1. Who We Are
Beer in South Africa (beer-in-south-africa.com) is an independent editorial website edited by BiBi. We cover South African beer culture, brewery guides, reviews, and traditional brewing. We are not a retailer and do not sell alcohol.
Information Officer: BiBi
Contact: Contact page or email [email protected]
2. POPIA Compliance (South Africa)
We comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), 2013. As a "responsible party" under POPIA, we process your personal information lawfully, for a specific purpose, and only to the extent necessary.
- Lawful basis: Legitimate interest (providing editorial content) and consent (where you submit a contact form).
- Your POPIA rights: You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time by contacting us.
- Data subject complaints: You may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.
3. Information We Collect
Information you provide
- Contact form: Name, email, and message content when you use our contact form.
- Newsletter: Email address if you subscribe (currently not active).
Information collected automatically
- Analytics: We use Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymised usage data (pages visited, time on site, device type, approximate location). No personally identifiable information is sent to Google Analytics.
- Server logs: Standard web server logs (IP address, browser type, referring URL). These are retained for 30 days for security and debugging.
4. How We Use Your Information
- To respond to your contact form submissions.
- To improve our content and website experience.
- To detect and prevent abuse or security threats.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.
5. Cookies
We use minimal cookies:
- Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*) — anonymised usage analytics. These are first-party cookies with a 2-year expiry.
- Theme preference — stores your light/dark mode choice locally.
We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or retargeting. You can disable cookies in your browser settings at any time, though this may affect site functionality.
6. Third-Party Services
- Google Analytics 4: Usage analytics. Google Privacy Policy
- YouTube/Spotify: Embedded content is loaded from these platforms. Their respective privacy policies apply.
7. Data Retention
Contact form submissions are retained for 12 months, then deleted. Analytics data is retained per Google Analytics default settings (14 months). Server logs are retained for 30 days.
8. Data Security
We use HTTPS encryption, secure hosting, and follow industry-standard security practices. However, no method of electronic transmission is 100% secure.
9. Children
This website discusses alcoholic beverages and is intended for users aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance.
11. Contact
For privacy-related queries, data access requests, or to exercise your POPIA rights, please use our contact page or email [email protected].