Privacy policy

Who we are

Nearwick is owned and operated by Facio Innovations Technology (“Faciotech”), registered in Ghana and Canada. Faciotech decides how and why personal data is used on Nearwick, so it is the controller of that data.

For anything about your personal data, use the contact form and choose “Privacy or my data”.

How we meet the laws of Ghana, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom is on the data protection page.

What we collect and why

When you visit Nearwick

• Your IP address is recorded in our server logs. We use it to keep Nearwick secure and to limit repeated attempts from one address. Logs are kept for a short period.
• Your country is worked out from your IP address, so nearwick.com can open the directory for your country. The address is looked up and not stored.
• Analytics run only if you agree. See analytics.

When you manage a business

• Your email address, to send you sign-in codes and to tell you about your listings, such as when a new listing or a claim has been reviewed.
• The country of the Nearwick site you used when you created your account.
• Your sign-in sessions, so you stay signed in. Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes.
• What you tell us about the business, including how you are connected to it, and the details you add, such as its description, opening hours, website and phone number.

Nothing is shown in public until you have agreed to a public page, and a person at Nearwick reviews every new listing and every claim first. You choose what to show, and you can change or remove it at any time.

Businesses listed on Nearwick

Business pages are about businesses, but some details can relate to a person, such as a sole trader’s business name or address.

We never publish the names of contact people. Phone numbers and email addresses from datasets stay hidden until the business claims its page and chooses what to show.

Nearwick reads the public websites of unclaimed listings to add each business’s own description, opening hours and services. It does not collect phone numbers or email addresses from them.

If you are listed and would rather not be, you can object at any time and ask us to remove the listing.

Safety reports

A safety report holds what you tell us, and any way to contact you that you choose to give. Reports are private. They are never shown on a business page, and named people at Nearwick review them.

Messages you send us

The contact form sends your name, email address, country, topic and message to us by email. The message is not stored on the Nearwick site. It reaches us as an email, which we keep only as long as we need to deal with your message. We use it only to answer you.

People who work on Nearwick

Staff sign in to a console to review listings, claims and reports. We keep their email address, name, role and sign-in sessions.

The request service

The request service for Ghana and Canada is not open yet. When it opens, it will handle the phone numbers and messages of customers and tradespeople. Phone numbers will be encrypted when stored and kept for 12 months. Message text will be kept for 90 days. We will update this policy before it opens.

Analytics

If you agree, we measure how Nearwick is used. You choose for each purpose separately, and nothing is ticked for you.

• Usage statistics, with Google Analytics and Mixpanel, count which pages are visited and how the site is used.
• Session recordings and heatmaps, with Microsoft Clarity, show how people move around a page.

If you do not agree to a purpose, its cookies are not set. You can change your choices at any time from Cookie settings at the bottom of any page. The cookie policy lists every cookie.

Why we are allowed to use it

• We list businesses from licensed and public sources because we have a legitimate interest in a useful, accurate business directory. You can object at any time.
• We run your business account and publish what you add because you asked us to, and only after you agree to a public page.
• We handle messages and safety reports because you asked us to, and to keep people safe.
• We keep server logs because we have a legitimate interest in keeping Nearwick and the people who use it secure.
• We run analytics only with your consent.

Who we share it with

We use these service providers to run Nearwick.

• Servers operated by Faciotech host Nearwick and its data.
• Twilio SendGrid delivers our emails, such as sign-in codes and contact-form messages.
• OpenStreetMap provides maps. When you open one, your browser connects to OpenStreetMap.
• Hugging Face hosts the AI model that helps read businesses’ public websites. Only public website text is sent to it.
• Google, Microsoft and Mixpanel provide analytics, only if you agree.

We may also share personal data when the law requires it, or when it is needed to protect someone’s safety.

Where your data is processed

Nearwick runs on servers operated by Faciotech. Some of the service providers above work in other countries, so your data may be processed outside the country where you live.

How long we keep it

• Sign-in codes expire after 10 minutes.
• Server logs, including IP addresses, are kept for a short period.
• The IP address used to work out your country is not stored.
• Contact-form messages are not stored on the site.
• Business owner accounts, and what owners add, are kept while the account is in use, or until you ask us to delete them.
• Safety reports are kept for as long as we need them to deal with the concern.
• When the request service opens, phone numbers will be kept for 12 months and message text for 90 days.

Your rights

You can ask to see the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to correct it or delete it. You can object to how we use it. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Use the contact form and choose “Privacy or my data”. We may need to check that the request comes from you. We reply within 5 working days, and act on a valid request to correct or delete data within 30 days.

If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to Ghana’s Data Protection Commission, to Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or to the data protection authority where you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom. The data protection page links to each.

Keeping it safe

Business owners and staff sign in with one-time codes instead of passwords. Sign-in cookies cannot be read by a page’s scripts. The details of a safety report stay behind staff sign-in and are never sent by email.

No system is completely secure. If you think your account or your data is at risk, tell us.

Children

Nearwick is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you think a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed.