Privacy policy

We only collect what a given form or feature actually needs to work:

• Event registration: full name, email, phone number.
• Event tickets: name, email, and phone number, plus the ticket reference we issue you. At the gate we scan the QR code on your ticket to check you in.
• Cosplay registration: your name, contact details, character and costume details, and your age group (Junior or Open). For under 13s, a parent or guardian’s details.
• Stall applications: your name, contact details, business or stall name, stall category, a description of what you sell, and whether you need power. Fees and payment status for accepted stalls are recorded so we can run the event finances.
• Applications (Join the Crew, volunteering, vendor/artist-alley/competition and other open calls): full name, email, phone or WhatsApp number, and whatever else that specific call asks for, e.g. a portfolio link or a message about your availability.
• Contact form: name, email, and your message.
• Photo requests: name and email, so we can send you the file.
• Merch orders: name, phone number, and an optional pickup note.
• Community board account: a handle, email, and password.
• Knight dashboard account: email and password (your name is set by an admin when you're invited).
• Newsletter: email address only.

We never ask for national ID numbers, financial account details, or other sensitive data through these forms.

For registrations and applications, we use your details to process what you submitted: confirm a spot, review an application, or reach you about its status. This is processing under a contract you're entering into with us by applying or registering, or our legitimate interest in running the event or programme you signed up for.

For the newsletter, we send email only because you asked us to, confirmed through a double opt-in link, and you can withdraw that consent at any time (see “Your rights” below).

For community and Knight dashboard accounts, we use your email to verify the account is really yours and to let you reset your password if needed.

By attending an Afurotaku event, you may be photographed or filmed for recap galleries and promotional use across our site and social channels. If you'd rather not appear, let a crew member know on the day, or contact us afterward and we'll remove a specific photo on request.

Children are welcome at our events. Attendees under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and attendees under 18 need guardian consent. A parent or guardian can ask us at any time to remove a photo or video of their child, and we will do so without questions. Press and filming by outside media is only allowed with a press badge issued by the crew.

If you apply for a stall, the details above are used only to review your application, confirm your space, collect the stall fee and contact you about the day. Stalls are run under our stall rules (PDF), which you accept when you apply.

Food stalls are responsible for the safety and hygiene of what they sell. Photography and videography will be present at the event, so your stall may appear in recap galleries; tell a crew member on the day, or contact us, if you would rather it did not.

We don't sell your data. A small number of service providers process it on our behalf to run the site:

• Email delivery (Gmail/Google Workspace SMTP), to send confirmations and updates.
• Cloudinary, to host photos you or the crew upload (gallery, applications).
• Neon, our Postgres database host, to store the records above.
• Event partners only receive a stall holder’s stall name and category where needed to list them on the day; we do not hand your contact details to partners.

Application and registration data is otherwise only visible to Afurotaku crew who need it to run the event or programme in question.

We keep registration and application records for as long as needed to run the event/programme and a reasonable period after for our own records, then delete them. There's no automatic deletion schedule yet, so if you'd like your data removed sooner, contact us (below) and we'll action it manually. Stall application and payment records are kept for our event finance records. Newsletter subscribers are removed as soon as you unsubscribe.

Under the Botswana Data Protection Act and, where applicable, EU/UK GDPR-style protections, you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal data we hold about you (access)
• correct anything that's wrong (rectification)
• delete your data (erasure), subject to any records we need to keep
• send you a copy of your data in a portable format (portability)
• stop processing your data for a particular purpose (objection), e.g. unsubscribing from email

To exercise any of these, email us at info@afurotaku.com and we'll respond as soon as we can.

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in to the community board, Knight dashboard, or Studio admin once you log in. We don't use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.