Privacy policy

Last updated 10 October 2026

Hello Five Dock is a local news, newsletter and directory site for Five Dock and the suburbs around it. We collect as little as we can, we don't sell it, and we don't show you ads based on it. This page explains what we keep and why.

What we collect

• When you sign up for the newsletter: your email address, your suburb, which days you want it (Tuesday, Friday or both), the IP address you signed up from, and your first name if you give it to us. If you signed up through a neighbour's invite link, we record whose link it was and how it was shared (for example WhatsApp or email).
• When you invite neighbours: your invite link contains a short code, not your email address. We count how many people join through it and show you that number. We only thank you by name (first name and suburb) in the newsletter if you tick the box for it, and someone who follows your link sees your first name and suburb on the sign-up page.
• When you read the newsletter: each email has a tiny image and personal links, so we can see whether you opened it, which links you clicked, roughly when, and which email app or kind of device you used. Our editors can see this for each subscriber. Opens are only recorded if your email app loads images, and you can turn images off to stop it.
• When you sign in or create an account: your email address, the name and suburb you give us, and when you last signed in. If you use a sign-in link, we record the IP address it was requested from. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email address from them, and nothing else: not your contacts, files or photos.
• When you claim a business or group listing: your role, any message you send, the business email used to check the claim, and any proof document you upload. Proof documents are only seen by our editors.
• When you answer a survey: your answers, the suburb you choose (if any), the IP address you answered from (to stop one person answering many times) and, if you're signed in or ask for the results, your account or email address. Results are only ever published as totals and percentages, suburbs with fewer than five answers aren't shown on their own, and written answers are only seen by our editors, who may quote them without your name. A cookie remembers that you've answered, for a year.
• When you post an offer or update a listing: what you write, which is published on the listing.
• When you browse: a session cookie that keeps you signed in and protects forms, plus the IP address and browser details our server records for security and to stop abuse.

Why we use it

• To send the newsletter you asked for, and sign-in links and claim updates you request.
• To work out which stories people find useful, so the newsletter gets better, and to greet you by name.
• To run your account and show the right listings as yours.
• To check that people claiming a listing really represent that business or group.
• To keep the site secure and stop spam, bots and abuse.

We don't sell or rent your information, and we don't use it for advertising.

Who we share it with

We use a few services to run the site. They only get what they need to do their job:

• Cloudflare protects and speeds up the site, and runs the security check on our forms (Turnstile).
• Amazon Web Services (SES) sends our emails, including the newsletter and sign-in links.
• Google, only if you choose to sign in with it.
• OpenStreetMap shows the maps on listing pages, so your browser loads map images from them.
• Microsoft Clarity shows us, in aggregate, how people use the site (which pages they visit, where they click and scroll) so we can fix what's confusing. It masks what you type, and sets its own cookies.
• TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X, when a post on our site embeds something from them. Your browser loads it straight from that platform, which may set its own cookies under its own privacy policy.
• Our hosting provider stores the site and its database.

Some of these companies process data outside Australia. We'd only hand information to police or government where the law requires it.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies: one to keep you signed in and remember you on this device, one to protect forms from forgery, and, if you arrive through a neighbour's invite link, one that remembers whose link it was for 30 days so they're credited if you sign up, and one for each survey you answer so you aren't asked twice. Microsoft Clarity sets cookies to measure how the site is used, and embedded social posts may set cookies from their platform. We don't use advertising cookies.

How long we keep it

• Sign-in links expire within minutes and old ones are cleared out regularly.
• Your account and newsletter subscription stay until you ask us to delete them, or you unsubscribe.
• Claim details and proof documents are kept while the claim is being checked and afterwards as a record of who manages a listing.

Your choices

• Every newsletter has a one-click unsubscribe link.
• You can see and change your name and suburb on your account page.
• You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. See how to delete your data.

Business and group listings

Directory listings contain public business details such as names, addresses, phone numbers, websites and opening hours, much of it from OpenStreetMap. If a listing is about you or your business and something is wrong, or you'd like it removed, let us know.

Contact us

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy: email [email protected]. We'll reply within 30 days. If you're not happy with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll let subscribers know in the newsletter.