Responsible party and information officer
Coolhost (Pty) Ltd, 2 Fir Street, Observatory, Regus Business Centre, 1st Floor, Block B, North Park, Black River Park, Cape Town, South Africa.
The head of the company is the information officer. Contact: [email protected], subject “Privacy request”. Telephone details are available from that address if you need to speak to a person.
Information we collect from you
When you create an account we ask for your name and email address, and for a password. Company name and telephone number are optional. When you order, we add the billing details the invoice needs, and the technical details of the product (a domain name, a mailbox, a server). When you write to support we keep the correspondence. When you pay, PayFast collects the payment instrument and tells us whether the payment succeeded.
When you visit the website, our server and Cloudflare see your IP address and the page you requested, in the ordinary server log. We do not drop an analytics cookie unless you have allowed analytics. We do not load Google Fonts unless you have allowed functional cookies.
If a law, a registry rule, or a later step in the service produces more information (for example a certificate authority asks for a validation email), we will tell you at that step what is being asked and why.
Whether you have to provide it
Name, email and a password are required to open an account. Billing details are required before we can issue a tax invoice. Registrant details are required before a registry will register a domain. If you do not provide a required field, we cannot perform that part of the contract.
Telephone number, company name, optional cookies, Google Fonts and promotional email are voluntary. Refusing them does not stop you buying a service. Refusing the necessary session cookie stops the client area from keeping you signed in.
Why we collect it
- To create and secure your account, and to provide hosting, email, domains and the other products you order.
- To invoice you, collect payment, and keep the tax record the law requires.
- To send service messages: invoices, renewal reminders, suspension warnings, password resets and ticket replies.
- To investigate abuse, fraud and faults, using logs.
- To send promotional email only where you have opted in, or where the Consumer Protection Act allows a message to an existing customer about a similar service. You can unsubscribe in the message.
The legal bases are the contract, a law that applies to us, our legitimate interest in securing the service, and consent where this notice or the cookie bar says we are asking for consent.
Who we give it to
PayFast. The domain registry for the extension you buy, and ZADNA’s rules for .za. A certificate authority if you buy SSL. SiteLock or CodeGuard if you buy that add-on. Cloudflare, for DNS and for delivery of coolhost.co.za. The operator of a server located outside South Africa, if the product you bought is hosted there. A professional adviser under a duty of confidence. A court or authority when the law says we must.
We do not sell personal information.
A transfer outside South Africa happens when the registry, the certificate authority, Google Fonts (only if you allow it), or a USA server you ordered requires it. We do that transfer because it is necessary to perform the contract, which is a permitted ground under section 72 of the Act. The privacy policy names the United States where a product page sells a USA server.
Your rights, in short
You may ask whether we hold information about you, ask for a copy, ask for a correction, ask for deletion where we may not keep it, object to processing based on legitimate interest, and withdraw consent. You may complain to the Information Regulator. The address, the 30-day aim, and the limits (tax records, legal claims) are set out in the privacy policy. Start with an email to [email protected], subject “Privacy request”.
Information Regulator (South Africa), JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001. 010 023 5200. [email protected]. inforegulator.org.za.
Operators and your own customers
If you host a website that collects personal information about your own visitors or customers, you are the responsible party for that information. We host the server as an operator. You must have your own lawful basis and your own notice for those people. Our processing of their information is limited to storing and transmitting it so the service runs, securing the platform, and complying with the law. Ask support if you need a short description of that arrangement for your own privacy notice.