Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Beeswicks LLC collects, uses, stores, and protects information when you visit our website, contact our studio, or work with our hive bay services. It applies to the website at beeswicks.buzz and to every engagement that begins through that site. The policy was prepared by the developer BeesWicks and forms part of the public record of how this studio handles personal data.

We believe a working bee yard depends on trust. The same is true of the software and records we build around it. You should be able to read this page and understand exactly what happens to your information without needing to decode legal phrasing or follow a chain of documents. If any part of this policy is unclear, please write to us at hello@beeswicks.buzz and we will explain it in plain language.

This policy applies to visitors of the website, to prospective clients who send an enquiry, and to active clients of the hive bay studio. It does not apply to third party sites that we link to, which carry their own privacy practices. By using this website you confirm that you have read this policy and that you understand the practices it describes.

2. Who We Are

Beeswicks LLC is a computer systems design studio registered in the United States. The company operates a hive bay studio that designs integrated systems for working apiaries, pollination contractors, and honey houses. Our physical address is 617 E 5000 S, Myton - 84052-1217, United States (US). You can reach us by email at hello@beeswicks.buzz or by telephone at +19893005330 during normal business hours.

For the purposes of data protection law, Beeswicks LLC is the controller of the personal information described in this policy. That means the company decides why and how the information is processed. Where a client provides us with records about the client crew or the client customers, the client remains responsible for the lawfulness of that data, and we act on the client instruction under a written agreement.

We are a small studio, and the person who answers your enquiry is generally the same person who would later visit the yard. If you have a question about this policy, a request about your data, or a concern about how information was handled, you can write to the address above and expect a personal reply rather than an automated acknowledgement.

3. Information We Collect

We collect two broad categories of information. The first is information you give us directly when you fill in a form, send an email, call the studio, or sign an engagement. The second is information that is generated automatically when you use the website, such as basic technical details about the request that delivered the page to your browser.

Information you give us directly can include your name, your email address, your telephone number, the name of the yard or company you represent, the location of the yard, and the content of your message. If you become a client, we may also hold the name and role of each crew member you ask us to contact, the schedule of visits, and the records your yard shares with us as part of the build.

Information generated automatically can include the internet protocol address that reached our server, the type of browser and device, the operating system, the page you requested, the page that referred you, and the date and time of the request. We collect this information in a limited form, and we do not use it to build advertising profiles.

We do not collect sensitive categories of personal data. We do not ask for government identification numbers, financial account numbers, health records, or precise location data from website visitors. If a client voluntarily shares a document that contains such details, we will treat it as confidential and will remove or redact it before it enters any shared record where that is practical.

4. How We Collect Information

Most of the information we hold comes directly from you. The contact form on this website collects the fields needed to reply to your message, and the email fallback sends that message through your own mail application so you can see exactly what is transmitted. When you call the studio, the telephone provider records the call in the ordinary way, and we may keep a short note of the conversation for follow up.

We also receive information from the infrastructure that hosts the website. When your browser requests a page, the server writes a basic log entry that includes the technical details described above. Those logs exist to keep the site available, to diagnose faults, and to protect the studio against abuse. We review them only when there is a reason to do so.

During an engagement, information arrives through the hive bay itself. The crew confirms a frame at the hive and that record enters the bay, and the client sends us the documents and notes needed to configure the desks that the client has chosen. We collect that material because it is required to deliver the service and to keep an accurate history of the work.

5. Why We Use Information

We use your information to respond to your enquiry, to prepare a season plan, to deliver the hive bay services described on this website, to schedule yard visits, and to keep the records that a working engagement requires. We also use information to meet legal obligations, to keep the website secure, and to improve the clarity of our own documentation.

We use contact details to reply to messages and to send service notices that a client needs in order to operate the bay. We do not send marketing newsletters to people who have only asked a question, and we do not add enquirers to any promotional list without a clear and separate request from them.

We use aggregated, non identifying information to understand which parts of the website are useful and which need rewriting. For example, if a page about a specific desk never draws a second look, that is a signal that the page is unclear. This analysis is done on counts and themes, not on individual visitor profiles, and it is never sold to anyone.

If we ever wish to use information for a purpose that is not described in this policy, we will tell you first and, where the law requires it, we will ask for your consent before the new use begins.

6. Legal Bases for Processing

Where data protection law asks us to identify a legal basis, we rely on one or more of the following. We process information to take steps at your request before entering a contract, and to perform a contract once it exists. We process information to pursue our legitimate interests in running a secure and effective studio, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights. We process information to comply with legal obligations. In limited cases we process information with your consent.

When we rely on legitimate interests, we keep the processing proportionate. We do not track visitors across other websites, we do not merge visitor data with client records, and we do not use automatic profiling to make decisions that affect you. A visitor who only reads the pages of this site leaves behind very little, and that is deliberate.

When we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time by writing to hello@beeswicks.buzz. Withdrawal does not affect processing that already took place, and it does not affect processing that rests on a different legal basis.

7. Cookies and Similar Tools

This website is built to work without advertising cookies. We do not place cookies that follow you to other sites, and we do not operate a third party advertising tag on these pages. Any cookie that the site uses serves a basic technical function, such as remembering a display preference for the length of a single visit.

If we ever add a tool that sets a cookie for measurement or for a feature you have requested, we will list it in this section and will describe what it stores and how long it lasts. We will not quietly introduce a tracking tool through a script on a page, and we will not bundle measurement with a purpose you have not been told about.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking all cookies may affect some features of some websites, but this site is designed to remain readable and usable without them. You can also clear cookies from your browser at any time, and that action will remove any preference the site has stored locally.

We treat local storage in the same spirit as cookies. Where a page stores a small preference in your browser, it is there to make the next visit smoother, it is not used to identify you to other parties, and it can be cleared through your browser tools whenever you like.

8. Yard and Client Records

A hive bay engagement produces records about frames, inspections, comb loads, swarm calls, and honey house sessions. These records belong to the client. We hold them so that the client can see them at any time, export them in an open format, and keep continuity across seasons.

Where a record names a crew member, we keep it because the client needs to know who inspected a frame or who answered a swarm call. We limit that personal detail to what the work requires: a name, a role, and the relevant dates. We do not turn the bay into an employee monitoring tool, and we do not use crew records to evaluate anyone beyond the safety and completeness of the work itself.

We do not sell yard records, inspection histories, or client contact lists. We do not use one client records to benefit another client, and we do not share the content of an engagement outside the studio except as described in this policy or as the client directs in writing.

9. Sharing and Disclosure

We share information only in narrow circumstances. We share it with service providers who help us run the studio, such as the company that hosts the website and the provider that handles email. We share it when the law requires it, for example in response to a valid legal request from a court or a regulator. We share it when it is necessary to protect the safety of a person, to prevent fraud, or to defend the rights of Beeswicks LLC.

If the studio is ever reorganised, merged, or sold, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. In that event the receiving party will be bound by this policy for the information that was already collected, and we will post a notice on this website before any transfer that materially changes the handling of your data.

We do not share information with advertisers, data brokers, or social media platforms for their own marketing purposes. We do not disclose the identity of a client or the existence of an engagement to anyone outside the studio without the client permission, unless a legal obligation requires disclosure.

10. Service Providers

Like most small studios, we rely on a short set of service providers. These may include a web host, an email service, a domain registrar, and an accounting service. Each provider is chosen for reliability and is expected to protect information to a standard that is at least as strong as the one described here.

Our providers are permitted to process information only for the purpose of delivering their service to us. They are not permitted to use our information for their own marketing, and they are not permitted to resell it. We review the arrangement with each provider when it changes and we remove a provider that no longer meets the standard we expect.

Some providers operate outside the United States. Where information is transferred across a border, we rely on an appropriate safeguard, such as a standard contractual clause or a comparable mechanism, and we keep a record of the safeguard that applies. You may write to us for more detail about the providers we use.

11. Data Storage and Security

We store information on infrastructure that we control or that a reputable provider controls under a written agreement. Access is limited to the people who need it to run the studio or to deliver the service, and access is protected by individual accounts and strong passwords. Where a provider supports it, we enable two factor authentication on the accounts that can reach client records.

Data in transit between your browser and our server is protected by transport encryption. Data at rest is held in systems that apply encryption or equivalent controls. We keep backups so that a failure does not destroy a season of records, and we test the restore of those backups from time to time rather than assuming they work.

No system is perfectly secure, and we will not pretend otherwise. If a breach occurs that is likely to affect your rights, we will notify the affected parties and the relevant authority without undue delay, and we will explain what happened, what we have done, and what you can do in response.

12. Retention and Deletion

We keep enquiry messages for as long as needed to answer the question and to keep a reasonable record of the conversation, and we keep engagement records for the life of the engagement and for a short period afterward so that the client can ask follow up questions. When that period ends, we delete the information or, where deletion is not practical, we remove the personal details and keep only anonymous totals.

We keep accounting records for the period required by tax and company law. Those records are limited to the details needed for that purpose and are not used for any other processing. We keep website logs for a short window that allows us to diagnose faults, and we rotate them on a regular schedule.

You can ask us to delete information we hold about you at any time. We will act on the request unless we are required to keep the information for a legal reason, or unless the information is part of a client record that the client has asked us to preserve. In that case we will tell you why we are holding it and when we expect to be able to remove it.

13. Privacy for Children

This website and the hive bay studio are intended for business clients and adult visitors. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen. We do not design any feature of the site to attract children, and we do not ask for age details as part of normal use.

If you believe that a child has sent us personal information without the involvement of a parent or guardian, please write to hello@beeswicks.buzz and we will remove the information promptly. If we learn that we have collected information from a child in error, we will delete it and will take reasonable steps to prevent a repeat.

A parent or guardian who wishes to review or delete information about a child may contact the studio. We will verify the request in a proportionate way and will respond within a reasonable time.

14. Your Rights and Choices

You have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to ask for a copy of it, to ask us to correct anything that is wrong, and to ask us to delete it where the law allows. You also have the right to object to certain processing and to ask us to restrict it while a question is resolved. You have the right to withdraw consent where consent is the basis for processing.

To make a request, write to hello@beeswicks.buzz with enough detail for us to identify you and to understand what you want. We will reply within a reasonable time, and we will not charge a fee unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive. If we cannot fulfil a request, we will explain the reason in writing.

You may also use the contact form on this website to begin a request. We will confirm receipt and will tell you what we need in order to proceed. We will never ask for more information than is necessary to verify identity and to locate the relevant records.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the data protection authority in your jurisdiction. We would ask that you contact us first so that we have a chance to resolve the matter directly.

15. International Visitors

Beeswicks LLC operates from the United States, and the information we collect is processed primarily in the United States. If you visit this website from another country, you should understand that your information may be transferred to and processed in a jurisdiction with different data protection rules than your own.

Where the law of your country grants you rights that go beyond this policy, we will honour those rights. Where the law requires a specific safeguard for a cross border transfer, we will use that safeguard and will keep a record of it. If you would like to know which safeguard applies to your information, you may write to us and ask.

We do not target advertising or marketing at visitors in any particular region, and we do not adapt the content of this website to build a profile of where visitors live.

16. Third Party Links

This website may link to other websites that we do not control. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for how they handle information. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any site you visit after leaving this one.

A link to another site does not mean that we endorse its practices, and it does not mean that we share information with it. If you follow a link and then provide information to that site, the information is collected by that site and not by us.

If you find a link on this website that leads to a site whose practices concern you, please tell us. We review the links we publish from time to time, and we will remove a link that no longer reflects the standard we hold.

17. Automated Decisions

We do not make decisions about you using automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects. The hive bay uses simple rules to schedule work and to flag a missing record, but a person reviews anything that affects a client or a crew member before it takes effect.

The counters on this website are decorative illustrations of studio operations and are not derived from your visit. The scroll animations are a presentation detail and do not analyse your behaviour for any other purpose. Nothing on this site is designed to score you, rank you, or predict your preferences.

If we ever introduce a feature that uses automated logic in a way that could affect a person, we will describe it here before it goes live and will provide a route to request human review.

18. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect a change in our practices, a change in the law, or a change in the services we offer. When we make a material change, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and will describe the change in a short note at the end of the policy.

We will not apply a material change to information that we already hold without telling the affected parties, and where the law requires consent for a new use, we will ask for it before the new use begins. We encourage you to review this page occasionally so that you stay aware of the current practices.

If a change reduces your rights, we will give reasonable notice and, where practical, we will offer a chance to object before the change takes effect.

19. How to Contact Us

If you have a question about this policy, a request about your information, or a concern about how the studio has handled data, please contact us. Our postal address is 617 E 5000 S, Myton - 84052-1217, United States (US). Our email address is hello@beeswicks.buzz and our telephone number is +19893005330. We aim to reply to every privacy enquiry within one business day.

You can also reach us through the contact page of this website. When you write, please include enough detail for us to understand the request, and tell us how you would like us to reply. We will confirm receipt and will keep you informed as we work through the matter.