Privacy Policy
Last updated:
Purpose
This policy explains how Follent.net handles personal information in connection with its website services, and how you can ask questions or raise a concern.
Approach
You can browse our website without creating an account. Our enquiry form is available so you can tell us about your project. Please share only the information needed to discuss it. Optional Google Analytics loads only if you allow it. You can contact us about privacy at privacy@follent.net.
Operator and legal context
Follent.net is operated by James Follent as a sole trader. In this Privacy Policy, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ refer to James Follent.
This policy describes how we handle personal information in connection with Follent.net and enquiries about our website services. We draw on the Australian Privacy Principles as guidance for good privacy practice. This policy does not limit any rights or obligations that apply under Australian law.
Policy Statement #1 — Protecting your privacy and scope
1.1 This policy applies only to Follent.net and the handling of personal information in connection with this website and enquiries about its services.
1.2 You can read our pages without giving us your name. You can also use a different name for a general question. To reply, we need a working contact address. Agreeing to a project or accessing existing records can require your identity.
1.3 This website does not offer visitor accounts, public comments, image uploads or online checkout.
Policy Statement #2 — Personal information and collection
2.1 When you contact us by email about our services or a privacy matter, we collect your email address, your message and any information or attachments you provide. This can include your name, contact details, business details and information about your project. Please provide only what is needed for your enquiry.
2.2 When you submit our enquiry form, its required fields are your name, email address, project message and agreement to use those details to respond. Optional fields ask for your business name, phone number, existing website, type of help, package of interest and approximate timeline. Campaign details may accompany the submission as described in clause 5.2.
2.3 Please do not include passwords, payment card details, unnecessary identity documents, health information or other sensitive personal information in a project enquiry. Do not send another person’s details unless you have their permission or another appropriate basis to do so.
Policy Statement #3 — Storage, security and retention
3.1 We keep email correspondence in Microsoft-hosted email accounts and business enquiry records in our self-hosted Twenty CRM. Formspark processes and stores form submissions, and notifications create copies in our email inboxes, including a Google-hosted notification mailbox. Correspondence may also be accessed on our devices. Providers maintain technical logs and backups under their own arrangements; deleting one record does not automatically remove every email or backup copy.
3.2 Email access requires multi-factor authentication. The website uses HTTPS. These safeguards help protect correspondence and submissions, but no system can guarantee that information will never be lost or accessed without permission.
3.3 We retain enquiry and correspondence records for as long as reasonably needed to respond, provide agreed services and maintain relevant business records. Enquiry records in our CRM may be retained for future business activities for up to seven years. Particular records may need to be retained to meet legal obligations or resolve disputes. Backup copies may remain until the relevant backups expire.
You can request deletion by contacting us using the details in clause 8.1. We will explain whether we can fulfil your request and any reasons for retaining particular records.
Policy Statement #4 — Use and disclosure
4.1 Information you send about privacy is used to understand your request, find relevant records, respond and keep a record of how the matter was handled.
4.2 We use project enquiries to understand your needs, reply, prepare proposals, provide agreed website services and maintain records of our business relationship and relevant future discussions. The form’s agreement checkbox concerns responding to your enquiry; it is not a marketing subscription.
4.3 We use service providers to operate Follent.net. They may use their own subprocessors to deliver those services. Their roles differ:
- Microsoft hosts our email correspondence. We use a self-hosted instance of the open-source Twenty CRM for business records; this does not mean we use Twenty’s hosted cloud service. Google provides a notification mailbox and optional Analytics.
- Cloudflare provides website hosting, delivery, DNS and security services. It may process IP addresses, traffic and request information to serve and protect the website.
- GitHub manages the website’s source code and supports deployment. It processes repository, account and build information associated with that work. The enquiry form sends submissions to Formspark, not to GitHub; using GitHub for source control does not mean enquiry contents are copied into a repository.
- Formspark processes and stores enquiry contents, sends notification emails, and processes technical information including submitter IP addresses and IP-derived approximate location. Its spam-screening providers may receive submission contents, email addresses and IP addresses. Formspark is separate from the provider of our notification inboxes.
Policy Statement #5 — Online activity and third-party services
Google Tag Manager loads after you allow optional analytics and manages the Google Analytics tags. Advertising consent remains disabled. If you decline analytics or use Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, Tag Manager does not load. Without JavaScript, enquiries can still be submitted but are not measured as analytics conversion events.
5.1 Optional Google Analytics helps us understand website use. It loads only after you allow it and respects your browser’s Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals. The preference is saved in local storage; Google’s script can use cookies after you opt in. You can change your choice with the control below. Initial page and referring addresses omit query strings, and enquiry conversion events contain the selected package, not your name, email or project message. This information is not described as anonymous. Advertising tags, embedded social feeds and newsletter sign-up tools are not configured in this website.
5.2 Website providers process technical information such as IP addresses, request details and approximate location derived from IP addresses to deliver and protect their services. The website does not request precise device location. Formtrack attaches campaign labels from the Contact page address to the enquiry, including ref, referrer and UTM parameters. These labels are not a browsing history. Blocking the script does not prevent an enquiry.
5.3 This configuration does not carry campaign labels between pages or save them in browser storage. Formtrack is supplied by unpkg, which receives the browser request for its script. Please keep personal information out of campaign links.
5.4 Following a link to an external website takes you to a service with its own information handling practices. Read that service’s privacy notice before giving it personal information.
Policy Statement #6 — Overseas handling
6.1 Personal information, enquiry contents, technical logs and IP-derived approximate location may be processed, stored or accessed outside Australia by our service providers and their subprocessors. A provider’s business address does not establish where every item of data is handled. We do not represent that information remains solely in Australia.
6.2 Formspark operates from Belgium and identifies Ireland and Germany as storage locations. Its provider list identifies hosting and email delivery in Ireland, IP-based location processing in Germany, and OOPSpam screening in the United States when that feature is used. Cloudflare describes primary storage in the United States and European Economic Area, with access and transfers across its global operations. GitHub describes processing in the United States and other countries where it and its service providers operate. Microsoft and Google describe processing in the United States and other countries where they or their providers operate. These are published provider locations, not a complete record of the route taken by each request.
6.3 Provider locations and subprocessors can change. For current details, read the Cloudflare privacy policy, GitHub privacy statement, Formspark privacy policy and Formspark subprocessor list. Also see the Microsoft privacy statement and Google privacy policy. Contact us if you have questions about overseas handling of your enquiry.
Policy Statement #7 — Access, correction and preferences
7.1 Contact privacy@follent.net to request access to personal information we hold about you, or to ask us to correct it. Describing the relevant interaction helps us find the right records. You do not need to use a special form.
7.2 Before releasing or changing records, we will check that the request is from you or someone authorised to act for you. We will ask only for details reasonably needed for that check. If access or correction is limited, including to protect another person’s privacy or meet a legal requirement, we will explain why and how you can raise a concern.
7.3 You can tell us how you prefer to be contacted or ask us to stop promotional messages at the same email address. A privacy request or project enquiry does not sign you up to a mailing list. We can still respond to your request and send communications needed for an agreed service.
Policy Statement #8 — Privacy enquiries and complaints
8.1 Contact James Follent through our monitored privacy inbox at privacy@follent.net with a privacy question or complaint, including a concern about a service provider’s handling of your information. Please describe what happened and the outcome you are seeking.
8.2 We will acknowledge your complaint, review the relevant information, ask for clarification where needed and explain our findings and any proposed steps to resolve it. If more time is needed, we will keep you informed. You can reply if you disagree or have further information.
8.3 If the matter remains unresolved, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s complaint guidance explains its process and eligibility rules. The OAIC can consider complaints within its jurisdiction; it does not investigate every business or privacy concern.
8.4 This policy is available to read free of charge. Email us if you need it in another format, such as plain text or large print. We will discuss a suitable format and take reasonable steps to provide it.
Policy Statement #9 — Changes to this policy
9.1 We will review this policy when our information handling changes, including changes to enquiry collection, providers or optional tracking. The revision date at the top identifies the version you are reading.
9.2 The current policy will be available at this address. Information given alongside a particular collection explains that interaction; this policy does not replace a collection notice where one is required.