10,000 Steps Terms of Use

The 10,000 Steps Program has been developed by CQUniversity Australia with funding from the Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Queensland Government, and Preventive Health SA, SA Government (“Program Partners”). The delivery of the 10,000 Steps Program (“the Program”) is through the Website (“the Website”), the Mobile App (“the Mobile App”), and Communication with Registered Users of the Program, which may include but is not limited to emails, phone calls (if a phone number is supplied), social media communication, web-based or paper surveys (“Communication”).

These Terms of Use govern access to and use of the Program including the Website and Mobile App, the services on or in connection with them, and the images, photos, information, video, graphics, software, text, creative suggestions, and other materials contained on the Website, Mobile App and/or Communication that are protected by intellectual property or proprietary rights.

By using the Program, including the Website and Mobile App, you agree to be legally bound and to abide by these Terms of Use, just as if you had signed an agreement containing these Terms of Use. You are also consenting to your use of the Program and de-identified data you enter or supply to the Program (such as step data) to be used by CQUniversity, its third party research partners and the Program Partners for research and health promotion purposes. If you do not agree with, and consent to, these Terms of Use you should not continue to use the Program. If it is suspected or found that you are in breach of these Terms of Use, we may suspend, cancel or terminate your access to the Program.

Participation in the Program is at your own risk and CQUniversity and the Program Partners do not provide any representations, guarantees or warranties in this regard. We cannot advise you in relation to your individual risks specific to you and you should seek your own independent advice however generally we consider that the risks likely in participating in the Program are ordinarily minimal and may predominantly include any inconvenience and time incurred while using and participating in the Program.

Our Program Purpose

The purpose of the Program is to help adults increase their daily physical activity with the use of a step counting pedometer or activity tracker. The delivery of the Program via the Website, the Mobile App and Communication aims to allow the physical activity resources of the Program to be disseminated and made available for use by individuals, workplaces and communities. An important part of the Program has, and will always be, to aim to investigate the uptake of the Program and how participants use all Program delivery methods in order to help inform future upgrades, inform health promotion knowledge and research, and inform health promotion activities. As a research project, the Program is delivered under CQUniversity Human Research Ethics Committee approval #22764.

The information delivered by the Program, including on the Website, the Mobile App and via Communication is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and their physician. It is recommended that you consult your health professional or General Practitioner before commencing the Program and for specific advice relating to your personal health conditions, step goals, levels and type of suitable physical activity.

Privacy Policy

The Program is committed to protecting user privacy. 10,000 Steps staff understand and appreciate that visitors and users of the Program are concerned about their privacy and the confidentiality and security of any information that may be provided to the Program.

The 10,000 Steps Program at CQUniversity complies with all relevant Australian privacy laws including the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We have a strict privacy policy whereby any personal information that is collected (including details during registration) will not be disclosed to third parties apart from as outlined in these Terms of Use, including the Program Purpose, or as required for Human Research Ethics approvals, and/or will first be de-identified. The Program, including the Website and Mobile App, is designed to track all on-site and on-app activity, however data obtained via the Website and the Mobile App is confidential and will only be used for delivery of the program functionality, improvement of the Program, research and health promotion purposes and not be disclosed to any third parties except as already described above. Program activity, including that on the Website and Mobile App, and information collected including overall dashboard data may be used for improvement of the Program, to inform health promotion knowledge and research and inform health promotion activities, however no personal information will be disclosed in research or health promotion to third parties outside the Program without your prior consent or without first being deidentified and anonymised.

10,000 Steps stores its user and step data on a secure server in Sydney, Australia. The Website and mobile app data are served via a certified secure connection (HTTPS). By providing your personal information to the Program and engaging with the Website and Mobile App you acknowledge and consent to storage on that secure server which is subject to the privacy and disclosure laws of Australia. User and step data may also be exchanged via a certified secure connection (HTTPS) and stored by email service providers for the purposes of program related activities.

Information we collect from you

When you visit the Website and Mobile App, we may collect information in the following ways:

To access and use the Program, you will be required to sign up as a member ("Registered User") and provide 10,000 Steps with some personal details. Personal information entered by a Registered User during sign up includes: full name, email address, date of birth, gender, Country, State, City and postcode. This information will be stored in the Program database and used as per the Why we collect this information section detailed below and Privacy Policy.

By registering you give the Program permission to use your information within our database for the purposes outlined in the Program Purpose. Registered Users can request for their account to be deactivated or deleted at anytime. Please see the Account Deactivation and Account Deletion sections for more information.

Other usage and engagement data entered and logged by Registered Users while using the Program, including the Website and Mobile App (which may include but is not limited to dashboard data, steps entered, goal steps, joining challenges and Tournaments) will be recorded and stored in our database and Analytics.

Information we get from your use of the Website and the Mobile App

When you visit the Website or use the Mobile App, our internet service and analytics providers make a record of your visit and log the following information for statistical purposes only: IP address, type of device, operating system and browser, date and time of visit, previous site visited, pages accessed and documents downloaded and visiting country where you are accessing from.

When you visit the Website, the pages that you look at, and a short text file called a cookie, are downloaded to your computer. A cookie is used to store small amounts of information. This information is collected for traffic analysis only. The cookie does not contain personal details. Depending on the browser that you use, you can set your preferences to block/ refuse cookies, and/ or notify you before they are placed. For information about our Analytics Provider, Google Analytics (including Firebase) see How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.

When you choose to use the Open Authorisation process to authorise connection from your Fitbit, Garmin, Google Fit, Apple Health or Health Connect to sync with your 10,000 Steps account, only the profile and step data provided by the service is transferred from your Fitbit, Garmin, Google Fit, Apple Health or Health Connect account to your 10,000 Steps account. 10,000 Steps has no control over the data these third party services include when this data is requested, including what data is included, when it is transferred, and the format/accuracy of the data

The use of information received from third party service providers including Fitbit and Google Fit APIs are to adhere to any relevant policies of the third party service provider. To the full extent permitted by law, we exclude liability for any breach of such policies or for any claim arising from or in connection with your request to connect your 10,000 Steps account with your third party service provider, including but not limited to Fitbit, Garmin, Google Fit, Apple Health and Health Connect.

When completing a Survey on the website hosted by Qualtrics, your 10,000 Steps user ID and State may be embedded in your response to allow for identification and follow up if needed. Surveys are voluntary and by participating in them you consent to this collection of information.

Why we collect this information

Personal information and usage data is stored to allow Registered Users to track and monitor their physical activity over time and can only be accessed by the Registered User who entered the information, by 10,000 Steps staff working to assist the Registered User or by authorised 10,000 Steps staff or CQUniversity’s authorised personnel and partners to analyse data for research and health promotion purposes.

How long we hold your data

In accordance with national guidelines, your data will be held for a minimum of 15 years or the life of the research project during which the Program is covered by CQUniversity Human Research Ethics Committee approval. All data stored as a part of this Program will be in accordance with national and state guidelines for retention and destruction of research data and applicable laws. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Program, CQUniversity and the other Program Partners make no representations or warranties in connection with data and will not be liable for any loss of data.

How we contact you

The 10,000 Steps Program has been designed to assist and motivate individuals in making positive behaviour changes. From time to time, as new research and evidence evolves, the forms of Communication by which you are contacted by the Program may also evolve and these Terms of Use may also be updated accordingly.

Emails

By signing up to the Program and providing their email address, Registered Users consent to receiving emails which directly relate to the use of the Program.

Essential Emails

System (or transactional) emails are essential for the use of the Program and are unable to be unsubscribed from by Registered Users. Opting out of these emails will effectively be requesting for the Registered Users account to be de-activated or deleted. Please see the Account Deactivation and Account Deletion sections for more information.

• System Emails are transactional emails sent in response to actions on the site such as account verification, Coordinator registration, addition to Tournament team and friend invitations.
• Program Feedback Invitations may be sent on occasion to provide members the opportunity to participate in optional research directly related to the program. This may providing feedback in surveys to gather feedback for program or platform improvements.

Optional Emails

In addition to the Program Emails, participants can receive other emails including Program Emails, Daily Reminders and Explore and Discover Emails. These emails can be unsubscribed from by following the link contained at the bottom of the relevant email or updating preferences in the Registered Users Account Settings.

• Program Emails are sent at specific times during the program journey to provide support and valuable information about using the program. This may include welcome emails and Tournament completion series, among others.
• Learn and Discover emails provide information relating to specific occasional events associated with 10,000 Steps. This may include Challenge weekly progress updates and prize draws. Unsubscribing from Explore and Discover emails may cause participants to miss out of valuable information relating to Challenges they are participating in.
• Daily Reminders are sent if Registered Users have not logged steps the previous day as motivation to make active choices and stay on track.

Participants may also receive direct Communication from the 10,000 Steps Project Office. If contact is made by the Registered User through the Website, the Mobile App or other Communication forms and services this contact will be responded to by the 10,000 Steps Project Team.

Phone

By using the Program and providing us with your phone number (which is not mandatory), you consent to and give the 10,000 Steps staff permission to contact you by phone to discuss your use of the Program or Registered User information if necessary. You may be contacted by phone in response to direct requests for contact by you via our Support, Contact Us, direct email, or voicemails left with the 10,000 Steps Project Office by you or from your phone number. Support requests are primarily addressed through email contact due to our limited office hours and you agree that 10,000 Steps staff may return contact via email even where phone contact is requested by Registered Users.

We may need to confirm the identity of the caller to update or change some types of information on your 10,000 Steps account. This typically involves asking for information that you have previously provided us or directing you to contact us via an alternate means (for example, sending us email confirmation of changes before we enact them). If a clear phone number is not provided 10,000 Steps Staff will be unable to successfully contact you by phone to discuss your request. By contacting the Program via anonymous, silent or blocked numbers, 10,000 Steps staff may not be able to return contact via phone to discuss or assist with your support request.

Reporting suspicious phone or email contact

It is not a requirement of using the Program to report suspicious phone or email contact to 10,000 Steps Staff. However, we rely on reports to investigate these matters and ask that Registered Users contact us immediately if they suspect that they have been contacted by someone impersonating 10,000 Steps or using Program data or information for the purpose of spam, commercial marketing, or other dishonest or disingenuous behaviour like blackmail or extortion.

Disconnecting 3rd Party Devices from the Program

If you have chosen to connect your device via an Open Authorisation (OAuth) or other authorisation process, you may be able to withdraw access to the third-party connection at any time via your device’s connection settings. You can also disconnect connection to Fitbit, Garmin and Google Fit via the Website and Apple Health and Health Connect via the Mobile App but this may not remove permissions on your third-party device. It is your responsibility to remove any such permissions on your third-party device or to contact your third-party device provider about this.

By deauthorising the Program from accessing your third-party device, you acknowledge that you understand the Program will no longer be able to receive new step data from your device after deauthorisation or disconnection. The Program does not have access to your third-party device settings and cannot add or remove these permissions on your behalf. Please contact your third-party device provider to find out more about connection settings and authorisation available on your device.

Existing step data that has already been received and stored by the Program cannot be removed by deactivating a connection with a third-party device. Registered users can edit step data history via the 10,000 Steps Registered User account, or request that your data be anonymised during account deactivation.

Account Deactivation

You do not need to officially withdraw from the Program to stop using 10,000 Steps. You may stop using the Program at any time with no penalty. Accounts can be made inactive by contacting the 10,000 Steps team by email.

Deactivating an account means that the Registered User will no longer be able to log in to the Program and the Registered User will be marked in our database as inactive. Deactivating an account retains the step history and achievements including completed challenges, badges, and/or Tournament history.

Account deactivation is intended to be temporary, and Registered Users may re-join the Program later and/or continue to use the existing account if preferred for as long as the Program is available to the public. Neither the Program, CQUniversity, nor any of the funding bodies, make any guarantees about the ongoing availability of any deactivated account or the Program.

Account Deletion

Accounts can be marked for deletion by contacting the 10,000 Steps team by email or through requesting account deletion on the 10,000 Steps Mobile App.

By requesting account deletion, the Registered User will be permanently logged out of the Mobile App and the Registered User and their account will be marked for deletion in the database, subject to the below retention of limited de-identified data.

Our team will permanently de-identify personal account information provided during sign up, while retaining de-identified step data as obligated by the Program Partners who are our funding bodies. As this is a manual process, it may take up to 7 days for the change to occur.

Account deletion is permanent and once actioned, Registered User accounts are not able to be recovered by the Registered User or the 10,000 Steps Project Team. This means that the Registered User’s account cannot be re-activated, and step history, Tournament and Challenge history, badges, achievements, and other information provided is not able to be retrieved. Members can re-join the 10,000 Steps Program later by creating a new 10,000 Steps account.

Registered Users may instead choose to deactivate an account where they would prefer to make their account inactive but retain their step history and achievements to return later. Accounts can be made inactive by contacting the 10,000 Steps team by email.

Your Responsibilities

As a Registered User you are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the ways that you access the Program. This includes your username, your email address and your password. Your email, username and password are for your use only in the Program. By using the Program, you agree that you will not let anyone else use or access your email, your username and/or your password for the Program and that you cannot transfer your Program account to anyone else.

As member accounts contain individual step data and personal information, the use of non-personal emails or usernames for individual 10,000 Steps accounts is prohibited. This includes generic and shared inboxes that are available to staff or community members and are not restricted to personal usage only, including those that are shared over time as part of a role, even where one individual ordinarily maintains and accesses the inbox.

This includes but is not limited to generic Support, HR, People and Culture, Contact-Us, OHS, Wellbeing, workplace and other types of shared mailboxes, including but not limited to “family” inboxes or email redirections. By using our Program, you agree that you will not use a non-personal, shared or generic inbox to create an individual 10,000 Steps account.

By using the 10,000 Steps Program, you acknowledge your understanding that 10,000 Steps staff may from time-to-time at our discretion contact Registered Users directly via email or other means to verify the individual or personal nature of email addresses that have been used to create individual 10,000 Steps accounts.

Where the personal or individual nature of a Registered User account’s email cannot be verified, action may be taken to limit access to log-in and/or access data for the account on the Website and/or Mobile App, including but not limited to personal information, step history, organisation and Coordinator Access, Health Challenges, Tournaments, and monthly Challenges. This action may also include suspension, cancellation or deactivation of the account at our discretion.

You are responsible for keeping your password private and confidential. If anyone logs into the Program using your email and/or your username and your password, you will be responsible for all entries and communications made using your account. The Program cannot guarantee that account actions taken by others on your behalf, with or without your permission, will be able to be reverted.

When visiting the Program you can access your personal account information that is held within your 10,000 Steps account. If that information is incorrect, it can be updated through your account on the Website or by contacting 10,000 Steps project staff. Neither the Program, Central Queensland University nor any other Program Partner will be responsible or liable to you or anyone else for any damage, injury, cost or expense related to any kind of material found on the Website, the Mobile App or any Communication.

Honesty and Integrity

10,000 Steps Registered Users should take all necessary measures to record their steps and physical activity honestly and accurately. 10,000 Steps staff may from time-to-time contact Registered Users directly via email to verify the accuracy of their reported step counts, including but not limited to where there is suspected false or fraudulent activity. Where accuracy cannot be verified, action will be taken to ensure the integrity of the Program leaderboards including but not limited to the leaderboards for Health Challenges, Tournaments, Monthly Challenges, and the general Public Leaderboard. This may include but is not limited to removal of Registered User steps and visibility on leaderboard/s and/or account deactivation (temporary or permanently). Attempts to circumvent deactivation or other data-accuracy measures may lead to account suspension or other data-accuracy measures at our discretion.

Tournaments

As a Registered User, by choosing to participate in a team Tournament, you agree to have the following information shared with Registered Users who are also 10,0000 Steps Coordinators. This will allow Coordinators who are implementing Team Tournaments to accurately communicate and deliver the initiative to you and to others in your organisation or community.

When participating in a Tournament your reported name, individual total steps and average steps will be added to your team details and a Tournament leaderboard. For more information on the information displayed please see How private is my information?). Your name, email address and steps (including steps walked and moderate and vigorous activity) will be collected and added to a Tournament Statistics Spreadsheet provided to your organisation Coordinator/s for the duration of the Tournament.

If you are participating in a Tournament that is being setup as a part of a Health Challenge, your individual step data will be included in your Organisation's Total and Average Steps which will be displayed on the publicly accessible Health Challenge Leaderboard. Your individual data or personal information will not be displayed without your prior consent.

If you are participating in a Tournament organised within your workplace, we recommend signing up to the Program using your individual organisational email address. If you intend on participating in a Tournament using a personal non-organisational email address, this may be shared with your Team Captain and Tournament Coordinator to allow you to be added to a team and will be available in the downloadable Tournament Statistics Spreadsheet

The Tournament statistics spreadsheet is available only to Tournament Coordinators and 10,000 Steps staff. The Program, Central Queensland University and other Program Partners will not be responsible or liable to you or anyone else for any damage, injury, cost or expense related to the sharing or dissemination of information contained in the Tournament statistics spreadsheets by a Coordinator or any Registered User.

Your Coordinator has agreed to use your information carefully in accordance with the Coordinator Terms and Conditions however your name and step data may be included in regular Tournament email updates to other teams and participants of your Tournament or for the awarding of prizes decided and delivered by the organisation implementing the Tournament.

• 10,000 Steps or its Program Partners is not responsible for the content of emails sent by your Tournament Coordinator.
• 10,000 Steps or its Program Partners is not responsible for the awarding of prizes relating to the Tournaments.
• Your name and email address may be used for account and team troubleshooting with or by your Tournament Coordinator.
• By participating in a 10,000 Steps Tournament you agree to enter your steps and activity as accurately and honestly as possible.

If your Coordinator has identified inconsistencies with your team step data, your account may be checked, and step data shared with the Coordinator to identify any potential errors contributing to incorrect team rankings e.g. adding 100000 steps instead of 1000 steps.

You may be contacted by 10,000 Steps or by your Coordinator/s if potential step errors have been identified in your account to confirm any error that may have occurred. Please see the section in Your responsibilities on Honesty and integrity for more information on step accuracy and actions that may be taken in the event of dishonest or disingenuous step recording in the Program (which also includes any Tournaments). 10,000 Steps project staff may enter steps on behalf of participants on occasion in cases where the participants are unable to do so, such as due to access issues arising as a result of sickness or lack of internet access for a very limited time.

Monthly Challenges

By participating in a 10,000 Steps Monthly Challenge you agree to enter your steps and activity as accurately and honestly as possible. Please see the section in Your responsibilities on Honesty and integrity for more information on step accuracy and actions that may be taken in the event of dishonest or disingenuous step recording in the Program (which also includes Challenges).

10,000 Steps and its Program Partners do not take any responsibility for the Challenge leaderboard rankings as these are automatically calculated based on the addition of steps and activity from the accounts of each Registered User who is participating in the Challenge.

By choosing to participate in the 10,000 Steps monthly individual Challenge you have the option for details from your Profile to be made public and displayed on the Challenge leaderboard in Account Settings. If you choose to make your details public, your steps logged for the Challenge month will be automatically added to the Challenge (to show rank and percentage complete). Other information that will be visible includes your name, age range and location. The Challenge leaderboard is only accessible to 10,000 Steps staff and to other Registered Users who have selected the same Task for that month or have selected to participate in the Challenge.

Health Challenges

By participating in a 10,000 Steps Health Challenge you agree to enter your steps, activity and health measures as accurately and honestly as possible.

10,000 Steps and its Program Partners do not take any responsibility for the Health Challenge leaderboard rankings as these are automatically calculated based on the addition of steps, activity and health measures from the accounts of each Registered User participating in the Challenge. Please see the section in Your responsibilities on honesty and integrity for more information on step accuracy and actions that may be taken in the event of dishonest or disingenuous step recording in the Program (which also includes Challenges).

Upon choosing your Health Challenge team, you have the option to enable your name, email address and step count to be shared with your Health Challenge Coordinator who may use this information to send email updates. It is not a requirement of entering a Health Challenge, but sharing this information allows you to receive updates and information about your Health Challenge from your Health Challenge Coordinators. This information is typically motivating and can help you connect to your team as well as be included in prize draws.

10,000 Steps and its Program Partners are not responsible for the content of emails sent by Health Challenge Coordinators. If you give consent to make your details public, your name and steps logged during the Health Challenge may be automatically added to the Health Challenge leaderboard.

Health Challenges can be joined by any Registered User of the Website, as it is a publicly available page (as opposed to Tournaments which require login by eligible Registered Users who have been added to the Tournament by the Tournament Coordinator). 10,000 Steps may on occasion remove Registered Users if requested by the individual themselves, if an individual has been identified as joining a Health Challenge team in error or at the discretion of 10,000 Steps Staff.

Leaderboards

Registered Users can manage the display of their details on 10,000 Steps Leaderboards in their Account Settings on the Website.

Registered Users can opt-in for their details to be displayed on the Annual Leaderboard and Challenge Leaderboard where their name, age range and location will be displayed to other Registered Users in addition to current annual steps and lifetime steps. Current annual steps and total lifetime steps logged into the Program will be displayed and used for rankings.

Please see the section in Your responsibilities on Honesty and integrity for more information on step accuracy and actions that may be taken in the event of dishonest or disingenuous step recording in the Program.

Registered Users can add Friends to their own personalised Leaderboard by inviting 10,000 Steps members through invite only using their email address (if known to the Registered User). The Registered User who is the recipient of the request can approve or deny the request. If approved, Registered Users will be able to view the name, age range, location and steps of their Friends. Friend connections can be revoked by either of the relevant Registered Users at any time.

Other summary data and challenges

From time to time, Registered Users’ step data may be included in overall counts, challenges and summaries to promote the uptake and use of the Program. At these times, no individual data or personal information will be displayed without prior consent or without first being de-identified / anonymised.

Links

The links offered from the Program are provided for the interest of our users. The links have been added because the content was deemed to offer appropriate information associated with the Program Purpose.

Provision of these links does not constitute endorsement, non-endorsement or support by the 10,000 Steps Program, its Program Partner funding bodies or CQUniversity Australia for the information, products, services or persons associated with the related sites.

The content found by using these links is not created, controlled or approved by the Program and no responsibility is taken for the consequences of viewing or using such content.

Advertising

The 10,000 Steps Program does not host or receive funding from advertising or from the display of any commercial content, including but not limited to on the Website, Mobile App or any Communication. There may be occasions where the Program recognises organisations and their websites for their participation in the Program or for support through donation of prizes.

Recognition of participation or engagement with the Program by these organisations or 3rd parties does not constitute endorsement, non-endorsement or support by the Program, its Program Partner funding bodies or CQUniversity Australia for the information, products, services or persons associated with the related organisations or websites.

Disclaimer

The materials presented on the Website, Mobile App, and Communication by 10,000 Steps are distributed by the 10,000 Steps team based at CQUniversity and are presented as an information source only. The information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters presented therein and independently verifying all relevant representations, statements and information. The information does not constitute professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Formal advice from a medical practitioner or health-care professional should be sought in individual matters, particularly in relation to health conditions, step goals and suitable types of physical activity.

10,000 Steps and its Program partners do not warrant that it will provide continuous or uninterrupted access to the Program, including via the Website, the Mobile App, Communication, or any websites linked to any of them.

Despite best efforts, the Program (including the Program Partners) makes no warranties that the information delivered by the Program is free of infection by computer viruses or other contamination.

Your use of the Program including any content, other information or materials provided on or through the Program, the Website, the Mobile App or Communication is entirely at your own risk.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event shall 10,000 Steps, its Program Partners, CQUniversity Australia, the Queensland Department of Health, Queensland Government or SA Health be liable (including liability for negligence) for any loss, damages (including without limitation, direct, indirect, punitive, special or consequential), liabilities, costs or expenses whatsoever arising out of a person's use of, access to or inability to use or access the Program, the Website, the Mobile App, Communication, any Registered User’s account or data, or any links from or to the Program.

The 10,000 Steps Program is subject to funding and resourcing to maintain public access. The Program will be available to the public for as long as it is funded and has the resources to do so, or unless the Program Partners decide to discontinue the Program at any time for any reason.

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If you have any question or queries about the Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy, please contact us. If you wish to save, store or email the Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy you have consented to, we recommend using your web browser’s print function. If you wish to receive a pdf version of the Terms, Conditions and Privacy Policy, please contact us.

Last updated: August 2023