Privacy policy

This page explains in plain language what data is collected when you read Avtomaslo.info (avtomaslo.info), a guide and catalogue of engine oils. It also says who processes that data, why, and how you can control it.

Who is responsible for the data

The author and owner of the site, Serhii Maslov, is the controller of the personal data covered by this page, as far as the site itself is concerned. For requests about personal data, write to adavtomasla@gmail.com; the same address is given on the About the site page. If you write to this address, your message and your e-mail address will be used only to reply to you; the mailbox is run by Gmail (Google).

In brief

The site has no registration, user accounts, comments, newsletters or forms in which you would have to enter a name, telephone number or e-mail address.
The site’s own code does not set cookies. Cookies and similar technologies are used by Google services: Google Analytics (visit statistics) and Google AdSense (advertising).
For visitors from the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google first shows a consent message. Until you agree, cookies for analytics and advertising are not used.
The site’s server, like any web server, keeps technical request logs.
The site owner does not sell visitors’ data or pass it on to anyone else, except as described on this page (Google, the hosting provider).

Server logs

With every request, the site’s server records the following in its technical logs: your IP address, the date and time, the address of the page requested (including your search terms if you use the site search, or the filters you have chosen if you are picking an oil in the catalogue), the address of the page you came from, details of your browser and device, and the server’s response code.

The site search runs on the site’s own server, with no external search service. Like the address of any page, the address of the results page (including your search terms) and its title are sent to Google Analytics and Google AdSense, so do not enter personal data in the search. The catalogue filters add only the properties of the oil (for example, viscosity) to the page address, not any information about you.

These logs are needed to keep the site running, to find and fix errors, and to protect the site against attacks and abuse. They are not used for advertising and are not combined with other data to identify you. Only the site owner and the hosting provider on whose server the site runs have access to them.

Google Analytics

The site uses Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service from Google. It shows which articles are read, where visitors come from and on what devices, which helps to improve the site.

For this purpose, the pages load Google’s code (gtag.js). It may store cookies in your browser (for example _ga), and it sends Google information about the pages viewed, the source of the visit, the type of device and browser, your approximate location (country, city), which Google works out from the IP address, and how you use the page. According to Google, Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. In Google Analytics the site owner sees only statistics without names, contact details or IP addresses, from which he cannot identify you.

How Google processes this data is described on the page “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”. You can opt out of Google Analytics on all websites with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

The site shows advertising through Google AdSense (Auto ads). The advertising on the pages is chosen by Google, not by the site. The site uses no other advertising networks. The advertising code is present on the pages of the site other than this one (the privacy policy); Google Analytics runs on this page too, as on all the other pages.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.

When ads are served, Google and third parties (Google’s advertising partners) may place and read cookies in your browser, and may use web beacons (pixels), device identifiers or IP addresses to collect information for serving and measuring ads, limiting how often an ad is shown, and preventing fraud. The list of Google’s advertising partners is given in the consent message (see the next section).

Further information: “How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services”.

If you open the site from an EEA country (the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), from the United Kingdom or from Switzerland, Google shows a certified consent message (through Google’s consent management platform). It names Google, its advertising partners and the purposes for which data is processed. You can agree, refuse, or choose individual purposes and individual vendors. The site has no cookie banner of its own.

Until you make a choice, the site asks Google not to use cookies for analytics and advertising (Google Consent Mode). Without consent to personalisation, Google may show non-personalised or limited advertising, depending on the purposes you have agreed to. Your choice is stored by Google in a cookie in your browser. Even before you make a choice, Google’s code loads and, without cookies, sends Google technical details of the page view (the page address, the browser type, and the IP address used to work out your approximate location), which Google uses for aggregated statistics and for showing limited advertising.

How to change or withdraw your consent. Click the “Privacy and cookie settings” link that Google’s message adds at the bottom of the site’s pages, and make a new choice. This page carries no advertising code, so neither the consent message nor this link appears on it: you can find the link at the bottom of the other pages of the site. Another way is to delete the avtomaslo.info cookies in your browser: on your next visit Google will ask for your consent again.

Visitors from other countries, including Ukraine, do not see the consent message: Google Analytics and advertising work with Google’s standard settings, and the advertising may be personalised. You can opt out of personalised advertising in the ways described below.

How to opt out of personalised advertising

Google Ads Settings: turn off personalised advertising from Google.
www.aboutads.info: opt out of personalised advertising from companies taking part in the Digital Advertising Alliance programme.
www.youronlinechoices.eu: the European service for opting out of interest-based advertising.
Browser settings: block or delete cookies. You will still see advertising, but it will not be personalised.

Colour theme

If you choose a light or dark theme that differs from your device’s settings, the site remembers your choice in your browser’s storage (localStorage) under the name “theme”. This is the only thing the site itself stores in your browser. It is not sent anywhere and is needed only so that pages open in the theme you chose. You can remove it by clearing the site data in your browser settings.

Legal bases

For visitors from the EEA, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Google Analytics cookies and advertising cookies, as well as ad personalisation, are used only with your consent (Article 6(1)(a) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR). You can withdraw consent at any time; this does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
The technical data without cookies that Google’s code sends before you make a choice (see the consent section) is processed on the basis of the site owner’s legitimate interest in measuring visits and showing limited advertising (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). You can object to this, for example with the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.
The server’s technical logs are kept on the basis of the site owner’s legitimate interest in keeping the site running and secure (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).
For visitors from other countries, including Ukraine, analytics and advertising rely on the site owner’s legitimate interest in developing the site and covering its costs through advertising, having regard to the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection”. You may object to such processing by using the opt-out options described above.

Recipients of the data and transfers abroad

The data collected through Google Analytics and Google AdSense is received by Google (for users in the EEA and Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited; for others, Google LLC, USA) and, where advertising is concerned, also by Google’s advertising partners. Google may process this data on servers outside your country, including in the United States; for such transfers Google applies the safeguards provided for by data protection law. How Google processes data is described in Google’s Privacy Policy. The technical server logs are kept on the server of the hosting provider, which acts as a processor for them on behalf of the site owner.

How long data is kept

Technical server logs are kept only as long as is needed for the operation and security of the site; no fixed retention period is currently set.
Google Analytics event-level data is kept no longer than the retention period set in the property’s settings (Google Analytics 4 offers 2 or 14 months); aggregated reports may be kept longer.
Advertising data and cookie lifetimes are set by Google under its own rules: how Google retains data and how Google uses cookies.

Your rights

Under the GDPR (and the equivalent laws of the United Kingdom and Switzerland) and the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection”, you have the right to:

know what personal data about you is processed, and obtain access to it;
require inaccurate data to be rectified;
require data to be erased or its processing to be restricted;
object to processing, including for advertising;
receive your data in a structured, commonly used format (the right to data portability);
withdraw your consent at any time;
lodge a complaint with the supervisory (data protection) authority in your country (in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights).

The site does not know your name, telephone number or e-mail address (unless you have written to the owner yourself), and does not link its technical records to any particular person. For this reason, it is easiest to exercise most rights concerning analytics and advertising data through Google’s tools: the consent message, Ads Settings and the Google Analytics opt-out add-on. For data processed by the site itself, write to the site owner at adavtomasla@gmail.com.

Children

The site is intended for adult readers (drivers and car owners) and does not knowingly collect data about children.

Changes to this policy

If new services appear on the site or the way data is processed changes, this page will be updated. The date of the last update is shown at the top of the page.