Privacy & Cookie Policy

1. Scope and who we are

This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how AUTOM LLC ("AUTOM," "we," "us," or "our"), an Alabama limited liability company located in Alabama, United States, handles personal information through autom.llc, its contact form, business correspondence, the training portal at autom.llc/app/, and sign-in at login.autom.llc.

The site supports professional inquiries about industrial automation engineering and training. Portal access is assigned by AUTOM. The current portal has an owner account for administration and a shared student account for authorized training participants; it does not offer individual student self-registration. Shared access does not make technical or session information anonymous.

Please do not send passwords, access tokens, government identifiers, financial account details, health information, or confidential project materials through the contact form or by email.

2. Information we collect

Business inquiries and privacy requests

The contact form collects your name, email address, optional company name, message, and any additional information you choose to provide. If you email us directly, we receive your email address and the information you include in your correspondence. Sending an inquiry does not create a portal account or authorize access to training materials.

Portal accounts and access

We process the assigned account identifier, account role and security status, authentication information, session identifiers and expiry times, and access settings for training modules. Owner actions may create records of the account making a change, its time and the changed settings. The shared student account does not require each participant to register a personal email address. Device, connection and session information may still relate to an individual.

Technical and security information

Our servers and providers process IP addresses, request times, browser and device information, verification tokens, and operational or security events to deliver and protect the services. For contact-form rate limiting, our server derives a salted identifier from the IP address and stores it with a request counter and expiry time. This reduces use of the raw address in that record; it is not a promise of anonymity or of no IP processing elsewhere.

Cloudflare Turnstile receives connection and browser signals when its widget loads, which can occur before you send a message. Our server also sends the verification token and the request's IP address to Cloudflare to validate a submission. The form-processing code does not add your IP address to the message delivered to our inbox.

3. How we use information

We use information to:

• receive and respond to business inquiries and privacy requests;
• evaluate or deliver engineering services, training, or a business engagement;
• authenticate assigned accounts, maintain sessions, and grant or revoke access to modules;
• record relevant administrative changes and protect training materials;
• operate, troubleshoot and secure the website, contact form and portal;
• prevent spam, fraud and misuse; and
• maintain necessary business records, handle disputes and comply with legal obligations.

We do not use inquiry or privacy-request information for unrelated marketing unless you separately request or agree to it. Portal access decisions are separate from business-contact communications.

4. Legal bases for certain visitors

Where a law requires us to identify a legal basis, we process information as necessary to respond to your request or take steps at your request before entering into a contract; for our legitimate interests in operating a secure website and training portal, communicating with customers, and protecting our rights; to comply with legal obligations; or with your consent where consent is required. You may withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing already completed.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

AUTOM does not currently deploy analytics or advertising cookies, behavioral advertising, or cross-site advertising tracking. The portal uses first-party cookies needed for sign-in and session security. These cookies are separate from the public contact form.

The two AUTOM session cookies use Secure, HttpOnly and SameSite protections. Cookie expiry is not a guarantee that all related server records or backups have already been deleted. Clearing or blocking authentication cookies can prevent portal sign-in.

Our server validates the Turnstile result and expected website before accepting a contact submission. Missing, invalid or unsuccessful verification is rejected. Blocking the widget, its scripts or related security technologies can prevent submission. Details are in the Turnstile Privacy Addendum and Cloudflare Privacy Policy.

The site currently has no consent banner for optional cookies because it does not deploy optional analytics or advertising technologies. If that changes, we will update this notice and provide choices or consent controls where required. Browser settings also let you manage cookies and site storage.

6. How information is disclosed

We use the following providers for the purposes described in this policy:

• Amazon Web Services: website delivery, infrastructure security, portal authentication through Cognito, application processing, databases, operational records, backups and contact-email delivery.
• Cloudflare: Turnstile verification and anti-abuse signals for the contact form.
• Google Workspace: receiving and managing business correspondence and replies.

Provider roles depend on the service, the data and the purpose, under the applicable service terms and data-processing arrangements. They are not exclusively processors for every activity. Cloudflare describes itself as a processor when securing our site with Turnstile and as a controller when using signals to improve bot detection. Providers may separately handle their own account, service-security or legal-compliance information under their privacy notices.

See the AWS Privacy Notice, Turnstile Privacy Addendum, Google Cloud Privacy Notice for service data, and its Cloud Data Processing Addendum for customer data.

We may also disclose information as reasonably necessary to professional advisers; to comply with law or protect rights and safety; or in connection with a merger, reorganization or transfer of business assets, subject to applicable protections.

7. No sale or targeted advertising

AUTOM does not sell personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, use it for targeted advertising, or exchange it for monetary consideration. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information. Because we do not conduct these activities, a browser opt-out signal such as Global Privacy Control does not change how this website processes information.

8. Retention

Retention depends on the information and its purpose. Expiry of a session or training access ends authorization; it does not automatically erase the account, administrative history or every copy of related information.

• Inquiries and correspondence: retained as reasonably necessary to answer requests, manage engagements, maintain required business records, resolve disputes and meet legal obligations. There is no single fixed deletion period for all correspondence.
• Portal account and owner-change records: retained according to the need to administer access, investigate security issues and maintain appropriate business or legal records. These records do not have a blanket automatic deletion period.
• Temporary sessions, sign-in transactions and rate-limit records: have expiry controls. The application checks access validity separately from physical database removal, which is asynchronous and may take additional time.
• Application execution logs: configured with a 30-day retention period.
• AWS CloudTrail administrative archive: current log objects are configured to expire after 365 days; superseded object versions after 30 days as noncurrent versions. This archive records infrastructure-management activity, rather than every visitor's page requests.
• Backups and recovery copies: may retain earlier information after it is removed from the live system. Their removal follows the applicable backup, recovery and retention controls; operational deletion is not simultaneous deletion of all copies.

Retention and expiry jobs may complete after their configured threshold. Information may be kept longer where needed to meet a legal obligation or preserve evidence for a dispute. You may ask about information relating to you through the request process below.

9. Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards designed to protect information, including HTTPS encryption in transit, server-side validation, access controls, rate limiting, and anti-spam verification. No internet transmission, email system, or storage method can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

10. International processing

AUTOM is located in the United States. Our primary application infrastructure is in the United States, while delivery, security and communications providers may process information through their international operations. Information may therefore be processed in the United States and other countries with laws different from those where you live.

The locations and transfer provisions depend on the service and the applicable contractual and data-processing terms. Where international-transfer safeguards are required by applicable law, those requirements apply to the transfer; use of a provider alone does not establish that every transfer has the same legal basis. Contact us through the process below for information about safeguards relevant to your data.

11. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live and subject to applicable exceptions, you may have rights to request access to, correction or deletion of, or a portable copy of your personal information; restrict or object to processing; withdraw consent; or appeal our response. You may also have the right to complain to a competent data-protection authority.

Email office@autom.llc or use the public contact form to make a privacy request. Neither channel requires a portal account or sign-in. Begin your email subject or form message with “Privacy Request” and describe what you need. Provide enough information to identify the relevant interaction, but do not send a password, session token or sensitive identity document.

Email requests do not depend on the website form or Turnstile. The form's company field is optional, and the form requires JavaScript and Turnstile verification. If the form does not confirm sending, your request may not have reached us; you can email us instead.

We may reasonably verify identity and authority before acting on a request, using information proportionate to the request. Authorized agents may act where permitted by law. To appeal, begin your email subject or form message with “Privacy Appeal” and identify the decision to review. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.

12. Children's privacy

This business website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, contact us so we can evaluate and delete it as appropriate.

13. Third-party links

The website or this policy may link to third-party websites. Their privacy and security practices are governed by their own notices, and AUTOM is not responsible for those third-party practices.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our website, services, vendors, or legal obligations change. The revised version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. If a change materially affects how we use information already collected, we will provide additional notice when required by law.

15. Contact us