Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 17, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains what information Build Mode collects when you visit build-mode-ak.com (the “Site”), how we use it and what choices you have. It also covers Build Mode Tools, the application we use to manage our YouTube channel through YouTube API Services. The rules for using the Site are in our Terms of Service.

Summary

• We don’t show ads. We use Google Analytics to see how the Site is used, and only if you accept analytics cookies.
• If you write to us through the contact form, we use your details only to reply.
• Pages with an embedded YouTube video load the player from YouTube, which may set its own cookies.
• Build Mode Tools works only with our own YouTube channel and doesn’t access anyone else’s data.
• We never sell your personal information.

Who we are

Build Mode is a website and a YouTube channel about DIY electronics, microcontrollers and 3D printing, run by Anton Kovalenko. Anton Kovalenko is responsible for the personal information described in this policy (the data controller). In this policy, “Build Mode”, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Anton Kovalenko as the operator of the Site, the channel and Build Mode Tools.

• Website: https://build-mode-ak.com
• Email: mail@build-mode-ak.com

Information we collect

When you use the contact form

The form on our Contact page asks for your name, email address and message. We use this information only to read and answer your message. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in answering the messages people send us.

The Site doesn’t keep a copy of your message. The form sends it to our mailbox as an email, and the email is stored by our email provider.

When you leave a comment

Comments aren’t open everywhere on the Site. Where they are, WordPress collects what you enter in the comment form: your name, email address, website (optional) and the comment itself. It also records your IP address and your browser’s user agent string to help detect spam. A new comment may wait for moderation before it appears.

Once a comment is approved, your name, website and comment are published; your email and IP addresses are never shown. WordPress may send a scrambled string made from your email address (a hash) to the Gravatar service to check whether you have a profile picture there, and if you do, the picture appears next to your comment. Gravatar is run by Automattic, whose privacy policy is at https://automattic.com/privacy/.

We process comment data to publish the comments people choose to post and to keep the discussion free of spam, which is our legitimate interest.

When you browse the Site

Like almost every website, the Site’s server automatically records technical details of each request in its logs: your IP address, browser and device type, the page you asked for, the page you came from, and the date and time. Our hosting provider keeps these logs so that the Site stays secure and working. We don’t use them to identify or profile visitors.

When you allow analytics cookies

The Site uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, to understand how visitors use it: which pages are read, how people find them and which files are downloaded. It runs only if you choose “Accept” in the cookie banner. Until you do, or if you choose “Decline”, your browser doesn’t connect to Google Analytics at all.

Once you accept, Google Analytics records the pages you view, the page you came from, how you interact with them (for example, scrolling, clicks on links to other sites and file downloads), your browser, device, screen size and language, and your approximate location, which Google works out from your IP address. It stores a random identifier in cookies so that it can tell a returning browser from a new one. Google Analytics doesn’t log or store IP addresses. We have turned off Google signals and the advertising features, so this data isn’t linked to Google accounts or used for advertising, and we don’t send Google your name, email address or anything else that identifies you directly.

The legal basis is your consent, and you can withdraw it at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page: choose “Decline”, and the Google Analytics cookies are deleted from your browser. We use the reports only to improve the Site and don’t try to identify individual visitors. Google processes this data on our behalf under the Google Ads Data Processing Terms; how Google uses information from sites that use its services is explained at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

When you make a donation

If you support the channel with a donation, the payment is handled by a third-party platform under its own terms and privacy policy. We never receive your card or bank details. The platform may tell us your name, email address and the amount you gave.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that a website stores in your browser. The Site uses only a few. None of them is used for advertising, and analytics cookies are set only if you accept them.

• wp-wpml_current_language is set by the Site’s translation plugin, WPML. It remembers the language of the page you are viewing so that language-dependent features work correctly, and it is removed when you close your browser.
• sws_consent is set by the Site when you answer the cookie banner. It remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics cookies, so the banner doesn’t come back on every page. It lasts six months, after which the Site asks again.
• comment_author_[hash], comment_author_email_[hash] and comment_author_url_[hash] are set by WordPress only if you leave a comment and tick the box to save your details for next time. They last about a year.
• wordpress_test_cookie, wordpress_[hash], wordpress_logged_in_[hash] and wp-settings-[user ID] are set by WordPress on the sign-in page and for site administrators who sign in. They last from the end of the browser session up to a year. Visitors can’t create accounts on the Site.
• _ga and _ga_[ID] are set by Google Analytics, only after you accept analytics cookies. They hold a random identifier that tells a returning browser from a new one, as described in “When you allow analytics cookies” above. They last 13 months, and choosing “Decline” deletes them.
• YouTube cookies are set by YouTube (Google) on pages with an embedded video, as described in the next section.

You can change your choice about analytics cookies at any time with the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The Site keeps working without them, although the comment form won’t remember your details and the cookie banner will ask for your choice again.

Embedded videos from YouTube

Some pages include videos embedded from YouTube. An embedded video behaves as if you had visited YouTube itself: when a page with the player loads, your browser connects to YouTube, and Google may collect data about you, set cookies, load additional tracking and record how you use the player, including when you are signed in to a Google account.

How Google handles this information is explained in the Google Privacy Policy. Watching an embedded video is also subject to the YouTube Terms of Service.

YouTube API Services

The Site and Build Mode Tools use YouTube API Services:

• the Site uses the YouTube embedded player to show videos;
• Build Mode Tools uses the YouTube Data API and the YouTube Analytics API to manage our channel.

By using these features, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Google’s use of your data is described in the Google Privacy Policy.

What Build Mode Tools is

Build Mode Tools is a private application that we run on our own computer to manage the Build Mode YouTube channel. It is not offered to visitors of the Site: nobody else can sign in to it, and it never asks visitors for access to their Google accounts.

What data it accesses

When we sign in with the Google account that owns the Build Mode channel, Google asks us to grant Build Mode Tools two permissions:

• “See, edit, and permanently delete your YouTube videos, ratings, comments and captions” (youtube.force-ssl). The tool uses it for our own channel only: to read the channel’s details (name, handle, description and status) and its statistics (subscriber, video and view counts), and, as the tool grows, to update our own channel and videos, such as titles, descriptions, translations, captions, playlists and uploads.
• “View YouTube Analytics reports for your YouTube content” (yt-analytics.readonly). The tool reads reports for our channel, such as views, watch time and subscribers gained or lost. These reports are totals and don’t identify individual viewers.

Build Mode Tools doesn’t access, collect or store personal information about the people who watch our videos, comment on them or visit the Site, and it doesn’t access any other YouTube channel. If we ever extend the tool in a way that changes this, we will update this policy first.

How the data is used, stored and shared

• We use the data only to run and improve our own channel.
• The access and refresh tokens that Google issues are stored only on our own computer. They are never uploaded to the Site or shared with anyone.
• Data returned by the APIs is shown to us on screen and isn’t saved. If we ever need to keep it, we will store it only as long as necessary and as the YouTube API Services Developer Policies allow: no longer than 30 days unless it is refreshed.
• We don’t sell, rent or share data obtained through YouTube API Services, and we don’t use it for advertising.

How to revoke access

Anyone who has given Build Mode Tools access to a Google account can revoke it at any time on the Google security settings page: https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. Once access is revoked, the tool can no longer reach the account, and we delete any data obtained through it within 7 days.

Google API Services User Data Policy

Build Mode Tools’ use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Who we share information with

We don’t sell or rent personal information. We share it only with the services listed below, and only as far as each of them needs it:

• our web hosting provider, which stores the Site and its server logs;
• our email provider, which delivers and stores the messages you send us;
• Google (YouTube), when a page with an embedded video loads;
• Google (Google Analytics), if you accept analytics cookies;
• Automattic (Gravatar), when WordPress checks whether a commenter has a profile picture;
• WordPress.org, which sends emoji images to browsers that can’t display emoji on their own and so sees those browsers’ IP addresses.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, or to protect the rights and safety of Build Mode and our visitors.

International transfers

Some of the services listed above, including Google and Automattic, process data in the United States and in other countries that may not be where you live. These providers protect the data with their own safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep information

• Contact form messages: as long as we need them to handle your request and any follow-up, and no longer than 24 months after our last exchange.
• Comments: for as long as the comment stays on the Site. Comments that are rejected or marked as spam are deleted.
• Server logs: for the limited period set by our hosting provider.
• Google Analytics data: 14 months for data tied to the cookie identifier, after which Google deletes it. Aggregated reports, which don’t identify any browser, may be kept longer.
• Data from YouTube API Services: as described in “How the data is used, stored and shared” above.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• find out what personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• have inaccurate information corrected;
• have your information deleted;
• restrict or object to how we use it;
• receive your information in a portable format;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on it; for analytics cookies, use the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page.

To use any of these rights, email mail@build-mode-ak.com. We will reply within 30 days. You can also complain to a data protection authority: in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights; in the EU, the EEA or the UK, the authority in the country where you live or work.

Security

The Site is served over HTTPS, and access to its administration and to our mailbox is restricted and password-protected. No way of sending or storing data is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your information.

Children

The Site is not directed at children under 13, or under 16 in the EU and the EEA, and we don’t knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the Site, Build Mode Tools or the law changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. If a change is significant, we will also point it out on the Site.

Contact

If you have questions about this policy or about your data, email mail@build-mode-ak.com or use our contact form.