Privacy Policy

RealFact created this privacy policy to demonstrate our commitment to, and respect for your privacy. RealFact wants to earn your trust and confidence by implementing the principles of disclosure and informed consent. RealFact demonstrates our commitment to your privacy by disclosing our information practices to you.

It is your responsibility to keep up-to-date with changes to the Privacy Policy, which will be accessible through a clear and conspicuous link near the bottom of most pages of the RealFact website. Even if you become an inactive user, we will adhere to the policies and practices as described in this Privacy Policy, which may be revised from time to time.

Please note that the RealFact website contains links to other websites and may allow other sites to be co-branded with the RealFact name. Websites that are linked to the RealFact website or carry the RealFact brand for co-branding or marketing purposes may have privacy policies which differ from that of the RealFact website.

How can you access or edit your registration information?

The RealFact website provides its registered users the ability to access and edit their registration information. You can access your registration information by following these steps:

Go to http://www.realfact.net. Near the top-left of the page, if you were not automatically logged in by an identifying cookie, you will receive a prompt to log in to the RealFact Website with your RealFact website username and password.

After you have logged in, you can click on the "My Settings" link in the menu on the left of the page. You will be taken to your User Control Panel page, which contains your user details. Click on the "Edit Details" button near the bottom of your user details to edit your personal information.

Make the necessary changes and click the Update button to save your changes.

What does RealFact consider to be personal information?

For the purpose of this privacy policy, "personal information" is defined as in the Promotions of Access to information Act 2 of 2000, and includes your:

1. name and surname;
2. contact numbers;
3. non-personal browsing habits and click patterns;
4. email address;
5. IP address (the unique identifier, usually assigned buy you ISP); and/or
6. Your selected username and password.

What does RealFact consider to be anonymous information?

Any information, which cannot be tied back to a specific individual, is considered anonymous information.

What information does the RealFact website collect?

RealFact will not electronically collect any personal information which you do not consent to, or voluntarily submit to the RealFact website. RealFact may store some of your personal information in encrypted cookies on your own computer.

If you contact the RealFact website, we may keep a record of that correspondence. We do not collect any email addresses of those who communicate with the RealFact website via email. We use the information provided in order to respond to the email.

When you register to use the RealFact website as a member, you might select a username and password, and provide RealFact with your name, surname, email address, and other information. Users who complete the registration process are given member access to the RealFact website and can take full advantage of the RealFact website experience.

While you are not required to register for any of the services on the RealFact website, some products and services may not function properly or may not be accessible unless you do.

RealFact collects anonymous information, which cannot be tied back to a specific individual. This may include information about the different areas that you visit within the RealFact website as well as the time and frequency at which you visit them. You do not have to register with the RealFact website before RealFact can collect such anonymous information.

RealFact collects the content that you contribute, transmit or post on the RealFact website. This includes your IP address and your username, which is used to identify you as the author of such content. For further information about RealFact's policy on maintaining transmitted or posted content, please see the RealFact website Terms and Conditions.

What does RealFact do with the information they collect?

Any personally identifiable information you share with RealFact when registering for our website, products and services is maintained and accessible only by RealFact unless specifically stated otherwise.

RealFact will not sell your personal information or make any of your personal information available to any third party, except through legal process.

RealFact shall take reasonable steps to protect the personal information entrusted to us, but cannot guarantee, or make any warrantees about the security of such information.

RealFact only gathers personal information to make it possible for the RealFact website to

1. make available, or communicate requested information or services to you,
2. identify the author of user and member-contributed content,
3. improve the services offered to users,
4. compile anonymous browsing statistics and
5. diagnose server and software problems.

If you enter a contest on the RealFact website, RealFact will use your registration information to contact you in the event that you win.

If you subscribed to the RealFact newsletter, RealFact will use your registration information to deliver the RealFact newsletter to you. If you wish to un-subscribe to the RealFact newsletter, please follow the un-subscribe instructions available near the bottom of each RealFact newsletter.

RealFact aspires to become your favorite Internet resource for South African real estate information by providing the information, services, and products that are most relevant to you. To achieve this goal, the RealFact website must collect information to understand what users like you enjoy about the RealFact website, and what you don't enjoy.

RealFact collects some information each time a visitor comes to the RealFact website so we can improve the overall quality of our visitors' online experience and make provisions for future demands on infrastructure. By collecting visitor statistics, we can also better prepare future content based on your interests.

RealFact may collect, use and share any anonymous information it gathers with whomever it sees fit. RealFact owns and retains all rights to non-personal statistical information it collects.

RealFact may, but currently does not, collect anonymous data and share it with third-party advertisers in an aggregate form. RealFact may disclose to those advertisers the numbers of RealFact users and the number of those people who have seen and "clicked" on a particular display. In addition, we may disclose anonymous results from online surveys to third-party advertisers or to RealFact's product and service providers. No personally identifiable information will be disclosed as part of this process.

RealFact uses aggregate data to perform statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our registered users and visitors, to measure user interests regarding specific areas of the RealFact website, and to analyze how and where best to use our resources. Without such data, we would not know which parts of the RealFact website are the most popular, and we would not be able to change and update the content and services appropriately. Please note that we may share this aggregate information with any third party RealFact sees fit.

RealFact collects an aggregate list of search terms which brings users to the RealFact website. This information is collected anonymously and used primarily for the purposes of product development, monitoring, and improvement. Please note that we may share this aggregate information with any third party RealFact sees fit.

RealFact may use your registration information to "pre-populate" online forms that are displayed for the purpose of collecting additional individual data by the RealFact website, selected third-party sites, and/or sponsors and advertisers.

RealFact may use your registration information to contact you about changes or enhancements to products and services on the RealFact website, issues regarding your membership, or RealFact website Terms and Conditions violations or suspensions.

Who is collecting the information?

When you register for the RealFact website, that information is collected and maintained solely by the RealFact website.

Be aware that the RealFact website contains links that take you to external sites not under control of RealFact. Some of these sites may collect personally identifiable information from you. While RealFact hopes that all third parties involved adhere to our policies regarding the privacy of our users, the RealFact website Privacy Policy does not cover third-party data collection practices and the RealFact website cannot assume any responsibility for any actions of third parties.

What are cookies and sessions?

Cookies and sessions play an important role in making the Internet work, but there is much confusion among Internet users about what cookies and are and how they are used.

A session cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred from a website to your computer's hard drive. The session cookie is used so that the website may identify your web browser and passively provide continuity throughout your activities on the website.

A cookie will not allow a website to learn any personally identifiable information (such as your real name and address), unless you have otherwise disclosed it, and the website has irresponsibly placed that information in an un-encrypted cookie.

HTML web pages are "dumb". They cannot remember what you did on the previous HTML page, unless some information is passed to it through the address line, the web server, or your own computer. "Dumb" HTML pages cause a problem for websites like the RealFact Website. For instance: if you log into the RealFact website and then click through to one of the RealFact article pages, the RealFact website would not be able to remember that you have already logged in using your username and password!

Cookies are currently used on most major websites and are an industry standard. It is possible to adjust your web browser preferences to alert you when a website attempts to send a cookie to your hard drive. You may also set it to refuse cookies altogether or to refuse the RealFact website cookie in particular. RealFact does not require you to use cookies, but keep in mind that certain areas and services will not function properly if you set your browser to refuse them.

How does RealFact use cookies and sessions?

RealFact may temporarily collect anonymous information passively using cookies and sessions. The RealFact website uses sessions and cookies to identify your browser for the duration of your visit.

Cookies also allow RealFact to automatically recognize your web browser when you visit our website. To help serve you better, RealFact generally uses cookies to store certain encrypted registration information and user preference information in cookies, or to associate cookies with registration, preference or profile information stored on our web server/s. This allows us to

1. deliver the RealFact website, products and services more efficiently in the way you require.
2. prevent others from using your account.
3. determine that only one user is logged on under the same member name at a time.
4. anonymously measure statistics such as audience size and traffic patterns.

With whom does RealFact share collected information?

Whenever you provide registration information on co-branded product or service pages, that data may be shared with the third-party company providing the product or service. You should make every effort to read the individual privacy policies of such third parties and make an informed decision on your own whether to continue based upon these sites' privacy practices and your own discretion. You may opt-out of sharing your information with such providers by choosing not to use that product or service.

When you follow links on the RealFact website, regarding the purchase of goods or services, you will submit data directly to the third party website from whom you order goods or services. Please review carefully the privacy policies of third party websites that you access through the RealFact website.

You will also find direct links on the RealFact website to other third party websites. Some of these sites are authorized to use the RealFact website brands and/or logos. This Privacy Policy covers no third-party sites. If you feel that a site using a RealFact website brand and/or logo does not follow an acceptable privacy policy, please contact RealFact by email at privacy@realfact.net.

RealFact may disclose contact information about individual users who have consented to receive communications from a third party to that third party, if they agree to maintain the confidentiality of such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

RealFact will disclose information about individual users to governmental or judicial authorities or law enforcement agencies, or to other individuals or entities in response to a court order or other legal process. In matters involving a danger to personal or public safety, RealFact may voluntarily provide information to appropriate governmental authorities.

If the RealFact website or any part thereof is acquired by, or merged with another company, RealFact may transfer personal identifiable information about you to that company.