Policy statement

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which we process your personal information. It is designed to inform you of the types of information we collect from data subjects, how we use that information, and the circumstances under which we will share it with third parties.

We respect your privacy and your personal information and for these reasons, we take all reasonable measures, in accordance with this Policy, to protect your personal information and to keep it confidential as envisaged by the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (‘POPI’).

What is personal information?

Personal information refers to information that identifies or relates specifically to you, for example, your race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience belief culture language and birth. Information relating to your education or the medical, financial, criminal or employment history, any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier or other particular assignment, together with biometric information, personal opinions, views or preferences also falls within the very broad definition. In addition, correspondence is also included.

Collection of information

DSC collects personal information in various instances, including when:

  • data subjects contact DSC or request information or services;
  • DSC provides services to data subjects;
  • persons apply for employment at DSC;
  • when persons use DSC’s website or engage with DSC through social media.

DSC may collect the information directly from a data subject or from third parties.

With each visit to our Website, we may automatically collect and store certain information about you. This includes, but is not limited to the following:

  • Technical information, including your Internet Protocol (IP address) which is used to connect your computer to the internet, operating system and browser type and platform for system administration; and
  • Information about your use of our Website including details of your visits such as pages viewed and the resources that you accessed. Such information includes traffic data, location data and other communication data.

DSC uses Google Analytics to collect site traffic statistics. Analytics tracks and reports website traffic. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. You can opt-out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

For more information, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms.

This website uses a “visitor action pixels” from Facebook that tracks user behaviour after they have been redirected by clicking on a Facebook ad. This enables us to measure the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes. The data collected in this way is anonymous to us. We do not see the personal data of individual users. However, this data is stored and processed by Facebook. A cookie may also be stored on your computer for these purposes. Facebook may link this information to your Facebook account and also use it for its own promotional purposes, in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy.

Purpose for processing personal information

DSC may process personal information:

  • to provide services to clients;
  • to comply with legal or regulatory obligations;
  • if a data subject has provided their consent; or
  • if the processing is allowed by law.

DSC processes personal information for various purposes including for –

  • Engaging in various forms of direct marketing;
  • Facilitating transactions with data subjects;
  • Collecting data for statistical purposes to improve its services;
  • Fulfilling its contractual obligations to its clients and client contacts;
  • Complying with the provisions of statute and regulations;
  • Attending to the legitimate interests of data subjects;
  • Identifying prospects for enhanced service delivery and business sustainability;
  • Tracking data subject activity on the website and its links as well as their transactions with DSC
  • Confirming and  verifying  data  subject  identity  or  verifying  that  they  are  authorised  users  for security purposes;
  • Conduct market or customer satisfaction research;
  • Audit and record keeping purposes;
  • In connection with legal proceedings.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on our website may include embedded content. 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 tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Lawful basis

In  respect  of  the  processing  of  personal  information as  provided  for  above,  DSC  will  adhere  to the conditions  for  the lawful processing of personal information, based on its desire to provide data subjects services in their best interests as well as a legitimate interest of DSC to achieve its business objectives.

Retention of personal information

DSC retains personal information for as long as may be reasonably necessary in accordance with applicable law.

Sharing and transfer of personal information

DSC may release personal information or disclose it to third parties in certain circumstances. These include, but are not limited to:

  • if DSC is required or authorised to do so by law or a court order;
  • in order for DSC to enforce its rights;
  • in order for DSC to provide services to its clients.

The third parties to whom we disclose personal information include, but are not limited to:

  • government authorities and registries, organs of state, regulators, courts, tribunals and law enforcement agencies;
  • advocates and other parties involved in legal services;
  • medical specialists;
  • third party service providers to DSC or its clients;
  • third parties who provide research services to DSC or its clients.

We require the aforementioned third parties to take appropriate, reasonable technical, and organisational measures to keep your personal information secure.

There is a possibility that the personal information that we collect from you may have to be  transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside of the Republic of South Africa (for example, by a third-party data hosting service provider).

Insofar as your information may be transferred outside of South Africa, we will take reasonable organisational and / or contractual measures to ensure that your personal information is processed by such third party service providers for the purposes for which it has been provided to us and that the required levels of protection have been implemented by such third party service providers to safeguard your personal information.

Security

We will take all appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information to prevent loss of, damage to or unauthorised destruction of your personal information or unlawful access to or processing of your personal information. Our technical and organisational personal data security measures include:

  • the storage of your personal data under password-secured databases;
  • the restriction of access to your personal data to specific staff / personnel who are designated and mandated to manage your personal data;
  • the restriction of access to all our premises where your personal data is stored in physical or digital form; and
  • the binding of any third parties who handle your personal data to confidentiality obligations with respect to the same.

Cookies

DSC’s website makes use of cookies. Cookies store information regarding website visitors. Cookies have various purposes, such as improving the visitor’s experience on the website and facilitating their use of the website.

A website visitor may disable or decline cookies. However, if the visitor does so, their user experience on the site may be diminished.

Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log onto the Website. If you accept a “cookie” or fail to deny the use of “cookies”, you agree that we may use your personal information collected using “cookies” (subject to the provisions of this Policy). Where you either reject or decline cookies, you are informed that you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Website.

IP addresses

We also collect information that does not identify you personally through our Internet log files, which record data such as IP addresses, browser types and other anonymous statistical data. This information may be used to analyse trends and to gather general demographic information. We do not link this information to personally identifiable information.

Direct marketing

DSC may send marketing and promotional communications and material to persons. Recipients may opt out from receiving such communications by contacting DSC at the details provided below or by clicking on the opt-out link that will be contained in the relevant electronic communication.

Data subject rights

Data subjects have the right to request that DSC provide them with access to their personal information, to rectify or correct their personal information, erase personal information or restrict the processing of PI, including refraining from sharing it or otherwise providing it to any third parties. Data subjects also have the right to raise complaints with the Information Regulator. The aforegoing rights may be subject to certain limitations pursuant to applicable law. In order to access any of these rights, please contact us.

Data subjects are encouraged to contact DSC in order to update their personal information as and when necessary

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion to amend (including without limitation, by the addition of new terms and conditions) this Privacy Policy from time to time. You agree to review the Privacy Policy whenever you visit this website for any such amendments. Save as expressly provided to the contrary in this Privacy Policy, the amended version of the Privacy Policy shall supersede and replace all previous versions thereof.

We are strongly committed to ensuring that the personal information you provide to us is treated securely and responsibly. We appreciate the fact that you are aware of your rights as an individual relating to personal information and thus will not act in a manner that would potentially lead to negative impact on your well-being.

Contact details

Address: 10th Floor, Touchstone House, 7 Bree Street, Cape Town 8000

Information Officer: Daneil Botha

Email address: info@dsclaw.co.za