PRIVACY NOTICE
1 BACKGROUND
Last updated: 9 December 2023
1.1 This notice (Privacy Notice) tells you how we look after your personal data when you visit our
website at https://www.geasphere.org/ (Website) or when you make donations to the NPC via the website links or directly, subscribe to our newsletters, or where you are a supplier or service provider to our NPC.
1.2 This notice sets out what information we collect about you, what we use it for and whom we share
it with. It also explains your rights under data protection laws and what to do if you have any concerns
about your personal data.
1.3 We may sometimes need to update this Privacy Notice, to reflect any changes to the way our
goods and services are provided or to comply with new business practices or legal requirements. You
should check this Privacy Notice regularly to see whether any changes have occurred.
2 WHO WE ARE AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
2.1 We are GEASPHERE
NPC, registered in South Africa with company number 2003/003711/08
with our registered address PO Box 14842, Mbombela, South Africa.
2.2 For all visitors to our Website and for users who purchase our goods and services through an
organisation, we are the controller of your information (which means we decide what information we
collect and how it is used).
2.3 Geasphere NPC is currently a tax-exempt entity, income tax number: 9278459152.
This means all income the NPC receives is exempt from tax.
Registration Number: 2003/003711/08
3 CONTACT DETAILS
[X].1 If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the way that we use information, please
get in touch using the following details:
- Email address: geasphereafrica@gmail.com
-
Postal address: PO Box 14842, Mbombela, South Africa
4 THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
4.1 Personal data means any information which does (or could be used to) identify a living person.
We have grouped together the types of personal data that we collect, and where we receive it from,
below.
4.2 Type of personal data:
- Contact Data: your email address, telephone numbers, home address.
- Technical Data: internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and
generic location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform on the devices
you use to access our systems.
- Usage Data: information about how you use our systems.
- Feedback: information and responses you provide when completing surveys and questionnaires.
- Profile Data: email address, password, username, chat logs, audit trail of systems used and
documents accessed and downloaded.
- Marketing and Communication Data: includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us
and our third parties and your communication preferences.
4.3 Please note that we do not collect any payment card data or similar data relating to your method of
payment. You provide this data directly to PayPal or Patreon who processes payments on our behalf. We only receive and process information about the timing and amount of your payment.
5 HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
5.1 We are required to identify a legal justification (also known as a lawful basis) for collecting and
using your personal data. There are six legal justifications which organisations can rely on. The most
relevant of these to us are where we use your personal data to:
- fulfil our contract with you;
- comply with a legal obligation that we have;
pursue our legitimate interests (our justifiable business aims) but only if those interests are not
outweighed by your other rights and freedoms (e.g. your right to privacy); and do something for which you have given your consent.
5.2 Below is set out the lawful basis we rely on when we use your personal data. If we intend to use
your personal data for a new reason that is not listed below, we will update our Privacy Notice.
5.2.1 Contract
- To administrate or perform our contract with you.
- To process your payment information in connection with any contract we have with you.
-
To send you updates about the services you have bought (e.g. confirmation of order, arrival time).
5.2.2 Legal Obligation
- Recording your preferences (e.g. marketing) to ensure that we comply with data protection laws.
Where we send you information to comply with a legal obligation (e.g. where we send you
information about your legal rights).
-
Where we retain information to enable us to bring or defend legal claims.
5.2.3 Legitimate Interests
Where using your information is necessary to pursue our legitimate business interests to:
a) improve and optimise our Website;
b) monitor and make improvements to our Website to enhance security and prevent fraud;
c) provide our services to you and ensure the proper functioning of our Website; and
d) protect our business and defend ourselves against legal claims.
Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we have assessed whether such use is
necessary and that such use will not infringe on your other rights and freedoms.
5.2.4 Consent
Where you have provided your consent to providing us with information or allowing us to use or
share your information.
-
Where you have consented to receive marketing material from us.
5.3 Where we need to collect your personal data (for example, in order to fulfil a contract we have
with you), failure to provide us with your personal data may mean that we are not able to provide you
with the services. Where we do not have the information required about you to fulfil an order, we may
have to cancel the service ordered.
6 WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH
6.1 We share (or may share) your personal data with:
- Our personnel: our employees (or other types of workers) who have contracts containing
confidentiality and data protection obligations.
- Our supply chain: other organisations that help us provide our goods. We ensure these
organisations only have access to the information required to provide the support we use them and
have a contract with them that contains confidentiality and data protection obligations.
- Our professional advisers: such as our accountants or legal advisors where we require specialist
advice to help us conduct our business.
6.2 If we were asked to provide personal data in response to a court order or legal request (e.g. from
the police), we would seek legal advice before disclosing any information and carefully consider the
impact on your rights when providing a response.
7 WHERE YOUR INFORMATION IS LOCATED OR TRANSFERRED TO
7.1 We store your personal data on our servers in the RSA.
7.2 We will only transfer information outside of the RSA where we have a valid legal
mechanism in place (to make sure that your personal data is guaranteed a level of protection,
regardless of where in the world it is located.
7.3 If you access our Website or purchase our goods and services whilst abroad then your personal
data may be stored on servers located in the same country as you or your organisation.
8 HOW WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE
8.1 We have implemented security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally or
illegally lost, used or accessed by those who do not have permission. These measures include:
-
internal IT and network security.
8.2 If there is an incident which has affected your personal data and we are the controller, we will
notify the regulator and keep you informed (where required under data protection law). Where we act
as the processor for the affected personal data, we notify the controller and support them with
investigating and responding to the incident.
8.3 If you notice any unusual activity on the Website, please contact us geasphereafrica@gmail.com
9 HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION
9.1 Where we act as the controller, we will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to
fulfil the purposes we collected it for.
9.2 To decide how long to keep personal data (also known as its retention period), we consider the
volume, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm to you if an incident
were to happen, whether we require the personal data to achieve the purposes we have identified or
whether we can achieve those purposes through other means (e.g. by using aggregated data instead),
and any applicable legal requirements (e.g. minimum accounting records for HM Revenue &
Customs).
9.3 We may keep Identity Data, Contact Data and certain other data (specifically, any exchanges
between us by email or any other means) for up to seven years after the end of our contractual
relationship with you.
9.4 If you browse our Website, we keep personal data collected through our analytics tools for only as
long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for.
9.5 If you have asked for information from us or you have subscribed to our mailing list, we keep
your details until you ask us to stop contacting you.
10 YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
10.1 You have specific legal rights in relation to your personal data.
10.2 We can decide not to take any action in relation to a request where we have been unable to
confirm your identity (this is one of our security processes to make sure we keep information safe) or
if we feel the request is unfounded or excessive. Usually there is no cost for exercising your data
protection rights, but we may charge a fee where we decide to proceed with a request that we believe
is unfounded or excessive. If this happens we will always inform you in writing.
10.3 We will respond to your legal rights request without undue delay, but within one month of us
receiving your request or confirming your identity (whichever is later). We may extend this deadline
by two months if your request is complex or we have received multiple requests at once. If we need to
extend the deadline, we will let you know and explain why we need the extension.
10.4 We do not respond directly to requests which relate to personal data for which we act as the
processor. In this situation, we forward your request to the relevant controller and await their
instruction before we take any action.
10.5 If you wish to make any of the right requests listed below, you can reach us at
10.6 Your rights include:
Access: You must be told if your personal data is being used and you can ask for a copy of your
personal data as well as information about how we are using it to make sure we are abiding by the
law.
- Correction: You can ask us to correct your personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete. We
might need to verify the new information before we make any changes.
- Deletion: You can ask us to delete or remove your personal data if there is no good reason for us
to continue holding it or if you have asked us to stop using it (see below). If we think there is a
good reason to keep the information you have asked us to delete (e.g. to comply with regulatory
requirements), we will let you know and explain our decision.
Restriction: You can ask us to restrict how we use your personal data and temporarily limit the
way we use it.
- Objection: You can object to us using your personal data if you want us to stop using it. If we
think there is a good reason for us to keep using the information, we will let you know and explain
our decision.
- Portability: You can ask us to send you or another organisation an electronic copy of your
personal data.
- Complaints: If you are unhappy with the way we collect and use your personal data, you can
complain to the ICO or another relevant supervisory body, but we hope that we can respond to
your concerns before it reaches that stage. Please contact us at geasphereafrica@gmail.com
COOKIE NOTICE
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Our Website (www.geasphere.org) uses cookies and similar technologies. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows us to improve our Website.
1.2 Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to your device (e.g. your computer or
smartphone). Cookies contain uniquely generated references which are used to distinguish you from other users. They allow information gathered on one webpage to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing our Website to provide you with a personalised experience (like remembering your favourites) and provide us with statistics about how you interact with our (and sometimes third party) Website.
1.3 Cookies are not harmful to your devices (like a virus or malicious code) but some individuals
prefer not to share their information (for example, to avoid targeted advertising).
2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF COOKIES
2.1 Session vs. persistent cookies: cookies have a limited lifespan. Cookies which only last a short
time or end when you close your browser are called session cookies. Cookies which remain on your device for longer are called persistent cookies (these are the type of cookies that allow websites to remember your details when you log back onto them).
2.2 First party vs. third party cookies: cookies placed on your device by the website owner are
called first party cookies. When the website owner uses other businesses’ technology to help them
manage and monitor their website, the cookies added by the other business are called third party
cookies.
2.3 Categories of cookies: cookies can be grouped by what they help the website or website owner
do:
Necessary cookies are cookies which help the website to run properly (when they are strictly
necessary cookies it means their only function is to help the website work);
- Performance / functionality cookies help a website owner understand and analyse how a user
uses a website, in order to personalise content and remember user preferences;
- Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies
help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, etc;
- Marketing / advertising cookies tailor online adverts to reflect the content you have previously
browsed and help inform companies about your interests so they can show you relevant adverts.
3 WHAT DO WE USE COOKIES FOR?
3.1 We use cookies:
a. to track how visitors use our Website;
b. where we post content and links to content, we use cookies to capture and analyse information
such as number of views and shares.
4 WHAT COOKIES DO WE USE?
4.1 The cookies we use on our Website are:
Essential Cookies
These cookies enable core functionality such as security, verification of identity and network management. These cookies can’t be disabled.
1.) svSession (lasts 2 years)used during login. Type:server_cookie.
2.) hs (session) used for security, Type:server_cookie.
Functional Cookies
These cookies collect data to remember choices users make to improve and give a more personalised experience.
1.) fedops.logger.sessionld(persistent),
2.) XSRF-TOKEN(session),
3.) bSession(29min),
4.) _wixAB3(5 months 27 days),
5.) ssr-cashing(max 1 min), debug(persistent)
4.2 We can only use cookies with your permission (you will be prompted by a message when you first visit our Website, also known as a cookie banner, where you can choose to accept or decline our cookies).
4.3 You can update your cookies settings and permissions on our Website to manage how cookies are used, including rejecting the use of certain cookies, you can click on the Cookie settings button appearing in the bottom left corner.
You can also manage cookies in your browser (though browsers for mobile devices may not offer this visibility). Other technologies used to identify apps and devices may be managed in your device settings or in an app’s settings.
For more information on how to manage the most popular browsers, please see below:
Google Chrome
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en
Internet Explorer
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
Firefox
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cookies-information-websites-store-on-your-computer?
Safari
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/safari/sfri11471/.
4.4 You can choose to decline cookies but if you turn off necessary cookies, some pages and functions on our Website may not work properly. You can also manage cookies through your browser settings or device settings (your user manual should contain additional information). You may wish to visit
https://allaboutcookies.org/how-to-manage-cookies to find out how to disable cookies on different browsers.
4.5 You can also delete cookies and opt-out of being tracked by certain cookies directly with the
relevant third-parties (for example, you can disable Google Analytics on their website).
4.6 If you have any questions about our cookies, or how we otherwise use your personal data, please visit our Privacy Notice for further details.