Cookie Policy

1. Overview

Welcome to Net Pay Kenya's Cookie Policy. This policy explains what cookies and similar technologies are, how we use them on our website and Services, and how you can control them.

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) when you visit websites. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently, provide a better user experience, and provide information to website owners.

Our Commitment: We are committed to transparency about our use of cookies and respect your right to control them. We use cookies to provide core functionality, remember your preferences, improve our Services, and understand how users interact with our website.

Your Control: Some cookies are essential for our Services to function; others are optional and require your consent. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through our cookie banner or your browser settings.

This Cookie Policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which provides more information about how we collect, use, and protect your personal data.

2. What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that are stored on your device when you visit a website. They serve various purposes and come in different types:

Types of Cookies by Duration

• Session Cookies: Temporary cookies that are deleted automatically when you close your browser. They help websites remember your actions during a single browsing session (e.g., items in a shopping cart, form data).
• Persistent Cookies: Remain on your device for a set period or until you manually delete them. They remember your preferences and settings across multiple visits (e.g., language preference, login status).

Types of Cookies by Origin

• First-Party Cookies: Set directly by Net Pay Kenya (the website you're visiting). We have full control over these cookies and use them to provide core functionality and improve your experience.
• Third-Party Cookies: Set by external services we use (e.g., Google Analytics, live chat providers). These help us analyze usage and provide additional features but are controlled by those third parties.

Similar Technologies

In addition to cookies, we use similar technologies that serve comparable purposes:

• Local Storage: Allows websites to store data locally in your browser with no expiration date. We use it to remember your preferences and settings.
• Session Storage: Similar to local storage but data is cleared when the browser tab is closed.
• Web Beacons (Pixels): Tiny transparent images embedded in web pages or emails that track whether content has been viewed.
• ETags: HTTP headers used for caching and tracking purposes.
• Browser Fingerprinting: Collecting information about your browser configuration to create a unique identifier (we do not use this technique).

For simplicity, we refer to all these technologies as "cookies" in this policy unless specifically distinguished.

3. Categories we use

We categorize cookies based on their purpose and function. Here's a detailed breakdown of each category we use:

1. Strictly Necessary (Essential) Cookies

Purpose: These cookies are essential for our website to function properly. Without them, you cannot use basic features of our Services.

What They Do:

• Security: Protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks and other security threats
• Session Management: Maintain your session as you navigate between pages
• Load Balancing: Distribute traffic across our servers for optimal performance
• Authentication: Remember that you're logged in (if you have an account)
• Cookie Consent: Remember your cookie preferences so we don't ask repeatedly
• Form Validation: Ensure forms work correctly and prevent duplicate submissions

Legal Basis: These cookies are necessary for the performance of our contract with you and to comply with legal obligations. They do not require consent.

Can You Disable Them? No. Disabling these cookies will prevent our website from functioning properly. They cannot be switched off in our systems.

2. Functional (Preference) Cookies

Purpose: These cookies enable enhanced functionality and personalization based on your choices.

What They Do:

• Theme Preferences: Remember if you prefer light or dark mode
• Language Settings: Store your preferred language
• Calculator History: Remember your recent calculations for quick access
• UI Preferences: Save your layout preferences and customization choices
• Accessibility Settings: Remember font size, contrast, and other accessibility preferences
• Recent Pages: Track pages you've visited for "recently viewed" features

Legal Basis: Legitimate interests in providing a personalized user experience. In some jurisdictions, we may request consent.

Can You Disable Them? Yes, through our cookie banner or browser settings. However, disabling them may result in a less personalized experience and some features may not work as intended.

3. Analytics and Performance Cookies

Purpose: These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website so we can improve it.

What They Do:

• Usage Analytics: Track which pages are visited, how long users stay, and navigation patterns
• Performance Monitoring: Measure page load times, identify errors, and detect performance issues
• Feature Usage: Understand which calculators and features are most popular
• User Journey Mapping: Analyze how users move through our website
• A/B Testing: Compare different versions of pages to improve user experience
• Error Tracking: Identify and fix bugs and technical issues

Third-Party Services: We use Google Analytics (anonymized IP addresses) and similar tools. These services collect aggregated, anonymized data that cannot identify you personally.

Legal Basis: Your consent, which we request through our cookie banner.

Can You Disable Them? Yes, by declining analytics cookies in our cookie banner or using browser extensions like Google Analytics Opt-out.

4. Marketing and Advertising Cookies

Status: We do NOT currently use marketing or advertising cookies on Net Pay Kenya.

We do not:

• Track you across other websites
• Build advertising profiles
• Share data with advertising networks
• Display targeted advertisements based on your browsing
• Use retargeting or remarketing cookies

If we decide to use advertising cookies in the future, we will update this policy and request your explicit consent before doing so.

5. Social Media Cookies

Purpose: Enable social media features and track social media interactions.

What They Do:

• Social Sharing: Allow you to share content on social media platforms
• Social Login: Enable login via social media accounts (if available)
• Social Plugins: Display social media content embedded on our pages

Third-Party Control: These cookies are set by social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and are subject to their privacy policies.

Can You Disable Them? Yes, through our cookie banner or by adjusting settings on the respective social media platforms.

4. Typical retention

Different cookies have different retention periods (how long they remain on your device). Here's a detailed breakdown:

Retention Periods by Category

Specific Cookie Details

Essential Cookies:

• session_id - Session cookie (deleted when browser closes)
• csrf_token - Security token (session)
• cookie_consent - Your cookie preferences (12 months)
• load_balancer - Server routing (1 hour)

Functional Cookies:

• theme_preference - Light/dark mode (12 months)
• language - Preferred language (12 months)
• recent_calculations - Calculator history (30 days)
• ui_preferences - Layout settings (6 months)

Analytics Cookies (Third-Party):

• _ga - Google Analytics main cookie (2 years)
• _gid - Google Analytics identifier (24 hours)
• _gat - Google Analytics throttling (1 minute)

Important: Actual retention periods may vary slightly depending on the specific cookie and provider. Third-party cookies are subject to the retention policies of those providers. We regularly review and clean up expired cookies.

Automatic Deletion

Cookies are automatically deleted when:

• They reach their expiration date
• You manually clear your browser cookies
• You use our cookie management tools to withdraw consent
• Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser

5. Manage your preferences

• Use the cookie banner when you first visit to accept or decline optional cookies.
• You can reopen preferences at any time: Open cookie preferences.
• You can also control cookies via your browser settings (see below).

6. Browser controls & Do Not Track

In addition to our cookie banner, you can control cookies through your web browser settings. Most modern browsers allow you to:

Browser Cookie Controls

• Block All Cookies: Prevent websites from setting any cookies
• Block Third-Party Cookies: Allow first-party cookies but block third-party tracking
• Delete Cookies: Remove existing cookies from your device
• View Cookies: See which cookies are stored and their details
• Set Exceptions: Allow cookies from specific websites while blocking others

How to Manage Cookies by Browser

Google Chrome:

1. Click the three dots menu → Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data
2. Choose your preferred cookie settings
3. To delete cookies: Click "See all site data and permissions" → Remove All

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Click the menu button → Settings → Privacy & Security
2. Under "Cookies and Site Data," choose your preferences
3. To delete cookies: Click "Clear Data" → Check "Cookies and Site Data" → Clear

Safari (Mac):

1. Safari menu → Preferences → Privacy
2. Choose "Block all cookies" or manage website data
3. To delete cookies: Click "Manage Website Data" → Remove All

Microsoft Edge:

1. Click the three dots menu → Settings → Cookies and site permissions → Cookies and site data
2. Choose your cookie settings
3. To delete cookies: Click "See all cookies and site data" → Remove all

Mobile Browsers: Cookie settings are typically found in Settings → Privacy or Settings → Site Settings on mobile browsers.

For detailed instructions for your specific browser, visit: allaboutcookies.org

Impact of Blocking Cookies

Warning: If you block or delete essential cookies, some features of our website may not function properly:

• You may not be able to stay logged in
• Your preferences and settings won't be saved
• Some calculators may not work correctly
• Security features may be compromised
• You may see the cookie banner repeatedly

Do Not Track (DNT)

Current Status: We currently do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) browser signals.

Why? There is no industry consensus on how to interpret and respond to DNT signals. Different browsers implement DNT differently, and there's no standard for what actions websites should take when receiving a DNT signal.

Your Control: Instead of relying on DNT, we recommend using our cookie banner and browser settings to control cookies. These methods give you clear, specific control over what data is collected.

Future Changes: If industry standards for DNT are established, we will update our practices and this policy accordingly.

Additional Privacy Tools

• Google Analytics Opt-out: Install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on
• Privacy Badger: Browser extension that blocks tracking cookies
• uBlock Origin: Ad blocker that also blocks some tracking cookies
• Private/Incognito Mode: Browse without saving cookies (note: doesn't prevent tracking during the session)

7. Changes

We may update this Cookie Policy periodically to reflect changes in our cookie practices, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons.

How We Notify You

• Date Update: The "Last Updated" date at the top will be revised
• Cookie Banner: If changes affect your consent choices, we may re-display the cookie banner
• Website Notice: Material changes will be highlighted on this page
• Email Notification: If you have an account, we may email you about significant changes

What Constitutes a Material Change

• Adding new categories of cookies that require consent
• Changing the purposes for which we use cookies
• Significantly extending cookie retention periods
• Adding new third-party cookie providers
• Changes to how you can control cookies

Your Continued Use

By continuing to use our Services after changes become effective, you accept the updated Cookie Policy. If you do not agree with changes, please adjust your cookie preferences or discontinue use of our Services.

Review Regularly

We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically. You can always find the current version at netpaykenya.org/pages/cookies.html.

8. Contact

If you have questions or concerns about our use of cookies, we're here to help.

Contact Information

Email: mynetpaykenya@gmail.com

Subject Line: Please use "Cookie Policy Inquiry" for faster processing

What to Include

• Your question or concern about cookies
• Browser and device information (if relevant)
• Specific cookies you're asking about (if applicable)

Response Time

We aim to respond to cookie-related inquiries within 5 business days.

Related Documents

For more information about our data practices:

• Privacy Policy - How we collect, use, and protect your data
• Terms of Service - Rules governing use of our Services
• Accessibility Statement - Our commitment to accessibility
• Contact Page - General inquiries and support

Cookie Preferences

To manage your cookie preferences right now: Open Cookie Settings