Privacy Policy

1. General Provisions

This Privacy Policy describes how Ascend Griffin (hereinafter — "we", "the practice"), owned by sole proprietor (ФОП) Taras Smaliukh (Lviv, Ukraine, Ukraine), collects, processes, and protects the personal data of visitors to the website ag.kuznya.studio (hereinafter — the "Site") and of the practice's clients.

Data processing is carried out in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Personal Data" No. 2297-VI dated 01.06.2010 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679) to the extent applicable.

Contact for personal data processing matters: [email protected].

2. What Data We Collect

We collect the minimum data necessary to provide services and improve the Site:

2.1. Data You Provide Voluntarily

• Via the contact form: name, email, request type (Audit / Research / Advisory / Intro Call), and a short message (optional).
• Via email: everything you include in your message.
• During our collaboration: information about your project, team, budget, and goals — the scope of which is defined within the signed agreement.

2.2. Technical Data Collected Automatically When the Form Is Submitted

• Browser and operating system type (User-Agent)
• Browser language
• Device time zone
• Screen and viewport size
• URL of the page from which the form was submitted
• Referrer (the previous page or traffic source)
• Date and time of submission
• IP address (stored by the form-processing service Formspree)

Technical data is used solely to analyze traffic sources, detect spam, and improve the Site. It is not linked to your identity for marketing purposes.

2.3. Visit Analytics

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics — an anonymous analytics service that operates without cookies and without collecting personal data. Only aggregated statistics are gathered: number of visits, geography (at the country level), and device types.

3. Purpose of Data Processing

• Responding to your inquiries and communication
• Fulfilling contractual obligations (delivering services)
• Improving the quality of the Site and services
• Protection against spam and abuse
• Compliance with applicable law

We do not use your data for marketing mailings without your explicit consent, and we do not share it with third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Third-Party Services (Processors)

To operate the Site we use the following third-party services, each of which has its own privacy policy:

• Formspree (privacy policy) — processing of form submissions. Servers located in the USA. Data is transmitted over a secure connection (HTTPS).
• Cloudflare Pages (privacy policy) — site hosting, CDN, and DDoS protection.
• Google Analytics 4 (privacy policy) — anonymous visit analytics. Loaded ONLY after your consent via the cookie banner. IP addresses are anonymized. Until consent is given, Google Consent Mode v2 is used (default: denied) — only aggregated modeling without cookies.
• Google Fonts (privacy policy) — loading of fonts.
• LinkedIn — for external links (opened in a new tab; cookies are set only after you navigate to linkedin.com).

5. Data Retention Period

• Contact form submissions: up to 24 months after the last interaction.
• Email correspondence: up to 36 months or until a deletion request.
• Contractual documentation: in accordance with the requirements of Ukrainian tax law (minimum 3 years).
• Cloudflare analytics: aggregated, not linked to any individual; retention according to Cloudflare's policy.

6. Your Rights

Under the laws of Ukraine and the GDPR, you have the right to:

• Obtain a copy of the personal data we store
• Request correction of inaccurate or outdated data
• Request deletion of your data (the "right to be forgotten")
• Restrict the processing of your data
• Object to processing
• Lodge a complaint with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights

To exercise your rights, send a request to [email protected]. We will respond within 30 calendar days.

7. Data Security

We apply technical and organizational measures to protect your data: HTTPS connections, restricted access to storage systems, and regular infrastructure updates. However, no method of transmitting or storing data on the internet is absolutely secure — we do everything reasonable, but cannot guarantee 100% security.

8. Cookies

The Site uses a minimal set of cookies. Analytics cookies are loaded only after your explicit consent via the banner shown on your first visit (Google Consent Mode v2). Essential technical cookies (form submission, CDN security) are always active — without them the site would not function.

8.1. Which Cookies We Use

8.2. Browser Local Storage (localStorage)

The Site uses functional browser local storage (localStorage) to store anonymous technical data that helps us understand traffic structure:

• Anonymous visitor identifier (a random string, not linked to any individual)
• Date of first and last visit
• Total number of visits
• UTM parameters from the URL (if you arrived via an advertising link)
• A record of your cookie choice (ag_consent_v1)

Within the current session (sessionStorage) we temporarily store the pages viewed and the session start time. This data is deleted when you close the browser tab.

What this means for you: no personal data (name, email, IP) is stored in local storage. The anonymous ID helps us understand how many people return to the site, without the ability to identify any specific individual.

How to delete: you can clear local storage through your browser settings (Clear site data). This will not affect your ability to use the site — but the cookie banner will appear again on your next visit.

8.3. Managing Cookie Settings

You can change your cookie choice at any time. Changes take effect immediately. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of data processing prior to withdrawal.

Change cookie settings

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in the law or in our processes. The current version is always published on this page with the date it was updated. We additionally notify clients with whom we maintain active communication of any significant changes.

10. Contact

For questions about this Policy or to exercise your rights, please reach out:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/taras732
• Address: Lviv, Ukraine