Last updated 22 October 2026

Privacy policy

databits is a trading name of Tim Schliebs, a sole trader based in New Zealand (NZBN 9429052381584). This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, and what you can ask us to do with it. We follow the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and, for people in Australia, the Australian Privacy Principles.

What we collect

  • When you contact us: your name, business, email address, phone number (if you give it) and your message. We also store the IP address and browser details sent with your message, to spot and block spam.
  • When you subscribe to our newsletter: your email address and the date you agreed.
  • Business contact details: to find organisations we may be able to help, we research publicly available business information, such as company websites, professional profiles and business directories. This includes people's names, job titles and work contact details. We record where each detail came from.
  • When you use our client portal: the portal keeps the email address you asked for a sign-in link with in your browser's local storage until you open the link or sign out, and your sign-in session in local storage and IndexedDB until you sign out. Google Cloud, which runs the portal, also keeps standard request logs (your IP address, your browser, the page address and the time) for up to 30 days, for security.
  • When you accept and sign a proposal in our client portal: your name as we hold it and the full name and job title you type to sign, your email address, IP address, the network address details your connection passed through, browser details, the time you signed in to confirm and the time you accepted, and which version of the proposal, of the Services Agreement (with a fingerprint of its text) and of the portal terms you accepted. Your business's other portal users see your name, which version you accepted and signed and when, in the proposal's activity. We keep this as the record of the agreement, and once we have countersigned, a PDF copy of the signed agreement with these details, so both stay when other information about you is deleted. We keep both for [TBC: retention period].
  • When you approve or decline a change request in our client portal (as the person authorised to sign for your business): which change request, your answer, when you gave it and which portal account gave it. Your business's other portal users see the answer and when it was given, not who gave it. We keep this as part of the record of the agreement, so it stays when other information about you is deleted, and if you have accepted a proposal, its record still shows that the account was yours.
  • When you approve go-live or sign off a project in our client portal (as the person authorised to sign for your business): which release or project, when you approved it and which portal account approved it. Your business's other portal users see that it was approved and when, not who approved it. We keep this as part of the record of the agreement, as for change requests above.
  • When you answer a release's review items in our client portal: which item, whether you approved it or asked for changes, your comment and when you answered. We don't record which portal user gave the answer. Your business's other portal users and we can read it. We keep it with the release as the record of your testing, and replace your name, email address and phone number with "[removed contact]" in these comments when you ask us to delete your information.
  • When you send us feedback on a proposal in our client portal: your name, your message, which version of the proposal you were looking at, and when you sent it. Your business's other portal users and we can read it, with our reply, which they see under it. We delete it when you ask us to delete your information (and replace your name, email address and phone number with "[removed contact]" in other people's messages), or when we delete your business's records.
  • When you open a concept page we made for your business (an address starting databits.site/for/): that the page was opened, when, for how long and which screens were tapped. Our own record of the visit holds no IP address, and we don't use cookies. We count visits to our public ideas pages (databits.site/ideas/) the same way. Google Cloud, which runs these pages, also keeps standard request logs (your IP address, your browser, the page address and the time) for up to 30 days, for security.

How we use it

  • To reply to your enquiry and provide our services.
  • To send our newsletter, only if you asked for it.
  • To contact people at businesses about services relevant to their role. Every such email identifies us and tells you how to opt out.
  • To know when a concept page has been looked at, so we can follow up at a helpful time.

We never sell your information, and we don't share it with anyone except the service providers we use to run the business (for example email, secure cloud hosting and AI), who may only use it on our behalf.

Where it is stored

Our systems run on Google Cloud, with data stored in Google's us-central1 (Iowa, United States) region. Email is handled by Google Workspace. These providers protect data with encryption in transit and at rest.

We use Anthropic's Claude AI, which runs in the United States, to research businesses from public information and to draft documents such as assessment reviews and proposals from our notes of conversations with clients. Our Claude account keeps the notes and drafts it works from in its history until we delete them, and we delete them along with the rest when you ask us to delete your information. What the Claude working on a client's project has read (the project's name, decisions and builds) stays in that client's folder and its session history, and we delete it by hand too. Portal accounts (the email address you sign in with) are deleted by hand on request too. Our account is set so that Anthropic doesn't use them to train its models.

Opting out

If you'd rather not hear from us, reply to any email with "no thanks" or "unsubscribe", or email tim@databits.site. We stop straight away and keep only a record that you opted out, so we don't contact you again.

Your rights

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email tim@databits.site and we'll respond within 20 working days. If you're not happy with our response, you can contact the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz) or, in Australia, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au).

Contact

Tim Schliebs, databits ·

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