1. About this notice

This privacy notice tells you what we do with your personal information when you visit unpublish.co.za, submit an intake form, instruct us in a matter, or otherwise interact with us. unpublish.co.za is a productised legal service of Louwrens Koen Attorneys, an established firm of attorneys, conveyancers, and notaries public in Pretoria, South Africa.

This notice is given under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”). Where this notice is silent on a point, the default position is the position in POPIA, the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, the Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners, and the common law of South Africa.

We will tell you when we materially update this notice. The date at the top of this page is the date of the current version. We will keep older versions on file so you can see what we said previously.

2. Who we are — the responsible party

The responsible party for the personal information processed under this notice is:

Louwrens Koen Attorneys Office 4, Second Floor, Gate 12, Loftus Versveld North Pavilion Kirkness Street, Arcadia, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa Tel: 087 001 0733 / 087 001 0158 Email: info@unpublish.co.za Director: PGL Koen (admitted attorney, conveyancer, and notary public)

The firm is regulated by the Legal Practice Council and indemnified through the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund.

3. Information Officer

The Information Officer for the firm under POPIA is:

PGL Koen Email: koen@louwrenskoen.co.za Tel: 087 001 0733

The Information Officer is responsible for compliance with POPIA, requests for access to information, and complaints. You can contact the Information Officer directly using the details above.

4. The personal information we collect

We collect personal information in the following ways and of the following kinds.

4.1 Information you give us through the intake form

When you submit an intake form on unpublish.co.za, we ask for: – your full name, surname, and identity number or passport number; – your contact details — email address, mobile telephone number, postal or physical address; – the nature of your matter — where the content was published, what was said, what evidence you have, what outcome you want; – documents and screenshots you choose to attach; – authorisation and consent details for the conduct of the matter.

4.2 Information you give us during the matter

Once you are a client, we collect further information as required for the matter, including: – identification documents required by FICA (ID, proof of address); – trust-deposit confirmation and the banking details we require to refund any unused balance; – correspondence between you and the firm and between the firm and third parties on your behalf; – court papers, affidavits, exhibits, and other evidentiary material.

4.3 Information collected automatically when you use the website

When you visit unpublish.co.za, our hosting infrastructure automatically logs: – your IP address; – your browser user-agent; – the pages you visit and the date and time of visit; – the page that referred you (if any).

We use this information to operate and secure the website. We do not use it to identify or profile individual visitors except when investigating misuse, fraud, or security incidents.

4.4 Cookies

unpublish.co.za uses only essential cookies necessary for the website to function (for example, the WordPress session cookie). We do not use first-party tracking cookies, and we do not set advertising cookies. Where third-party services we link to (such as the JotForm intake form) set their own cookies, those cookies are governed by the third party’s own privacy policy.

5. Why we collect personal information — lawful processing condition

We collect personal information only on a lawful basis under POPIA section 11(1):

5.1 Performance of a contract. Once we have an engagement letter with you, we process your personal information to perform the contract — that is, to act for you in the matter and provide the legal service.

5.2 Compliance with a legal obligation. Where we are required by law to retain or process information (for example, FICA records of identification, LPC compliance records, or trust-account audit records), we process it on that basis.

5.3 Legitimate interest. When you submit an intake form, we process your information on the basis of our legitimate interest in evaluating whether and on what basis we can act for you in the matter. We do not need your further consent to triage your matter — but you can withdraw your enquiry at any time, and where you do, we will close and delete the file as set out in section 9 below.

5.4 Consent. Where required by POPIA (for example, for processing of special personal information), we obtain your express written consent through the intake form or engagement letter.

6. Special personal information

A defamation matter may involve special personal information as defined in POPIA section 26 — for example, information about your religious beliefs, political opinions, race, ethnic origin, health, sex life, or any criminal behaviour. We process such information only:

• with your express consent in the engagement letter; or
• where the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of a right or obligation in law (POPIA section 27(1)(b)).

We do not process the special personal information of children under 18 except as expressly permitted under POPIA section 35.

7. Who we share your personal information with

Your personal information may be shared with the following categories of recipients.

7.1 Internal — within the firm. All attorneys, candidate attorneys, paralegals, and administrative staff of Louwrens Koen Attorneys who reasonably need access to the matter. All staff members are bound by professional confidentiality obligations.

7.2 Counsel and experts. Where a matter requires it, we instruct counsel (advocates), forensic experts, sheriffs, and other professional advisers. Where a third-party expert is instructed, you will be informed before the instruction is given. Such third parties are bound by professional confidentiality.

7.3 Operational service providers (operators under POPIA). We use the following service providers in the routine processing of intake matters:

Each operator is bound by a written contract that requires it to process personal information only on our instructions, to keep it confidential, and to apply appropriate security safeguards.

7.4 Recipients of correspondence on your matter. As part of the legal service, we send correspondence to publishers, platforms, courts, sheriffs, opposing parties, and their legal representatives. The personal information shared in such correspondence is only what is necessary for the matter.

7.5 Regulators and law enforcement. Where we are required by law (for example, by court order, under FICA reporting obligations, or under a lawful information request from a regulator), we will disclose information to the extent and in the manner required.

8. Cross-border transfers

Some of our operational service providers — notably JotForm Inc. and Anthropic, PBC — are based in the United States. POPIA section 72 requires us to apply appropriate safeguards before transferring personal information outside South Africa. We do this through:

• written data-processing agreements with each non-South African operator that require them to comply with the substance of POPIA;
• reliance on the operator’s published security and privacy commitments;
• where applicable, reliance on the operator’s adherence to recognised international data-protection frameworks.

By submitting an intake form or instructing us in a matter, you acknowledge that your personal information may be transferred to and processed in the United States for these limited operational purposes.

9. How long we keep your personal information

We keep personal information only for as long as we lawfully need it.

9.1 Intake-form submissions where no engagement letter is concluded. Where you submit an intake form but we do not enter into an engagement letter (whether because we decline the matter, or you decline our quote, or you do not respond), we retain the intake submission and any related correspondence for 12 months from the last contact, after which it is deleted, unless you ask us in writing to delete it sooner (in which case we will delete it as soon as practically possible).

9.2 Open client matters. While a matter is open, we retain the matter file for the duration of the matter.

9.3 Closed client matters. Once a matter is closed, we retain the matter file for at least 5 years from the date of closure, in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners. We may retain the file for longer where there is a reasonable prospect of it being required (for example, a related limitation period that has not yet run).

9.4 FICA records. Records required under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act are retained for the periods required by FICA — currently, at least 5 years from the date of the last transaction.

9.5 Trust-account records. Trust-account records are retained for at least 5 years and are subject to LPC audit.

9.6 Marketing and enquiry data. General website enquiries (for example, the evidence-guide download form) are retained for 24 months from the last contact, after which they are deleted unless you have asked to remain on a list.

After the relevant retention period, we securely delete or anonymise the information.

10. Your rights under POPIA

You have the following rights under POPIA. To exercise any of them, contact the Information Officer.

10.1 Right to access. You may ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you and to give you a copy.

10.2 Right to correction. You may ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading, or unlawfully obtained.

10.3 Right to deletion. You may ask us to delete information we no longer have a lawful basis to keep. Some information we are required by law to keep — see section 9 above.

10.4 Right to object. You may object to processing on the basis of legitimate interest by writing to the Information Officer.

10.5 Right to withdraw consent. Where we process information based on your consent, you may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

10.6 Right not to be subject to automated decision-making. POPIA section 71 gives you the right not to be subject to a decision that affects you significantly and is taken solely on automated processing. Although we use AI-assisted triage to evaluate intake submissions, no decision affecting you is taken by automated processing alone — every decision to engage in or decline a matter is reviewed and made by an admitted attorney.

10.7 Right to lodge a complaint. You may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator. Their contact details are:

The Information Regulator (South Africa) JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 Tel: 010 023 5200 Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za / inforeg@justice.gov.za Website: https://inforegulator.org.za

We ask you to raise complaints with us first, but you may approach the Regulator at any time.

11. Security of your personal information

We use commercially reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information, including:

• encrypted transmission over HTTPS;
• access controls and user authentication on our systems;
• audit logging on the matter-management system;
• regular backups, with backups encrypted at rest;
• staff training on confidentiality and POPIA;
• written agreements with all operators.

No system is perfectly secure. If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by POPIA section 22.

12. Children

unpublish.co.za is not directed at, and is not intended for use by, children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Where a matter involves a child (for example, a defamation matter in which the affected person is a minor), we deal with the child’s parent or legal guardian, with the child’s interest as a primary consideration.

13. Updates to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time. The date at the top of this page tells you when the current version took effect. Material changes will be notified by email to clients with open matters and by a notice on the unpublish.co.za website. Older versions will be retained on file.

14. Contact

For any question about this notice, your personal information, or to exercise any of your POPIA rights, contact:

PGL Koen, Information Officer Louwrens Koen Attorneys Email: koen@louwrenskoen.co.za Tel: 087 001 0733