We consider our relationship with our customers as one of our most valuable assets. We are committed to protecting your privacy and realize that our success depends upon our ability to maintain your trust. As from 21 December 2001, we are bound by new sections of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988, which sets out a number of principles concerning the protection of your personal information. Below is information about Steam Engine’s undertaking to protect your privacy.

How we collect personal information

Steam Engine collects personal information in a number of ways, including:

directly from you, such as when you enter your personal details on our website
when you provide information by phone or in documents such as an application form from third parties such as our related companies
credit reporting agencies or your representatives
from publicly available sources of information
from our own records of how you use Steam Engine services
when legally required to do so

How we use your personal information

Your personal information may be used to

identify you and to assist you to use to our website services more easily
provide the services you require
administer and manage those services
gain an understanding of your information and communication needs in order for us to provide you with better, more personalised services that are tailored to your needs
inform you of ways the services provided to you could be improved
conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness and for fraud
research and develop our services
maintain and develop our business systems and infrastructure, including testing and upgrading of these systems

Other information

Our website records other information as well. We may collect certain non-personal information to optimise our goods and services including our Web pages for your computer (e.g., the identity of your Internet browser, the type of operating system you use, your IP address and the domain name of your Internet service provider). We may use such non-personal information for internal purposes, including but not limited to, improving the content of our sites.

Steam Engine sometimes uses “cookies”. Cookies are pieces of information that a web site can transfer to an individual’s computer hard drive for record keeping. Cookies can make using our website easier by storing information about your preferences. This will enable you to take full advantage of the features of our site. The use of cookies is an industry standard and you’ll find most major website use them. Most Internet browsers are pre-set to accept cookies. If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used.

Steam Engine may use personally identifiable information in aggregate form to improve our operations, including our Web sites, and make them more responsive to the needs of our customers. This statistical compilation and analysis of information may also be used by Steam Engine or provided to others as a summary report for marketing, advertising or research purposes.

When we disclose your personal information

For the purposes set out above we may disclose your personal information to organisations outside Steam Engine. Where appropriate, these disclosures are subject to privacy and confidentiality protections. The organisations to which we usually disclose information include:

your representatives (e.g. your authorised representatives or legal advisers) or others at your request
credit-reporting and fraud-checking agencies
credit providers for credit related purposes such as creditworthiness, credit rating, credit provision and financing
our professional advisers, including our accountants, auditors and lawyers
government and regulatory authorities and other organisations, as required or authorised by law
organisations involved in:
a transfer/sale of all or part of our assets or business (including accounts and trade receivables) and managing our corporate risk and funding functions (e.g. securitisation)
other telecommunication and information service providers and our related companies

Help us to ensure we hold accurate information

Steam Engine takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, the accuracy of the information we hold depends to a large extent on the information you provide. That’s why we recommend you keep us up to date with changes in your details. If you are a registered user of our site then you will be able to easily edit or delete the personal information you provide to us on our website, using your username and password. If you wish to access or modify personal information which you have provided via our website, but cannot access that information at our website, please send an email using the Contact Us page.

Security of your information

While Steam Engine will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is stored securely, unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We use a variety of physical and electronic security measures, including restricting physical access to our offices and firewalls and secure databases to keep personal information secure from misuse, loss or unauthorised use or disclosure.

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any username and passwords and any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are using the Internet and our website.

Public Information

Any information posted on bulletin boards and/or communicated in chat areas becomes public information. While Steam Engine strives to protect and respect your privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose in a chat room or bulletin board.