Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

This website is operated by Steven Miles, trading as Steven Miles Systems ("SMSYS", "we", "us"). We are a sole trader based in Darwin, Northern Territory.

ABN: 95 109 058 851

Address: 16 Bloodwood Circuit, Karama NT 0812

Email: steven@smsys.com.au

2. Our commitment

As a small business with annual turnover under A$3 million, Steven Miles Systems is generally exempt from the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We have chosen to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles anyway, because our clients trust us with their systems and their data and we would rather be held to the higher standard.

This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and how you can get it changed or deleted.

3. What we collect

When you contact us. Our enquiry form collects your name, email address, phone number if you provide one, your message, and which page of our site you sent it from. We use the page it came from only to understand which services people enquire about.

When you use the client portal. If we set up a portal account for you, it holds your name and email address, a securely hashed password, the status of your project and our working notes on it, files and documents you or we upload, and your invoices and billing details.

Automatically, when you browse. We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used. It records the pages you view, roughly where you are (city level, derived from your IP address), your device and browser type, how you arrived at the site, and specific interactions such as clicking our email address, viewing our pricing, or submitting an enquiry. We do not store your IP address ourselves and we cannot identify you personally from analytics data.

4. What we do not collect

We do not store credit card or debit card numbers. Invoices are paid by bank transfer, or by card through Stripe, our payment processor, which handles and stores those card details itself.

The client portal does not hold personal information about your own customers or members.

We do not seek sensitive information such as health, racial, political or religious details.

We do not use advertising or remarketing tracking, and we do not build advertising profiles.

5. Cookies and analytics

Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser to recognise return visits and measure sessions. You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings, or install Google's official opt-out browser add-on, and the site will continue to work normally.

We filter our own visits out of our analytics so our numbers reflect real visitors.

6. How we use your information

To reply to your enquiry and quote on work.

To deliver, support and invoice the services you have engaged us for.

To operate your portal account.

To understand which services people are looking for, and to improve the site.

To meet our legal, tax and record-keeping obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we never will.

7. Who we share it with

We share personal information only with the service providers we need to run the business:

Our website and application hosting provider, which stores site and portal data in the European Union.

Google Analytics, for the usage measurement described above.

Our email provider, to send and receive correspondence.

Our accounting and invoicing software, for billing records.

Some of these providers store data on servers outside Australia. Information collected through this website and the client portal, including any files you upload, is stored in the European Union. Separately, our own business administration records — our software account details and our accounting and billing records — are held in the United States. By using this site or a portal account, you consent to that overseas storage. We take reasonable steps to use providers with recognised security practices.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it.

8. Security

Portal access requires a password, and passwords are stored hashed rather than in plain text. The site is served over HTTPS. Access to client files and billing records is limited to Steven Miles. No system is perfectly secure, but if a data breach ever occurred that was likely to cause you serious harm, we would tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner promptly.

9. How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as there is a genuine business reason to, or until you ask us to delete it, whichever comes first. If you ask, we will delete what we hold and confirm in writing.

One exception: Australian tax law requires us to keep financial records, including invoices, for at least five years. We cannot delete those on request, but we will delete everything else and we will tell you exactly what has been retained and why.

10. Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask us at any time what personal information we hold about you, ask for a copy, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email steven@smsys.com.au.

We will respond within 30 days, and there is no charge.

11. Marketing

We do not currently send marketing or promotional email. We only reply to people who contact us and communicate with clients about their own projects.

If we introduce a mailing list in future it will be opt-in only. You will have to actively subscribe, every message will carry a working unsubscribe link, and we will honour unsubscribes promptly, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We will not add you to a list because you once sent an enquiry.

12. Third-party websites

Our site links to websites we have built for clients, and to third-party services. Once you leave smsys.com.au, this policy no longer applies. Please read the privacy policy of any site you visit.

13. Children

Our services are aimed at businesses and organisations, not individuals under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information.

14. Complaints

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, contact Steven Miles directly at steven@smsys.com.au. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our services change. The effective date at the top of the page shows when it was last revised, and material changes will be noted on this page.