Last updated 19 February 2021

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Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at Credence Institute ("Company", "we", "us", "our"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at hello@credenceinstitute.org.

 

When you visit our website credenceinstitute.org (the "Website"), use our mobile application, use our Facebook application, as the case may be (the "App") and more generally, use any of our Services (the "Services", which include the Website and App), we appreciate that you are trusting us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately.

 

This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our Services (which, as described above, includes our Website and App), as well as, any related Services, sales, marketing or events.

 

Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. Introduction

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

2. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

3. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?

4. WHO WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH?

5. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

6. HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS?

7. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

8. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

10. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

11. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

12. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

13. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

14. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?

 

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION

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Purpose of this Privacy Policy

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This Privacy Policy complies with, and facilitates the obligations required from, the South African Protection of Personal Information Act, No. 4 of 2013 (“POPI”) as well as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, 2016 (“GDPR”) as amended. 

It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Privacy Policy supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

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We do NOT process special categories of personal data nor the data of minors. Do not provide us with any such personal data, where the provision of same will constitute an immediate and automatic material breach of these terms.

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Our data processing role

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Credence is the “Responsible Party” / “Data Controller” (as defined by POPI and GDPR respectively) and is responsible for your personal data in instances where we decide the processing operations concerning your personal data, and for the purposes and needs of Credence only.

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We may also operate as a “Operator” / “Processor” (as defined by POPI and GDPR respectively) of personal data on behalf of a third-party Responsible Party / Data Controller, where that Responsible Party’s privacy terms will apply. Please consult the privacy policy of any such parties to whom you may be providing your personal data as their terms will apply as they are the Responsible Party directing us to process your personal data for their purposes.

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We have appointed a data representative at Credence who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the representative using the details set out below.

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Our Contact Details  

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• Full name of legal entity: Credence Institute

• Name or title of data representative: Cameron King

• Email address: cameron@credenceinstitute.org

• Postal address: 7600

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You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the South African regulator’s office (the Information Regulator’s Office of South Africa) or the office of any relevant European/UK Information Regulator. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach any such regulator, so please contact us in the first instance.

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Changes to the Privacy Policy and your Duty to Inform us of Changes

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This Privacy Policy version was last updated on 21 January 2021 and historic versions are archived and can be obtained by contacting us.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please update your personal data yourself using the relevant prompts on the Website, or keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

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Third-Party Links on Website or otherwise

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The Website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements or terms. When you leave our Website, or engage with such third parties, we encourage you to read the distinct privacy policy of every third-party you engage with.

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2. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

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Personal information you disclose to us

 

In Short:  We collect personal information that you provide to us.

 

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Services, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services (such as by posting messages in our online forums or entering competitions, contests or giveaways) or otherwise when you contact us or provide your contracted services to us.

 

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

 

Personal Information Provided by You. We collect names; email addresses; contact preferences; debit/credit card numbers; billing addresses; mailing addresses; contact or authentication data; 

 

Social Media Login Data. We may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the Information described in the section called "HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS" below.

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Information collected from other sources

 

In Short:  We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, and other outside sources.

 

In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers and Services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, social media platforms, as well as from other third parties. This information includes mailing addresses, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, internet data (or user behavior data), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion. If you interact with us on a social media platform using your social media account (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), we receive personal information about you such as your name, email address, and gender. Any personal information that we collect from your social media account depends on your social media account's privacy settings.

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Aggregated Data

 

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your technical or Website usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

 

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services or allow you to provide us with your services). In this case, we may have to cancel Website-access or Services you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

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3. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

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In Short:  We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent.

 

We use personal information collected via our Services for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.

 

We use the information we collect or receive, with the following specific reasons:

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• To facilitate account creation and logon process. If you choose to link your account with us to a third-party account (such as your Google or Facebook account), we use the information you allowed us to collect from those third parties to facilitate account creation and logon process for the performance of the contract. See the section below headed "HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS" for further information.

• To post testimonials. We post testimonials on our Services that may contain personal information. Prior to posting a testimonial, we will obtain your consent to use your name and the content of the testimonial. If you wish to update, or delete your testimonial, please contact us at hello@credenceinstitute.org and be sure to include your name, testimonial location, and contact information.

• Request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Services.

• To enable user-to-user communications. We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user's consent.

• To manage user accounts. We may use your information for the purposes of managing our account and keeping it in working order.

• To send administrative information to you. We may use your personal information to send you product, service and new feature information and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.

• To protect our Services. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Services safe and secure (for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention).

• To enforce our terms, conditions and policies for business purposes, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or in connection with our contract.

• To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.

• Fulfill and manage your orders. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Services

• Administer prize draws and competitions. We may use your information to administer prize draws and competitions when you elect to participate in our competitions.

• To deliver and facilitate delivery of Services to the user. We may use your information to provide you with the requested service.

• To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the use of our Services.

• To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. For example, when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our Services, subscribing to marketing or otherwise contacting us, we will collect personal information from you. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the "WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS" below).

• Deliver targeted advertising to you. We may use your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising (and work with third parties who do so) tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness.

• For other business purposes. We may use your information for other business purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Services, products, marketing and your experience. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent.

 

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4. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?

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In Short:  We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with Services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.

 

We may process or share your data that we hold based on the following legal basis:

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• Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.

• Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.

• Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of our contract.

• Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).

• Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

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More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:

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• Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

• Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform Services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include: payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting Services, customer service and marketing efforts. We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology on the Services, which will enable them to collect data on our behalf about how you interact with our Services over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, pages or features, and better understand online activity. Unless described in this notice, we do not share, sell, rent or trade any of your information with third parties for their promotional purposes. We have contracts in place with our data processors, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organization apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they hold on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct.

• Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.

• Business Partners. We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, Services or promotions.

• Other Users. When you share personal information (for example, by posting comments, contributions or other content to the Services) or otherwise interact with public areas of the Services, such personal information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly made available outside the Services in perpetuity. If you interact with other users of our Services and register for our Services through a social network (such as Facebook), your contacts on the social network will see your name, profile photo, and descriptions of your activity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of your activity, communicate with you within our Services, and view your profile.

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5. WHO WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH?

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In Short:  We only share information with the following third parties.

 

We only share and disclose your information with the following third parties. We have categorized each party so that you may be easily understand the purpose of our data collection and processing practices. If we have processed your data based on your consent and you wish to revoke your consent, please contact us using the contact details provided in the section below titled "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?".

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• Advertising, Direct Marketing, and Lead Generation

Google AdSense, based in US California

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• Allow Users to Connect to Their Third-Party Accounts

Facebook account, Google account, LinkedIn account and PayPal account

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• Cloud Computing Services

Google Cloud Platform, based in US California and Amazon Web Services (AWS) , based in  US California

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• Communicate and Chat with Users

MailChimp, based in US, Atlanta and SurveyMonkey, based in US California

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• Content Optimization

Google Site Search, JotForm widget and MailChimp widget plugin

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• Social Media Sharing and Advertising

Facebook advertising, Facebook social plugins, Google+ social plugins, LinkedIn advertising, LinkedIn social plugins and PayPal plugins

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• User Account Registration and Authentication

Facebook Login, Google Sign-In, LinkedIn OAuth 2.0, Log In with PayPal and MailChimp OAuth2

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• User Commenting and Forums

Facebook Comments

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• Website Hosting

Wix, based in Isreal Tel Aviv

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6. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

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In Short:  We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

 

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice.

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7. HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS AND PURPOSES OF DATA USE?    

 

 

In Short:  If you choose to register or log in to our Services using a social media account, we may have access to certain information about you.

 

Our Services offers you the ability to register and login using your third-party social media account details (like your Facebook or Twitter logins). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile Information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, email address, friends list, profile picture as well as other information you choose to make public on such social media platform. If you login using Facebook, we may also request access to other permissions related to your account, such as your friends, check-ins, and likes, and you may choose to grant or deny us access to each individual permission.

 

We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy notice or that are otherwise made clear to you on the relevant Services. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy notice to understand how they collect, use and share your personal information, and how you can set your privacy preferences on their sites and apps.

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8. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

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In Short:  We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.

 

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us.

 

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

 

 

 

9. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

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In Short:  We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

 

NO, we do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at hello@credenceinstitute.org.

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10. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

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In Short:  In some regions, such as the European Economic Area, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

 

In some regions (like the European Economic Area), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use the contact details provided below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

 

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

 

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

 

If you are a resident in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.

 

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at hello@credenceinstitute.org.

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Account Information

 

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

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• Contact us using the contact information provided.

• Log in to your account settings and update your user account.

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Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

 

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or Services of our Services. To opt-out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

 

Opting out of email marketing: You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided below. You will then be removed from the marketing email list — however, we may still communicate with you, for example to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes. To otherwise opt-out, you may:

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• Contact us using the contact information provided.

• Access your account settings and update your preferences.

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11. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

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Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice. 

 

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12. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

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In Short:  Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

 

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

 

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with a Service, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g. backups, etc.).

 

 

 

13. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

    

 

In Short:  Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

 

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

 

 

 

13. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS  

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We share your personal data within the Credence group of organisations and affiliates, and this may involve transferring and processing your data outside of South Africa or the EEA.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of either territory, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

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• We will only ever share data with an entity with whom we have a contract specifically detailing all same parties’ duties in relation to your data; and

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the Information Regulator’s Office of South Africa/EU; and/or

• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts/clauses approved by the Information Regulator’s Office (SA and/or EU) which give personal data the same protection it has in South Africa/EU.

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Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of South Africa.

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14. DATA SECURITY  

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We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed by using securely storing data with a needs access basis only. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a legitimate need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

 

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

 

14. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?     

 

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at hello@credenceinstitute.org or by post to:

 

Credence Institute

3 SIMONSPLEIN UNIT 3

Plein Street

Stellenbosch

Western Cape

0007600

South Africa

 

15. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?     

 

Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please submit a request form by clicking here. We will respond to your request within 30 days.