Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal information The Dave & Malou Channel (“we”, “us”) collects through this website, how we use it, which other organisations are involved, and the choices you have. We are an Australian history channel, and we have kept our handling of personal information deliberately simple.

What this policy covers

This policy applies to this website and to messages you send us through it. We aim to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and we apply the same standards to every visitor, wherever they are.

What we collect

We collect only what we need to run the site and to respond to you.

• Contact form. Your name, email address, subject and message, plus anything else you choose to include. You must tick a box to confirm you agree to this policy before the form can be sent.
• Searches. Searches are processed to return results and are not linked to you.
• Technical information. Like every website, ours receives your IP address, browser type and the pages you request when your browser connects. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, handles this so that pages can be delivered, abuse can be blocked and faults can be diagnosed. We do not use it to identify you or to build a profile of you.
• Spam checks. The contact form includes a hidden field and a Cloudflare Turnstile check to filter out automated submissions.

There are no visitor accounts or sign-ups. We do not ask for sensitive information such as health, financial or government identification details, and we ask that you do not include any in your message.

How we use it

We use the information you send us to:

• read and reply to your message;
• check and correct our articles when you point out an error;
• consider, with your permission, publishing a memory, photograph or story you have shared; and
• keep the website secure and working properly.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, we do not send marketing emails, and we do not add anyone to a mailing list. We do not share your information except with the service providers that deliver and store your message (see Third parties), or where the law requires it.

Cookies and tracking

Our own pages do not set cookies and do not use analytics, advertising or tracking scripts. Some third-party services described below may set their own cookies if you use them, for example if Facebook’s player loads. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

Memories, photographs and stories you share

Many of our stories are improved by readers who recognise a place, remember a building as it once stood or have an old photograph tucked away. If you share something like that with us:

• we will ask your permission before publishing anything you send, including how you would like to be credited (by name, first name only, or not at all);
• we will not publish your email address or other contact details;
• please only send photographs or documents you have the right to share, and consider the privacy of anyone who appears in or is named in them; and
• if we have published your contribution and you later ask us to change the credit or remove it, we will update or remove it on our website, although we cannot control copies made by others, such as on social media.

Third parties

We use a small number of third-party services to run this website. When these services are used, they may receive your IP address and other technical information such as your browser type, and they handle it under their own privacy policies.

• YouTube. Videos load from YouTube using privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube is operated by Google (Google’s privacy policy (opens in a new window)).
• Facebook. Photos, videos and reels from our Facebook Page appear on some articles. Videos and reels show a still picture first, served from our own website. When you press play, the video plays from our website where possible. If that is not possible, Facebook’s player loads only when you press play, and Facebook may then receive your IP address and set its own cookies (Meta’s privacy policy (opens in a new window)). We retrieve this content from Facebook on our own servers using our Page’s authorisation; no information about you is sent to Facebook when we do.
• Google Fonts. Fonts load from Google Fonts, so your browser requests the font files from Google when a page loads.
• Cloudflare Turnstile. The contact form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to block spam. It checks signals from your browser to tell people from automated programs, and your IP address is passed to Cloudflare for that check.
• Cloudflare (hosting). This website is hosted and delivered by Cloudflare, which processes each request to the site and may keep short-term technical logs for security and fault-finding (Cloudflare’s privacy policy (opens in a new window)).
• Google (email). When you send a message, the contact form sends it to our inbox using Google’s Gmail service. Our inbox is hosted by Google (Gmail) (Google’s privacy policy (opens in a new window)).
• Sharing and AI-assistant links. Article pages have buttons for sharing on Facebook, X, Threads, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Reddit, Bluesky and email, and links to open ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Gemini. Nothing is sent to these services until you click. When you do, the article’s title and web address (and, for the AI-assistant links, a short excerpt) are passed to that service in a new window, and its privacy policy applies. The “Copy” buttons work entirely in your own browser.
• Google Translate. Article pages have a “Translate this page” link. Nothing is sent to Google until you press it. When you do, a new window opens on Google Translate with the article’s web address, and Google handles it under its own privacy policy. Translations are automatic and may contain mistakes.
• Links to other websites. Our articles and footer link to other sites, including our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages. We are not responsible for how those sites handle personal information, so please read their privacy policies.

We can only correct or delete information that we hold ourselves. If you want information removed from one of the services above, you will need to contact that service directly.

Information sent overseas

Several of the services above are based in, or store information in, countries outside Australia, including the United States. When you use them, or when we use them to deliver and store your message, your information may be processed overseas. We choose established providers, but we cannot control their systems, and their own privacy policies apply.

Security and retention

• The contact form sends your message over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, and messages are received in an email account restricted to the people who run this channel.
• We keep messages only as long as needed to respond. We delete them once we have finished dealing with them, and in any case no later than 12 months after our last contact with you, unless we need to keep a record (for example, of a correction we made to an article).
• No online service is completely secure. If a data breach affecting your personal information were likely to cause you serious harm, we would notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by law.

Children

This website is general-interest and is not designed for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us their details, please contact us and we will delete them.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us at any time to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct information that is wrong or out of date;
• delete the information we hold about you; and
• stop using your message, for example by no longer considering your contribution for publication.

To make any of these requests, use the contact page. We may need to confirm that you are who you say you are before we release or change anything. We aim to respond within 30 days, and there is no charge for making a request.

Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please tell us first through the contact page. We will acknowledge your complaint, look into it and let you know the outcome.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au (opens in a new window) or on 1300 363 992. The OAIC generally expects you to raise the matter with us first, and privacy complaints to the OAIC must be made in writing.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example if we add or remove a service. The latest version is always on this page, with its date at the top. If you have any questions about it, please get in touch.