Legal
Privacy Policy
How WDS Creative collects, uses, shares and protects personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and how to exercise your rights.
Questions
Contact WDS Creative
Legal
How WDS Creative collects, uses, shares and protects personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), and how to exercise your rights.
Questions
This Privacy Policy explains how WDS Creative (Pty) Ltd ("WDS Creative", "we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit our website, contact us or work with us. We are a South African company, and we process personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").
WDS Creative is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy. You can reach us here:
| Legal name | WDS Creative (Pty) Ltd |
|---|---|
| Trading name | WDS Creative |
| Registration number | 2025/693482/07 |
| Physical address | 43 5th Street, Fontainebleau, Randburg, Gauteng, 2193 |
| Postal address | 43 5th Street, Fontainebleau, Randburg, Gauteng, 2193 |
| hello@wdscreative.biz | |
| Phone (South Africa) | +27 81 708 9209 |
| Phone (United States) | +1 385 429 7319 |
| Website | www.wdscreative.biz |
Our Information Officer makes sure we comply with POPIA and handles requests and complaints about personal information.
| Name | Mel Larsen |
|---|---|
| hello@wdscreative.biz | |
| Phone | +27 81 708 9209 (South Africa) or +1 385 429 7319 (United States) |
| Source | What we collect |
|---|---|
| Project enquiry form | Your name, email address, phone number, company, the service you need, your message, and your answers to the project questions, such as budget range, timeline and decision-making role. |
| Sent automatically with the form | Your IP address, browser type, the date and time, and whether you used our South African or United States site. |
| Email, phone, WhatsApp and social media | Your contact details and anything you include in your messages to us. |
| Clients and suppliers | Names and contact details of the people we work with, project correspondence and approvals, quotes, invoices and payment records, and access details for systems we build, host or support. |
| Visiting the website | Your IP address and request details, which our hosting provider processes to deliver and protect the site, and a few items stored in your browser. If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics also records the pages you visit, how you found our site, your approximate location and your type of device and browser. See our Cookie Policy. |
Special personal information. We do not ask for special personal information, such as health, religious, biometric or criminal information. Please do not include it in our forms. If it is part of a client project, we handle it only as our agreement with that client and POPIA allow.
Children. Our website and services are aimed at businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian.
POPIA lets us process personal information only for a lawful reason. We rely on these grounds in section 11 of POPIA:
| Why we use it | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| To reply to your enquiry, judge whether we are the right fit, and prepare a proposal or quote | Steps you asked us to take before a contract; our legitimate interest |
| To deliver websites, software, hosting, support and other services | Performance of our contract with you |
| To invoice, keep accounting records and meet tax obligations | Contract; legal obligation |
| To protect our forms and website from spam, bots and abuse | Our legitimate interest |
| To show you the South African or United States version of the site | Our legitimate interest |
| To understand how visitors find and use our website, so we can improve it (Google Analytics) | Your consent, given in our cookie banner |
| To send you news or offers about our services | Your consent, or our existing client relationship |
| To comply with the law, court orders and lawful requests from authorities | Legal obligation |
Your name, email address and message are needed to answer an enquiry. Everything else on the form is optional, but it helps us respond properly.
We do not add enquiries to a mailing list. In line with section 69 of POPIA, we send electronic marketing only if you have agreed to receive it, or if you are an existing client and the message is about similar services. Every marketing message explains how to opt out, free of charge, and you can also opt out by emailing hello@wdscreative.biz.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.
When we host a website, build or run software, or set up systems for a client, we often handle personal information that belongs to that client, such as their customers' details. In that role we are an operator under POPIA. We act only on the client's instructions and under our agreement with them, and the client's own privacy policy applies. If you have a question about that information, please contact the client first.
Some of our service providers, including Google (if you accept analytics cookies) and Cloudflare, run servers outside South Africa. We transfer personal information across borders only as section 72 of POPIA permits: where the recipient is bound by law, binding rules or an agreement that gives adequate protection, where you consent, or where the transfer is needed to perform a contract with you.
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, as section 19 of POPIA requires. These include encrypted HTTPS connections, a strict browser security policy on our website, storing form submissions where only signed-in staff can see them, limiting access to people who need it, strong passwords and multi-factor authentication where available, backups, and keeping software up to date.
If we believe personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will tell the Information Regulator and the people affected as soon as reasonably possible, as section 22 of POPIA requires.
When we no longer need personal information, we delete or destroy it, or de-identify it so that it can no longer identify you.
Under POPIA you have the right to:
How to make a request. Email our Information Officer at hello@wdscreative.biz. You may use the prescribed forms in the POPIA Regulations, Form 1 for an objection or Form 2 for a correction or deletion, but a clear email is enough. We will confirm your identity before we act and respond within a reasonable time. Requests for copies of records are handled under our PAIA Manual, and we will tell you about any prescribed fee before we proceed.
We are a South African company, so POPIA governs how we handle personal information, including that of visitors and clients in the United States and elsewhere. You can use the rights described under Your rights wherever you live. We do not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact our Information Officer first so we can try to put it right. You may also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa):
| Website | inforegulator.org.za (opens in a new tab) |
|---|---|
| POPIA complaints | POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za |
| General enquiries | enquiries@inforegulator.org.za |
Our Cookie Policy explains the small files and browser storage our website uses, including the Google Analytics cookies we set only with your consent, and how to change your choice.
Our website links to other websites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and our software product sites. We are not responsible for how those websites handle personal information, so please read their privacy policies.
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page, with its effective date at the top.
For any question about this policy or your personal information, contact Mel Larsen, our Information Officer, at hello@wdscreative.biz or +27 81 708 9209.
