Introduction
StudioTech (“StudioTech”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) respects your privacy. This privacy statement explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and otherwise process personal information when you use studiotech.co.za, order Signature X, use a Signature X account, or contact us. Signature X is our service for centrally managed Outlook email signatures and promotional banners.
This statement is written for processing in the Republic of South Africa. It is intended to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”), and, where they apply, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, together with the guidance of the Information Regulator.
StudioTech is the responsible party for personal information where we decide why and how it is processed. Service providers who process information for us are operators. They do so under arrangements that require appropriate security and confidentiality.
1. Who this statement covers
This statement applies to personal information about customers, people who enquire or place an order, Signature X account users, and others who interact with us in South Africa.
If you give us personal information about someone else, such as a billing contact, you confirm that you may do so and that you have pointed them to this statement where that is reasonably practical.
Please do not send special personal information, as POPIA defines it, unless we ask for it and the processing is lawful. The order form and contact form are not intended for health, biometric, or similar information.
2. Personal information we collect
What we collect depends on how you deal with us.
Identity and contact
Name, email address, telephone number, and the company or billing name you give us.
Orders and billing
When you place an order we collect the billing details on the form. That can include legal billing name, address, town, province, postal code, country, VAT number, company registration number, purchase order reference, notes, and your acceptance of the Terms of service. We also keep the order reference and the time you accepted the terms.
Signature X
Account details, the signature content and banner artwork you supply, campaign dates, and counts of how often each banner is added to an email. Those counts show distribution across your team. They are not a record of who opened or clicked an email unless we tell you otherwise.
Website and device
IP address, browser type, device identifiers, and cookie data needed to run the site, as described in section 12.
Contact form
If you use Contact Us we collect your name, email address, mobile number, and message. See section 6.
Where it comes from
We collect information from you, from your use of the website and Signature X, and from providers who help us host, email, or take payment.
3. How we use personal information
- to take and administer orders, subscriptions, and setup of Signature X;
- to host signatures and banners and apply them to your organisation’s email;
- to schedule campaigns and report how often a banner is served;
- to reply to contact messages and support requests;
- to take payment and reduce fraud;
- to send service messages about your order or account;
- to send direct marketing only where POPIA allows it, with a way to opt out;
- to keep the website and Signature X secure and to improve them;
- to meet tax, accounting, and other South African legal duties; and
- to establish or defend legal claims.
4. Lawful bases under POPIA
We process personal information only where POPIA allows it. Depending on the activity, that may be:
- Consent, for example optional marketing or cookies that are not strictly necessary;
- Contract, where processing is needed to take steps you ask for or to perform a contract;
- Legal obligation, where South African law requires it; or
- Legitimate interests, for example securing the service or preventing fraud, weighed against your rights.
Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it. Withdrawal does not undo processing that was already lawful, and we may continue where another ground applies.
5. Signature X and the website
Providing Signature X requires us to store the signature and banner material you supply and to record when a banner is served. People in your organisation who send email are not asked to create their own signature in Signature X. Their name and contact details may appear in a signature because your organisation has set that up. You are responsible for telling your users, and for your own duties toward the people they email.
The public website processes the information you type into the order form and the contact form, plus technical data needed to serve the pages.
6. Enquiries and orders
If you complete the contact form, StudioTech is the responsible party for what you submit. We use your name, email address, mobile number, and message to reply and to keep an internal record of the enquiry.
If you place an order, we use the billing and contact details to review the order, prepare payment, and set up Signature X. The lawful bases are steps taken at your request before a contract, performance of a contract, and our interest in responding to and administering orders. A message that confirms we received your form is a service message, not marketing. We do not use enquiry or order details for electronic direct marketing unless a separate POPIA ground applies.
A copy of each order and each contact message is emailed to admin@studiotech.co.za and sebastien@remoteon.co.za. StudioTech staff who need the information to reply or fulfil the order can access it. Operators who host the website, email, or Signature X process it for us. We keep these records while we need them to respond, invoice, support the subscription, and meet legal duties, and then we delete or de-identify them.
8. Cross-border transfers
StudioTech is based in South Africa. Some operators may process personal information outside South Africa. We transfer it across a border only as section 72 of POPIA allows. That includes where the recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, or a binding agreement that provides adequate protection, where you consent, where the transfer is necessary for a contract with you, or where another POPIA ground applies.
9. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it, for tax and accounting, to resolve disputes, or as POPIA otherwise allows. When we no longer need it, we delete or de-identify it so far as is reasonably practical.
10. Security
We use appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, and unauthorised access, as POPIA requires. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we learn of a compromise that POPIA says we must report, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected people as the Act requires.
11. Your rights
Subject to POPIA, you may ask us to:
- Confirm and provide access to personal information we hold about you;
- Correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or obtained unlawfully;
- Object to processing in the cases POPIA allows, including direct marketing;
- Withdraw consent where we rely on consent; and
- Complain to the Information Regulator.
Email privacy@studiotech.co.za. We may need to confirm who you are before we respond.
Information Regulator (South Africa)
inforegulator.org.za
POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
13. Direct marketing
We send electronic direct marketing about StudioTech and Signature X only as POPIA allows: where you consent, or where you are an existing customer for similar services and you had a reasonable chance to object. Marketing email and SMS include a simple way to opt out. Messages about an order or the running of Signature X are not marketing.
14. Children
The website and Signature X are aimed at people who are 18 or older and at businesses. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child without the consent POPIA requires from a competent person. If you believe we have, email privacy@studiotech.co.za.
15. Automated decisions
We do not make decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects for you, except where POPIA allows it. Banner rotation and serve counts are operational records of the service you configure. They do not by themselves decide a person’s access to a product or a legal right.
16. Changes to this statement
We may update this statement. The date at the top of the page will change. If a change is material, we will post it here and, where the law requires, tell you by email or in the service.
17. Contact and information officer
Information officer
StudioTech — South Africa
Email: privacy@studiotech.co.za
Legal: legal@studiotech.co.za
Website: studiotech.co.za
Related: Terms of service