Privacy Policy

Draft — review with your legal advisor before publishing.

This policy explains how we handle personal information when you visit this website. It is written to align with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). AutoMill is feed-mill automation software and a product of Kairos.

We have kept this short and concrete because there is not much to disclose: this is a static marketing site. It runs no enquiry forms, no analytics, no cookies, and no third-party tracking. The detail below sets out exactly what that means.

Effective date: [PLACEHOLDER: effective / last-updated date]

Who we are (responsible party)

The responsible party for any personal information processed in connection with this site is:

• [PLACEHOLDER: full registered company name] (AutoMill is a product of Kairos)
• Company registration number: [PLACEHOLDER: company registration number]
• 48 Oak Avenue, Highveld Techno Park, Building 7, Centurion, 0169, South Africa
• Email: sales@automill.co.za
• Telephone: +27 11 792 8558

We do not buy or collect personal information about you from other sources. The only personal information we receive is what you choose to send us directly by email or tell us over the phone.

Information Officer

Our Information Officer is responsible for POPIA compliance and is the contact point for any data-subject request or query.

• Information Officer: [PLACEHOLDER: Information Officer name and role]
• Email: [PLACEHOLDER: Information Officer email]

Under POPIA the head of a private body is automatically the Information Officer unless the role is formally delegated, and the Information Officer must be registered with the Information Regulator. Deputy Information Officers may also be designated.

What this site does and does not collect

It is worth being clear about what this website actually does, because it is less than most sites.

The site collects no personal information from you directly. There is no enquiry form, no sign-up, no comment box, and no field of any kind to fill in. The contact page offers only passive links: a link that opens Google Maps to our address, a tel: link that starts a call in your phone, and a mailto: link that opens your own email program addressed to sales@automill.co.za. Those links only do anything if you click them, and any call or email you then send is made through your own phone or email account, outside this site. An online enquiry form is planned but is not yet live.

The site sets no cookies and uses no local storage. There is no consent banner because there is nothing that requires consent.

The site runs no analytics or tracking. We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any similar measurement or advertising tool. The only code that runs in your browser is a small local script for on-page animation, which sends no data anywhere.

Fonts are served from this site itself. We do not load fonts from Google Fonts or any other font service, so visiting the site does not expose your IP address to a third-party font provider.

The one place personal information is genuinely processed is at the hosting level, in the form of standard server logs described next.

Server logs

Like almost all websites, the server that delivers these pages may automatically record a short log entry for each request. This typically includes:

• your IP address,
• the date and time of the request,
• the page or file requested and the HTTP status returned,
• the referring page, and
• your browser and operating system (user-agent).

We treat IP addresses as personal information under POPIA. This logging happens at the hosting/infrastructure level rather than in the site’s own code, and is used only to keep the site running and secure — diagnosing faults, preventing abuse, and producing aggregate visitor counts. We do not use it to identify or profile individual visitors.

When you email or call us

If you email sales@automill.co.za or phone +27 11 792 8558, we will hold whatever you choose to send — for example your name, your email address or phone number, and the content of your message — for as long as we need it to deal with your enquiry. Sending us this information is voluntary, but if you do not give us a way to reach you (an email address or phone number) we will not be able to reply.

We do not knowingly collect special personal information (as defined in section 26 of POPIA) or the personal information of children through this site. Please do not send us such information unless we have specifically asked for it and explained why.

Why we process this information

We process the limited information described above for the following purposes, each tied to a lawful basis under POPIA:

• Running and securing the website (server logs) — for our legitimate interest in keeping the site available, diagnosing problems, and preventing abuse.
• Responding to enquiries (email and phone) — to take the steps you ask for before or during a possible business relationship, and for our legitimate interest in answering people who contact us.

We do not use your information for any purpose unrelated to the one for which you gave it to us.

Is providing information voluntary?

Yes. You can browse this site without giving us any personal information at all. If you choose to contact us, providing your contact details is voluntary — but, as noted above, we cannot reply if you do not give us a way to reach you. No law requires you to provide personal information to use this site.

Who we share information with

We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing.

The only third party involved in the normal running of the site is our hosting provider, which operates the servers that deliver these pages and may keep the access logs described above. A hosting provider acting on our behalf is an operator (processor) under POPIA and must process personal information only on our instructions and keep it secure and confidential, under a section 21 operator agreement.

We may also disclose personal information if the law requires it, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

Cross-border transfers

Depending on where our hosting provider’s servers are located, server-log data may be processed outside South Africa. Where that happens, POPIA (section 72) requires that the information enjoys an adequate level of protection — through the recipient being bound by laws or agreements offering protection comparable to POPIA, or because the transfer is necessary to provide the service you are using. We rely on our agreement with the hosting provider to maintain that protection. If you would like to know where the site is currently hosted, please ask us using the contact details above.

How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, unless the law requires or allows us to keep it longer.

• Server logs are kept for a limited period by the hosting provider, then overwritten or deleted as part of normal operation.
• Emails and call notes are kept for as long as needed to handle your enquiry and any follow-up, after which they are deleted.

Once we no longer have a lawful reason to keep a record, we delete, destroy or de-identify it, in line with section 14 of POPIA.

How we protect information

We take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage and unauthorised access, as required by section 19 of POPIA. The site is served over HTTPS/TLS, and access to any enquiry correspondence is limited to the people who need it.

If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will notify the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible, as required by section 22 of POPIA.

Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• be notified when your personal information is collected, and when it has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person;
• ask whether we hold personal information about you and to request access to it;
• request that we correct information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained;
• request that we delete or destroy personal information we are no longer entitled to keep;
• object, on reasonable grounds relating to your situation, to our processing of your personal information (using the prescribed Form 1);
• object to your personal information being used for direct marketing by unsolicited electronic communication;
• not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing intended to profile you;
• withdraw any consent you have given, at any time and free of charge;
• complain to the Information Regulator; and
• institute civil proceedings over an alleged interference with the protection of your personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer using the details above. Objections and requests are free of charge, and the prescribed POPIA forms apply where relevant (for example Form 1 to object, Form 2 to request correction or deletion). We will respond within a reasonable time, and within the periods POPIA sets for correction or destruction outcomes.

Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you believe we have not handled your personal information lawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa). Complaints are made in writing in the prescribed manner, using the POPIA complaint form (Form 5).

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

• JD House, 27 Stiebel Place, Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
• Tel: 010 023 5200
• Toll-free: 0800 017 160
• General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
• POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• Website: https://inforegulator.org.za/
• Complaints portal (eServices): https://eservices.inforegulator.org.za/

You can submit a completed complaint form through the eServices portal or by emailing it to POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.

Cookies and tracking technologies

This site sets no cookies and uses no local storage, session storage, or similar tracking technologies. It runs no analytics and no advertising or marketing trackers. Because nothing requiring consent is set, there is no cookie consent banner. If this ever changes, we will update this policy and add the appropriate controls and, where required, a consent mechanism.

Links to other sites

The site contains plain links to a few external pages — our Facebook page, our Instagram page, the Kairos LinkedIn company page, and a Google Maps search for our address. These are ordinary links: nothing from those services is embedded in our pages, and your browser only contacts them if you click through. Once you leave this site, the privacy practices of the site you land on are theirs, not ours, and we are not responsible for them. Please review their own privacy policies.

Direct marketing

We do not send marketing emails or other electronic marketing from this site. The legacy contact and competition forms from the old website are not active. If we introduce direct marketing in future, we will only do so in line with section 69 of POPIA — which means asking for your consent to electronic marketing, identifying ourselves clearly as the sender, and giving you a way to opt out in every message — and we will update this policy first.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always the one published on this page, and the effective date at the top tells you which version applies. Please check back occasionally.

If you have any questions about this policy or about how we handle personal information, email sales@automill.co.za or call +27 11 792 8558.