Privacy Policy | Firebug Media Consulting

1. Who we are

Firebug Media Consulting ("Firebug," "we," "us") is the responsible party for the personal information collected through this website, in accordance with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

Information Officer: Earl Ryan
Contact: hello@firebugmedia.org

2. What we collect

Depending on how you interact with this site, we may collect:

Contact details you provide directly — name, email address, phone number, company name — when you fill in an enquiry form or email us.
Technical data collected automatically — IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited — via standard web analytics.
Communication records — the content of enquiries, briefs, or correspondence you send us, kept for the duration of any working relationship and a reasonable period after.

We do not collect special personal information (as defined under POPIA — health, religious belief, political opinion, etc.) unless you volunteer it in correspondence, and we have no reason to ask for it.

3. Why we collect it

We process personal information only for specified, lawful purposes:

To respond to enquiries and quote on work.
To deliver contracted services (copywriting, web development, consulting, design).
To improve this website's performance and usability via aggregated, anonymised analytics.
To meet legal, accounting, or regulatory obligations.

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to third parties. Ever. This isn't a marketing line — it's simply not a revenue stream we're interested in.

4. Legal basis for processing

Processing is carried out on the basis of:

Consent — where you voluntarily submit information via a form or email.
Contract — where processing is necessary to deliver services you've engaged us for.
Legitimate interest — where processing (e.g. anonymised site analytics) is necessary for reasonable business operation and doesn't override your rights.

5. Cookies and analytics

This site may use cookies or similar technologies for basic functionality and analytics (e.g. Google Analytics). These tools may collect anonymised or pseudonymised usage data. You can disable cookies through your browser settings; doing so may affect site functionality but won't lock you out of it.

6. Third-party sharing

We may share information with:

Service providers who support our operations (hosting, email, analytics platforms) — bound by their own data protection obligations.
Legal authorities, where required by law.

We do not share client information with competitors, third-party marketers, or anyone outside the direct scope of delivering your project.

7. Data security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, or disclosure. No system is perfectly secure, and we won't pretend otherwise — but negligence isn't part of how we operate.

8. Data retention

Personal information is retained only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected — typically for the duration of a client relationship plus a reasonable period for legal, accounting, or portfolio-reference purposes, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised.

9. Your rights

Under POPIA, you have the right to:

Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
Request correction of inaccurate or outdated information.
Request deletion of your information, subject to legal or contractual retention requirements.
Object to processing on reasonable grounds.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your information has been mishandled.

To exercise any of these rights, contact the Information Officer above.

10. Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in law or practice. The "last updated" date at the top will always reflect the current version. Material changes will be communicated where practical.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy or how your information is handled: hello@firebugmedia.org.