SM Schools Photography’s website address is: https://smschools.co.za.
Welcome to SM Schools Photography where we believe you deserve a safe and secure environment and peace of mind in knowing how we process and store your personal information.
Your consent
By submitting your details and/or using and/or purchasing the products and services we offer, you accept this Privacy Policy and expressly provide your voluntary, specific and informed consent to the processing, storage and disclosure of your personal information in the manner described herein. If you object to any of the potential uses described in this Privacy Policy, please don’t use and/or purchase our products and services.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion to update, modify or amend (including without limitation, by the addition of new terms and conditions) this Privacy Policy from time to time with or without notice. You therefore agree to review the Privacy Policy whenever you visit our website for any such change. Save as expressly provided to the contrary herein, the amended version of the Privacy Policy shall supersede and replace all previous versions thereof.
What is personal information?
Personal information is defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act of 2013 (“POPIA”) as information relating to 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 your 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 allocated to you; your biometric information; your personal opinions, views or preferences; correspondence sent by you that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence; the views or opinions of another individual about you; and your name if it appears with other personal information relating to you or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about you.
How we collect your personal information
When you purchase products from us or utilise our services either via our website or in person, you may be requested to provide certain personal information. This is information that we process and store for the reasons set out herein.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Why we process and store your personal information
The following are the reasons why we collect, process and store your personal information:
- to identify you;
- in order for us to process your instructions or requests;
- to process your order/s and keep you informed of its progress;
- to give effect to your payment instructions;
- to deliver your purchase to you;
- statistical, research or historical analysis;
- to develop and improve our products and services;
- to update your and our records;
- to identify which of our products and services might interest you;
- to identify and prevent fraud, money laundering and other criminal activities;
- for market research.
We may disclose your personal information:
- in the event we sell or buy any business or assets (in which case we may disclose your personal information to the prospective seller or buyer of such a business or assets);
- if our business or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party (in which case personal information held about customers will be one of the transferred assets);
- if we have a duty to disclose your personal information in order to comply with a legal request, or in order to enforce any of our terms and conditions;
- where we are in law allowed to do so;
- in relation to the implementation, administration and/or enforcement of any agreement entered into with us.
In addition, we utilise your personal information for the other reasons set out in this Privacy Policy.
Disclosure of your personal information
We do not share your personal information with any unaffiliated third parties except as necessary to comply with the reasons for which we use your personal information (see Why we process and store your personal information above), and/or as required or permitted by law or professional standards.
We may share your personal information with any of our affiliated companies or divisions to which we belong to comply with the reasons for which we use your personal information (see Why we process and store your personal information above), to provide joint content and services, to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and violations of our policies and to guide decisions about our products, services and communications.
We may share your personal information with third parties involved in the process of providing the services you request. We have trusted relationships with these carefully selected third parties who perform services on our behalf.
Right to request access to your personal information
You are entitled to request access to your personal information and to request that inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, outdated, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained information be corrected.
Disclosure of your personal information without your consent
Notwithstanding the above, we will disclose your personal information without your consent:
- if we are required to do so by law or a court order;
- to enforce legislation concerning the collection of revenue as defined in section 1 of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997;
- to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of the law by any public body, including the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of offences;
- for the conduct of proceedings in any court or tribunal;
- in the interests of national security;
- if disclosure would not prejudice your legitimate interest or lawful purpose;
- if it would not be reasonably practicable to obtain your consent;.
- the information will not be used in a form in which you would be identified;
- the information will be used for historical, statistical or research purposes.
Data Security Safeguards
We understand the value of your personal information and therefore will take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse or unauthorised alteration. Your personal information is stored in databases that have built-in safeguards and firewalls to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of that information.
We recognise the need for appropriate protection and management of the personal information you share with us.
We protect that information using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology with high security 256 bit encryption and by limiting employee access on a need-to-know basis. We store data in encrypted form on computers and control access via secure web pages.
We utilize Web application firewall technologies to detect and stop malicious activity before it reaches our servers.
Our security systems meet or exceed industry standards and we are constantly monitoring internet developments to ensure our systems evolve as required. We also test our systems regularly to make sure our security mechanisms are up to date. Our server runs Clam anti-virus which is updated as new virus definitions are released and servers are scanned daily.
Our system protects you and your data by utilizing Arbor and Juniper hardware.
All customer passwords are stored in a one-way encrypted format.
We make use of a certified bank approved payment gateway supplier as well as 3D Secure to further enhance the security of credit card transactions.
We are subject to South African data protection laws including, but not limited to, those contained in POPIA, the Consumer Protection Act 2008, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002, and the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000.
Which laws apply?
This Privacy Policy will be governed by and construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of South Africa. To the extent that a court has jurisdiction over any dispute which may arise out of or in connection with this Privacy Policy, you agree that the matter be heard in the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape Division, alternatively a court of competent jurisdiction in South Africa.