Who we are
The Bench is an AI-first contractor platform for New Zealand, operated from Auckland, Aotearoa. This policy governs how we handle personal information collected via the-bench.co.nz and is written to comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020.
What we collect
When you join the waitlist, we collect your email address and an audience flag (contractor, business, or curious). We do not ask for or store anything else.
Our server infrastructure (Cloudflare Workers) records standard request metadata — IP address, user agent, timestamp — for a short period for abuse prevention and diagnostics.
Why we collect it
We use your email to contact you about the waitlist, to confirm your spot, and to let you know when the platform is ready. We use the audience flag to segment announcements so we only send you things that are relevant.
We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers. We do not use it to train AI models.
Where it lives
Data is processed on Cloudflare's edge infrastructure. We store waitlist records in New Zealand where feasible, and otherwise in jurisdictions that provide comparable protections under the Privacy Act 2020.
Your rights
Under the Privacy Act 2020 you have the right to:
- Access any personal information we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct information you believe is wrong.
- Ask us to delete your information.
- Complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner if you think we've mishandled your information.
Contact
Privacy queries: privacy@the-bench.co.nz.