Cookie Notice
This notice explains the cookies ProperPics uses. We are the responsible
party for the cookies set by this site. This website sets two first-party
cookies: a strictly-necessary session cookie, and one functional cookie,
nc, whose only job is to keep signed-in users' devices out of our own
visitor count. Neither is a tracking cookie. We use no third-party analytics,
no advertising and no tracking
cookies, and our Content-Security-Policy restricts all scripts to our own domain. We do
keep our own count of visits to our public marketing pages; it uses no cookies and keeps
nothing that identifies you, and it is described in our
Privacy Policy, section 13.
What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a website stores on your device. Under POPIA, cookie data can be personal information because it may contain an "online identifier" (section 1).
Our legal basis, and why there is no consent banner
We process our cookies under the legitimate-interest
grounds in POPIA sections 11(1)(d) and 11(1)(f), not under consent. The
session cookie is strictly necessary: it is essential to deliver the
secure, signed-in service you have asked for, and strictly-necessary cookies do not
require your consent. The nc cookie is not strictly necessary, but it
rests on the same legitimate-interest grounds: it stores only the value "1", contains
no identifier, and is used for one thing, keeping our visitor statistics accurate by
excluding devices that use the service; it cannot be used to track you. POPIA's
openness condition (section 18) requires us to tell you about both, which is the
purpose of this notice. Because no cookie we set is used for tracking, advertising or
profiling, no cookie-consent banner is shown.
The cookies we set
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Type | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
session |
ProperPics (first-party) | Keeps you securely signed in and protects against cross-site request forgery (the CSRF token is carried inside this same signed cookie). It is HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax, and Secure in production. | Strictly necessary | Expires after 2 hours of inactivity, and at most 12 hours after you sign in; cleared when you log out. |
nc |
ProperPics (first-party) | Set when you sign in. Its only purpose is to mark the device as one that uses the service, so that our own count of visitors to the public marketing pages (Privacy Policy, section 13) leaves it out. It stores only the value "1", contains no identifier, is read for no other purpose, and cannot be used to track you. It is HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax, and Secure in production. | Functional (not strictly necessary; suppresses counting, never tracks) | 12 months from your most recent sign-in. It deliberately remains after you log out, so the device stays excluded from the visitor count. |
We use htmx, a small JavaScript library served from our own domain, to update parts of a page. It is a script, not a cookie, and stores nothing that identifies you.
Managing cookies
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but disabling the
strictly-necessary session cookie will prevent you from logging in and using
the service. Deleting the nc cookie does not affect the service at all; it
only means that visits from your device to our marketing pages may be counted in our
anonymous visitor statistics until you next sign in. You may withdraw consent or object to processing at any time, free of charge,
by contacting us at privacy@properpics.co.za
(POPIA sections 11(2) and 11(3), as strengthened by the 2025 amendment Regulations).
No tracking, and a promise about the future
Our cookies involve no third-party sharing and no cross-border transfer. (The separate transfer of listing photographs to Google for image processing is covered in our Privacy Policy, section 8. That is not a cookie.) If we ever introduce a tracking, advertising or profiling cookie (for example Google Analytics, an advertising pixel or other third-party tracking), we will first show a consent banner that obtains your voluntary, specific and informed opt-in and blocks those cookies until you agree, and we will update this notice (POPIA sections 11(1)(a) and 69).
- Who we are
- Warwick Brown (sole proprietor), trading as ProperPics.
- Registration: Not applicable (sole proprietorship, no CIPC registration)
- Address
- 18 Murray Avenue, Morningside Manor, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa
- Contact
- General: hello@properpics.co.za
- Privacy / data requests: privacy@properpics.co.za
- Information Officer (POPIA)
- Warwick Brown