This privacy notice has been prepared pursuant to Article 10 of the Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (“KVKK”) and the Communiqué on the Procedures and Principles to Be Followed in Fulfilling the Obligation to Inform, in order to explain for what purposes, on which legal grounds and by which methods the personal data of visitors, members, students and instructors using the Kentmetre Akademi training and forum platform (strakademi.com and egitim.kentmetre.com) are processed, to whom they may be transferred, and their rights under the KVKK.

Your personal data is processed, in its capacity as data controller, by Kentmetre İletişim Danışmanlığı Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi ("Kentmetre"), located at Fevzi Çakmak Mahallesi, Tevfik İleri Caddesi No: 129 İç Kapı No: 5, Pendik / İstanbul, registered with the İstanbul Trade Registry Office under registration number 1029013, with MERSİS number 0544151298300001. Kentmetre is a research and technology organization that brings together field research, big data, geographic analysis, artificial intelligence and strategic communication, and Kentmetre Akademi is the training platform of this organization. You may send any questions and requests regarding your personal data to [email protected].

The personal data processed on the platform varies depending on the purpose for which you use it. When you become a free member or enrol in a training package, your first name, surname, e-mail address and mobile phone number, together with any organisation and note information you optionally provide, are processed. The password you set is never stored in plain text; only an irreversibly encrypted hash of it is kept. When you enrol in a training package, the package and module you select, the amount, the payment method and payment status, and any bank transfer notification are recorded; your bank or card details are not stored on the platform. When you attend lessons, the times at which you open the lesson page, the lesson presentation or the live lesson link, and the length of time these pages remain open, are processed as an online attendance record; your attendance at face-to-face lessons is processed as an attendance record kept by the instructor. When you share research, files or comments in the forum, this content, its sharing dates and view counts are processed. When you submit a quotation request through the corporate training pages, your first name, surname, organisation, e-mail address, telephone number, number of participants, preferred training format, the training courses you select and your message are processed. For account security, your last login time, login attempts and session information are processed.

If you start filling in the registration form and leave without submitting it, the name, surname, e-mail, telephone, organization, package and note information you have entered in the form up to that point, excluding your password, is saved. This information is used solely to contact you in order to help you complete your application and is retained for a maximum of six months.

When you sign in and when a new account is created, a one-time verification code is sent to your mobile phone for the security of your account. This code is not stored in plain text on the platform, expires after three minutes and is deleted once verification is complete. To deliver the code, your mobile phone number and the message text containing the code are transmitted to the SMS service provider.

The platform uses only one strictly necessary session cookie to maintain your session. This cookie is used for no purpose other than remembering that you are signed in and ensuring security, and it is valid for no more than twelve hours. No advertising, marketing or third-party tracking cookies are used on the platform. A random identifier is kept in your browser’s session storage so that an unfinished registration form can be matched; this identifier is deleted when the browser tab is closed.

Your personal data is processed for the purposes of creating and managing your membership and training registration; tracking and confirming payments; planning and conducting classes and providing access to course content; monitoring class attendance and issuing certificates of attendance; operating the forum and checking that shared content complies with publication principles; ensuring account and information security; making announcements and providing information about the training; helping to complete incomplete applications; evaluating corporate training requests and preparing quotes; responding to your requests and complaints; and fulfilling obligations arising from legislation.

Your personal data is collected through electronic channels on the platform, such as the registration form, membership and login screens, and course and forum pages, and partly by automated means; attendance for in-person classes is entered into the platform by the instructor. This data is processed on the basis of the legal grounds set out in paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the KVKK: being directly related to the establishment or performance of the contract relating to the membership and training service (subparagraph c), being necessary for the data controller to fulfil its legal obligation (subparagraph ç), being necessary for the establishment, exercise or protection of a right (subparagraph e), and being necessary for the legitimate interests of the data controller, provided that this does not harm the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject (subparagraph f). Data relating to incomplete applications and account security records are based on the legal ground of legitimate interest. No special categories of personal data are requested on the platform; you are kindly requested not to share data of this nature in your forum posts.

Research posts and comments published on the forum are publicly available. Therefore, when you share a research post or comment, your first name, last name and, if your account includes institution information, your institution may be seen by visitors together with your post. Research posts are published after administrator approval. You may edit your published content or request its removal. You must not share other people’s personal data, confidential information or copyright-protected content; such content will not be published or will be removed.

Your personal data may be shared, limited to the purposes stated above and only to the extent necessary, with İstihbarat ve Güvenlik Araştırmaları Merkezi (İGAM), the business partner with which the training program is jointly conducted; with instructors, within the scope of attendance and roll-call information relating to their own classes; with the SMS service provider for the delivery of verification codes; with server, domain name and network security service providers for the hosting, security and accessibility of the platform; and with legally authorized public institutions and organizations, upon request. The servers of some network security and content delivery service providers may be located abroad; in this case, personal data is transferred in accordance with the conditions stipulated in Article 9 of the KVKK. Your personal data is not sold, rented or shared with third parties for marketing purposes.

Your personal data is retained for the period required by the purposes for which it is processed and for the periods stipulated in the relevant legislation. Membership and account information is retained for as long as your membership continues; registration, payment and accounting records for the period stipulated in the legislation on commercial books and documents (ten years); course attendance records for two years from the completion of the relevant training; information on incomplete applications for a maximum of six months; corporate training quote requests for two years from the conclusion of the request; and verification codes for a maximum of three minutes. At the end of these periods, your personal data is deleted, destroyed or anonymized. When you wish to terminate your membership, your account is closed; content you have published on the forum is removed at your request or anonymized by removing the author information.

Kentmetre takes the technical and administrative measures necessary to ensure an appropriate level of security in order to prevent the unlawful processing of and access to your personal data and to ensure its safekeeping. In this context, access to the platform is provided over an encrypted connection; passwords are stored irreversibly encrypted; logins are verified with a one-time code sent to your mobile phone; failed login attempts are limited; access to personal data is restricted, according to authorization level, solely to the relevant administrators and instructors; and payment pages are served at unpredictable personal addresses.

Pursuant to Article 11 of the KVKK, you have the right to: learn whether your personal data is being processed; request information about it if it has been processed; learn the purpose of processing and whether it is used in accordance with that purpose; know the third parties in Türkiye or abroad to whom it is transferred; request its correction if it has been processed incompletely or incorrectly; request its deletion or destruction within the framework of the conditions stipulated in Article 7 of the KVKK; request that correction, deletion or destruction operations be notified to third parties to whom the personal data has been transferred; object to the occurrence of a result against you through the analysis of the processed data exclusively by means of automated systems; and request compensation for damages if you suffer damage due to the unlawful processing of personal data.

You may submit your requests regarding these rights in writing, together with information identifying you, using the methods specified in the Communiqué on the Procedures and Principles of Application to the Data Controller: by a wet-signed petition delivered in person or through a notary to the address Fevzi Çakmak Mahallesi, Tevfik İleri Caddesi No: 129 İç Kapı No: 5, Pendik / İstanbul, or by e-mail from the e-mail address registered on the platform to [email protected]. Your application will be concluded free of charge as soon as possible, depending on the nature of the request, and within thirty days at the latest; if the process requires an additional cost, a fee may be charged according to the tariff determined by the Personal Data Protection Board. If your application is rejected, the response given is found insufficient, or no response is given in due time, you may file a complaint with the Personal Data Protection Board pursuant to Article 14 of the KVKK.

Kentmetre may amend this privacy notice in line with changes in legislation and updates to the platform’s operation. The current version of the notice is always published on this page.