Privacy policy
How we handle personal information when you visit this site, enquire, or become a client. Written in plain English, aligned with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
Cinacode designs, builds, hosts, and maintains websites for South African businesses. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, and the rights you have over it.
Who is responsible
Cinacode is the responsible party for the personal information described here. If you have a question about this policy or about your information, email us at hello@cinacode.co.za and it will reach the person who looks after data for us.
What we collect
We keep what we collect to the minimum needed to run the site and serve clients:
- When you enquire or book a call: your name, email address, phone number if you give it, your current website or domain, and anything you write in the message.
- When you become a client: billing and contact details, the content and assets you send us for your site, and records of the changes you request.
- When you browse: basic, privacy-friendly analytics about pages visited and how the site performs. We do not use this to identify you, and you can decline it in the consent banner.
- Standard server logs: our hosting keeps short-lived technical logs (such as IP address and request time) to keep the site secure and running.
Why we use it
- To reply to your enquiry and arrange a call.
- To build, host, and maintain your website and the services in your plan.
- To send you account and service messages, such as your monthly report.
- To keep the site and our systems secure, and to meet our legal and tax obligations.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising profiles.
Cookies and analytics
The site uses privacy-friendly analytics to understand what is useful and to fix what is slow. We ask for your choice in a consent banner, and a no is respected. Essential cookies needed for the site to work are always on. You can clear cookies in your browser at any time.
Who else processes it
We use a small number of trusted operators to deliver the service, for example hosting and anti-spam (Cloudflare), transactional email delivery, and privacy-friendly analytics (PostHog). When you send the enquiry form, Cloudflare also runs a quick anti-spam check. They process personal information only on our instructions and under agreement. Some of these providers may process data outside South Africa. Where they do, we choose providers that offer a comparable level of protection to POPIA.
How long we keep it
Enquiry messages are kept while we are in contact and for up to about 12 months after, so we can follow up, then we remove them. Client information is kept for as long as you are with us and for the period the law requires after that, for example for tax and accounting. When you leave, we export your content and data to you and then remove it from our systems after a short grace period.
How we protect it
Sites and systems run over encrypted connections (SSL), access is limited to the people who need it, and we keep software patched and monitored. No system is perfect, but we treat your information as we would want ours treated.
Your rights
Under POPIA you can ask us to:
- Tell you what personal information we hold about you.
- Correct or update information that is wrong or out of date.
- Delete information where we no longer have a reason to keep it.
- Object to a particular use, or withdraw a consent you gave.
Email hello@cinacode.co.za and we will action it. We may need to confirm who you are first.
Complaints
If you are not happy with how we have handled your information, tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.
If something goes wrong
If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will act to contain it and will notify you and the Information Regulator where POPIA requires. You can reach us about any security concern at hello@cinacode.co.za.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and move the date at the top. For significant changes that affect clients, we will also let you know directly.
Questions about your privacy? Email hello@cinacode.co.za.