Legal

Privacy Policy

OurNews (Pty) Ltd — Effective August 2026

OurNews (Pty) Ltd (“OurNews”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and how we handle it in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and applicable South African law.

1. Who We Are

OurNews (Pty) Ltd is a South African company operating a digital platform for funeral support services. Our products include OurMultimedia (photography, videography, live streaming), Imiphanga (funeral notice broadcasts), Obituary Creator, GeoFindMe, eObituary, and OurVoices. We are the Responsible Party as defined under POPIA.

Email: info@ournews.co.za

Phone: 063 145 2504

Website: www.ournews.co.za

2. Information We Collect

We collect only what is necessary to deliver our services. Below is a breakdown by product:

All products (sign-in)

  • Google account name, email address, and profile photo via Firebase Authentication

GeoFindMe

  • GPS coordinates and location name (only when you actively request a location fix)
  • Saved location history (only if you are signed in and choose to save)
  • When using "Share with Person": the recipient's email address, to send the invitation and match it to their account upon sign-in
  • A snapshot of the shared location (name, category, and GPS coordinates) stored within the invitation record at the time of sharing

Obituary Creator

  • Deceased person's name, dates, and obituary text that you enter
  • Saved obituaries are stored against your account

Imiphanga (Submit a Notice)

  • Deceased person's details, family contact name, phone number, and funeral details
  • Supporting images or documents you upload

OurMultimedia (Book a Service)

  • Your name, email, phone number, event date, and service requirements

Contact Form

  • Your name, email address, phone number, and message content

eObituary

  • Deceased person's name, dates, obituary text and biography you enter
  • Photographs and audio files you upload to the memorial
  • Service location details you add
  • Your name as the creator of the memorial
  • Tribute messages submitted by visitors (attributed to their display name where signed in)

Gifts (Gift Purchases)

  • Purchaser name and email address
  • Recipient family's email address
  • Gift message where provided
  • Payment order reference — payment is processed by Yoco. OurNews does not store or have access to your card details.

OurVoices Waitlist

  • Your email address and role preference (family or artist)

Partner Programmes (Parlour, Association, Ambassador)

  • Business name, registered address, and contact details (name, email, phone)
  • Business registration number and VAT number where provided
  • Social media handles and audience information for ambassador applications
  • Bank account details for commission and reward payouts (collected separately; not stored in our application database)
  • Commission earnings, monthly qualifying sales totals, and tier progression — stored in our financial records for payout processing
  • Referral attribution data: which partner referred a completed purchase, stored as a partner ID on the order record

3. How We Use Your Information

  • To authenticate you and maintain your account
  • To deliver the specific service you requested (booking, obituary storage, notice submission)
  • To respond to contact form enquiries
  • To generate a shareable location link (GeoFindMe)
  • To send you a waitlist notification (OurVoices, with your consent)
  • To calculate and process partner programme commissions and rewards (parlour trade tiers, association commissions, ambassador referral rewards)
  • To improve our platform and fix technical issues
  • For marketing purposes where you have given written consent — you may opt out at any time

GeoFindMe Location Sharing

When you choose to share a saved location with another person using the "Share with Person" feature, the following applies:

  • We collect and store the recipient's email address solely to deliver the invitation and to match it to their account when they sign in.
  • The location name, category, and GPS coordinates are captured in a snapshot stored within the invitation record at the time you send the invitation.
  • An email is sent to the recipient's address on your behalf, containing the location name and a link to accept — GPS coordinates are not included in the email.
  • Invitations expire after 30 days if not accepted.
  • You can revoke a pending invitation at any time before it is accepted.
  • If the recipient accepts, they receive an independent copy of the location in their own account. You will not see their copy or any changes they make to it.
  • Invitation records (including your email address, the recipient's email address, and the coordinate snapshot) are retained for up to 90 days after the invitation reaches a terminal state (accepted, declined, revoked, or expired), then eligible for deletion. Contact us to request early deletion.

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate the platform. Each has its own privacy policy:

  • Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Hosting): Stores your account data, content, and uploaded files. Hosted in Google data centres.
  • Google Cloud Run: Runs the server-side application logic.
  • Google Gemini AI: Used by Obituary Creator to assist with writing. Obituary text may be sent to Google's AI service for generation.
  • Yoco: Processes card payments for gift purchases on the OurNews platform. Yoco is a PCI-DSS compliant payment processor. OurNews does not store or have access to your card details.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes. We may share your information with trusted service providers (listed in Section 4) solely to operate the platform, and only to the extent necessary. We may disclose information if required to do so by law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of OurNews, our users, or the public.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as long as needed to provide you with our services. You may delete your account and associated data at any time by contacting us at info@ournews.co.za. Booking and transaction records may be retained for legal and accounting purposes as required under South African law.

7. Your Rights under POPIA

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:

  • Be notified when your personal information is collected
  • Access the personal information we hold about you
  • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
  • Request deletion of your personal information (subject to legal obligations)
  • Object to the processing of your personal information
  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
  • Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa

To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@ournews.co.za.

8. Cookies & Local Storage

We use session cookies for authentication (to keep you signed in) and browser local storage / session storage for short-term state (such as saving your GPS fix temporarily during the sign-in flow in GeoFindMe). We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. You can clear cookies and local storage at any time via your browser settings, which will sign you out of the platform.

If you arrive at OurNews via an ambassador referral link (e.g. ournews.co.za/api/r/CODE), we set a first-party cookie (_ournews_ref) that records the ambassador’s referral code. This cookie is valid for 30 days, is set to HttpOnly (not readable by JavaScript), and is used solely to attribute completed purchases to the referring ambassador for commission purposes. No personal data is stored in this cookie — only the ambassador’s referral code. You can clear it at any time via your browser settings.

9. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, theft, and unauthorised access. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Firebase Security Rules restrict database access to authenticated users for their own data. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure — while we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by updating the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Contact Us

For any privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints:

OurNews (Pty) Ltd

Email: info@ournews.co.za

Phone: 063 145 2504

Website: www.ournews.co.za

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforeg.org.za.