This notice explains how Cernitex (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/452042/07, Cernitex, we) processes personal information, as the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) requires. It covers:
- the website cernitex.com;
- Cernitex Maps at maps.cernitex.com;
- the Cernitex API at api.cernitex.com;
- Cernitex for AI assistants, our MCP servers that apps such as Claude connect to.
Together these are the Services. The notice has two parts:
- Part A is about you, as a visitor or account holder.
- Part B is about people named in the public records that our data is built from.
Who we are and how to reach us
| Responsible party | Cernitex (Pty) Ltd, 40 Kingfisher Close, Arend Avenue, Fourways, Johannesburg, 2191, South Africa |
| Information Officer | Barry Fourie |
| hello@cernitex.com, subject "Privacy" |
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Part A. You, as a visitor or account holder
A1. Visiting cernitex.com without an account
You can read cernitex.com without signing in. We do not use advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, and we do not build a profile of visitors. Cloudflare, which carries cernitex.com to you, and our hosting provider's servers record each request (your IP address, the page, the time and your browser's user-agent) to deliver the page and protect it from abuse. Cloudflare also tells our server which country your IP address is in. We use that only to suggest a language and region, and we do not store it with anything else.
If you choose a language or region, your browser remembers it in its own local storage. That choice stays on your device and is not sent to us.
A2. What we collect when you have an account
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your email address, verified by the provider you sign in with or by the link we email you | to create your account, sign you in, and send you messages about the Services |
| If you sign in with Google, Microsoft or GitHub: an identifier that provider gives us for your account | to recognise you the next time you sign in that way |
| A public name, only if you choose to give one | to show it where you share something publicly |
| Your access level (Member, Expert, Internal or Admin), the groups an Admin has added you to, and who granted each and when | to show you only what your level and your groups allow |
| If an Admin grants one of your groups a restricted layer: the version of the Restricted Information Undertaking you accepted, and the time | to keep a record that you agreed to it before seeing restricted information |
| The version of the terms and of this notice you accepted, a fingerprint of the exact text, and the time | to keep a record of our agreement |
| Your sessions: when each started and was last used, and when it ended | to keep you signed in and let you sign out everywhere |
| Your API keys and the AI apps you connected: their names, when they were made, last used and revoked. We keep only a one-way fingerprint of each key and token, never the key itself. | to let your scripts and AI apps call the API on your behalf, and to let you spot and revoke one you do not recognise |
| An access log: your account, the map, file or dataset asked for, the time and the result | to keep the Services secure, investigate misuse, and show who saw which restricted layer |
| Server logs, which include your IP address | to deliver requests, limit abuse (for example how often sign-in links may be requested) and investigate attacks |
| What you write to us, including through the support box | to answer you |
We do not collect your ID number, your location from your device, your contacts or your files. During the beta we take no payments, so we hold no card or bank details. We do not sell, rent or trade your information, and we do not use it for advertising.
A3. Signing in with Google, Microsoft or GitHub
When you choose one of these providers, you sign in on the provider's own page. The provider then tells us only:
- your email address;
- that the provider has verified it;
- an identifier for your account.
We ask only for the `openid` and `email` permissions. We do not receive your password, contacts, files, calendar or anything else in your account, and we cannot post or act in your name there.
We use what the provider sends only to sign you in and to run your account. We do not:
- share it with anyone except the operators in A5;
- sell it;
- use it for advertising;
- use it to train AI models.
The provider processes your sign-in under its own privacy policy. You can remove Cernitex's access from your Google, Microsoft or GitHub account settings at any time. That stops you signing in that way, but it does not close your Cernitex account (see A7).
A4. Why we may process it (POPIA s11)
- To perform our agreement with you (the Terms of Use): your account, sign-in, access level, keys, connected apps and messages about the Services.
- Our legitimate interest, and yours, in secure Services: the access log, the server logs and investigating misuse.
- To meet our legal obligations, and to establish or defend legal claims: the record of the terms you accepted.
We send direct marketing only if you ask for it, and you can stop it at any time.
A5. Who else processes it
We use these service providers (operators). Their contracts require them to keep your information secure and confidential (POPIA s20 and s21):
| Operator | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud (Google LLC and its affiliates) | hosts the cernitex.com web pages, the map server, the API, the account database, the access log and their backups | Johannesburg, South Africa (africa-south1) |
| Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc.) | carries the cernitex.com web pages to you through its global network and protects them from attack. It handles each request and reply as it passes, including your IP address, your country and, when you are signed in, your sign-in cookie, but keeps no copy of the pages, only of the site's shared images, styles and scripts. It does not carry Cernitex Maps, the API or the MCP servers | servers worldwide, including the United States |
| Google Firebase Hosting (Google LLC) | keeps a standby copy of the cernitex.com web pages, and delivers them only if we move the site back to it | servers worldwide, including the United States |
| Google Workspace (Google LLC) | sends the sign-in link and our emails to you, and receives your emails to us | may be processed outside South Africa, including the United States |
| Anthropic PBC | only if you write through the support box while our AI support assistant is switched on: suggests an answer to your message | United States |
When your information leaves South Africa, we rely on POPIA s72. Each recipient is bound by agreements that give protection substantially similar to POPIA, and the transfer is needed to perform our agreement with you.
If you connect an AI app (for example Claude) to our MCP server, the app's provider receives what our server returns to your questions. It processes that under its own terms with you, not as our operator. We never return personal information about other people through the API or MCP (Part B).
We share your information with anyone else only if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or someone's safety.
A6. How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Your account details, access level, keys and connected apps | while your account is open |
| The access log | 90 days, then deleted |
| Server logs, which hold IP addresses | 30 days, then deleted |
| The record of the terms you accepted | 3 years after your account closes, then deleted |
| Messages you send us | 3 years after the matter is closed, then deleted |
A7. Closing your account
You can delete your account on your account page, or by writing to us. When you do:
- your sessions, API keys and connected apps stop working at once;
- your account is removed from our live systems;
- copies in backups are deleted within 30 days.
We keep the record of the terms you accepted, and any record tax law requires, for the periods above.
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Part B. People named in the public records we collect
B1. What our data contains
We compile data about South Africa and other countries from records that public bodies and other publishers make available: municipal valuation rolls, land and planning registers, licence and permit lists, government datasets and similar records. Some of these records contain personal information, for example:
- the names of property owners in municipal valuation rolls, with property descriptions and values;
- the names of people linked to permits, applications, licences or facilities;
- contact details published for facilities or businesses.
We collect these records from their publishers. We respect publishers' refusals and access controls, and we record the source of every record.
B2. Who can see it
- Personal information is shown only to Cernitex's Admins, and to members of staff and Expert groups that an Admin grants a layer to. Admins are people Cernitex names individually. An Admin adds each member to a group by name, and grants a group a layer map by map or by tier. Every membership and grant is logged with who made it and when, and an Admin can withdraw either at any time.
- Before seeing it, each group member accepts our Restricted Information Undertaking. Admins and group members see personal information on Cernitex's behalf and under its authority. They keep it confidential, use it only for that work, and do not copy, export or disclose it.
- Owners' names in property records (valuation rolls and deeds) are shown only to Admins, never to a group.
- It is never shown to Members, to customers, or to any commercial or paying group. It is never placed on the free or commercial maps, and never offered through the API, an MCP server, an export, a download, a sample or a demonstration.
- It is never sold.
- Each request to a restricted layer is logged with the account that made it, and the log is kept for 90 days.
- News headlines are the one exception. Our maps may show news headlines about a place exactly as the publisher published them, with the publisher's name, the date and a link to the article. A headline may name a person the news reported on, including a person the news reported as a property's owner, always with that citation. We never fill in or complete a name from our own records, and nobody can search these by a person's name or list them in bulk. We never show the journalist's name, the article's text or its images. We leave out headlines about children, victims, health, or criminal allegations or proceedings. We remove a headline on a credible request, including yours under B4, and replace it when a later report corrects it.
B3. Why we process it
We process these records to compile, check and analyse data about land, infrastructure and the economy, for research and planning. What we offer to others is built from records without personal information, or from figures that count groups too large to identify anyone.
Our lawful ground is POPIA s11(1)(f), the legitimate interests of Cernitex and of the people we serve. Because the information comes from public records, POPIA lets us collect it from the record rather than from you (s12(2)(a)), and use it for these purposes (s15(3)(b)).
We show news headlines so that people can see what has been reported about a place, always with the publisher and a link to the source.
We keep access to the smallest group of people who need it.
B4. Your rights if you are named in a record
You may ask us whether we hold personal information about you, and ask us to correct it or to stop processing it (POPIA s11(3), s23 and s24). Write to hello@cernitex.com with the subject "Privacy", saying which record or property it concerns. We will reply within 30 days.
If the record is wrong at its source, we will also tell you which public body published it, so that it can be corrected there.
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For everyone
Security (POPIA s19)
- The Services are encrypted in transit (HTTPS).
- Nobody can see a map without signing in.
- Each request is checked against the account's access level and groups. Layers with personal information are served only to Admins and to members of the staff and Expert groups an Admin has granted them to, each of whom has accepted the Restricted Information Undertaking. Owners' names in property records are served only to Admins. Other restricted layers are served only to Admins and the groups an Admin grants them to.
- We store only one-way fingerprints of session cookies, API keys and tokens.
- Access is logged.
We review these measures as the Services grow.
If something goes wrong (POPIA s22)
If we have reasonable grounds to believe that someone has accessed or acquired personal information without authority, we will tell the Information Regulator and the people affected as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA requires.
Your rights
You may ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or object to our processing it. Write to hello@cernitex.com with the subject "Privacy". We may need to confirm your identity first.
Cookies
When you sign in, we set one cookie, `__session`, to keep you signed in across cernitex.com, maps.cernitex.com and api.cernitex.com. It lasts up to 5 days and ends when you sign out. While you sign in, a short-lived cookie ties the sign-in to your browser. We set no other cookies.
Children
The Services are for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly create accounts for children.
Complaints
Please contact us first, so that we can try to put things right. You may also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): www.inforeg.org.za.
Access to information (PAIA)
Our manual under the Promotion of Access to Information Act is available on request from hello@cernitex.com.
Changes to this notice
We will email account holders at least 30 days before a change that affects how we use their information. You will be asked to accept the new version the next time you sign in.