Privacy Policy

ET-FOREX (“ET-Forex”, “we”, “us”) publishes buying and selling exchange rates collected from Ethiopian banks. This policy explains what we collect when you use the website, the ET-Forex mobile app, and the developer API (together, the Services), and what we do with it.

The short version: the rate data we publish is public bank information, not information about you. Most of the site works without an account, and we do not sell personal information.

We collect four kinds of information, and only these:

• Account information— if you sign in to the mobile app with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address, and a stable account identifier from that provider. We never receive your Google or Apple password.
• Developer account information— if you request an API key, we store the contact email, organisation name, and the key itself, along with per-key request counts used for rate limiting.
• Usage and device data— standard server logs: IP address, user agent, referring page, requested URL, and timestamp. In the app we additionally record the platform and app version so we can reproduce bugs.
• Article readership— when you open or share a news article we record that it happened, identified by a one-way hash of your IP address and browser user agent mixed with a secret that changes every day. We store the hash, never the IP address itself. Once the day ends the secret is replaced, so the hash cannot be linked to the next day’s, cannot be worked back to an address, and cannot follow you over time. It exists only so that one person reading an article twice counts once. No cookie is involved and no profile is built.
• Preferences you set— the currency you last viewed and similar display choices, stored in your browser or on your device.

The exchange rates on ET-Forex are gathered from published sources — bank websites, official rate sheets, and public announcements — and are attributed to the issuing bank. That content describes institutions, not people, and none of it is derived from your activity on the Services.

Looking up a rate does not tell any bank that you did so. We do not forward your identity, your searches, or your converter inputs to the banks whose rates we display.

• To deliver the Services — serving rates, running the converter, and authenticating your app session.
• To keep the Services working — diagnosing errors, detecting abuse, and enforcing API rate limits.
• To understand aggregate usage — which currencies and pages are in demand — so we know what to build next.
• To contact you about your account or API key, including security and service notices.
• To meet legal obligations and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We do not use your information for automated decisions that produce legal effects, and we do not run advertising or ad-tech profiling on the Services.

ET-Forex uses the minimum browser storage needed to function. There are no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. Analytics is the only optional category, and on the website it stays off until you choose otherwise.

• Essential— session and security cookies that keep you signed in and protect form submissions. These cannot be switched off without breaking the Services.
• Preference— local storage entries remembering your selected currency and display settings. These stay on your device.
• Readership— one local storage entry listing the news articles you have opened or shared today, so the same article is not counted twice. It holds article names and a date, nothing about you, it never leaves your device, and it is replaced each day.
• Analytics— Google Analytics, which sets first-party cookies (_ga and a per-property counterpart) holding a random identifier, so repeat visits from one browser count as one visitor rather than several. On the website this runs only if you agree to it: until you do, the Google Analytics script is never requested and no such cookie is created. We use it only to see which pages and currencies are in demand in aggregate. Advertising features and cross-site personalisation are switched off, and we do not upload your email address or any other identifier to the property.
• Session replay— Microsoft Clarity, which sets first-party cookies (_clck and _clsk) and records how pages are used: pointer movement, scrolling, clicks, and which elements were interacted with. These are assembled into replays and heatmaps we watch to find layouts that confuse people. Clarity masks text content by default, so what you type into a field is not captured. Like the above, this runs only if you agree: until you do, the Clarity script is never requested.

The choice is yours to make and to change. On your first visit we ask before loading anything optional, and you can revisit that decision at any time from Cookie settings in the footer of any page. Withdrawing consent takes effect immediately, stops session recording, and deletes the analytics cookies already on your device.

You can also clear or block this storage in your browser settings. If you do, preferences reset on each visit and signed-in features stop working.

We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for advertising. We disclose it only in these situations:

• Service providers— infrastructure, database, authentication, analytics, and email vendors that process data on our instructions and are contractually barred from using it for themselves. Site analytics are handled by Google Analytics, which receives the page you viewed, a truncated IP address, and standard device and referrer information. Session replays and heatmaps are handled by Microsoft Clarity, which receives the interaction data described above under its own privacy statement. Neither receives anything until you have agreed to measurement.
• Legal requirements— where we are required by applicable law, regulation, or a valid order from a competent authority.
• Protecting the Services— where disclosure is necessary to investigate suspected fraud, abuse, or threats to the security of the Services or their users.
• Business transfer— if ET-Forex is acquired or merged, information may transfer to the successor, which stays bound by this policy until it gives notice of a replacement.

• Account records— kept while your account is active and deleted within 30 days of a deletion request.
• Server logs— retained for up to 90 days, then deleted or aggregated into non-identifying counts.
• API usage counters— retained for up to 12 months for quota enforcement and abuse investigation.
• Published rate history— retained indefinitely; it is the historical record the charts are built from, and it contains no personal information.

Traffic to the Services is encrypted in transit with TLS. Access to production systems is restricted to the people who need it and protected by multi-factor authentication. API keys are stored hashed and are shown to you in full only once, at creation.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you and the relevant authority where the law requires it.

Subject to applicable law, you may ask us to give you a copy of the personal information we hold about you, correct it if it is wrong, delete it, or restrict how we use it. You may also object to processing that relies on our legitimate interests.

Where we rely on your consent — website analytics is the only such case — you may withdraw it whenever you like, from Cookie settings in the footer of any page. Withdrawing it stops the processing from that point on; it does not make what happened while consent was in force unlawful.

Email [email protected] from the address on your account and we will respond within 30 days. Deleting your app account removes your profile and sign-in link; it does not remove published bank rate data, which is not about you.

The Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

ET-Forex serves users in Ethiopia and abroad, and our infrastructure providers may process data in other countries. Wherever it is processed, we apply the protections described in this policy and use contractual safeguards with providers who handle personal information on our behalf.

The Services link to bank websites, app stores, and other third parties. Those destinations have their own privacy practices, which we do not control and are not responsible for. Read their policies before giving them information.

We may update this policy as the Services change. The effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and material changes will be announced on the site — and by email to account holders — before they take effect. Continuing to use the Services after that date means you accept the updated policy.

Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy can go to [email protected].

See also our Terms of Service, which govern your use of the Services.