or safety, or a serious threat to public health or public safety;
• access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
• the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
• the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings;
• access would reveal the intentions of a party in relation to negotiations or prejudice those negotiations;
• giving access would be unlawful;
• denying access is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order;
• we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been, is being or may be engaged in and giving access would be likely to prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to the matter;
• access may prejudice enforcement activities or a security function; or
• giving access would reveal evaluative information generated within our organisation in connection with a commercially sensitive decision‑making process.

5.3       If we deny you access to your personal information, we will give you reasons for our decision not to provide you with such access to your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

5.4       If you:

• wish to lodge a request to access, delete, and/or correct your personal information; or
• have been refused access to your personal information by us for any reason described in this Policy and you wish to challenge that refusal;
• you may do so by contacting the office of Schwartz’s Privacy Officer as per the details in clause 14.

5.5       There is no application fee for making a request to access your personal information. However, we may charge an administrative fee for the provision of information in certain circumstances such as if you make repeated requests for information or where the information is held by a third-party provider. We provide you with the means to download the information you have shared through our services via our Privacy Officer, available in clause 14.

5.6       Where we offer online account management facilities, customers can use this capability to control aspects of their account, including amending or updating certain personal information.

6.      DISCLOSURE AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

6.1       Except for the purposes provided in this Privacy Policy, we will not disclose any information that is obtained from you to third parties without your express written permission. We may disclose personal information, and you consent to us disclosing your personal information, to the following parties:

• our employees, related entities and employees of those entities;
• our business partners;
• our professional advisers, dealers and agents;
• third parties and contractors who provide services to us, including customer enquiries and support services, manufacturing services, shipping and freight services, debt-recovery functions, information technology service providers, and marketing and advertising services, and Google (for the purposes of utilising the Subscribe with Google feature);
• payment systems operators;
• our sponsors or promoters of any competition which we conduct;
• any third parties authorised by you to receive information held by us; and
• government, regulatory and law enforcement agencies as required, authorised or permitted by law.

6.2       We destroy or permanently de-identify personal information which is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected in accordance with the APP 11.2, unless we are otherwise required or authorised by law to retain the information for a period of time.

6.3       When you provide your personal information to us, you consent to the disclosure of your information outside of Australia (if applicable) and we will take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipient will deal with such personal information in a way that is consistent with Australian privacy law.

7.     DATA SECURITY AND THIRD-PARTY INFORMATION

7.1       We hold your personal information in electronic form in secure databases owned and operated by our third-party service providers. We manage the security of your personal information by using SSL encryption.

7.2       The APP 11.1 requires us to take reasonable steps to protect the personal information from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. While we take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is protected from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by using measures such as firewalls, data encryption, virus detection methods, and password restricted access, security measures over the internet can never be guaranteed. This means that we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event of a breach, we will attend to the required reporting arrangements. We cannot accept responsibility for the misuse, loss or unauthorised access to your personal information where the security of information is not within our control.

7.3       We will not attempt to match de-identified or anonymous data collected through surveys or such online devices as “cookies”, with information identifying an individual, without the consent of the relevant individual.

7.4       Our Sites may contain links to other websites, apps and social media platforms operated by third parties. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained. Unless stated otherwise, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of, or any content on, those linked websites, and have no control over or rights in them. The privacy policies that apply to third-party websites may differ substantially from this Policy, so we encourage you to read those privacy policies before using those websites.

7.5       If you are visiting the Sites from outside Australia, please be aware that you are sending information (including personal information) to Australia where our servers are located. Such information may then be transferred within Australia or back out of Australia to other countries outside of your country of residence, depending on the type of information and how it is stored by us. These countries (including Australia) may not necessarily have data protection laws as comprehensive or protective as those in your country of residence; however, our collection, storage and use of your personal information will at all times continue to be governed by this Privacy Policy.

8.      NOTIFIABLE DATA BREACHES     

8.1       If you reside in Australia, in the event that there is a data breach and we are required to comply with the notification of eligible data breaches provisions in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act or any other subsequent sections or legislation which supersede this Part IIIC, we will take all reasonable steps to contain the suspected or known breach where possible and follow the following process set out in this clause.

8.2       We will take immediate steps to limit any further access or distribution where possible. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that the data breach is likely to result in serious harm to any individuals involved, then we will take all reasonable steps to ensure an assessment is completed within 30 days of the breach or sooner if possible. We will follow the guide published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (if any) in making this assessment.

8.3       If we reasonably determine that the data breach is not likely to result in serious harm to any individuals involved or any remedial action we take is successful in making serious harm no longer likely, then no notification or statement will be made.

8.4       Where, following an assessment and undertaking remedial action (if any), we still have reasonable grounds to believe serious harm is likely, as soon as practicable, we will provide a statement to each of the individuals whose data was breached or who are at risk. The statement will contain details of the breach and recommendations of the steps each individual should take. We will also provide a copy of the statement to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

9.      CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

If and when we amend this Privacy Policy in any way, we will make all reasonable efforts to bring those changes to the attention of our visitors and members. An updated version of our Policy will be maintained on our Sites so that you remain aware of our policies. The updated version will become effective on the date it is posted, which will be listed on the page as the new effective date. All personal information, collected both before and after any changes take effect, will be subject to the terms of the revised Policy (for which you will be taken to have provided consent) unless you indicate otherwise by contacting the office of Schwartz’s Privacy Officer as per the details in clause 14. We encourage you to check our Sites from time to time to view our most current Policy.

10. DIRECT MARKETING

10.1     We may send you direct marketing communications and information about products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, over the phone, via SMS or via email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth). If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. 

10.2     In addition, at any time, you may opt out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us (details provided in clause 14) or by using the opt-out facilities provided (e.g. an unsubscribe link), or by updating your personal details on our website using the link provided on this page (if available). We will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list. 

10.3     If you receive communications from us that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this Policy, or in breach of any law, please contact us using the details provided in clause 14.

11. SENDING YOUR INFORMATION OVERSEAS

11.1     If we send personal information overseas, we will take steps which are both reasonable and practicable to ensure that the overseas recipient handles such information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

11.2     We may disclose your personal information to entities located outside of Australia, including the following:

• our data hosting and cloud-based IT service providers;
• external service providers located in New Zealand, North America, Europe; and/or
• other third parties operating in jurisdictions including New Zealand, North America and Europe.

12.    ASSIGNMENT, CHANGE OF CONTROL AND TRANSFER

All of our rights and obligations under our Privacy Policy are freely assignable by us to any of our affiliates, in connection with a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of assets, or by operation of law or otherwise, and we may transfer your information to any of our affiliates, successor entities, or new owner.

13.    LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

13.1     Your use of the Sites and their content is at your own risk.

13.2     We will take all reasonable steps to keep your personal information secure, but to the maximum extent permitted by law we exclude all liability for the consequences of any unauthorised access to your information. This includes (but is not limited to) loss or damage you or your clients might suffer because of any of the following:

• reliance on the completeness, accuracy, suitability or currency of the Sites (including third-party material and advertisements), irrespective of any verifying measures taken by us, as the material on the Sites is for general information and interest only;
• failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, virus or other harmful component, loss of data, communication line failure, unlawful third-party conduct, or theft, destruction, alteration or unauthorised access to records;
• accessing any sites or servers maintained by other organisations through links on the Sites or any communication from the Sites. Links are provided for the convenience of users of the Sites only and without responsibility for the content or operation of those sites (unless otherwise stated, linked sites and the services are not endorsed by us and your linking to any such site is at your own risk);
• the provision of credit card or other financial information, the failure to complete (or delay in completing) any transaction, or other loss or damage arising from any e-commerce transacted or attempted to be transacted on the Sites (if any); or
• defamatory, threatening, offensive or unlawful conduct of third parties or publication of any materials relating to or constituting such conduct.

13.3     We assume no responsibility for any loss of confidentiality or for the security of any information that you transmit to us electronically. We make no warranties or representations, express or implied, that material on the Sites does not infringe intellectual property rights of any person anywhere in the world.

14. CONTACTING US AND OPTING OUT

14.1     If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, any privacy-related dealings with us or a possible breach of your privacy, or you would like further information about our information management practices, you can contact Schwartz’s Privacy Officer using the following details:

Schwartz Books Pty. Ltd.
22-24 Northumberland Street,
Collingwood, Victoria, 3066
Phone +61 3 9486 0288
Fax +61 3 9011 6106
Email: [email protected]

14.2     Once the Privacy Officer receives a complaint from you, the Privacy Officer will within a reasonable time after receiving the complaint begin investigating the complaint. In investigating the complaint, the officer may use additional resources within our organisation to determine the nature of the complaint. We may contact you during this investigation if necessary. If a breach is found, the Privacy Officer will escalate the matter to management to ensure that the process which caused the breach is remedied. We will also contact you to inform you of the outcome of the investigation within a reasonable time after the conclusion of the same. We will treat your complaint during the investigation period confidentially and aim to resolve your complaint in a timely fashion and a satisfactory manner. 

14.3 You acknowledge and agree that by clicking on the button labelled "SUBMIT", "DOWNLOAD", “ORDER”, "I ACCEPT" or such similar links as may be designated by us to accept this Privacy Policy, you are submitting a legally binding electronic signature and are entering into a legally binding contract. You acknowledge that your electronic submissions constitute your agreement and intent to be bound by this Privacy Policy. Pursuant to any applicable statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws, including without limitation the Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000  (the "E-Sign Acts") or other similar statutes or successor or amended statutes whether in Victoria or other Australian states or territories, you agree to the use of electronic signatures, contracts, orders and other records and to electronic delivery of notices, policies and records of transactions initiated or completed through the site or services offered by us. Further, you waive any rights or requirements under any statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances or other laws in any jurisdiction which require an original signature or delivery or retention of non-electronic records.

© 2021 SCHWARTZ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on June 30, 2025.