NZSOS Privacy Policy
The New Zealand Strange Occurrences Society respects your right to privacy. If you contact us by any means, we will never disclose any of your information - emails, photos, videos, sound recordings, letters, spoken conversations - that you give us without your express written permission to do so.
If you choose to interact with NZSOS, it is assumed that you have read, understood and accepted our privacy policy as written below.
Data collection and retention
Other than stored emails (held on Google's gmail server), and photographs and videos shown with permission on this website, we are not collecting or storing site visitors' data. This website is hosted by Weebly and only non-personalised, anonymous site visit statistics are viewable by us. As far as we are aware, we do not have access to any other information or data relating to users of this website. (New Zealand law does not yet require extensive, detailed statements of policy on data collection and retention as has recently been implemented in Europe, but if that changes we will address it.)
We have a Facebook presence, namely a closed group and a public page. The users of these services are responsible for their own Facebook interactions and privacy settings, but we will not share users' posts, comments, or messages outside of the page and group we run. We would advise against posting sensitive or personal information on our Facebook group or page as we have no control over who may access it.
This website contains links to other, external websites, social media pages and other online services. As it says on our Links pages, we take no responsibility for the content or user privacy of any of these these linked sites, and we have no agreements or formal affiliations with any of them, or with any other paranormal interest groups.
Other than stored emails (held on Google's gmail server), and photographs and videos shown with permission on this website, we are not collecting or storing site visitors' data. This website is hosted by Weebly and only non-personalised, anonymous site visit statistics are viewable by us. As far as we are aware, we do not have access to any other information or data relating to users of this website. (New Zealand law does not yet require extensive, detailed statements of policy on data collection and retention as has recently been implemented in Europe, but if that changes we will address it.)
We have a Facebook presence, namely a closed group and a public page. The users of these services are responsible for their own Facebook interactions and privacy settings, but we will not share users' posts, comments, or messages outside of the page and group we run. We would advise against posting sensitive or personal information on our Facebook group or page as we have no control over who may access it.
This website contains links to other, external websites, social media pages and other online services. As it says on our Links pages, we take no responsibility for the content or user privacy of any of these these linked sites, and we have no agreements or formal affiliations with any of them, or with any other paranormal interest groups.
Privacy of emails sent to us
Emails sent to NZSOS - to either of our gmail addresses directly or via the forms on this website (which also go to to our gmail) - are accessed only by the team leader James Gilberd. He may consult on your behalf within the NZSOS team but will keep your identity confidential to himself. To answer your questions, we sometimes we need to consult experts outside our team, but we only take this step with your permission.
NZSOS will never willingly share your identity or information on the internet, social media, via email or by any other means. Our email passwords are held by the team leader only, as securely as possible. We do not accept liability for any unauthorised or illegal access to stored information via hacking, theft, or other means of data breach.
Privacy of paranormal site investigations and reports
If we conduct a paranormal investigation, it is treated as confidential by default. We show up in normal clothing - not branded outfits - and we don't have any branding on our vehicles, so we don't arrive looking like the paranormal investigators on TV, just (relatively) normal people! Afterwards we will give you with an investigation report, the contents of which is considered confidential by default.
You will see that we don't publish accounts of our investigations on our website or social media, except that some public investigations are described in our blogs, videos and press work. In all of these cases, express permission has been given for us to publish our work. No investigations of private houses or other private premises are ever shown or referred to in any published form.
- Permission to publish information may be revoked by our clients at any time in the future, and we will then remove content or links to content from our own website and social media as far as possible.
- If material is published in permanent form, such as in a book or printed newspaper article, this content obviously cannot be withdrawn.
- We sometimes conduct paranormal investigations at which media are present and will post their own coverage. This is only ever done with the understanding and permission of the client. We cannot be responsible for any news media's editing, treatment, broadcast or publication of the recorded coverage as it is usually independent of us and outside our control.
- Once material is published on independent media platforms such as TV or radio websites or newspaper websites, or on any outlet not controlled by NZSOS, we cannot be held to any future responsibility for it.
Privacy of photos, videos and audio recordings sent to us for analysis
All photos, videos, and sound recordings sent to us for analysis are likewise treated as totally confidential by default. Of those appearing on our site - in blog posts or on the Photos pages - express permission has been granted in writing (via email) in each and every case. Credit for photos, etc, on the NZSOS website is optional at the time of publication and can be added or withdrawn later upon request by email.
If we wish to publish your photos or other documents in any other form or location in future, we will seek your permission first.
While we state that material on our website is copyright under New Zealand Copyright law and must not be copied without permission, we have no way of enforcing this. There is no mechanism to prevent or hinder copying of material from this website. We cannot be held responsible if unauthorised copying and publication occurs and we are not liable for any legal costs or other damages if this occurs.
Updating your contact information
If you have photos and other material published on our site and have not been in touch with us for a while, and especially if you have changed your email address, please contact us on [email protected] so we have your updated contact email address.
Summary
We respect your right to privacy and will do our utmost to protect your data, but we are not a company or other legal entity, just an amateur interest group that charges no fees for its services - see our Disclaimer. NZSOS was established in 2005 (as Strange Occurrences Paranormal Investigators) and is held in high regard in the paranormal interest community of New Zealand. We treat you as we would like to be treated ourselves, and we are committed to the study of the paranormal in the long term. This is something we cannot do without your continued cooperation and goodwill, which we greatly value.
If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy, please email James Gilberd at [email protected]
This page was added by James Gilberd on 1st September, 2019, and updated on 29th November, 2024. It will be updated periodically without notice.
