Terms and Conditions

DotNews’ Data Privacy Policy can be found online at www.dotnewsconnect.co.za/data-privacy-policy/.

Service subscribers and DotNews both undertake to comply with POPIA (the Protection of Personal Information Act).

[NOTE: Download the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act 4 of 2013 from the Law Library website here.]

Subject thereto –

• As defined in POPIA, DotNews will in respect of your mailing lists, data collected by our “ListFarmer” service and other personal third-party data held by us on your behalf assume the role of the Operator, and you will be the Responsible Party. DotNews will only be the Responsible Party in respect of your own data under our control.
• Recipient lists are securely held by DotNews on behalf of service subscribers, who may on request arrange password-protected access to their own lists only for amendment purposes. Personal recipient information is held for the sole purpose of sending information newsletters, newsflashes and other communications to recipients.
• To enable DotNews to send your recipients either Opt-Out or Opt-In notices (if and when required), you undertake to accurately identify all person/s added to your mailing list/s as either (a) Existing or new clients (or non-clients who have consented, in compliance with POPIA’s requirements, to being added to your mailing list/s) or (b) Non-clients who have not given such consent.
• As a client of DotNews, your own personal information is held for the sole purpose of rendering agreed marketing services to you.
• You are contractually bound by the terms and conditions applicable to each service to avoid any element of “spamming” whilst DotNews undertakes that your recipient lists will be treated as strictly confidential to you, and will not be transmitted or disclosed to any third party except to the extent necessary for proper performance of our agreement, other than in the event of your specific written request to do so, or in the event that you request DotNews to undertake any lawful marketing of recipients on your behalf.
• Whilst DotNews strives to use commercially acceptable means to protect all personal information, and whilst its security is important to us, we cannot guarantee its absolute security because no method of transmission over the Internet, nor any method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Similarly DotNews cannot warrant that its websites, nor any email, newsletter or other electronic communication, nor any service supplied to you, is free of viruses, worms, trojan horses, harmful components, malware or any form of harmful, destructive or unlawful code, data or features.

Newsletters will be transmitted to recipients at e-mail addresses supplied by you from time to time, and you will be solely responsible for the supply to DotNews of correct information in this regard.  Changes in recipient lists or recipient e-mail addresses will only be actioned by DotNews if received no less than 7 business days prior to transmission of newsletters.  You are responsible for ensuring that recipient lists are compliant with POPIA and are restricted to recipients who are unlikely to consider transmission to them of newsletters as “spamming”. DotNews will be entitled to remove from all recipient lists any recipient recording a wish to unsubscribe from any newsletter at any time.  Recipient lists will be treated as strictly confidential to you and will not be transmitted or disclosed to any third party except to the extent necessary for proper performance of our agreement, other than in the event of your specific written request to do so, or in the event that you request DotNews to undertake any marketing of recipients on your behalf.

Management of your recipient list.  DotNews can accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever in regard to any failure on your part to comply with the requirements of POPIA and in cases where we have provided you with online password-protected access to your own recipient list you undertake all such management entirely at your own risk, including but not limited to the secure management of your passwords and the adding or removing of your recipients.

Internet Pages Limited Copyright Authorisation. DotNews hereby gives specific written authorisation for reproduction by you of your newsletters as subscribed to, or any part thereof, on your “Internet Pages” (website, blog and Social Media pages) subject to the following conditions –

1. An additional subscription fee of R75-00 + vat p.m. for Internet Pages will be added to your monthly subscription and (if applicable) monthly debit order.

2. DotNews can on request provide “Blog Management” at an additional charge, a service in which they attend to the monthly set up and population of your WordPress blog with your DotNews newsletter articles. (in which event the Internet Pages charge per 1 above won’t apply).
3. Should you be a subscriber to DotNews’ “Connector Sites” service neither the Internet Pages nor the Blog Management charges per 1 and 2 above will apply.
4. Should you be a subscriber of DotNews’ “Social Media Management” service, the Internet Pages charge per 1 above won’t apply.
5. You may republish on your Internet Pages your newsletters and/or any part thereof using RSS feeds, PDF versions, printable versions, or other suitable means for this purpose.
6. In the event that you elect to allow such online access in a form where a Disclaimer and Copyright Notices are not automatically displayed, you will ensure that same are clearly displayed at the end of all content sourced from the applicable DotNews newsletter.
7. You may not otherwise use, redistribute, transmit, disseminate, copy, imitate or reproduce in any form your newsletters or any part thereof without the prior and specific written permission of DotNews
8. This authority will subsist for such period as you have a valid subscription to the applicable DotNews newsletter. In the event that your subscription to the applicable DotNews newsletter is terminated for any reason, you undertake to remove all newsletter content from your Internet Pages within 48 hours of written request to do so.

Newsletters will be transmitted to recipients at e-mail addresses supplied by you from time to time, and you will be solely responsible for the supply to DotNews of correct information in this regard.  Changes in recipient lists or recipient e-mail addresses will only be actioned by DotNews if received no less than 7 business days prior to transmission of newsletters.  You are responsible for ensuring that recipient lists are compliant with POPIA and restricted to recipients who are unlikely to consider transmission to them of newsletters as “spamming”.  DotNews will be entitled to remove from all recipient lists any recipient recording a wish to unsubscribe from any newsletter at any time.  Recipient lists will be treated as strictly confidential to you and will not be transmitted or disclosed to any third party except to the extent necessary for proper performance of our agreement, other than in the event of your specific written request to do so, or in the event that you request DotNews to undertake any marketing of recipients on your behalf.

Management of your recipient list.  DotNews can accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever in regard to any failure on your part to comply with the requirements of POPIA and in cases where we have provided you with online password-protected access to your own recipient list you undertake all such management entirely at your own risk, including but not limited to the secure management of your passwords and the adding or removing of your recipients.

Newsletter content and services. Newsletter content may consist of:-

• Content supplied by you to us – you certify that you have full legal right to use same and that copyright vests in or is licenced to you;

• Content created by us for you at your specific request – copyright therein will vest in you (this is an optional extra service, to be quoted for on request);
• Content created by us in a DotNews newsletter publication (supplied at your request for an additional charge) – copyright therein is reserved by DotNews.

The Set Up Fee will cover creation by DotNews of a newsletter template to your specification (copyright therein is reserved by DotNews).

The Standard charges for creation and dispatch of newsletter will apply only as and when you request creation of a “Custom Newsletter”. This covers the following services by DotNews:-

1. We will create your Ad-Hoc Custom newsletter, inclusive of content and images supplied by either yourselves or by DotNews. DotNews will create a “first draft” newsletter within 5 working days of your initial request, and invite you to submit your own changes, content and images. Once the draft has been agreed upon, a date for transmission will be determined between yourselves and DotNews.

2. DotNews will send out the newsletter to your recipient list/s as loaded on our system at the time of transmission.
3. DotNews will maintain your recipient list in accordance with names and e-mail addresses supplied by you. The deadline for sending us changes to your recipient list will be 7 business days prior to the transmission date.
4. The charges above cater for a maximum of 4 hours work for compiling each issue. Should the creation of your newsletter take longer than this, you may be subject to additional charges.

Newsletters will be transmitted to recipients at e-mail addresses supplied by you from time to time, and you will be solely responsible for the supply to DotNews of correct information in this regard.  Changes in recipient lists or recipient e-mail addresses will only be actioned by DotNews if received no less than 7 business days prior to transmission of newsletters.  You are responsible for ensuring that recipient lists are compliant with POPIA and restricted to recipients who are unlikely to consider transmission to them of newsletters as “spamming”.  DotNews will be entitled to remove from all recipient lists any recipient recording a wish to unsubscribe from any newsletter at any time.  Recipient lists will be treated as strictly confidential to you and will not be transmitted or disclosed to any third party except to the extent necessary for proper performance of our agreement, other than in the event of your specific written request to do so, or in the event that you request DotNews to undertake any marketing of recipients on your behalf.

Management of your recipient list.  DotNews can accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever in regard to any failure on your part to comply with the requirements of POPIA and in cases where we have provided you with online password-protected access to your own recipient list you undertake all such management entirely at your own risk, including but not limited to the secure management of your passwords and the adding or removing of your recipients.

Newsletter content and services. Newsletter content may consist of: –

• Content supplied by you to us – you certify that you have full legal right to use same and that copyright vests in or is licenced to you;
• Content created by us for you at your specific request – copyright therein will vest in you (this is an optional extra service, to be quoted for on request);
• Content created by us in a DotNews newsletter publication (supplied at your request for an additional charge) – copyright therein is reserved by DotNews.

The Set Up Fee will cover creation by DotNews of a newsletter template to your specification (copyright therein is reserved by DotNews).

The Standard charges for creation and dispatch of newsletter will apply only as and when you request creation of a “Custom Newsletter”. This covers the following services by DotNews: –

1. We will create your Ad-Hoc Custom newsletter, inclusive of content and images supplied by either yourselves or by DotNews. DotNews will create a “first draft” newsletter within 5 working days of your initial request, and invite you to submit your own changes, content and images. Once the draft has been agreed upon, a date for transmission will be determined between yourselves and DotNews.
2. DotNews will send out the newsletter to your recipient list/s as loaded on our system at the time of transmission.
3. DotNews will maintain your recipient list in accordance with names and e-mail addresses supplied by you. The deadline for sending us changes to your recipient list will be 7 business days prior to the transmission date.
4. The charges above cater for a maximum of 4 hours work for compiling each issue. Should the creation of your newsletter take longer than this, you may be subject to additional charges.

Licence.  You are hereby granted a non-exclusive and non-transferrable licence to reprint and publish all DotNews newsletter content (Recipient version only) as transmitted to you by us, subject to the following conditions:-

1. You may only publish such content in your own newsletter or publication and/or on your own “Internet Pages” (website, blog and Social Media pages).

2. A copyright notice in respect of such content is required, such notice to read “© DotNews”.
3. A disclaimer is required substantially to this effect: “The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your professional adviser for specific and detailed advice.”
4. You may not sell or dispose of any of the rights hereunder to any third party.

You may transmit and publish the “Note For Attorneys/Accountants/Financial Advisors” sections of the Attorney/Accountant version of the newsletter freely within your firm only; the source material contained therein is not intended for your clients except at your discretion with individual clients.

Standard RocketSeed Terms and Conditions. As a subscriber to our “Email Branding“ service you hold an end user licence and both you and DotNews commit to abide by RocketSeed’s End User Minimum Terms, which can be found online at https://dotnewsconnect.co.za/RocketSeed-End-User-Terms.pdf. Note that in this document service subscribers are referred to as “Customers” and DotNews is referred to as “the Reseller”.

Design work –

1. DotNews will forward all creative/banners/html signatures once completed. You are required to give approval on the creative/banners/html signatures within 4 working days from when it was sent.

2. You will have 2 opportunities to make edits to the branding, after which an additional fee for creative may be charged.
3. If no feedback is received within 4 working days, DotNews will assume that you wish to make no further edits to the design of the creative/banners/html signatures.
4. A minimum fee per edit on any signed-off design will apply.

Payments relating to Connector Sites.  No work will commence until the once-off set up fee has been paid. Thereafter, monthly payments for the website will commence once the website has been made live. Any additional work outside of that specified in the applicable quote / package may be charged at our standard hourly rates, or at a premium wherever costs are incurred by DotNews.

Cancellation and Website Transfer Fee. In the event that you give written notice of cancellation prior to having paid 12 months’ payments for the “Connector Site”, and wish to transfer your website to another provider, a fee equivalent to the difference between the total sum paid by you and the amount due over that 12-month period will be payable by you before transfer. After you have made 12 months’ payments, the aforementioned fee will not apply. On cancellation at any time, all website and related services including maintenance, hosting and the updating of the website with DotNews content will cease.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Whilst basic search engine optimisation is included with the creation of Connector Sites, DotNews cannot give any guarantees regarding the actual results and success of the website’s performance, as these are subject to variables and circumstances beyond our control.

Maintenance. Up to one hour of monthly maintenance is included in the connector sites package. Maintenance can include the editing of in-page content; uploading of documents; running of updates to the website and work done to ensure the website remains in good working order. Maintenance will not include any items outside of the original specification of the website, such as additional website functionality or the addition of new pages. These items, or any maintenance going beyond the allocated hour, may be charged at our standard hourly rates.

Hosting, Domain Registration and Renewals. This service only covers the hosting for the Connector Site for up to 2GB and does not include domain registrations, renewals or mailbox management. DotNews reserves the right to limit and / or deny access to the core files and cpanel of the website.

Content. All relevant content needs to be provided by you within 1 month of payment of a deposit to commence work on a project. Should you delay issuing DotNews the content required for the project, DotNews reserves the right to renegotiate the cost of the project. In such instances, DotNews will request any outstanding payments to be settled before continuation of the project.

Additional pages, images and revisions on projects beyond the scope of work agreed in the quote / order form will attract additional charges. Such updates are not included in your monthly maintenance package unless specifically stated in the applicable order form or quote.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO); Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Digital Display Advertising Services. As these services are performed in a competitive environment, DotNews cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the end results of any such campaign or service undertaken. In some cases, DotNews may require you to have an account directly with service providers and DotNews will then charge a management fee.

Hosting, Domain Registration and Renewals. When a domain and / or hosting package is under management of DotNews, any additional charges such as domain renewals and / or increases in hosting charges will be at your expense, unless otherwise stated in the applicable order form or quote. DotNews reserves the right to limit and / or deny access to the core files and cPanel of the website.

Transfer of Website. In the event that you wish to move your website to another web server supported by another party, then DotNews will cooperate fully, subject to all outstanding amounts being paid up in full, and in some instances a transfer fee will be applicable.