Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective July 2026 · Version 3.0

GDPR CCPA / CPRA UK GDPR PIPEDA

1. Who we are and how to contact us

ACKINGLOBAL ("we", "us", "our") is a premium web design and digital growth agency. For the purposes of applicable data protection law, we are the data controller responsible for your personal data collected through this website and through our client portal.

Contact:
Email: hello@ackinglobal.com
Website: https://ackinglobal.com

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to your personal data, please contact us at the email address above. We will respond within 30 days (or sooner where required by law).

2. Personal data we collect

2.1 Data you provide directly

Enquiry and proposal forms - name, email address, company name, phone number, and project description when you contact us or request a proposal.
Audit request - your name, email, website URL, business type, and details you submit when requesting a site audit.
Client portal account - name, email address, password (stored as an irreversible hash), and optional profile information. Business name, billing address, and contact preferences may be added during onboarding.
Support and communications - the contents of messages you send us through the portal, contact form, or email.
Payment information - we do not store card numbers or bank account details. Payments are processed by Stripe or Paystack, who handle your financial data under their own privacy policies.
Booking information - date, time, and purpose of any discovery calls you book.

2.2 Data collected automatically

Usage data - pages visited, time of visit, referring URL, and browser behaviour collected by our server logs and analytics tools.
Device and technical data - IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and time zone.
Cookies and similar technologies - see Section 13 and our Cookie Policy.

2.3 Data from third parties

Analytics providers - if you consent, Google Analytics shares aggregated behaviour data with us.
Advertising platforms - if you consent, Facebook/Meta Pixel shares conversion and audience data.
Social media - if you contact us or interact with us via social media, we receive your public profile information.

3. Legal basis for processing (GDPR / UK GDPR)

For visitors and clients in the European Union, United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions requiring a lawful basis for data processing, we rely on the following bases:

Processing activity	Legal basis
Responding to enquiries and proposals	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) - we have a legitimate interest in responding to potential clients
Delivering contracted services to active clients	Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b))
Sending invoices and managing payments	Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b))
Legal and financial record-keeping	Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c))
Analytics cookies and usage tracking	Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) - via cookie banner
Marketing/advertising cookies	Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) - via cookie banner
Security monitoring and fraud prevention	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f))
Improving our services and website	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f))
Sending project updates and necessary service communications	Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b))

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have assessed that our interests do not override your rights and freedoms. You may request details of our legitimate interests balancing test by contacting us.

4. How we use your data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations
To deliver, manage, and improve projects where you are a client
To process payments and issue invoices
To provide access to and operate the client portal
To send essential service communications (project updates, invoices, system alerts)
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents
To analyse and improve the performance of our website and services
To run targeted advertising where you have consented

We do not: sell your personal data to any third party. We do not use your data for unsolicited marketing. We do not engage in automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or significant effects on you.

We only share your data with trusted third parties where necessary to deliver our services. All third parties are bound by data processing agreements and applicable law.

5.1 Payment processors

Stripe, Inc. and Paystack process payments on our behalf. They receive your payment details and billing information. We do not store card numbers. For their privacy practices, see Stripe Privacy Policy and Paystack Privacy Policy.

5.2 Email delivery

We use a transactional email service to deliver system emails (invoices, project updates, password resets). This service processes your email address solely to deliver messages we instruct it to send.

5.3 Analytics

Google Analytics (where you have consented) processes usage data on our behalf. Google may use this data as described in the Google Privacy Policy. We have enabled IP anonymisation.

5.4 Advertising

Google Ads and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) pixel technologies (where you have consented) may receive conversion event data. For opt-out, see Section 8.

5.5 Hosting and infrastructure

Our website and client portal are hosted on servers operated by our hosting provider. Your data is stored on those servers under our account. The hosting provider acts as a data processor and does not access your data except for technical support when instructed by us.

5.6 Legal disclosure

We may disclose your data to law enforcement, regulators, or courts where required by applicable law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of ACKINGLOBAL, our clients, or the public.

We do not share your personal data with any other party not listed above without your explicit consent.

6. International data transfers

ACKINGLOBAL operates globally and engages third-party service providers located in various countries. Where we transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or other regions with data protection laws, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, ensuring GDPR-equivalent protection for transfers to third countries.
UK International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) for transfers from the United Kingdom.
Adequacy decisions where the destination country has been determined by the relevant authority to provide adequate protection.
Binding Corporate Rules where applicable.

You may request details of the specific safeguards in place for your data by contacting us at hello@ackinglobal.com.

7. How long we keep your data

Data type	Retention period	Reason
Active client records (contracts, invoices, communications)	7 years from last transaction	Legal and financial record-keeping obligations
Enquiries that did not convert to a project	12 months from last contact	Legitimate interest in following up on open enquiries
Client portal accounts (inactive)	24 months from last login, then deleted unless outstanding obligations exist	Service continuity and contractual obligations
Support tickets and communications	Duration of engagement plus 3 years	Dispute resolution and quality assurance
Server logs and access logs	90 days	Security monitoring and error diagnosis
Cookie consent records	12 months from consent	Demonstrating compliance with consent obligations
Analytics data (if consented)	As per Google Analytics retention settings (default 14 months)	Website improvement

When data reaches the end of its retention period, it is securely deleted or irreversibly anonymised.

8. Your rights (all users)

Regardless of where you are located, you have the right to:

Access - request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Correction - request that inaccurate or incomplete data be corrected.
Deletion - request deletion of your data where we have no legal obligation to retain it. See our Data Deletion page.
Opt out of analytics and marketing - withdraw consent for analytics or advertising cookies via the cookie settings on this site at any time.
Opt out of marketing communications - unsubscribe from any marketing emails using the link in the email or by contacting us directly.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@ackinglobal.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

If you are located in the European Union, the European Economic Area, or the United Kingdom, you have the following additional rights under the GDPR and UK GDPR:

Right to restriction of processing - you may ask us to pause processing your data in certain circumstances, for example while we verify its accuracy.
Right to data portability - where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
Right to object - you may object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling. We must stop unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms.
Right to withdraw consent - where we process your data based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
Right not to be subject to automated decision-making - we do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority - you have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority in your country of residence. In the EU, this is your national data protection authority (find yours at edpb.europa.eu). In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

We ask that you contact us first so we can try to resolve your concern before you escalate to a supervisory authority.

10. CCPA/CPRA - Additional rights for California residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) gives you the following additional rights:

Right to know - you may request that we disclose the categories of personal information collected about you, the purposes for which it is used, and the categories of third parties with whom it is shared.
Right to delete - you may request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions permitted by law.
Right to correct - you may request correction of inaccurate personal information.
Right to opt out of sale or sharing - we do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising without your consent.
Right to limit use of sensitive personal information - we do not process sensitive personal information (as defined by the CPRA) beyond what is necessary to provide our services.
Right to non-discrimination - we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights. We will not deny you services, charge different prices, or provide a different quality of service because you exercised these rights.

To submit a CCPA/CPRA request, email hello@ackinglobal.com with the subject line "California Privacy Request". We will acknowledge within 10 business days and respond within 45 days (extendable by a further 45 days where necessary).

Categories of personal information collected in the last 12 months: identifiers (name, email, IP address), commercial information (services purchased), internet activity (website usage), and inferences drawn from usage data. We have not sold any personal information in the preceding 12 months.

11. PIPEDA - Additional rights for Canadian residents

If you are located in Canada, we comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and applicable provincial privacy laws. Under PIPEDA you have the right to:

Know why we collect, use, or disclose your personal information
Expect us to collect, use, or disclose your personal information reasonably and appropriately
Know who in our organisation is responsible for protecting your personal information
Access your personal information
Challenge the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and have it amended appropriately
Lodge a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe your privacy rights have been violated

Our privacy practices are guided by PIPEDA's 10 fair information principles: accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, limiting use and disclosure, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access, and challenging compliance.

12. Children's privacy

Our services are not directed to children under the age of 16 (or 13 in jurisdictions where a lower age applies). We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such data, we will delete it immediately. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us at hello@ackinglobal.com.

13. Cookies and tracking technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies. For full details of the cookies we use, their purposes, and how to control them, see our Cookie Policy. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie settings on this site.

14. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These include:

HTTPS encryption for all data in transit
Bcrypt hashing for all stored passwords
Session management with CSRF protection
Access controls limiting who within our team can access your data
Regular security monitoring and bot-blocking

No transmission over the internet is completely secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at hello@ackinglobal.com.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. We will post the updated policy on this page with a revised "last updated" date. For material changes affecting your rights, we will notify active clients by email at least 14 days before the change takes effect. Your continued use of our services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

16. Contact and complaints

For any questions, concerns, or requests about this Privacy Policy or our data practices:

ACKINGLOBAL
Email: hello@ackinglobal.com
Website: https://ackinglobal.com

We are committed to resolving complaints promptly and fairly. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to contact your local data protection authority or supervisory body.