Ask a Mechanic Car Kids Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy + Terms
The privacy of visitors to askamechanic.org matters.
Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit askamechanic.org, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.
Advertising
We Collect Personal Data for Online Advertising
We publish interest-based advertisements on the Site; that is, ads that are tailored to reflect your interests. To help understand your interests, Google and our other advertising partners will track your behavior on the site from which you linked and on other websites across the Internet using data available from your web browser, including cookies. We may also combine some of this information with information we obtain from third parties in order to create advertising profiles. These profiles enable us and our partners to include you in audience segments, i.e., groups of users with similar interests. We share audience information with ad buyers and their technology partners via an automated bidding process operated by third parties that allows ad buyers to bid for the opportunity to display advertisements on the Site that you may find more relevant and accurate. We take reasonable and industry-standard measures to de-identify your personal information before including it in an advertising profile or sharing it with ad buyers, including “hashing” the information or encrypting it.
How We Collect Personal Data
Ask a Mechanic uses standard and widely-available tools for the placement and serving of ads, which allow us to collect data like your IP Address (a unique address that identifies your device), geolocation, web browser type, device information, and operating system. By using the Site from which you linked, you consent to the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies, and the sharing of data captured by such technologies with Ask a Mechanic, Google, and our site’s other third-party partners.
Automated Information Collection.
Log Information. Like most online service providers, we collect information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available when you visit the Site, including the browser type, IP address, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information.
Usage information: We collect information about your usage of the Site. For example, we collect information such as page views, Site searches, and interactions with the Site content, along with information about your device (e.g., screen size, name of cellular network, and mobile device manufacturer).
Location information: We may determine the approximate location of your device from your IP address. We collect and use this information to, for example, calculate how many people visit the Site from certain geographic regions. .
Information from cookies & other technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites and emails. We use cookies, pixel tags and other types of local storage to help us identify and track visitors, usage, and access preferences for the Site. We may also use these technologies to track and understand email campaign effectiveness and to deliver targeted ads. Most browsers provide for ways to control cookie behavior such as the length of time they are stored – either through built-in functionality or by utilizing third party plugins. If you disable cookies, please be aware that some of the features of our service may not function correctly. Also, if you disable cookies, other local storage technologies like pixel tags may still load onto your browser, though their functionality will be restricted. To find out more on how to manage and delete cookies, visit aboutcookies.org. For more details on your choices regarding use of your web browsing activity for interest-based advertising you may visit the following sites:
Privacy-enhancing Technologies. Some browser software offers the capability to have advertising profiles created within the browser, so that less information is shared with third parties. In this case, the provider of the browser software still makes certain information available to us, such as ad clicks and views. Also, we may use technologies to identify your browser with a unique pseudonymous identifier (also known as fingerprinting), which could enable the ad clicks and views to be associated with your browser software.
On a mobile device, you may also be able to adjust your settings to limit tracking.
Information You Provide to the Site
Contact info. If you voluntarily provide your contact information, such as your name or email address, we will use it for the purposes disclosed.
User Credentials. Depending on what features of the Site you use, you may be asked to create a username, password and/or similar account credentials (including contract information).
Use and Sharing of Data for Advertising
We use the information you provide to the Site to enhance the information shared by your web browser software for the purpose of building advertising profiles as described above. An advertising profile could include information such as the Site content you have viewed and other interests, your other online activities, demographic data about you, and your interactions with advertisements on the Site. Askamechanic.org advertising partners and their activities are further described below in “Third Party Partnerships.” With respect to information that could readily identify you, such as your email address or phone number, we take reasonable and industry-standard measures to de-identify the information before including it in an advertising profile or sharing it with ad buyers, including “hashing” the information or encrypting it.
Managing or Opting Out of the Use of Your Data
You can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser by visiting: https://adssettings.google.com. To opt out of sharing information collected from your web browser for advertising purposes, you can use DAA WebChoice Tool, available at http://optout.aboutads.info/. Please note that these opt-out mechanisms themselves use cookies, and if you clear the cookies from your browser your opt-out will not be maintained.
Google Chrome. The Google Chrome browser notes your topics of interest based on the sites you browse and how often you visit them. Sites can also store info with Chrome about your interests. If you use Google Chrome, we may collect some information on your browsing history and share it with our partner companies. For more information and how to opt out, visit: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/13355898?hl=en&sjid=4513061944593762279-NA#
Global Privacy Control. We also respect the GPC browser signal and will treat it as a valid means of communicating your desire to opt out.
For European Economic Area Residents
If you reside in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), then under the GDPR and applicable data protection laws you have the rights, among other things, to access your personal data, have us erase it, and/or restrict its further processing. If you wish to access or delete your personal data (if any) maintained by Ask a Mechanic related to advertising on the Site, you can contact us at theowright@askamechanic.org. If you wish to see a list of the advertising partners we work with or change which of those partners track your behavior using cookies, click the ad preferences link at the bottom of the site. (Available in the EU.)
Right to Opt Out of “Sales” of Personal Information in Some US States
Certain US state laws give residents the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information to third parties, including for advertising purposes. Under these laws, disclosing your information with a service provider for advertising purposes could be considered selling or sharing even if no direct payment is involved. To opt out of the sharing of your information for advertising information, click the opt out link provided in the footer on the home page of the site from which you linked. You also have the right to request from us the categories of personal information that we have shared and the categories and/or list of third parties to whom the information was provided. To make such a request, please contact us at theowright@askamechanic.org. To be clear, we do not share your name, contact information, or any other sensitive information with third parties, and the categories of third parties that we share information with for advertising purposes are supply side platforms, programmatic advertising exchanges, and demand side platforms.
Third Party Partnerships
We partner with certain technology services providers. Below you can choose to opt-out of their advertising related capabilities.
Fabrick. We share pseudonymized information with Neustar Information Services . Neustar Information Services and its affiliated companies (NIS) may match this pseudonymized information with information in their data repositories for our use in connection with real-time bidding for digital advertising. NIS and other third parties may also link demographic or interest based information to your browser via Cookies. To opt out of the use of this data by NIS for this purpose, click here: Neustar Privacy Choices or use the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out link provided above.
ID5. We may choose to share information with our partner ID5 for the purposes of ad targeting. You may learn more about how ID5 operates and choose to opt-out of ID5 data collection here: https://id5.io/platfo
Verizon. We share hashed emails with our partner Verizon for the purposes of targeted advertising. You may opt-out of Verizon hashed email targeting here: https://yahoo.mydashboard.oath.com/
Affiliate Marketing
The Ask a Mechanic site and shop may contain affiliate links, meaning we receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you.
Log Files
As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Chrome or Safari), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.
Cookies and Web Beacons
We use third-party advertisements on askamechanic.org to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).
You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to log in to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.