This Privacy Policy sets out our commitment to protecting the privacy of personal information provided to us, or otherwise collected by us, offline or online, including through our website (Site). In this Privacy Policy we, us or our means Furst Media ABN 22 111 248 045.

It is our policy to respect the privacy of the people who use this site. Therefore, we will not disclose to any unauthorized third party a user’s name or contact information. We will also not monitor, edit or disclose the contents of a user’s information unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on us; (2) protect and defend our rights or property; (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users or the public; (4) to prevent or stop any activity we may consider to be, or to pose a risk of being, illegal, unethical, inappropriate or legally actionable; or (5) fix or debug problems with our servers/software/service.

When you register to become a member of the site and in the course of using the site, you may voluntarily submit personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you and administer your account. This personal information may include, but is not limited to, your name, phone number and e-mail address. We may also collect personal Information from you if you choose to opt-in to participate in surveys, contests or competitions. When you register with the site, you create your own profile. By providing personal information to us, you consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You don’t have to provide personal information to us, however it may affect your ability to use the Site.

Over here at Beat Magazine, we have been offering free print and online content to our readers for over 30 years – working hard to present great stories for our growing audience. Over that time, we have worked with numerous advertisers and brands who believe in our product, and their sponsorship has helped us to build an amazing team of collaborators and creators.

Our editorial decisions are made with the audience in mind – as well as the strong Beat brand presence our readers have come to know and love. While traditional advertising is clear to the reader, online content sponsorships can be more difficult to spot. This is why we have a policy to disclose our paid-for featured editorial content on the website, noted by a disclosure on the article itself, noting ‘In partnership with [brand]’.

We don’t work with just anyone to create our content; if we have partnered with a brand, it’s because we truly believe that you, the readers, will benefit from knowing more about what they do. If you have any questions or feedback about our editorial or privacy policy, please contact us using the details provided on our ‘Contact’ page in this Site.

Editorial staff employed in the production of content for Furst Media print and digital titles must agree to be bound by the following set of editorial guidelines. These guidelines apply equally across both our print and digital publications, as we reserve the right to share content that is published on our platforms across both print and digital at our discretion.

Editors, subeditors and assistant editors agree to uphold these guidelines in the production of written, photographic, audio and video content for the purpose of informing the public in matters of civic interest.

1. Commitment to accuracy
   • Editors will ensure that content produced with the aim of informing the public about matters of civic interest are accurate and not misleading. In instances of such content appearing in a digital environment, hyperlinks must be included directing readers to a minimum of one third-party source verifying the subject matter.
   • If content of civic interest is demonstrated to be inaccurate or misleading, appropriate remedial action must be taken.
2. Commitment to fairness
   • Editors will ensure that any content depicted as factual is fairly portrayed, and that opinionated content is formed using factual basis.
   • If content of civic interest relates adversely to an individual or organisation, fair opportunity will be given to said individual or organisation to contribute to initial or subsequent content in addressing purported inaccuracies.
3. Commitment to privacy
   • Editors will ensure that they or their assigns will not encroach on the reasonable expectation of privacy of any individual.
4. Commitment to safety
   • Editors will avoid publishing content likely to pose a threat to public safety, or inflict harm to an individual or organisation.
5. Commitment to integrity
   • Editors will avoid publishing content that has been obtained via illegal or unethical means.
6. Commitment to transparency
   • Editors will ensure that potential conflicts of interest as they may relate to content informing the public in matters of civic interest are adequately disclosed.

Personal Information is used for the following purposes: (i) to provide and improve our services, features and content; (ii) to administer your use of our services and your account; (iii) to enable users to enjoy and easily navigate the Site; (iv) to better understand your needs and interests; (v) to fulfill requests you may make; (vi) to personalize your experience; (vii) to provide service announcements; and (viii) to provide you with further information and offers from us or third parties that we believe you may find useful or interesting, including newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information on related services. If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to receive such communications, please follow the unsubscribe instructions provided in any of the communications. Further, you may easily adjust your privacy and e-mail settings via your account settings at any time.

We also use the services of third-party advertising companies and advertising networks to serve ads to you on our behalf when you visit the Site.  These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Members: in addition to your username, any comments or submissions that you post to the Site will be publicly available. You post and share your personal information and content on the Site at your own risk. While we go to great lengths to create a safe and enjoyable experience on the Site, we cannot control the actions of other users with whom you may choose to share your content and/or profile information. In addition, we cannot anticipate other users’ ability to circumvent privacy settings. You understand that, even after removal of your personal information and content from the Site, copies of your information may remain viewable in cached or archived Web pages or on the local computers of users who may have downloaded or stored your information.

Even with all the appropriate precautions we take to protect your information, we recommend you refrain from sending private information or personal information by e-mail, chat, or other messaging services.

Aggregate information and non-identifying information: we may share aggregated information that includes non-identifying information and log data with third parties for industry analysis, demographic profiling, and to deliver targeted advertising about other products and services.

Service providers: we may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our services, to provide the services on our behalf, to perform services related to administration of the Site (including, without limitation, maintenance, hosting and database management services, web analytics and administration). These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose. This may include parties that store data outside of Australia

Our Site may contain links to third parties. We don’t guarantee website links or policy of authorised third parties. We may use cookies on our Site. Cookies are small text files, or bits of information left on your computer by websites you have visited, which let them ‘remember’ things about you. If and when you choose to provide our Site with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.

All members may review, update, correct or delete the personal information in their registration profile by logging into their account and changing the “user preferences” associated with their account. If you completely delete all such information, your account may be deactivated. We may retain an archived copy of your records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.

All Furst Media editors agree to be bound by the following complaint handling guidelines and processes for any complaints made by members of the public surrounding published content.

1. Any complaint made about content published should be promptly acknowledged.
2. The complaint will be measured against Furst Media’s editorial guidelines and its merit assessed.
3. If the content is considered to be in violation of Furst Media’s editorial guidelines the content to be amended to fit within the editorial guidelines. If the content cannot be amended suitably then it should be removed.
4. Complainant to be notified of the outcome and asked for further feedback.

If you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us using the details listed on the ‘Contact’ page of our Site and provide us with full details of the complaint.