MyService - Terms of use

1. Introduction

1.1 About these terms of use

1.1.1 These terms of use describe what you need to know and understand about your rights and responsibilities as a user of MyService.

By registering for MyService you are agreeing:

• to be bound by these terms of use; and
• to comply with all of your responsibilities, as set out in these terms of use.

Some of the words in these terms of use have a particular meaning. These words, and the meaning of these words, are set out in the definitions table at section 7 of these terms of use.

1.2 Changes to MyService and these terms of use

1.2.1 The Department may change, add or remove any of the functionality of MyService, or make changes to these terms of use at any time. If those changes affect your rights or responsibilities, the Department will notify you.

2. Your responsibilities

2.1 Registering, using and protecting your MyService account

2.1.1 To register for and use MyService you will need to supply:

• your name, date of birth and email address and, if applicable, your service information (including your PMKeyS number, service number and original hire date). This information may be shared with the Department of Defence for the purposes of authenticating your registration for MyService; 
• additional forms of identification, for example driver’s licence, Medicare card, passport or birth certificate, to establish Proof of Identity (POI). This information may be shared with the Attorney General’s Department, through its Identity Verification Service (IVS), to electronically confirm your POI;
• other personal information to lodge a claim through MyService, such as your health information (about an injury or condition) or your income and assets (for means testing purposes); and make sure your personal, service and health information is accurate and kept up to date with MyService.

2.1.2 You are responsible for ensuring that all contact details are kept up to date in both MyService and myGov. 

2.1.3 You must not:

• register for, or try to register for, MyService using another person's information;
• access, or try to access, any other person's MyService account, unless you are that person’s Nominated Representative;
• allow any other person to register for MyService, or access your MyService account, on your behalf, unless that person is your Nominated Representative;
• use MyService in any way which may harass or cause distress to anyone;
• cause disruption to MyService;
• in any way infringe on anyone else's rights or prevent them from using MyService; and
• use any software (for example, bots or scraper tools) or other automatic devices to access, monitor or copy MyService or its contents.

2.1.4 You are solely responsible for your use of MyService (and any material made available on it). To protect access to your account you should:

• always sign out of your MyService account when you have finished using it;
• check for the Extended Validation Certificate indicator in your browser's address bar when accessing MyService. Each browser shows The Extended Validation Certificate in a different way. Usually this is a green box or bar with a padlock icon;
• take extra steps to protect your account when you use a computer in a public location to access your MyService account; and
• clear the browser cache, cookies and history after you have signed out of your MyService account.

2.1.5 If you can't access MyService yourself, do not allow another person to register for MyService or access your MyService account on your behalf. Instead, you should contact the MyService helpdesk by emailing generalenquiries [at] dva.gov.au or calling 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372).

3. Our responsibilities

3.1 What we are responsible for

3.1.1 The Department will take reasonable care in providing information and services through MyService.

3.2 What we are not responsible for

3.2.1 While the Department makes every effort to ensure MyService operates efficiently and effectively to support veterans and their interactions with DVA, the Department does not provide a guarantee:

• that MyService is error free;
• that any defects in MyService will be rectified; or
• that you will have continuous access to MyService.

In using MyService, and to the greatest extent permitted by law, you agree to hold the Department harmless from any Loss, however caused, which you may directly or indirectly suffer in connection with MyService. This includes (without limitation) any Loss as a result of your use of MyService, your inability to access MyService, any errors made by the Department or any third party with respect to material on MyService, and your reliance on any material included on MyService.

3.2.2 The Department, to the greatest extent permitted by law, does not give any warranty, representation or guarantee:

• regarding the availability, accuracy, currency, completeness, quality, reliability or suitability of MyService, or any material contained on it, for any purpose; or
• that MyService will be free from defects, viruses and other malware, third party interception or other security threats or vulnerabilities; or
• that any material on MyService does not infringe the intellectual property rights (or any other rights) of any person.

3.3 Security

3.3.1 Your personal information is stored securely by the Department following best practice security recommendations. Your MyService account information can only be accessed by authorised officers of DVA. All access to MyService is logged by the Department and officers are trained on a regular basis about their privacy and security obligations.

3.3.2 Any officer who accesses MyService account information without authority can be subject to Code of Conduct proceedings under the Public Service Act 1999 (Cth), and if a criminal offence has been committed that officer may be prosecuted and penalised.

3.3.3 The Department of Defence is responsible for the security of your information while it is collected by, stored on or passing through systems within their control. It is important that you read and comply with their terms of use (if any).

3.4 Privacy

3.4.1 Your personal information is protected by law, under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We collect your information as set out in the MyService Privacy Collection Notice to provide payments and services and will only share your information with third parties if you have agreed such as under these terms of use, or if the law authorises or requires it.

3.4.2 We collect your personal information for the purposes of performing our functions under the DVA legislation, including the delivery of payments, services and treatments, and the administration of MyService. For example, we may collect your personal information to:

• communicate with you, including by SMS or email;
• confirm your identification;
• provide advice to you about available support and services;
• ensure correct payments are made in relation to claims;
• verify data with third parties in relation to claims;
• investigate fraud and the assessment of payment eligibility;
• manage complaints and feedback;
• participate in merits and judicial review matters;
• manage and respond to requests for information; 
• administer and provide online services including MyService; and/or
• facilitate continuous improvement and development of new services and programs including improvements to MyService and our websites.

3.4.3 Consistent with the Department’s privacy policy, we use and disclose your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected. In particular:

• we share information with and collect data from the Department of Defence to confirm your service details for authenticating your registration for MyService, creating your MyService profile and determining eligibility for benefits;
• we share information with the Attorney General’s Department through its Identity Verification Service (IVS) to establish your proof of identity (The IVS is an automated service that checks whether the biographic information on your identity document matches the original record. The result will simply be ‘yes’ or ‘no’.);
• we share information with and collect information from medical and health professionals, hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, the Department of Defence, other Commonwealth Departments or Agencies, or other organisations in relation to your health records to enable decisions to be made in relation to claims, reviews and appeals; and
• we share information with Services Australia as DVA’s IT service provider. Services Australia is responsible for maintaining the systems and databases where your data is stored. This includes ensuring the integrity of your data is preserved and appropriately protected. 

3.4.5 You can find more information about how the Department will manage your personal information by accessing the Department's privacy policy. The Department's privacy policy also contains information about how you may seek access to or correction of your personal information, how you may make a privacy complaint, and how the Department deals with privacy complaints. 

3.5 Analytics 

3.5.1 We use the Adobe Experience Platform (Adobe) to collect data about your interactions with MyService. When you access MyService, a unique and persistent identifier will be generated and linked to your MyService account. This identifier will be used to capture data about your device and browser (such as device type and browser version), location (country and state) and your interactions across the MyService platform (such as pages visited, how you interact with MyService pages, and how you reach MyService pages that you visit) every time you log on. We will also use existing information held by DVA, including your account profile and dashboard information, and link this information with data about your interactions with MyService. 

3.5.2 We analyse this data to better understand how MyService is used, and to continuously improve MyService and DVA programs and services delivered. While the unique identifier is capable of linking the collected data to a user, we will not use the data to identify you as an individual, and we have set up Adobe to operate on MyService without collecting information that directly identifies you (such as your name or date of birth). 

3.5.3 Adobe is provided by Adobe Systems Pty Ltd, and supplied for DVA's use by Services Australia as DVA's IT service provider. The data that we collect will be accessible to Adobe and Services Australia for the purposes of the delivery and management of Adobe for MyService.     

3.5.4 Further information about how Adobe works on the MyService platform is available in the Department's privacy policy.

4. MyService account

4.1 Authorisation for the collection and use of personal information through MyService

4.1.1 The authority to collect personal information relevant to your claim is contained in the provisions of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (Cth)(MRCA), Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (Cth)(VEA) and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence–related Claims) Act 1988 (Cth)(DRCA). 

4.1.2 We collect personal information only where it is necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our functions or activities. We will only collect personal information from the individual to whom it relates, unless they have consented otherwise or an exception applies for collection from a third party.

4.1.3 By registering for and using MyService, you understand:

• the Department will consider your claim under one or more of these Acts;
• the information sought in MyService is required to assess your eligibility for benefits under all Acts (VEA, DRCA and MRCA) that may be applicable to the claim or change of circumstance you are submitting; and
• if you do not provide the information, the Department will not be able to assess your eligibility or entitlement for a payment or service via MyService.

4.2 Messages

4.2.1 The Department may send messages electronically to your myGov Inbox, the email address you have provided or by SMS to the phone number you have provided. 

4.2.2 It is your responsibility to ensure you read all messages in a timely manner. The Department is not responsible for any Loss that may arise as a result of you not accessing a new Message or if there is a delivery failure with a Notification.

5. MyService Platform

5.1 Licence to use the MyService Platform

5.1.1 The Department gives you permission (in the form of a non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable licence) to use the MyService platform on your compatible device(s) provided that you comply with these terms of use and any other applicable laws.

5.2 Access to your hardware or software features

5.2.1 When you use the MyService platform, you may be asked for your permission to access certain hardware or software features of your compatible device for the purpose of the particular functions of the MyService platform. These features may include your camera, call functions or other features notified to you (for example, access to the camera so that you can take a picture of a document and upload it to MyService). If you consent to the use of those features, neither the MyService platform, nor the Department, will have access to any other features or personal information on your device.

6. General

6.1 Suspension or termination of your MyService access

6.1.1 The Department may lock, suspend or terminate your MyService access or account(s) at any time for any breach of these terms of use or any other unacceptable activity.

6.2 Laws relating to these terms of use

6.2.1 Any legal questions about these terms of use will be decided by applying the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia (ACT). If legal action is brought in a court in the ACT, you will not be allowed to argue that the matter should be heard in a court outside the ACT. However, the Department will consider any reasonable request to bring legal action in a different State if there are appropriate reasons for doing so (for example, if you are unable to travel due to medical reasons).

6.3 Help desk

6.3.1 If you wish to contact the MyService helpdesk you should do so by emailing generalenquiries [at] dva.gov.au or calling 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372).

6.4 Complaints and feedback

6.4.1 Your feedback is important to us, we value your opinion and want to hear what you think about the quality of the Department's service, including the MyService terms of use. The Department will use your feedback to improve its services. The best way to leave your feedback is by visiting dva.gov.au/contact/feedback or by calling the MyService helpdesk (see paragraph 6.3 above).

7. Definitions

In these terms of use, the terms in column 1 of the following table have the meanings set out in column 2 of the table: