Privacy Policy.

01About This Privacy Policy

Dear Humanity is a participatory cultural publishing project through which individuals may be invited to contribute a Page to Dear Humanity: Volume I.

Volume I is intended to contain up to 1,000,000 participant Pages.

The operation of Dear Humanity involves collecting and handling information about participants, invitees, visitors to the website and other people who interact with the Service.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we collect it, why we collect it, how we use it, how it may be disclosed, how long it may be retained, how information may eventually become public and the rights and choices that may be available to individuals.

02Information We May Collect

We may collect personal information and other information about you when you interact with Dear Humanity.

The information collected depends on how you use Dear Humanity and may include information you provide directly, information supplied by another participant, information generated through your use of the Service and information received from service providers.

03Account Information

When you create or maintain an account, we may collect information including:

• first name
• last name
• date of birth
• profession
• email address
• telephone number
• password or authentication credentials
• account identifiers
• account status
• account creation date
• account activity
• other information you choose to provide.

Passwords may be handled through authentication systems and are not intended to be stored in readable form.

04Participant Page Information

When you create or interact with a Page, we may collect and store information including:

• your Page image
• written messages
• Page text
• drafts
• saved versions
• replacement images
• replacement text
• Page status
• Page number
• internal Page identifiers
• timestamps
• sealing information
• publication information
• image positioning
• cropping or formatting information
• other material associated with your Page.

Content may be stored before your Page is sealed.

Earlier drafts or replaced versions may also be retained where reasonably necessary for operation, security, moderation, legal compliance, rights management, record keeping, backup, dispute resolution or preservation purposes.

05Participant Content

We may collect any information or content you submit, upload, enter, save, send or otherwise provide through Dear Humanity.

This may include:

• photographs
• images
• artwork
• illustrations
• written messages
• Page submissions
• drafts
• invitation messages
• descriptions
• responses
• correspondence
• support requests
• feedback
• attachments
• other content.

Participant Content may contain personal information relating to you or another person.

Your rights and our rights in relation to Participant Content are also governed by the Dear Humanity Terms of Participation and Use.

06Information About Invitees

When a participant chooses another person and creates an invitation, we may collect information about the invitee before that person has created an account or otherwise interacted directly with Dear Humanity.

This may include:

• first name
• last name
• a personal message written by the inviter
• identity of the inviter
• invitation identifiers
• invitation creation time
• invitation expiry time
• invitation status
• whether an invitation is accepted, declined, cancelled or expires
• acceptance information
• invitation history.

Participants creating invitations are responsible for ensuring they are authorised to provide another person's information for the purpose of creating and sharing an invitation.

07Invitation Relationships

Dear Humanity may record the relationship through which a participant enters Volume I.

This may include information about:

• who invited whom
• which invitation was accepted
• when the invitation was accepted
• the participant's permanent invitation relationship
• participant ancestry
• participant descendants
• Branch relationships
• generation depth
• invitation pathways
• associated account identifiers
• associated Page identifiers.

These relationships may form part of the historical provenance and permanent structure of Volume I.

08Your Branch

Dear Humanity may maintain information about a participant's Branch.

A Branch may include participants who ultimately joined Volume I through choices made by that participant and subsequent generations of participants.

Information may include:

• direct participants
• downstream participants
• descendant counts
• generation counts
• relationship paths
• Branch size
• Branch depth
• related historical data.

Some Branch information may be presented to participants during the sealed period.

Additional information may be displayed or published after Volume I opens, subject to applicable law and Dear Humanity's publication settings.

09Payment Information

Payments may be processed by third-party payment providers.

We may receive information associated with transactions including:

• payment status
• amount
• currency
• transaction identifier
• transaction date and time
• payment provider
• limited payment method information
• billing country or region where provided
• refund information
• chargeback information
• dispute information
• fraud or risk information.

We do not necessarily receive or store complete payment card numbers.

Payment providers may independently collect and process payment information under their own privacy policies and terms.

10Technical and Device Information

When you access or use Dear Humanity, we or our service providers may automatically collect information including:

• IP address
• browser type
• browser version
• device type
• operating system
• device identifiers
• language
• approximate location derived from an IP address
• access times
• session information
• pages viewed
• features used
• referring URLs
• login activity
• authentication events
• error data
• security events
• network information
• other technical information.

11Cookies and Similar Technologies

Dear Humanity and its service providers may use cookies, local storage, pixels, tags and similar technologies.

These technologies may be used to:

• operate the Service
• keep you signed in
• remember preferences
• provide account functionality
• protect accounts
• detect fraud
• maintain security
• measure performance
• understand use of Dear Humanity
• diagnose problems
• improve functionality
• support analytics.

Where required by applicable law, additional choices or consent mechanisms may be provided for non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

12Communications

If you communicate with Dear Humanity, we may collect:

• your name
• email address
• telephone number
• contents of the communication
• attachments
• support history
• timestamps
• other information associated with the communication.

Communications may be retained for customer support, safety, security, legal, operational, training and record-keeping purposes.

13How We Collect Information

We may collect information:

• directly from you
• when you create an account
• when you accept an invitation
• when you create a Page
• when you enter or save a draft
• when you upload an image
• when you seal a Page
• when you make a payment
• when you create an invitation
• from another participant who creates an invitation for you
• automatically through your use of Dear Humanity
• from payment providers
• from authentication providers
• from fraud-prevention providers
• from security providers
• from analytics providers
• from service providers acting on our behalf
• from communications with you
• where lawful, from publicly available sources or other third parties.

14Why We Collect Information

We may collect, use and process information for purposes including:

• establishing participant accounts
• administering accounts
• authenticating users
• verifying eligibility
• confirming age requirements
• creating Pages
• storing drafts
• storing images
• maintaining Page content
• sealing Pages
• allocating Page numbers
• processing transactions
• managing invitations
• maintaining invitation relationships
• maintaining Branch information
• maintaining participant ancestry
• preserving historical provenance
• operating participant features
• communicating with participants
• providing support
• preventing duplicate participation
• detecting fraud
• preventing abuse
• protecting accounts
• protecting the Service
• investigating security incidents
• moderating content
• responding to complaints
• complying with legal obligations
• enforcing our Terms
• resolving disputes
• maintaining backups
• preserving Volume I
• publishing Volume I
• operating digital and physical versions of Volume I
• developing products, services and experiences
• analysing use of the Service
• improving functionality
• understanding Service performance
• conducting research and statistical analysis
• protecting our rights
• protecting the rights of participants and third parties
• carrying out other purposes reasonably connected with Dear Humanity.

15Publication of Participant Information

Dear Humanity is fundamentally intended to result in publication.

Participants should understand that some information associated with participation and a Page is intended eventually to become publicly available.

When Volume I opens or is otherwise published, public information may include:

• your Page
• your submitted Page image
• your written contribution
• your Page number
• your name
• permitted participant information
• information associated with your participation
• invitation relationships where applicable
• historical provenance information where applicable
• other information forming part of the published Dear Humanity experience.

The exact information displayed publicly may depend on Dear Humanity's publication format, applicable law, participant settings where provided, safety considerations and publication decisions.

Passwords, full payment credentials and other information identified as private account information will not become public merely because Volume I opens.

16Sealed Pages

Before Volume I opens, Dear Humanity intends to keep sealed Pages unavailable for ordinary public viewing.

"Sealed" does not mean that information is technically inaccessible to Dear Humanity or all third parties.

Authorised access may occur where reasonably necessary for:

• hosting
• storage
• backups
• security
• fraud prevention
• moderation
• technical support
• legal compliance
• investigating complaints
• enforcing agreements
• preserving Volume I
• operating Dear Humanity.

17Information After Publication

Once information becomes publicly available through Dear Humanity, third parties may independently:

• photograph it
• screenshot it
• copy it
• quote it
• archive it
• index it
• reproduce it
• analyse it
• discuss it
• publish commentary about it
• share it
• republish it.

Dear Humanity cannot guarantee that information made public can subsequently be removed from every third-party service, search engine, archive, database or record.

18Use of Participant Content

Participant Content may be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Participation and Use.

Depending on the circumstances and rights granted under the Terms, Participant Content may be:

• stored
• processed
• moderated
• reformatted
• reproduced
• published
• displayed
• distributed
• archived
• preserved
• licensed
• commercialised
• incorporated into other works
• otherwise used.

The Terms of Participation and Use govern the intellectual property rights and licences granted by participants in relation to Participant Content.

19Communications From Dear Humanity

We may communicate with you about:

• your account
• your Page
• your invitation
• invitations you create
• invitation status
• your Branch
• security matters
• transaction information
• important Service notices
• legal or policy changes
• Volume I
• completion of Volume I
• the opening of Volume I
• Dear Humanity products
• new services or experiences
• publications
• events
• other relevant Dear Humanity matters.

Where required by law, promotional or marketing communications will contain an appropriate unsubscribe or opt-out method.

You may continue to receive transactional, operational, security and legally required communications where necessary.

20Legal Operator

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, Dear Humanity is operated by Oakley Equity Holdings Pty Ltd, ABN 39 691 699 11, trading and operating the Service under the Dear Humanity brand.

References in this Privacy Policy to "Dear Humanity", "we", "us" or "our" refer to the operator of the Service in that capacity.

21Service Providers

We may disclose or provide access to information to service providers, contractors and professional advisers who assist us in operating Dear Humanity.

These may include providers of:

• cloud hosting
• databases
• storage
• authentication
• email
• communications
• payment processing
• fraud prevention
• cybersecurity
• analytics
• content delivery
• customer support
• software development
• technical services
• content moderation
• legal services
• accounting
• auditing
• insurance
• other operational services.

Service providers may process information on our behalf or, in some circumstances, independently under their own legal obligations.

22Payment Providers

Third-party payment providers may collect and process information necessary to process transactions.

Payment providers may also process information for purposes including:

• fraud prevention
• identity verification
• transaction monitoring
• security
• regulatory compliance
• dispute resolution
• refunds
• chargebacks
• risk management.

Their handling of information may also be governed by their own privacy policies and legal obligations.

23Publishers, Licensees and Commercial Partners

Consistent with the Terms of Participation and Use and applicable law, we may provide or make information or Participant Content available to parties involved in publishing, distributing, producing, displaying, licensing, preserving or commercialising Dear Humanity.

These parties may include:

• publishers
• printers
• distributors
• production companies
• broadcasters
• streaming platforms
• film and television producers
• museums
• galleries
• exhibition operators
• archives
• libraries
• educational institutions
• manufacturers
• commercial partners
• sponsors
• licensees
• other parties involved in Dear Humanity products, publications, media or experiences.

This may include information that has become public or information reasonably necessary for the relevant activity.

24Legal Disclosures

We may collect, use, retain or disclose information where reasonably necessary to:

• comply with applicable law
• respond to court orders
• comply with regulatory obligations
• respond to lawful governmental requests
• respond to legal process
• establish legal rights
• exercise legal rights
• defend legal claims
• enforce the Terms of Participation and Use
• investigate unlawful activity
• prevent fraud
• respond to security incidents
• protect Dear Humanity
• protect participants
• protect third parties
• comply with lawful reporting obligations.

25Safety and Security

We may disclose or otherwise use information where reasonably necessary to address:

• credible threats
• serious safety concerns
• fraud
• abuse
• unlawful activity
• cyber incidents
• security vulnerabilities
• intellectual property infringement
• impersonation
• risks to Dear Humanity, participants or third parties.

26Corporate Transactions

Information may be disclosed, transferred or otherwise handled in connection with an actual or proposed:

• merger
• acquisition
• investment
• financing
• restructuring
• reorganisation
• sale of shares
• sale of assets
• sale of business
• insolvency
• administration
• similar corporate transaction.

Information may be disclosed to potential or actual purchasers, investors, lenders, financiers, advisers and other relevant parties where reasonably necessary and subject to applicable law.

27International Data Handling

Dear Humanity may use infrastructure, systems, contractors and service providers located outside Australia.

Information may therefore be stored, processed, transferred to or accessed from countries other than Australia and the country in which you are located.

Privacy and data protection laws may differ between jurisdictions.

Where required by applicable law, Dear Humanity will take reasonable steps concerning overseas handling or disclosure of personal information.

28Data Storage

Information may be stored in:

• cloud infrastructure
• databases
• authentication systems
• content storage systems
• communications systems
• backup systems
• security systems
• fraud-prevention systems
• archival systems.

Information may exist in more than one system or copy where reasonably necessary for redundancy, backups, security, disaster recovery, fraud prevention, legal compliance and preservation.

29Security

Dear Humanity takes reasonable technical, organisational and administrative measures intended to protect information against:

• unauthorised access
• misuse
• interference
• loss
• alteration
• unauthorised disclosure
• destruction.

Security measures may include:

• authentication controls
• restricted access
• encryption where appropriate
• secure infrastructure
• monitoring
• logging
• backups
• security testing
• internal access controls.

No method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Dear Humanity does not guarantee absolute security.

30Data Breaches

If Dear Humanity becomes aware of a suspected data breach, we may investigate the incident and take reasonable steps to contain, assess and remediate it.

Where required by applicable law, affected individuals and relevant authorities may be notified.

31Retention of Information

We may retain information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise lawfully processed.

Reasons for retaining information may include:

• operating Dear Humanity
• administering accounts
• maintaining Pages
• maintaining sealed Pages
• preserving Volume I
• maintaining invitation relationships
• maintaining participant ancestry
• preserving Branch information
• preserving historical provenance
• rights management
• legal compliance
• taxation or accounting requirements
• dispute resolution
• fraud prevention
• security
• backups
• enforcement of agreements
• establishing legal rights
• defending legal claims
• maintaining historical or archival records.

Different categories of information may be retained for different periods.

32Long-Term and Permanent Records

Certain information may be retained for an extended period or permanently where reasonably necessary to preserve the integrity, history, provenance or publication structure of Dear Humanity.

This may include:

• sealed Pages
• Page numbers
• Page publication information
• participant relationships
• accepted invitation relationships
• invitation ancestry
• participant tree information
• Branch relationships
• sealing records
• publication records
• records of rights granted in Participant Content
• historical provenance.

Dear Humanity is intended to create a long-term cultural record, and some information may therefore be preserved for substantially longer than information associated with an ordinary online service.

33Account Closure

You may request closure of your Dear Humanity account.

Closing an account does not necessarily result in deletion of all information relating to you.

Information may continue to be retained where reasonably necessary or permitted by law for purposes including:

• maintaining a sealed Page
• maintaining a published Page
• preserving Volume I
• preserving historical provenance
• maintaining invitation relationships
• maintaining Branch relationships
• maintaining records of rights granted to Dear Humanity
• legal compliance
• fraud prevention
• security
• resolving disputes
• establishing or defending claims
• backups
• archival purposes.

Rights granted in Participant Content are governed by the Terms of Participation and Use.

34Deletion Requests

Where applicable law gives you a right to request deletion or erasure of personal information, you may submit such a request.

Any deletion or erasure right is subject to applicable legal exceptions and other lawful grounds for retaining information.

We may retain information where permitted or required for:

• legal compliance
• exercise or defence of legal claims
• fraud prevention
• security
• published materials
• preservation of contractual rights
• historical integrity
• archival purposes
• record keeping
• other lawful purposes.

Deletion from active systems may not immediately remove information from backups or archival systems.

35Access to Personal Information

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to personal information we hold about you.

We may require reasonable verification of your identity before providing access.

Access may be limited, redacted or refused where permitted or required by law, including where disclosure would unreasonably affect another person's privacy or reveal information that cannot lawfully be disclosed.

36Correction of Personal Information

You may request correction of personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading where applicable law provides that right.

Some information may be editable directly through your account.

A right to correct personal information does not necessarily provide a right to rewrite, replace or withdraw a sealed Page.

The status and permanence of sealed Pages are governed by the Terms of Participation and Use and applicable law.

37Verifying Privacy Requests

Before responding to a request concerning access, correction, deletion or other privacy rights, Dear Humanity may take reasonable steps to confirm the identity and authority of the person making the request.

This helps protect information from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or deletion.

38Children

Participation in Volume I is restricted to individuals aged 18 years or older.

Dear Humanity is not intended to permit individuals under 18 to create participant Pages.

If we become aware that an account has been created in breach of the age requirement, we may investigate and take appropriate action.

Participant Content may depict a person under 18 where the participant has all permissions and rights legally required and the content otherwise complies with the Terms of Participation and Use and applicable law.

39Information About Other People

You may provide information concerning another person when:

• creating an invitation
• uploading an image
• writing Participant Content
• communicating with Dear Humanity
• otherwise using the Service.

You are responsible for ensuring you are authorised to provide that information and that your use of it complies with applicable law.

You must not use Dear Humanity to unlawfully disclose another person's personal, confidential or sensitive information.

40Sensitive Information

Dear Humanity does not generally require participants to provide sensitive information as part of ordinary account creation.

However, Participant Content may voluntarily reveal sensitive or deeply personal information.

You should carefully consider what you include in your Page because the purpose of Dear Humanity is eventual publication.

Where sensitive information is collected or handled, Dear Humanity will handle it in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

41Automated Systems and Fraud Prevention

Dear Humanity may use automated or semi-automated systems to assist with:

• detecting duplicate participation
• identifying suspicious activity
• protecting accounts
• detecting fraud
• maintaining security
• identifying technical abuse
• identifying prohibited content
• protecting the integrity of Volume I.

Signals may include account information, technical information, transaction information, device information, IP information and behavioural indicators.

Automated signals will not necessarily result in permanent action without additional review where review is reasonably appropriate.

42Analytics and Aggregated Information

We may create aggregated, statistical, anonymised or de-identified information from information associated with use of Dear Humanity.

This information may be used for purposes including:

• understanding participation
• analysing growth
• measuring geographic distribution
• analysing invitation patterns
• measuring Service performance
• conducting research
• developing products
• producing reports
• communicating statistics about Volume I
• understanding broad themes
• improving Dear Humanity.

Where information has been genuinely anonymised or de-identified so that it is no longer personal information under applicable law, it may be handled differently from identifiable personal information.

43Research, Archival and Historical Use

Dear Humanity is intended to create a cultural and historical record.

Subject to applicable law and the Terms of Participation and Use, information associated with Volume I may be preserved, analysed or used for archival, cultural, historical, academic, editorial or research purposes.

Dear Humanity may work with archives, researchers, cultural institutions, museums, libraries, educational institutions or other organisations in connection with these purposes.

44Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in:

• law
• regulation
• technology
• our Service
• our business
• our information practices
• Dear Humanity products
• publication formats
• operational requirements.

The updated Privacy Policy may be published through Dear Humanity with a revised "Last updated" date.

Where required by applicable law, we may provide additional notice of material changes.

45Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• providing accurate information
• protecting your account credentials
• ensuring you have permission to provide information concerning another person
• ensuring you have rights to Participant Content you submit
• considering carefully what information you include in your Page
• understanding that content intended for Volume I may ultimately become public.

46Complaints

If you believe Dear Humanity has mishandled your personal information or you have a privacy concern, you may contact us using the details below.

Please provide sufficient information for us to understand and investigate your concern.

We may ask for additional information or identity verification where reasonably necessary.

We will consider privacy complaints and respond within a reasonable period having regard to the nature and complexity of the matter and any requirements imposed by applicable law.

You may also have the right to make a complaint to an applicable privacy or data protection regulator.

47International Users

Dear Humanity may be accessed by people in multiple countries.

Privacy rights and legal requirements vary between jurisdictions.

Where privacy or data protection law applicable to a particular individual provides rights or protections that cannot lawfully be excluded, Dear Humanity will handle relevant requests and information subject to those requirements.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to remove mandatory privacy rights provided by applicable law.

48Relationship With the Terms

This Privacy Policy concerns how personal information is handled.

The Dear Humanity Terms of Participation and Use separately govern matters including:

• participation
• Participant Content rights
• intellectual property licences
• commercialisation
• sealing Pages
• payments
• refunds
• invitations
• Branch relationships
• publication
• use of the Service.

If Participant Content contains personal information, both this Privacy Policy and the Terms of Participation and Use may apply.

49Contact

Questions, requests, complaints or other enquiries concerning privacy or this Privacy Policy may be directed to:

contact@dearhumanity.co