Who we are
Our website address is: https://southernpoint.online
Purpose of this Privacy Policy
We are committed to the privacy and confidentiality of information provided to us. This Privacy Policy provides information to help you understand how we collect, use and share your information and our privacy practices with regards to personal information collected through the website.
Personal information means information which identifies you and includes information such as name, email, telephone number, biometric information and password, as well as any other personal data collected.
By visiting this website and communicating electronically with us, you consent to the processing and transfer of your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
We are committed to informed and limited collection of personal information.
Comments
When you leave comments on our website our webhost (WordPress) collects the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
Our webhost may provide your anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
The views and opinions expressed on the comments on the website are solely those of the original authors. These do not represent the views of Southernpoint. Southernpoint shall not be liable for any claim of whatsoever nature that may arise from any party due to the views and/or opinions expressed by other in the website.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
We might also use cookies (small text files stored in your browser) and other techniques such as web beacons (small, clear picture files used to follow your movement on our website). These collect information that makes the website remember you and tells us how you use our website, web-related products and services. This, in turn, helps us to make our website relevant to your interests and needs.
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
We may share information about you with:
- Companies who are engaged to perform services for, on behalf of Southernpoint.
- Law enforcement agencies, regulatory organisations, courts or other public authorities if we have to, or are authorised to by law.
- We’ll release information if it’s reasonable for the purpose of protecting us against fraud, defending our rights or property, or to protect the interests of our customers.
- If we’re reorganised or sold to another organisation, we may transfer any personal information we hold about you to that organisation.
At your option, and only with your consent, we may also share your information with partner organisations we’ve chosen carefully, so they can contact you about their products and services.
We may share, transfer or disclose the information in our databases and server logs to comply with a legal requirement, for the administration of justice, interacting with anti-fraud databases, to protect your vital interests, to protect the security or integrity of our databases or this website, to take precautions against legal liability, or in the event of our flotation on a stock exchange, sale, merger, reorganisation, dissolution, disposal of all or part of our assets or similar event. We will inform you of any such transfer or disclosure if we are required to do so by law.
Where appropriate, before disclosing personal information to a third party, we contractually require the third party to take adequate precautions to protect that data and to comply with applicable law.
How long we retain your data
We’ll store your information for as long as we have to by law. If there’s no legal requirement, we’ll only store it for as long as we need it.
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the following personal information they provide in their user profile: name and email address. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain hyperlinks to websites that are not operated by us. These hyperlinks are provided for your reference and convenience only and do not imply any endorsement of the activities of these third party websites or any association with their operators. We do not control these websites and are not responsible for their data or privacy practices. We urge you to review any privacy statement posted on any site you visit before using the site or providing any personal information about yourself and others.
Unauthorised third party access to your information
Despite the security measures we have in place to protect your personal information (firewalls, password access and encryption methods) you acknowledge that it may be accessed by unauthorised third party, e.g. as a result of an illegal activity.
Use and analysis of your personal information:
We may use and analyse your information to:
- Keep you informed generally about new products and services (unless you choose not to receive our marketing messages).
- To administer this website and help us improve our services.
- Understand how you use our website and services. That way, we can develop more interesting and relevant services, as well as personalising services we offer you.
- Carry out research and statistical analysis including to monitor how our website is used on an anonymous or personal basis.
- Prevent and detect fraud or other crimes.
- Provide aggregated reports to third parties if required (such reports do not contain any information which may identify you as an individual)
Transfer of information abroad
If you are visiting this website from a country other than South Africa the various communications will necessarily result in the transfer of information across international boundaries.
We may also need to transfer your information to our service providers in countries outside South Africa, in which case we will fully comply with applicable data protection legislation. This may happen if our servers or suppliers and service providers are based outside South Africa, or if our services are hosted in systems or servers outside South Africa and/or if you use our services while visiting countries outside South Africa . Countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) are considered to have adequate data protection laws. Other countries outside the EEA may not have data-protection laws which are similar to those of South Africa, however, we will make sure that your information is protected and enter into appropriate agreements to achieve this.
Access and corrections to personal information
Under the law, you have the right to access, correct, amend, delete your personal information or to object to the processing of your personal information.
Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to permit us to identify your personal information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you, for which we may make a charge as allowed by applicable law.
We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that you tell us is inaccurate and notify any third-party recipients of the necessary changes. You may update any information you have given to us by contacting us at our registered address.
Requests to delete personal information are subject to any applicable legal and ethical reporting or document retention obligations imposed on us.
Keeping your personal information secure
We are committed to implementing leading data security safeguards.
Communications over the internet (such as emails) are not secure unless they have been encrypted. Your communications may go through a number of countries before being delivered – as this is the nature of the internet. We cannot accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information that’s beyond our control.
We’ll never ask for your secure personal or account information by unsolicited means of communication. You’re responsible for keeping your personal and account information secure and not sharing it with others.
You may choose to disclose your information in certain ways such as social plug-ins (including those offered by Google, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest) or using third-party services that allow you to post reviews or other information publicly, and a third party could use that information.
Social plug-ins and social applications are operated by the social network themselves and are subject to their own terms of use and privacy and cookies policies. You should make sure you’re familiar with these.
Governing Law
The laws of South Africa will govern any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to your use of this website.
Feedback
We welcome comments about this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or any part of our service, you may contact us by e-mailing lindani@southernpoint.online. We will store any correspondence from you with our webhost, WordPress.
Complaints
Should you believe that Southernpoint has utilised your personal information contrary to applicable law, you undertake to first attempt to resolve any concerns with Southernpoint. If you are not satisfied with such process, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator, in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013.