Mark Maker — Privacy Policy
Effective date: 24 August 2026 Last updated: 24 August 2026
Mark Maker ("Mark Maker", "we", "us", "our") is an online tool that helps South African teachers and students generate CAPS/IEB-aligned test papers, marking memos and related material. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have.
We are committed to protecting your personal information and to processing it lawfully under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").
1. Who is responsible for your information
The responsible party (data controller) is:
- Gabriel Katz, trading as Mark Maker
- Based in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
- Information Officer: Gabriel Katz
- Privacy contact: support@markmaker.co.za
If you have any question about this policy or about how we handle your information, contact us at the address above.
2. The information we collect
We only collect information we need to run the service.
a. Account information. When you register, we collect your email address, a password (stored only as a secure cryptographic hash — we never see or store your actual password), and your role (teacher or student).
b. Content you provide. When you generate a paper you may provide a topic, teacher notes / resources, and optional source materials — text you paste (extracts, scenarios, data) or files and images you upload (for example PDFs or diagrams). You control what you submit; please do not paste sensitive personal information about identifiable individuals into these fields unless you have a lawful basis to do so.
c. Generated content and history. We store the papers and memos you generate so you can access them in your history, subject to limits based on your plan.
d. Usage and billing records. We keep records needed to operate your account and billing — your plan / tier, credit and generation counts (a usage ledger), and subscription status.
e. Payment information. Payments are processed by our payment provider, Paystack. Mark Maker does not collect or store your full card number, CVV, or bank details — these are handled directly by Paystack under their own security standards. We receive only limited transaction and subscription information (for example, that a payment succeeded and when a subscription renews or is cancelled).
f. Technical and log data. Our hosting and infrastructure providers automatically process technical data such as your IP address, browser and device type, and request logs, for security, fraud prevention and reliability. Your browser also stores small amounts of data locally on your device (see Section 9, Cookies and local storage).
We do not run advertising, and we do not sell your personal information.
3. How and why we use your information
We process your information for the following purposes and on the following POPIA bases:
| Purpose | Examples | Lawful basis (POPIA) |
|---|---|---|
| Provide the service | Create your account, generate and store papers, show your history | Performance of a contract with you |
| Billing and subscriptions | Process payments, apply credits, manage your plan | Performance of a contract; our legitimate interests |
| Communicate with you | Account, password-reset and billing emails; support replies | Performance of a contract; legitimate interests |
| Keep the service secure and reliable | Prevent abuse and fraud, diagnose errors, maintain the platform | Legitimate interests; legal obligation |
| Comply with the law | Keep records we are required to keep | Legal obligation |
We do not use your generated content or source materials to build advertising profiles.
4. AI generation
Mark Maker uses Anthropic's Claude models to generate papers and memos. To create your content, the information you submit for a generation — such as your topic, teacher notes and any source materials — is sent to Anthropic to be processed and returned to you. Anthropic acts as a processor for this purpose. By default, and per Anthropic's Commercial Terms, content submitted through the Anthropic API is not used to train their models (this default does not change unless we were to explicitly submit it as feedback, which we do not do). We ask that you avoid submitting unnecessary personal information about identifiable people in generation inputs.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with the service providers ("operators" / processors) needed to run Mark Maker, and only as far as necessary:
| Provider | What they do for us | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database and authentication (your account, history and usage records) | European Union (eu-west-1) |
| Vercel | Website and application hosting | International (may process in various regions) |
| Anthropic | AI generation of papers and memos (see Section 4) | United States |
| Resend | Sending transactional email (e.g. password resets, account and billing notices) | International |
| Paystack | Payment and subscription processing | Africa / international |
| Sentry | Error monitoring and diagnostics (helps us detect and fix faults) | European Union |
Each provider processes your information only on our instructions and under their own security and privacy obligations. We may also disclose information if required by law, to protect our rights, or as part of a business transfer, in each case as permitted by POPIA.
6. Cross-border transfers
Because our providers operate internationally, your information may be stored or processed outside South Africa — in particular, account and history data is stored in the European Union (Supabase, eu-west-1), and generation inputs are processed in the United States (Anthropic). Where we transfer personal information across borders, we do so in line with section 72 of POPIA — relying on the recipient being subject to laws or binding agreements that provide an adequate level of protection, and/or on the transfer being necessary to perform our contract with you.
7. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes above:
- Account information — for as long as your account is open.
- Generated papers and history — while your account is open, subject to the history limits of your plan (older items may fall away as newer ones are saved).
- Usage and billing records — for as long as needed to operate your account and to meet financial record-keeping and legal obligations, which is 5 years after a transaction, to meet accounting and tax record-keeping requirements.
- When you delete your account — we soft-delete your account and then remove or de-identify your associated personal data on our regular purge cycle, except records we are legally required to retain (for example, transaction records for tax purposes).
8. Your rights under POPIA
Subject to POPIA, you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you;
- Correct or update information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Delete your account and associated personal information;
- Object to certain processing;
- Withdraw consent where we rely on it (this won't affect processing already carried out); and
- Complain to the Information Regulator.
You can exercise several of these directly in the app — you can export your data and delete your account from your account settings — or contact us at support@markmaker.co.za and we will respond within a reasonable time.
You may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa):
- Website: https://inforegulator.org.za
- Email (complaints): POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
- Postal: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
9. Cookies and local storage
Mark Maker uses your browser's storage for the app to work — not for advertising. This includes:
- an authentication token to keep you signed in;
- application state, such as your saved form settings and whether you've collapsed the Quick Guide.
We do not use third-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can clear this storage in your browser at any time, though doing so will sign you out and reset your saved preferences.
10. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), storing passwords only as secure hashes, access controls, and relying on reputable providers with their own security standards. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and to address any security incident appropriately, including notifying you and the Information Regulator where the law requires.
11. Children's privacy
Mark Maker is designed for use by teachers and by students, and student accounts may be used by learners under 18. Where we process the personal information of a child (a person under 18), we rely on the consent of a parent, guardian or competent person, or on the child's school acting appropriately, as required by POPIA.
When a student registers, we ask them to confirm that a parent or guardian consents to their use of Mark Maker. If you are under 18, please use Mark Maker only with the permission and guidance of a parent, guardian or teacher. If you believe a child's information has been provided to us without the necessary consent, contact us at support@markmaker.co.za and we will take appropriate steps to address it.
Teachers remain responsible for how they use generated material with their learners and for any personal information they choose to include in their inputs.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you. Your continued use of Mark Maker after an update means you accept the revised policy.
13. Contact us
For any privacy question or to exercise your rights:
Gabriel Katz, trading as Mark Maker Johannesburg, South Africa support@markmaker.co.za