How your information is handled.

Who we are

Offcut is an AI and software consultancy operated by Michael Barker, ABN 33 880 506 035, based in Melbourne, Australia. When this policy says "Offcut" or "we", it means that business.

You can reach us through the contact form on this site, or by email at hello@offcuthq.com. If your question is about a specific business's assistant, that business's own privacy notice may also apply to you.

This website and analytics

This website is hosted by Vercel, a US company. Like any web host, it logs each request - including your IP address, browser and the page asked for - to deliver the site and protect it from abuse.

The site also uses PostHog, a web analytics service, to understand how it's used. PostHog collects:

• -page views, the address of the page you're on and the page that sent you here
• -your browser, operating system, device type and screen size
• -a short list of specific actions, such as sending the contact form or running the job check
• -error reports, so a broken page can be fixed

PostHog is set to discard your IP address, and doesn't record your sessions or automatically capture your clicks. It uses browser cookies and local storage to tell one visit apart from another and keep a random ID between visits; that ID isn't linked to your name, email or Instagram identity. Those action events don't include what you type, except a failed job check, which can include the description and the answer. PostHog processes this data on Offcut's behalf, stores it in the United States, and keeps it for up to 12 months. You can block it with your browser's cookie or tracker settings without affecting the rest of the site.

The contact form on this site sends your name, email address and message through Formspree, a form service based in the United States, so Offcut can read and reply to your enquiry. Formspree also receives the IP address and browser details that come with the submission. If you've used the job check, its result is attached to your message unless you remove it. Offcut uses those enquiries to reply to you and to keep a record of the conversation.

Enquiries are kept only as long as they're needed to reply and for Offcut's business records, or longer where the law requires it.

Instagram messages handled by client assistants

Offcut builds and operates Instagram messaging assistants for client businesses, which reply to direct messages sent to the client's Instagram account. When you message such an account, Meta's webhook delivers the following to the assistant:

• -the ID Instagram assigns you for that account, so the assistant can reply to the right conversation
• -the content of your message, including any personal information you choose to put in it
• -the time the message was sent

Nothing else is fetched. The assistant doesn't look up your profile, username, photo or any other Instagram information, doesn't read your other Instagram activity, and doesn't message you unless you've messaged first.

The assistant runs on behalf of the business you're messaging - for example a gym answering membership enquiries. Replies come from an automated assistant. Your message is read and answered by Google's Gemini AI on Google Cloud Vertex AI, in the Sydney region. Google doesn't use your messages to train its models. When a question needs a human answer, the assistant hands it to the business, and people at Offcut and at that business can then see the conversation. Apart from the service providers named on this page, it isn't shared with anyone else.

The automation runs on Offcut's own server on Oracle Cloud in Melbourne, and the AI processing happens on Google Cloud in Sydney, so your messages are stored and processed in Australia. Oracle and Google are US companies. The reply goes back through Instagram, which Meta runs under its own privacy policy.

Conversations are kept only as long as they're needed to answer your enquiry and run the business's assistant, or longer where the law requires it, and are then deleted. They're also deleted when you ask, when the business stops using the assistant, or when Meta asks. They aren't used to train AI models, for marketing, or to build a profile of you, and Offcut doesn't sell personal information or share it with advertisers.

The job check

The job check on this site sends the job description and numbers you enter to Anthropic, a US-based AI provider, whose Claude model writes the result. By default, Anthropic doesn't use that input to train its models, and deletes it within 30 days. The job check doesn't ask for your name or email, so avoid putting personal details in the description. If the model's answer comes back unusable, the description and the answer are recorded in Offcut's analytics and server logs so the fault can be fixed.

How information is protected

Information moves between Instagram, Offcut's server, Google Cloud and this website's providers over encrypted connections. Access to Offcut's server is limited to Offcut, and conversations are seen only by the people who need to answer them.

Other uses and disclosures

Alongside the uses described above, Offcut may use personal information to keep its services running and secure, to prevent fraud and abuse, and to meet its legal obligations.

Offcut may also disclose personal information where the law requires it, such as in response to a valid request from a court or government authority. If Offcut's business is sold, merged or restructured, personal information may pass to the new owner, who would have to handle it in line with this policy.

Access, correction and deletion

You can ask what personal information is held about you, ask for a copy of it, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be deleted - including your Instagram conversation with any assistant Offcut runs. Use the contact form on this site or email hello@offcuthq.com, and say which business's assistant your request is about if you can. Requests are usually handled within a few business days. There's no charge.

Australian privacy law

Offcut operates in Australia and handles personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Instagram messages handled by the assistants are stored and processed in Australia, as described above. Oracle and Google, which provide that infrastructure, and this website's providers - Vercel, PostHog, Formspree and Anthropic - are based in the United States, so personal information may be disclosed to them there. Offcut takes reasonable steps to make sure they handle personal information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

If you have a concern about how your personal information has been handled, contact Offcut first and it will be looked into. If you're not satisfied with the response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated as the assistants and this website change. The last-updated line at the top of this page reflects the current version.