BLUE DIRECTORY PRIVACY POLICY

 

1. Policy Application and Changes

1.1          This Privacy Policy (‘’Policy’’) applies to all Visitors and/or Members of the Blue Directory.

1. 2 As a Visitor and/or Member of the Blue Directory, the collection, use and sharing of Their personal and professional information is subject to this Privacy Policy (which includes our Cookie Policy and other documents referenced in this Privacy Policy) and/or any modifications, changes and updates.

1.3          The Blue Directory can modify, update or change this Privacy Policy at any time in its sole discretion without reference to Visitors and/or Members.

1.4          Should the Blue Directory make material changes to this Policy, the Blue Directory will provide notice through the Blue Directory, or by other means, to provide Visitors and/or Members the opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. If Visitors and/or Members object to any changes, they may delete their profile and close their account on the Blue Directory.

1.5          Visitors and/or Members acknowledge that their continued use of the Blue Directory after the Blue Directory publishes or sends a notice about our changes to this Privacy Policy means that the collection, use and sharing of their personal data is subject to the updated Privacy Policy.

1.6             For purposes of this Policy, ‘’personal and professional information’’ means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to:

 

1.6.1         information relating to the 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 of the person;

1.6.2         information relating to the education and/or career, the professional, medical, financial, criminal or employment history of the person;

1.6.3         any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier or other particular assignment to the person;

1.6.4         the biometric information of the person;

1.6.5         the personal opinions, views or preferences of the person;

1.6.6         correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence;

1.6.7         the views or opinions of another individual about the person; and

1.6.8         the name of the person if it appears with other personal information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about the person.

1.7          For purposes of this Policy, “information’’ means all data and information shared and all collected including personal and professional information.

 

 

2. Use of Information Shared with or Collected by the Blue Directory

2.1          Visitors and/or Members provide data to create an account with the Blue Directory such as their name, email address and/or mobile number, other necessary or required information for account creation, and a password.

2.2          Visitors and/or Members create their own Blue Directory profile and may choose  what information on their profile, such as their education, work experience, skills, photo,  Visitors and/or Members should not post or add personal and professional information to their profile that they do not wish to be publicly available.

2.3          The Blue Directory logs the visits of Visitors and/or Members and use of the Blue Directory, including all linked or related mobile applications. The Blue Directory also uses log-ins, cookies, device information and internet protocol (“IP”) addresses to identify Visitors and/or Members and log their use.

2.4          As further described in our Cookie Policy, the Blue Directory use cookies and similar technologies (e.g. beacons, pixels, ad tags and device identifiers) to recognize Visitors and/or Members and/or their device(s) on, off and across different services and devices. The Blue Directory also allow some others to use cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Visitors and/or Members can control cookies through their browser settings and other tools. Visitors may opt out of the use of cookies to track their behavioural use of the Blue Directory.

2.5          The Blue Directory receives data from the devices and networks of Visitors and/or Members, including location data. This information includes data on IP address, proxy server, operating system, browser and add-ons, device identifier and features, and/or ISP or mobile carrier. The Blue Directory will ask Visitors and/or Members to opt-in before the Blue Directory use GPS or other tools to identify Their precise location.

2.6          Inter Blue Directory Communication: Communications through the Blue Directory is also logged with the Blue Directory learn about that.

2.7          Development: The Blue Directory uses all information collected or shared to improve and develop the Blue Directory to ensure that the Blue Directory provides a service of value to its Visitors and/or Members.

2.8          Collaboration: The Blue Directory allows Visitors and/or Members to collaborate with colleagues, search for colleagues, stakeholders and partners for the purposes of collaboration.

2.9          Research: From time to time, the Blue Directory may use the information collected and shared for purposes of relevant research. In this regard, the Blue Directory may work with trusted third parties to undertake this research.

2.10        Legal Disclosures: The Blue Directory may also be required, by law, subpoena or other legal process to share the information collected or shared.  The Blue Directory may also share information collected or shared where it has a good faith belief that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected or actual illegal activities or to assist government enforcement agencies; (2) enforce our agreements with Visitors and/or Members, (3) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations, (4) protect the security or integrity of Blue; or (5) exercise or protect the rights and safety of the Blue Directory, our Visitors and/or Members, personnel, or others. The Blue Directory attempt to notify Members about legal demands for their personal data when appropriate in our judgment, unless prohibited by law or court order or when the request is an emergency.

2.11        Service Providers: The Blue Directory may be required to share information collected or shared with trusted service providers for the maintenance, upkeep and development of the Blue Directory.

2.12        Change in Control or Sale: The Blue Directory may share information collected or shared as part of a sale, merger or change in control, or in preparation for any of these events.  Any other entity which buys the Blue Directory in full or part will have the right to continue to use Visitors and/or Members information in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy.

 

3. Data and Information Retention

3.1          The Blue Directory will retain all personal and professional information for as long as an account is active and open.

3.2          When an account or profile is deleted, deactivated or closed, the Blue Directory may choose to retain certain information in a depersonalized or aggregated form.

3.3          The Blue Directory may also retain personal and professional information even after the closure of an account if reasonably necessary to comply with legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), meet regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse and enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement

3.4          Information Visitors and/or Members have shared with others will remain visible even after account closure. The Blue Directory will also not be able to control the information copied from the Blue Directory by those with whom Visitors and/or Members have shared personal and professional information.

 

4. Rights to Access and Control Personal and Professional Information

4.1          Visitors and/or Members may access, edit, amend or delete their personal and professional information data at any time by accessing their profile and effecting the required changes.

4.2          Where Visitors and/or Members are unable to effect changes to their profile due to restrictive settings, requests to effect such changes or deletions may be made to the Blue Directory, which changes, or deletions will be actioned as soon as reasonably possible.

4.3          Visitors and/or Members may require the Blue Directory to stop using all or some of their personal and professional information if that information is unlawfully held or held without consent.

 

5. Information Security

5.1          The Blue Directory will monitor and seek to prevent security breaches and Visitors and/or Members are required to use and implement the security safeguards designed by the Blue Directory to protect their information.

5.2          Notwithstanding clause 5.1 above, the Blue Directory cannot warrant the security of any information that Visitors and/or Members share. There is no guarantee that data may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. Sharing of personal and professional information is at Visitors and/or Members own risk.

 

6. Complaints, Requests and Queries

 

Complaints, requests and queries related to the collation, storage and retention of personal and professional information should be addressed to

 

Address:              The Water Research Commission, 04 Daventry Street, Lynwood Bridge, 0081

Email:                    @Hlengiwe Cele  – hlengiwec@wrc.org.za

Tel:                         012 761 9300

 

 

 

BLUE DIRECTORY TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE (DRAFT)

1. Contract and Scope of Application

 

• This Contract is concluded by and between the Water Research Commission, and or its successor in title, as the custodian of the Blue Directory website and platform as well as all services offered thereon, and the Visitor and/or Member of the Blue Directory (‘’the Parties’’).
• When accessing the Blue Directory as a Visitor or Member, whether registering, accessing uploading content to, or using in any way whatsoever, you agree to all the terms and conditions contained herein, as well as any amendments to these terms of conditions that may be made from time to time, with or without notice to you.
• Visitors and/or Members use in any way whatsoever of the Blue Directory, is also subject to our Cookie Policy, our Privacy Policy and any documents referenced in those policies, and any updates thereto.
• This Contract applies to the Blue Directory site and all related sites, applications, communications and other services offered by the Blue Directory.
• This Contract also applies to the offsite collection of data for all Blue Directory uses and services, such as our advertisements and marketing initiatives.

2. Changes to this Contract

 

2.1          Minor changes or modifications made to this Contract, our Privacy Policy and our Cookies Policies from time to time may be made without notice to you.

2.2          Material changes or modifications made to this Contract, our Privacy Policy and our Cookies Policies will be made on notice to you via the Blue Directory services, or by other means, to enable you to review the changes before they become effective. We agree that changes cannot be retroactive.

2.3          Should you object to minor or major changes or modifications made to this Contract, our Privacy Policy and our Cookie Policies, you may deregister your account and discontinue use of the Blue Directory.

2.4          Your continued use of the Blue Directory after we publish or send a notice about our changes or modifications to this Contract, our Privacy Policy and our Cookies Policies will be interpreted as consent and agreement with the updated terms.

 

3. Visitors and Members Obligations

 

Visitors and Members agree that they will:

3.1          use their correct name on any profile created on the Blue Directory platform and ensure that all information linked to their profile is truthful;

3.2          choose a strong and secure password;

3.3          keep their password secure and confidential;

3.4          report any misuse or deregister if there is misuse of their profile or account.

3.5          Keep their contact information up to date and relevant;

3.6          only provide information and content that they have the right to share;

3.7          only provide content or information that does not violate the law nor anyone’s rights (including intellectual property rights);

 

Visitors and Members agree that they will not:

• not share an account with anyone else and will follow the Blue Directory rules and honour all applicable laws.
• Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape the Blue Directory or its services or otherwise copy profiles and other data from the Blue Directory platform;
• Override any security feature or bypass or circumvent any access controls or use limits of the Blue Directory Platform;
• Copy, use, disclose or distribute any information obtained from the Blue Directory, whether directly or through third parties (such as search engines), without the consent of the Blue Directory;
• Disclose information that they do not have the consent to disclose (such as confidential or personal information of others;
• Violate the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or other proprietary rights;
• Violate the intellectual property or other rights of the Blue Directory.
• Post anything that contains software viruses, worms, or any other harmful code;
• Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for the Blue Directory or any related technology that is not open source;
• Imply or state that they are affiliated with or endorsed by the Blue Directory without the Blue Directory’s express consent.;
• Rent, lease, loan, trade, sell/re-sell or otherwise monetize the Blue Directory platform or any of its services or related data or access thereto, without the Blue Directory’s consent;
• Deep-link (use of a hyperlink that links to a specific searchable or indexed, piece of content on the website rather than the website’s home page) to the Blue Directory for any purpose other than to promote your profile, without the Blue Directory’s consent.
• Use bots or other automated methods to access the Blue Directory, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages;
• Monitor the Blue Directory’s availability, performance or functionality for any competitive purpose;
• Engage in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of the Blue Directory platform;
• Overlay or otherwise modify the Blue Directory platform or their appearance (such as by inserting elements into the Services or removing, covering, or obscuring an advertisement included on the Services).

4             Status of Information Shared or Uploaded on the Blue Directory

 

4.1          Visitors and Members acknowledge that when they share information on the Blue Directory, the Blue Directory and other Visitors and Members can see, access, copy, store and use that information.

4.2          Visitors and Members specifically acknowledge that all personal information (such as names, origins, contact information, educational backgrounds, working history etc – and specifically defined by the South African Protection of Personal Information Act) shared on the Blue Directory platform can be publicly viewed, copied and used by all Visitors and Members of the Blue Directory Platform and registering, accessing uploading content to, or using the Blue Directory platform in any way whatsoever, they consent to the public access and use to all personal information.

4.3          Where the Blue Directory has made privacy settings available, it will honour the settings chosen.

4.4          The Blue Directory is not obligated to publish or share any information or content on its site, related sites and applications and reserves the right to veto, edit, summarise or correct any information is publishes and shares on its platform at its sole discretion, with or without notice.

 

5. Rights and Limits Granted to the Blue Directory by Visitors and Members

 

5.1       Visitors and Members of the Blue Directory platform own all of the content, feedback, and personal information provided, but grant the Blue Directory platform, website, related sites and applications a non-exclusive worldwide, transferable and sublicensable right to use, copy, modify, distribute, publish, and process, information and content that you provide without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or others.

5.2       Visitors and Members of the Blue Directory platform may terminate the right of use license referred to above for specific content by deleting such content, or generally by closing your account.

5.3       The termination of the right to use license will not cover all content, feedback and personal information shared with others as part of the Blue Directory, especially where they have copied, re-shared or stored such content, feedback and personal information.

5.4       Once the right to use license has been terminated, Visitors and Members will allow for a reasonable time to remove the content, feedback or personal information from backup and other systems of the Blue Directory.

5.5       The Blue Directory will not include Visitors and/or Members content in advertisements for the products and services of third parties to others without your separate consent (including sponsored content). However, the Blue Directory has the right, without payment to you or others, to serve advertisements near Visitors and/or Members content and information. Visitors and/or Members social actions may be visible and included with advertisements, as noted in the Privacy Policy.

 

6. Blue Directory’s Rights and Disclaimers in Relation to Management of the Platform

 

6.1          The Blue Directory may change, suspend, modify or end any service in its sole discretion. To the extent allowed under law, these changes may be effective with or without notice.

6.2          The Blue Directory may limit the manner in which Visitors and/or Members connect and interact with the platform in so far as the number of connections, ability to contact other Visitors and/or other Members if it is of the view that  you may be in breach of this Contract, its named and supporting policies or any law. To the extent allowed under law, these restrictions and limitations may be effective with or without notice.

6.3          The Blue Directory reserves the right to make use of the automated processing of data and information about Visitors and Members to make relevant suggestions to you and others. Visitors and Members specifically consent hereto.

6.4          The Blue Directory reserves all its intellectual property rights in the platform and all services or applications linked thereto. Use of the Blue Directory, in any manner whatsoever, does not transfer ownership of content or information made available through the Blue Directory.

6.5          Trademarks and logos used on or in connection with the Blue Directory are the trademarks of their respective owners.

6.6          The Blue Directory does not guarantee that the service or platform will function without interruption or error.

6.7          The Blue Directory provides access to the service and platform on an “as is’’ and “as available’’ basis.

6.8          To the extent permitted under law, and unless the Blue Directory has concluded a separate written agreement that supersedes this Contract, the Blue Directory, its affiliates and service providers shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of data, opportunities reputation, profits or revenues related to the service in any manner whatsoever.

 

7. Other Content, Sites and Applications linked to the Blue Directory

 

7.1          The use of the content and information of others posted on the Blue Director, is at Visitors’ and Members’ own risk.

7.2          Third parties may offer their products and services through the Blue Directory, but the Blue Directory will be held responsible for liable for third-party activities.

7.3          Incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, delayed, misleading, illegal, offensive or otherwise harmful content and information may be encountered by Visitors and Members when using (in any manner whatsoever) the Blue Directory. Although the Blue Directory will make reasonable efforts to enforce content and information standards, the Blue Directory cannot be responsible or liable for inadequacies of the content of other Visitors and/or Members.

7.4          Visitors and Members agree and acknowledge that the Blue Directory cannot be held responsible or liable for any such misuse of its platform and the risk that Visitors and Members may mistakenly be associated with content of other Visitors and/or Members.

7.5          Visitors and Members are responsible for deciding whether to grant access to or use third-party applications or sites that link to the Blue Directory, and do so at their own risk, without further recourse to the Blue Directory.

 

8. Termination

• Either the Blue Directory or Visitors and/or Members can terminate this Contract at any time with notice to the other.
• Notwithstanding clause 8.1 above, Visitors and/or Members may close their account or delete their profile from the Blue Directory at any time they so choose.
• On termination, Visitors and Members lose their right to access or use the Blue Directory.
• The Blue Directory’s rights to use and disclose Visitors and/or Members feedback; Visitors and/or Members’ rights to further re-share content and information shared through the Blue Directory to the extent copied or re-shared prior to termination; and Clauses 4,5,6 and 7 of this Contract , will survive termination of this Contract.

9. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

 

In the unlikely event we end up in a legal dispute, the Parties agree to resolve the dispute in South African courts using South African law.

 

10. General Terms

 

10.1        If a court with authority over this Contract finds any part of it unenforceable, the Parties agree that the court should modify the terms to make that part enforceable while still achieving its intent. If the court cannot do that, the Parties agree to ask the court to remove that unenforceable part and still enforce the rest of this Contract.

10.2        To the extent allowed by law, the English language version of this Contract is binding and other translations, if any, are for convenience only.

10.3        This Contract (including additional terms that may be provided by us when you engage with a feature of the Blue Directory) is the only agreement between the Parties and supersedes all prior agreements for the Services.

10.4    Should the Blue Directory does not act to enforce a breach of this Contract, that does not mean that The Blue Directory has waived its right to enforce this Contract.

10.5    Visitors and/or Members may not assign or transfer this Contract to anyone without the Blue Directory’s consent. However, Visitors and/or Members agree that the Blue Directory may assign this Contract to its affiliates or a party that buys it without Visitors’ and/or Members’

consent.

10.6    There are no third-party beneficiaries to this Contract.

10.7    The only way to provide the Blue Directory or the WRC with legal notice is at the addresses provided in Clause 12.

 

11. Complaints Regarding Content

 

Complaints concerning content posted by our Visitors and/or Members should be addressed to the contact information contained in Clause 12.

 

12           Blue Directory Contact Information

 

For correspondence, notices or service of legal process, please contact us:

 

Address:              The Water Research Commission, 04 Daventry Street, Lynwood Bridge, 0081

Email:                    @Hlengiwe Cele  – hlengiwec@wrc.org.za

Tel:                         012 761 9300

 

 

 

END