Open Sauce

Customer Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how we obtain, use, and disclose your personal information, in accordance with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) in South Africa. Where applicable, we also comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for individuals in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, or CPRA) for residents of California, USA, as well as similar privacy laws in other jurisdictions where we operate or where our website is accessed.

At Open Sauce (www.open-sauce.tech), we are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is collected and used properly, lawfully, and transparently. We provide open source product support (especially in big data technologies such as Apache Airflow, Trino, Spark, HBase, Hive, Kafka, NiFi, and Postgres), Kubernetes consulting and resourcing, general DevOps consulting, development resources in Python and Java, Proxmox resourcing and migration services, and LLM model implementation, configuration, training, maintenance, and support. Our website serves as a blog and service catalog with contact information.

The Information We Collect

We collect and process your personal information mainly to contact you for the purposes of understanding your requirements and delivering services accordingly. For this purpose, we will collect contact details including your name, email address, organization, and any message or inquiry details you provide.

We collect information directly from you where you provide us with your personal details via our contact form on the website. Where possible, we will inform you what information you are required to provide to us and what information is optional.

Our WordPress-based website sets a temporary cookie named “wordpress_test_cookie” to check if your browser supports cookies. This is a strictly necessary cookie for the site to function properly and does not collect personal data. It is deleted when you close your browser.

In the future, we may implement a contact form using plugins like Contact Form 7, which does not set cookies. We may also install security plugins like Wordfence, which could set cookies for security purposes, such as “wfwaf-authcookie” for firewall checks (primarily for logged-in users, though our site does not have visitor logins) or others if features like country blocking are enabled. Website usage information may also be collected using “cookies” or similar technologies (e.g., via tools like Google Analytics) to gather standard internet visitor usage information, such as IP address, browser type, pages visited, and visit duration. Currently, we do not use such analytics tools, but this Notice will be updated if we do.

We do not collect sensitive personal information (such as racial or ethnic origins, political opinions, or health data) unless specifically required for our services and with your explicit consent.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 18 years of age.

How We Use Your Information

We will use your personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and agreed with you. In addition, where necessary, your information may be retained for legal, audit, or research purposes.

For example:

• To gather contact information and respond to your inquiries;
• To provide and discuss our services, such as open source support, Kubernetes consulting, DevOps resourcing, development resources, Proxmox migrations, or LLM model services;
• To confirm and verify your identity or to verify that you are an authorized user for security purposes;
• For the detection and prevention of fraud, crime, or other malpractice;
• To conduct market or customer satisfaction research or for statistical analysis (anonymized where possible);
• For audit and record-keeping purposes;
• In connection with legal proceedings.

Under POPIA and GDPR, our legal basis for processing includes your consent (e.g., via submitting the contact form), legitimate interests (e.g., responding to business inquiries), and compliance with legal obligations.

For CCPA purposes, we collect the following categories of personal information: identifiers (e.g., name, email) and internet activity (if analytics are implemented). We use this for business purposes such as service delivery and internal operations. We do not “sell” or “share” personal information as defined under CCPA/CPRA.

Disclosure of Information

We do not share your personal information with any third parties, affiliates, or partners for marketing or other purposes.

We may disclose your personal information to our service providers (e.g., email hosting or future analytics providers like Google) who are involved in the delivery of products or services to you.

We may also disclose your information:

• Where we have a duty or a right to disclose in terms of law or industry codes;
• Where we believe it is necessary to protect our rights or comply with legal processes.

For international transfers: If you are in the EU or another region with strict data transfer rules, we ensure adequate safeguards (e.g., standard contractual clauses) if data is transferred outside South Africa. Currently, all processing occurs in South Africa.

Information Security

We are legally obliged to provide adequate protection for the personal information we hold and to stop unauthorized access and use of personal information. We will, on an ongoing basis, continue to review our security controls and related processes to ensure that your personal information remains secure.

Our security policies and procedures cover:

• Physical security;
• Computer and network security;
• Access to personal information;
• Secure communications;
• Security in contracting out activities or functions;
• Retention and disposal of information;
• Acceptable usage of personal information;
• Governance and regulatory issues;
• Monitoring access and usage of private information;
• Investigating and reacting to security incidents.

When we contract with third parties, we impose appropriate security, privacy, and confidentiality obligations on them to ensure that personal information for which we remain responsible is kept secure.

In the event of a data breach, we will notify affected individuals and relevant authorities as required by POPIA, GDPR, CCPA, or other applicable laws.

Retention of Information

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Notice, or as required by law. For example, contact inquiry data is kept until the inquiry is resolved and for a reasonable period thereafter for record-keeping (typically no longer than 5 years under POPIA). Analytics data, if collected, would be retained in aggregated form for statistical purposes.

Once no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymize the information.

Your Rights: Access to Information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. To do this, simply contact us at the details provided on our website and specify what information you require. We will need proof of your identity (e.g., a copy of your ID document) before providing details of your personal information.

Under POPIA, GDPR, and CCPA, your rights include:

• Access: To know what personal information we hold;
• Correction/Rectification: To update or correct inaccurate information;
• Deletion/Erasure: To request deletion (subject to legal retention requirements);
• Objection/Opt-Out: To object to processing for certain purposes (e.g., marketing, though we do not engage in direct marketing);
• Portability (GDPR): To receive your data in a portable format;
• Non-Discrimination (CCPA): We will not discriminate against you for exercising rights;
• Limit Use (under future laws like CPRA): To limit sensitive data use, though we do not collect sensitive data.

Please note that any such request may be subject to a legally allowable fee.

To exercise rights or withdraw consent, contact us as below.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website sets a temporary cookie to check if your browser supports cookies. This is a strictly necessary cookie for the site to function properly and does not collect personal data. It is deleted when you close your browser.

Our contact form does not set cookies. Our security addons may set cookies for firewall capability checks or if country blocking is enabled and bypassed. If we implement analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics), we will update this Notice and provide options to manage preferences where required by law (e.g., cookie consent banners for GDPR compliance).

Changes to This Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The updated version will be posted on our website with the last updated date. Your continued use of the website after changes constitutes acceptance.

Last updated: July 17, 2025.

Definition of Personal Information

According to POPIA, “personal information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person. This includes:

• All addresses, including residential, postal, and email addresses;
• Contact details like phone numbers;
• Any other identifiers.

Similar definitions apply under GDPR and CCPA.

How to Contact Us

If you have any queries about this Notice, need further information about our privacy practices, wish to withdraw consent, exercise your rights, or access/correct your personal information, please contact us via the contact form or email address listed on our website (www.open-sauce.tech).