Privacy Notice
How AWS Cloud Security Group West Africa collects and uses your information
1. Who we are
AWS Cloud Security Group West Africa organises AWS Community Day West Africa. We are a community group and the data controller for the information described here. We are independent of Amazon Web Services, Inc.; AWS does not receive your registration data from us.
Privacy questions or requests: info@awsusergroupwestafrica.com.
2. What we collect
- Event registration: full name, e-mail address, WhatsApp number, employment status, company (optional), country, state and city, whether you attended before, how you heard about us, whether you will attend physically or virtually, your consent choices and the time you gave them, the IP address and time of registration, and later your check-in status.
- Laptop giveaway application: the answers you give on the application form (including why you need a laptop, your tech journey and community contribution), your social-media profile links and a headshot.
- Finalists: the name, photo, city, story and social-media links you agree to publish on the voting page, and statistics about registrations made through your referral link.
- Voting: which finalist a registered attendee voted for, with the time, IP address and browser type of the vote (used only to prevent abuse). Who you voted for is never published.
- Technical data: standard server logs (IP address, pages requested) and the cookies described in section 7.
3. Why we use it and on what basis
- Running the event – registering you, managing capacity, checking you in on the day, contacting you about logistics. Basis: performance of the registration you requested.
- Event communications – reminders, programme updates and community news, only if you ticked “I consent to receive event updates”. Basis: consent, which you can withdraw at any time via the unsubscribe link or by e-mailing us.
- Sharing with sponsors – only if you separately ticked the sponsor box. Basis: consent.
- Laptop giveaway – reviewing applications, selecting finalists, counting referral registrations and votes, preventing fraud, announcing winners. Basis: our legitimate interest in running a fair giveaway, and consent for anything we publish about you.
- Security and fraud prevention – detecting duplicate or fake registrations and votes. Basis: legitimate interest.
- Advertising measurement – measuring whether our ads lead to registrations (Meta Pixel, section 7). Basis: legitimate interest, with an opt-out in the cookie notice.
4. Who we share it with
- Service providers that process data on our behalf: our web-hosting provider (server in the United States), Zoho Campaigns (e-mail newsletters), Resend (transactional e-mail such as your registration confirmation) and Cloudflare Turnstile (bot protection on forms).
- Meta Platforms receives page-view and registration-completed events through the Meta Pixel unless you decline optional cookies (see section 7).
- Event sponsors – only your name, e-mail and professional details, and only if you gave sponsor consent.
- Public: finalists’ name, photo, city, story and social links appear on the voting page; winners’ names may be announced on our channels.
We do not sell your personal data.
5. How long we keep it
Registration data is kept for 12 months after the event, then deleted or anonymised for statistics. Giveaway applications are kept until the giveaway is closed and winners have received their prizes, after which finalist photos are deleted. Newsletter contacts stay in Zoho Campaigns until you unsubscribe. Security logs are kept for up to 12 months.
6. Your rights
Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (and, where applicable, other data-protection laws) you can ask us to: access the data we hold about you; correct it; delete it; restrict or object to its use; withdraw consent at any time; and receive a copy in a portable format. Write to info@awsusergroupwestafrica.com – we respond within 30 days. You may also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
7. Cookies and tracking
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
awscd_sess | Session – keeps your place while you register, vote or use the admin. | Browser session |
awscd_ref | Remembers which finalist’s referral link you arrived from so your registration is credited to them. | 30 days |
sponsor_rc | Remembers a sponsor code from a sponsor’s link. | 7 days |
awscd_consent | Stores your cookie choice. | 12 months |
Meta Pixel (_fbp and related) | Set by Meta to measure our advertising (page views and completed registrations). Not loaded if you decline optional cookies. | Up to 3 months |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Bot protection on forms; may set a short-lived cookie. | Session |
You can change your choice at any time: reset cookie preferences. Blocking cookies in your browser also works; the site still functions without the optional ones.
8. Security
Data is stored in a password-protected database on our hosting provider’s servers, transmitted over HTTPS, and accessible only to the organising team. Access to the admin area is logged.
9. Changes
We will update this notice when our practices change and show the date at the top.