Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statment explains the Smart Cape policy with regard to the privacy of personal information about you and the way in which the City of Cape Town looks after your personal files, such as e-mails.

By making continued use of the Smart Cape service you agree and accept the terms of this statement, including any subsequent changes to it. If you do not agree with the policy explained in this statement, then please do not use the Smart Cape service.

The City of Cape Town is committed to providing access to information technology to the citizens of Cape Town, and in doing so recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information collected by the users of its Smart Cape service. The intent of this privacy statement is to balance the legitimate interests of the City of Cape Town in collecting and using information and users reasonable expectations of privacy.

Information collected

The City of Cape Town collects information about you when you register as a Smart Cape user. This includes your name, ID number, age and address. Smart Cape also asks for information about your educational qualifications and employment, but you do not have to give this information if your do not want to. However, this information is useful in assisting the City of Cape Town to justify and improve its services.

The Smart Cape system also keeps track of the following:

  • When, where and how often you use the Smart Cape service, including which applications you use.
  • When, where and how often you send or receive e-mail.

The managers of the Smart Cape system also potentially have access to your e-mail. This includes:

  • E-mail messages sent by you, including any file attachments.
  • E-mail messages sent to you, including any file attachments.

It is the policy of the City of Cape Town to keep this e-mail confidential and not to allow access to it by anyone, except if required to do so by law. However, Smart Cape users should be aware that their e-mail cannot be considered to be completely secure or private.

Please also be aware that websites that you visit may collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those websites.

How this information is used

The primary goal in collecting personal information is to provide Smart Cape users with a better service. This information is compiled and analysed on an aggregated basis. By knowing a little about you, the City of Cape Town is able to support the Smart Cape service, improve it where necessary, and expand the service so that more people can benefit from it. Therefore, the information gathered is used for:

  • Smart Cape user administration
  • Technical administration of the Smart Cape system and network
  • Research and development of the Smart Cape service
  • Marketing of the Smart Cape service to users, partners and sponsors.

The City of Cape Town explicitly does not use the information gathered to relate specific computer usage activities, patterns or habits to particular named individuals.

Who this information is shared with

As a general rule, the City of Cape Town will not disclose any of your personally identifiable information except when we have your permission or under special circumstances, such as when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.

Specifically, the City of Cape Town may use certain personally identifiable information for the purpose of sending e-mail to users of the Smart Cape Service.

The City of Cape Town may also disclose user information in special cases when there is reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating the Smart Cape Conditions of Use or may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) the City of Cape Town's rights or property, other Smart Cape users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities.

Aggregated, anonymous information may be shared by the City of Cape Town with partners or sponsors.

The City of Cape Town has implemented security policies, rules and technical procedures to protect the personal information collected by Smart Cape from:

  • Unauthorized access
  • Improper use or disclosure
  • Unlawful modification
  • Unlawful destruction or accidental loss.

All of the employees of the City of Cape Town and its contractors and agents who are in any way involved with the provision and management of the Smart Cape service are obliged to respect the confidentiality of Smart Cape users' information.

Disclosure and contact details

You can review the information provided by you when you registered as a Smart Cape user by clicking on the button provided on the computer screen used to start a session at a Smart Cape Access Point. You can also modify and update any of this information at the same time.

If you think that your privacy has been breached or that any use has been made of your personal information that is not covered by this privacy statement, please contact the managers of the Smart Cape service by requesting the Access Point Administrator to call the Smart Cape Help Desk on telephone number 021 400 3434.

If requested, the City of Cape Town will provide any Smart Cape user with a readable copy of the information held about him or her. This information will be provided without charge. Please note that you may be asked to provide proof of your identity.

Compliance

The City of Cape Town believes this Privacy Statement to be compliant with the South Africa Promotion of Access to Information Act of January 200. It also believes it to be compliant with the UN Guidelines for the Regulation of Personal Data Files, which is a global self-regulatory instrument adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/95 of 14 December 1990.

If you have any questions or queries about the privacy policies of the City of Cape Town as applied to the users of the Smart Cape service, please contact the managers of the Smart Cape service as above.