Who we are
The Field Company ("we", "us") is based in South Africa. We run the FieldLog app, the FieldLog service and web app at fieldlog.thefieldco.com, and our website thefieldco.com. This policy explains how personal information is processed through them under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").
Send any privacy question or request to hello@thefieldco.com. Our Information Officer can be reached at the same address.
Who is responsible for what
For your account, sign-in and diagnostics, The Field Company is the responsible party under POPIA. For observations, photos and locations inside a session, the organisation running that session is the responsible party; we process that data on its instructions. Send account questions to us; send session-data questions to the session's administrator, or to us and we will pass them on.
The short version
- We collect only what is needed to run your field sessions.
- We will never sell your personal information, and never share it with advertisers, data brokers or marketers.
- We collect diagnostic telemetry (error reports and performance data) for one purpose: finding and fixing bugs. No advertising, no analytics trackers.
- Location is recorded only in sessions set up to record it, and only with your permission.
- You control your observations. The Field Company claims no ownership in them beyond storing and serving them as instructed.
- You can ask to see, correct or delete your information at any time.
What we collect and why
Your account
FieldLog accounts are created by us; there is no public sign-up. An account holds a username, a password and, where provided, a name and email address, plus the date it was created, when you last signed in and which sessions you belong to. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes; we cannot read them. We use this to sign you in and give you access to your sessions.
When you sign in, the app and web app keep sign-in tokens on your device so you stay logged in. In the app they are kept in encrypted device storage; in the web app they are kept in your browser's local storage. A sign-in lasts up to a year unless you sign out first.
Your observations
The answers you enter into a session's form, the name recorded as the submitter, and the time of submission. Which questions a form asks is decided by the session's administrator, not by us. Please don't enter personal information about other people unless the session requires it and the organisation running the session is authorised to collect it.
Photos
If a form asks for a photo, the image you take or choose is uploaded together with its file name, type and size. Photos can carry hidden metadata, such as the place and time they were taken. Only photos you attach are uploaded; FieldLog does not otherwise read your photo library.
Location (optional)
Some sessions are set up to record where an observation was made. Only in those sessions, FieldLog asks for permission to use your location, reads your position while the form is open, and attaches latitude, longitude and accuracy to the submission. FieldLog does not track your location in the background and does not use Google Play Services. You can refuse or revoke the permission at any time in your phone settings; your observations will still be saved, just without coordinates.
Access requests
If you request access at fieldlog.thefieldco.com, we collect your name, email address and occupation so we can consider your request and reply. The form is protected from bots by Cloudflare Turnstile, which checks your browser and IP address. We are notified of new requests through a private Discord channel, so these three details are also sent to Discord.
Diagnostic telemetry
We collect telemetry for debugging, and only for debugging. Like any online service, our servers process your IP address and request details to deliver and secure the service. When the service hits an error, a technical report describing what went wrong is sent to an error tracker (GlitchTip) that we run on our own server. We also record timing data for a small sample of requests (about 1 in 100) to find slow parts of the service. These reports are set up to leave out your IP address, cookies and sign-in details, and they are never used to profile you, for analytics or for marketing.
Some builds of the app can also send error reports and performance data from your device to that tracker. This is off unless you switch on "Share diagnostics" under Settings → Privacy, and you can switch it off again at any time. Builds distributed through F-Droid contain the reporting code but have no destination configured, so they cannot send diagnostics.
Is it compulsory?
You don't have to give us any of this, but without an account and your observations we can't provide the service. Location and photos are only needed if the session you work in asks for them.
What we do not collect
FieldLog contains no advertising or analytics software. It does not access your contacts, call logs, messages, or device identifiers such as your IMEI or advertising ID. Our websites do not use tracking cookies.
Our legal grounds
Under section 11 of POPIA we process personal information because it is needed to provide the service you or your organisation signed up for, because you consented (for location, photos and crash reports), for our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working, or where the law requires it.
How data moves
FieldLog works offline. Observations are saved on your device first and uploaded when you have a connection. All data is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Signing out of the app deletes FieldLog's local copy of your sessions and observations from the device, so sync any pending entries first.
Who can see your data
- Session administrators and managers can see and export every observation and photo submitted to their sessions, including location if the session records it. To add people to sessions, managers can look up users by username or email address.
- Members of a session receive that session's observations on their own devices so the team can work offline.
- Public sessions: an administrator can make a session public. Anyone can then see the session, and photos attached to it can be viewed by anyone who has the link.
- The Field Company runs the servers and accesses data only to operate, secure, support and fix the service.
We will never sell, rent or trade your personal information, and we will never share it with advertisers, data brokers or marketers. Apart from the people above, it goes only to the service providers below, which help us run FieldLog, or to authorities when the law requires it.
Service providers and transfers outside South Africa
The FieldLog database, photos and error reports are stored on servers we operate in South Africa. We use these operators, which process information on our behalf:
- Cloudflare carries all traffic to our services, hosts the FieldLog web app and thefieldco.com, and runs Turnstile bot protection.
- Discord receives notifications of new access requests.
These providers operate internationally, including in the United States, so some information is processed outside South Africa. Under section 72 of POPIA we do this only where the recipient is bound by laws, binding rules or agreements that give protection substantially similar to POPIA, or where the transfer is needed to provide the service you asked for.
How we protect it
We use encrypted connections, hashed passwords, short-lived access tokens, access controls on every session and photo, and a server that can only be reached through Cloudflare. Admin tools are only reachable over a private network. If we have reasonable grounds to believe your personal information has been accessed by someone unauthorised, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as section 22 of POPIA requires.
How long we keep it
- Observations and photos stay in a session until its administrator deletes them or the session.
- Accounts stay until you or your organisation ask us to delete them.
- Access requests are kept only as long as we need them to respond, and are deleted on request.
- Error reports and server logs are deleted after 30 days.
Your rights
Under POPIA you may:
- ask whether we hold personal information about you, and for a copy of it;
- ask us to correct, update or delete information that is wrong, out of date, excessive or no longer needed, including deleting your account;
- object to our processing on reasonable grounds, and withdraw consent you have given, such as for location or crash reports;
- complain to the Information Regulator.
Email hello@thefieldco.com. We may need to confirm your identity first, and we will respond within 30 days. If your organisation runs the session you contributed to, we may involve its administrator.
You can contact the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za, enquiries@inforegulator.org.za or 010 023 5200. Complaints are lodged through its eService portal.
Children
FieldLog is a tool for professional and research teams and is not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information about children. If you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy, we will update it here and change the date at the top. Significant changes will also be announced in the app's release notes.