Policy
Privacy policy
Last updated: 19 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information Machines + Words collects, why, and what you can do about it. It follows South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
Who is responsible
MACHINES - WORDS (Pty) Ltd, trading as Machines + Words. Registration number 2026/713540/07. 17A Ophir Road, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7801, South Africa.
Information Officer: Aaqiel Pillay, hello@machines-words.com.
What I collect, and why
| Where | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The 2-minute check (/check) | The result shows without an email. If you ask for the 5 days of fixes: your first name, your email, your consent, your 10 answers and your result | To send the 5 emails, 1 fix a day, and to send you the Thursday letter if you ticked that. You can unsubscribe at any time, in one click. |
| Booking the fit call (on Cal.com) | Your name, your email, the time you pick and any answers you type when you book | To confirm the call, remind you 24 hours and 1 hour before it, and follow up after it. |
| The paid intake form (Booked-Call Machine) | Your Substack link, your offer, who it is for, your price, your booking link, your page or form tool, links to posts that sound like you, any writing you paste, the discovery calls your booking tool shows for the last 60 days with an optional note, and anything else you add | To draft and build your pages and emails in your voice, and to write down the number for the 60-day promise. |
| Your public posts | Your last 3 public Substack posts, read through the public feed, and the public pages they link to | To check your road from post to booked call. I never log in to your accounts. |
| Email to me | What you choose to send | To reply to you. |
| Paying clients | Billing details, held by Whop. I see your email, the plan you bought and its status | To deliver the work, invoice you and keep the records the law requires. |
Your clients' information
I do not collect information about your clients, and I ask you not to send it. If it reaches me by mistake, I delete it.
This website
- This website sets no cookies for visitors and has no analytics or advertising tags. (A cookie is set only on the private owner page, when I log in.)
- Your browser keeps your day or night theme, and your quiz answers for the open tab. These stay on your device. They are not sent to me.
- Fonts load from Google Fonts, so your browser sends your IP address to Google.
- The hosting provider keeps standard server logs, such as IP addresses, for security. The forms are rate limited by IP address, held in memory for a few minutes.
Your writing
The posts, links and writing you give me are used only to do your work and reply to you. I do not publish them, share them or use them to train any model.
Who I share it with
I do not sell personal information. I share it only with the service providers that run this business:
- Vercel: hosts this website, runs the forms and the daily job, and passes my drafting requests to the model below through its AI Gateway.
- Supabase: the database that holds contacts, quiz results, applications, intake answers and drafts.
- Resend: sends the quiz emails and my replies.
- Cal.com: books the fit call and tells this website when a call is booked, moved, cancelled or held.
- Whop: processes payments at checkout and holds your billing details.
- Anthropic: its model, Claude, helps me draft your video notes, pages and emails from your intake and your public posts. I check and edit every draft.
- Google: my email inbox (hello@machines-words.com) and Google Fonts.
Some of these providers store data outside South Africa, mainly in the United States. I use them because they protect personal information to a standard similar to POPIA.
How long I keep it
- Mailing list: until you unsubscribe.
- Applications, intake answers and emails: as long as I need them to reply and to work with you.
- Financial records: 5 years, as South African tax law requires.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete the personal information I hold about you. You can also object to how I use it, and unsubscribe from emails at any time. Email hello@machines-words.com.
If you are not happy with my answer, you can complain to South Africa's Information Regulator: inforegulator.org.za.
Security
I take reasonable steps to keep personal information safe from loss and misuse, including unauthorised access. The forms send data over an encrypted connection and are rate limited.
Changes
If this policy changes, I update the date at the top of this page.
See also the terms of service and the refund policy.