Privacy Policy

You need to read and accept all the provisions in this Privacy Policy in order to use our website, being http://www.thisisme.com (“this Website”) and/or our services. By accepting this privacy policy, you are deemed to have read and agreed with all the provisions thereof. If you do not agree with anything in this Privacy Policy, then you may not use this Website and any of the services available therefrom.

Introduction

We strive to ensure that your privacy is protected. This Privacy Policy therefore set out the manner in which we collect, use, process, disclose, transfer and retain your personal information. “ThisIsMe”, “our”, “us”, or “we” means, ThisIsMe (Pty) Ltd with registration number 2014/136237/07. “You” and/or “your” means you, the viewer and/or user of this website. “ThisIsMe Staff” means any of our directors, executive, officers, employees, managers, agents, contractors and/or consultants. “Personal Information” means personal information as defined in Section 1 of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 No. 4 of 2013.. “POPI” means the Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013. “NCA” means means the National Credit Act No. 34 of 2005.

Compliance with laws and legislation

We comply with the NCA ,POPI and the principles outlined in Sections 50 and 51 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (No.25 of 2002) which govern your right to having your personal information kept private of which these principles are covered in this privacy policy. This privacy policy is incorporated into and is subject to our Terms and Conditions as reflected on this Website. We limit the use, transfer, processing and disclosure of Personal Information to include only what is permitted and prescribed in terms of the NCA, POPI and/or other relevant legislation or where you have consented to such collection, use, transfer, processing and disclosure. The confidentiality of your Personal Information is of the utmost importance to us. Unless we have your consent or permitted in terms of relevant legislation, we will not sell, rent or lease your Personal Information to others. We will not use or share your Personal Information in ways unrelated to the circumstances described in this privacy policy.

Registering With Us

Whereas visiting this website does not require you to impart any personal information, to access this website’s full service and/or register on this website we would require some basic personal information. You will provide your e-mail address and a secure password. Once we have verified your email address we will request your full name, date of birth and your national identity number (or passport number), and/or thereafter by you actively updating or supplementing your Personal Information. We may require the following further information, once you have registered with us, which includes but is not limited to:

  • Your sex;
  • Your physical address;
  • Your work address;
  • Your mobile phone number; and
  • Your bank account number. (Used to pay money into your account for verification purposes)

How We Utilize Basic Personal Information

The name and email address you supply are used to register your account with us and have full access to this Website and/or our services along with direct correspondence. Your username (your e-mail address) and secure password is for your convenience – simply log in with your details and change your password to something more memorable (It’s not a bad idea to change this password every now and then to keep your profile as secure as possible). Should there be any alterations to your account settings, we will notify you via your provided mobile number or email address to check authorization of these changes.

We use your personal and corporate details to manage and administer your use of this Website and fulfil our contractual obligations, including to verify your identity with our service providers with your prior authorisation. Along with the basic personal information required for registration and account changes, we perform statistical analyses on users’ behaviours when visiting this Website. This data allows us to determine your interests in various areas of the site so we can enhance user experience whilst customizing content and layout, too.

We may also request participation in surveys, which give us valuable customer opinions. If you send an email to a friend referring our site, we may request their email address in order to send along our one-time invitation email to visit our site. We store this information for one purpose: to send our invitation email. Should your referred friend wish to request this information be removed from our database, they are free to do so by contacting us at info@thisisme.com.

If we should sell, transfer or close our business, or undergo a merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganisation or liquidation, then we shall be entitled to transfer, sell or assign any or all information collected via this Website (including your personal information) to one or more relevant third parties, but only to be used by them in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy and in compliance with POPI. We will not sell or rent any of your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes and only provide your personal information to third parties as described in this Policy or as required by law. Your bank account number is only used by us to pay money into your account for verification purposes and for no other use whatsoever. We may use your personal information to contact you for support, renewal, upgrades and subscription to new services. Our staff shall ensure and have agreed to keep your personal information private and confidential in terms of our confidentiality agreements and policies. Unless permitted by the laws or with your consent, we do not use any of your Personal Information concerning the religious, or philosophical beliefs, race or ethnic origin, trade union membership, political persuasion, health or sex life or biometric information.

How We May Collect Your Personal Information

There are several ways that we may collect your Personal Information, including:

  • By you contacting us;
  • By e-mail correspondence with us;
  • By registering for a service offered by us;
  • By responding to surveys conducted by us;
  • By us collecting your publicly available personal information from the Internet (e.g. your Address, Company Registration Number, Director Details and/or VAT number);
  • By our other clients (e.g. financial institutions and insurers) who may be your client or supplier, to whom you have given consent to disclose your personal information to us; and
  • When we are required by law to collect your personal information.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are utilized in collecting general use and volume statistical data such as your internet protocol address (IP Address), metadata, location data as well as the date and time of you accessing this Website, which excludes your personal information. These cookies monitor your preferences and profile information in order to send you more relevant information regarding your ThisIsMe.com account. Our cookies are created in order for us to decode the information stored in them. You can decline our Cookies, however, by doing so it may interfere with your use of this website. We use the information we collect, with regard to Cookies for statistical purposes and to determine how this Website is used so that we may improve it. We may provide such information collected to outside vendors located overseas for such purposes. No personal information is stored in cookies

Third Parties Tracking And Statistics

Tracking and collecting data about visitor activity would not personally or directly identify you when you visit this Website. Instead, we use information such as the content of the site, and date and time a user views this content or user location information associated with a particular IP address. To exclude new customers from any unnecessary advert retargeting, we use cookies to confirm a user registration.

Third Party Correspondence For Verification

We might make use of third parties to, amongst other things; verify authenticity of information and/or data supplied by users or to verify validity of aforementioned data. These relationships between us and all third parties are protected by strict contracts and SLAs. All data protection policies of associated third parties are reviewed regularly. Data exchanged between us and third parties is kept to an absolute minimum, purely to achieve the required action/intention of data validation and verification. We maintain these requirements to meet the criteria of POPI and similar personal information protection acts globally.

Support data

Support requests and user feedback is stored by us for record keeping and quality assurance. Should you wish to provide feedback, complaints or queries, or request technical support you may submit your contact information – name, address, telephone number or email address. This information also facilitates the resolution of similar issues and allows us to improve its overall service to its users and registered merchants. Should you wish your information be removed from our servers, a request to eliminate this information can be submitted to info@thisisme.com.

Information We May Need To Share

We may be required to share personal information in the following circumstances: • When investigating a case of fraud, or required by law or legislation to do so, to comply with a court order or judicial proceeding, or similar legal scenario; • At the request of a third party, with your prior consent; • When disclosure of information is necessary to protect our rights, your safety or the safety of others; • When disclosure of information in the public interest to do so; and/or • If we are bought or our assets sold as a whole or in portions, or we become involved in a merger. In such an event you will be notified via email and/or prominent advertising on our site. This notice will include changes in ownership or use of your personal information, as well as choices you may have regarding this information.

Account Access/Changes

Should you wish to terminate your account, you are required to email info@thisisme.com with your account details – username, email address, first name and last name. Before we close your account, we notify you via email/OTP for security purposes. Upon confirmation, your account will be terminated and your log in ability deactivated immediately, or in any event within 30 days. You have the right, subject to relevant legislation, to access, update, delete and/or amend any inaccuracies or change your personal information or object to the processing of your Personal Information. You may log into your account on our site and make these changes. Emailed requests to amend data shall receive a response within 5 days.

Duration and Retention Of Data Storage

We store your information in order to provide our full services to you, and will retain this information for the duration of your account with us. Should you wish to remove your information from being accessed by us, you may do so by contacting us at info@thisisme.com. In addition we will retain and utilize your information as necessary to fulfil our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. Once your account is deleted, your personal information will be void in our system. Please note this excludes transaction data, history logs and records required for legal obligations, dispute resolution and to implement agreements as well as previous verifications of your identity. Irrespective of the above, we retain your personal information in accordance with the data retention periods prescribed by POPI and other applicable legislation.

Transfer of Personal Information Across Borders

In order to provide the Services, ThisIsMe transfers certain information across borders and outside of the Republic of South Africa. We do so using international best practices to secure the information in transit and at rest. By using the Services, you accept and consent to your Personal Information being transferred outside of the Republic.

Use Of Text/Email For Admin Purposes

We may send you a replacement password or inform you of changes to our services via email. There are no additional promotional emails sent to you without your full consent, and you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at info@thisisme.com or by following the “unsubscribe” instructions found in our email correspondence. Should you have made any referrals, these friends may request to remove their information from our database by contacting us at info@thisisme.com. It may be necessary to occasionally send out a service related announcement or technical notice. You may not opt-out of these communications and they are not promotional in nature.

Customer Feedback

We display customer testimonials, comments and reviews on our site possibly containing personal information. To respect customer privacy, we request consent via email to display your name along with the particular piece of feedback you have provided, prior to posting on the site.

Chat Forums And Blogs

As our chat forums, bulletin boards, blogs and chat rooms are accessible to all users of the site you should take note that any information you voluntarily disclose on these mediums may be accessed, collected and utilized for unsolicited messages. We do not hold responsibility for personal information you have chosen to submit. You may remove your personal information from our blog, community forum, as well as remove a testimonial by emailing us at info@thisisme.com. In any event where we may not be able to remove your personal information we will notify you via email.

Social Media Interaction

You can interact with social media networking sites via the appropriate social networking icons found across our site and in our correspondence, as well as participating in our social network verification layers. For these Social Media Features to function accurately we set a cookie, and we may need to collect your IP address and the page on our site you visited. Either our third party hosts the Social Media Features and Widgets on our site, or we host them directly. Your social media interactions using these features are bound to the privacy policy of any third party that may provide them.

Links To Outside Sites

We recommend you read through the privacy policies of all websites you visit, as sharing your personal information on any other sites will be governed by privacy policies applicable to those sites. This Website might include links to outside sites with differing privacy standards. This Website may provide links to third party web sites. You should be aware that linked web sites may also collect your Personal Information (including information generated through the use of cookies) when you link to their web sites. We are not responsible for how third party web sites collect, use or disclose your information as well as their privacy policies, and you must make your own choice on whether you want to use those other web sites and the services offered on same. We confirm that this Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Security Measures

We value the security of your personal information, and follow industry standards in our protection of the personal information submitted to us – during transaction and once we receive it. Sensitive information such as your bank account numbers are encrypted by secure socket layer technology (SSL). We protect your personal information using physical, technical, and administrative security measures to reduce the risks of loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure and alteration. Some of the safeguards we use are firewalls and data encryption and information access authorisation controls. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to or making alterations to data we maintain

Privacy Policy Alterations

We reserve the right in our sole discretion and without prior notice to you, to change, amend, modify and/or replace in its entirety, this privacy policy. Changes, amendments and/or modifications to this privacy policy may happen sporadically, so we advise you regularly review this privacy policy. The privacy policy posted at any time on this Website shall be deemed to be the privacy policy then in effect. Should you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us at info@thisisme.com.

Indemnity

Whilst we will do all things reasonably necessary to protect your rights of privacy, we cannot guarantee or accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosures of your personal information, whilst in our possession, made by third parties who are not subject to our control, unless such disclosure is as a result of our gross negligence. If you disclose your personal information to a third party, such as an entity which operates a website linked to this Website or anyone other than us we shall not be liable for any loss or damage, howsoever arising, suffered by you as a result of the disclosure of such information to the third party. You should always ensure that you read the privacy policy of any third party.

Children’s Rights

We define people under the age of 18 as children. This website is not intended for the use of children and we do not intend to collect information about children and do not intentionally collect information from children. You must be at least 18 to access or use this Website or become a subscriber and/or register on this Website.