Privacy
How we handle your information.
This notice covers The Digital Hardhat website, newsletter, partner enquiries and project tools.
Updated 18 September 2026
Newsletter details
When you subscribe, we collect your email address and any optional details you provide, such as your name, company or role. We store subscription preferences and signup information in Supabase to manage the newsletter. Approved newsletter sends use Resend for delivery. Each newsletter includes an unsubscribe option; unsubscribing stops future newsletters but does not automatically erase the subscription record.
Partner and sponsorship enquiries
We collect the contact, company, product and proposed commercial details you submit so we can assess and respond to your enquiry. These are stored in Supabase for review. Submitting an enquiry does not subscribe you to the newsletter or create a payment. Contact details are not part of a public tool listing; product information may be published after editorial review.
Accounts and project tools
Account information and saved tool inputs, reports and analysis results may be stored in Supabase. Some tool information is also saved in your browser's local storage. Depending on the tool, inputs can include project notes, schedule data, file information and content extracted from an upload. AI-enabled tools may send relevant input to OpenAI to produce the requested analysis. Only submit information you are authorised to share with these services, and remove unnecessary personal or confidential details.
Mobile field notes and shared reports
The field workspace saves notes and retained photos, recordings and drawings in this browser’s IndexedDB. Signed-in sync stores them privately in Supabase; guest drafts are imported only when selected. Transcription sends the selected recording to OpenAI. AI drafting sends the saved notes, reviewed transcripts and supported images selected by the tool; reference PDFs are not automatically interpreted. Issuing preserves a fixed reviewed version. Creating a share link lets anyone who possesses it view that version, its photos and the selected drawing pages in its PDF until expiry or revocation. Original recordings and uncorrected transcripts are excluded. Recipients can retain downloads after a link is revoked. The offline workspace caches public app files; it does not publicly cache your reports.
Clicks and abuse prevention
Our directory's outbound-link counter records the tool, day and total clicks; it does not record a visitor profile or IP address in that counter. Partner enquiry protection uses a protected identifier derived from your IP address to limit repeated submissions. Entries older than 48 hours are removed during subsequent submission checks. Newsletter signup protection separately records hashed email and IP identifiers to limit abuse. Hosting and service providers may process technical request information to operate and protect the site.
Website contact messages
Questions, article corrections and privacy requests sent through the contact form are stored in the same private review system as tool feedback. A reply email is optional and is stored only if you include it in your message. Messages are not published and do not subscribe you to the newsletter. The form uses the same bounded collection and short-lived rate controls described below.
Private tool feedback
Optional tool ratings and comments are stored privately for our team to improve the tools. They are not published as reviews. The form saves the selected tool, rating, topic, comment and submission date, without requesting a name or email address. Do not include project documents or confidential information in feedback. A daily protected identifier derived from your IP address limits repeat submissions; these rate records are removed after up to three UTC calendar days during later submissions. Feedback itself remains available for internal review and can be removed on request where it can be identified.
Tool discovery preferences
We count category selections, project-stage selections and openings of our own tools to understand which work matters most to readers. These are daily totals, not unique visitor counts. The discovery counter does not store search text, account details, IP addresses, cookies or visitor identifiers. It respects browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals. Short-lived aggregate rate counters limit automated traffic; hosting providers may separately process request information as described below.
Website audience measurement
We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand which pages people read and how they reach the site. It provides aggregate page-view and visitor statistics, including referring websites, approximate location, device and browser information. Vercel uses a short-lived request-derived identifier rather than third-party cookies; it discards visitor session identifiers after 24 hours. We exclude private account, report, share-link and authentication pages from page-view tracking, remove query strings and fragments, and honour browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals. We do not send newsletter addresses, project notes or uploaded files as analytics events.
Service providers and external websites
Vercel hosts the website and provides web analytics, Supabase supports account and data storage, Resend supports approved email delivery, and OpenAI supports AI analysis where used. Their processing and storage arrangements may involve countries outside Australia. When you visit a vendor's website, that vendor handles your visit under its own privacy terms. An active referral programme may also use the vendor's tracking to attribute a referral. A link or listing does not transfer your enquiry or project records to that vendor.
Storage and your choices
Closing a browser or unsubscribing does not automatically delete account data, saved reports or enquiries. Use available account and tool controls to manage saved information, and contact us to request access, correction or deletion. Browser settings can clear locally saved information, but this does not remove records already saved to the service. We do not promise immediate deletion from backups or from providers' operational records.
Privacy questions and requests
For access, corrections, deletion requests or a concern about how your information has been handled, use our private contact form. Include enough detail to identify the relevant account or submission, without sending passwords or unnecessary project data. We may need to verify your request before making changes.
We will review your concern and explain the outcome and any further steps. You can also read the OAIC privacy complaints guidance.