Ruby Australia's Membership Register Access Policy

Version: 2019-07-29

Why We Need It

As part of running an association, under Victorian consumer law Ruby Australia is required to let our members view each others' details at no cost. This helps with membership transparency, democracy, and communication - it means the committee is not the sole arbiter for discussions between members.

We do want to stress that contacting members through the details obtained from the register can only be done for matters relating to the association. Any abuse of this responsibility will be dealt with swiftly and seriously.

Member Privacy

Alongside our desire for transparancy, Ruby Australia also wants to protect our members' privacy - only revealing their details when necessary. Hence, there is this policy, and alongside it there is a document of any access requests made by members, which is viewable to all members.

When managing their information, members are able to indicate for their details to be restricted. This removes their details from the register, but they may still be contacted via a request to the Ruby Australia Secretary.

Accessing Details

Ruby Australia does not allow programmatic access to membership details (including approaches such as CSV exports, HTTP APIs, or copy-and-paste). Details will be presented through either a video call organised by a committee member, or on a committee member's computer during an in-person meeting with the interested parties.

While this does mean there is significant overhead for contacting members, it is worth noting that other avenues of contacting members is also available through the association's forum and Slack workspace.

The Process

• A member sends an email to the committee via online@ruby.org.au requesting to view the membership register, optionally providing a reason for the request.
• A committee member will respond within seven days, offering possible times and dates for the viewing. They will also document the request.
• The viewing will take place either in person (with the list viewable on a committee member's computer), or via a video call (with the list viewable via a shared screen of a committee member's computer).
• If the requesting member wishes to contact members whose details have been restricted, they can send a message to secretary@ruby.org.au, which will be passed on to members accordingly.
• Once the viewing has taken place, the responsible committee member will update the document of requests indicating that this particular request has been completed.