Privacy Policy
This is an informative machine translation. Only the Polish version is legally binding: read the Polish version
1. Data controller
The data controller is the Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski Foundation, with its registered office in Suwałki, at 81 Tadeusza Kościuszki Street, 16-400 Suwałki, KRS 0001029316, NIP 8442380452, REGON 524967794. For matters relating to personal data, please contact us by email at fundacja.awk@gmail.com, by telephone on 605 485 376, or by post at the registered office address.
The Foundation has not appointed a data protection officer.
2. What data do we collect
a) From the contact form: first name, surname, email address, optional telephone number, message content, as well as the IP address from which the message was sent, and a record of acceptance of the terms and conditions, together with the date and version of the document.
b) Automatically when you visit the website: IP address, browser and operating system type, date and time of access, and the address of the page from which you arrived. This data is recorded in the server logs.
c) Visitor statistics: information about the pages visited, approximate location, device and browser — collected by Google Analytics (point 7 b). A random browser identifier stored in a cookie — only with consent for statistical purposes; without this consent, Google Analytics does not store anything in the browser and counts visits anonymously.
d) In the content of the Website: information about individuals associated with the history of the Wierusz-Kowalski family and the Foundation’s activities, as well as photographs from events.
e) From email and telephone correspondence conducted outside the form: data provided by the person making contact.
3. For what purpose and on what legal basis
Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
Responding to a message submitted via the form | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: conducting correspondence with persons interested in the Foundation’s activities |
Email and telephone correspondence outside the contact form | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: conducting correspondence |
Confirmation of acceptance of the terms and conditions | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: the ability to demonstrate the basis on which contact was made |
Publication of content about the patron, their family and the Foundation’s activities, including photographs from events | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: fulfilment of statutory objectives (promoting awareness of the patron); the data subject may object |
Ensuring the security of the Website and protection against misuse | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: protection of infrastructure |
Visitor statistics using cookies — Google Analytics (point 7(b)) | Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR — consent given via the banner |
Anonymous visitor counting without cookies — Google Analytics, where consent for statistics has not been given (point 7(b)) | Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR — legitimate interest: knowing how many people visit the Website and which content is being read |
Displaying a map with directions and videos from external websites (point 7(c)) | Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR — consent given via a banner or at the location of the map or video |
Compliance with legal obligations, in particular handling requests concerning personal data and responding to requests from authorised authorities | Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR |
The provision of data is voluntary. Without an email address and the content of the message, it is not possible to send or reply to an enquiry; the first name and surname are used to address the reply.
The data is not used for automated decision-making or for profiling for advertising purposes.
4. How long we retain data
- Messages submitted via the form, together with the record of acceptance of the terms and conditions and the IP address — 3 years from receipt. After this period, the system deletes them automatically. We manually delete copies of messages and replies from the Foundation’s email inbox after the same period has elapsed.
- Email and telephone correspondence outside the form — 3 years from the last contact.
- Server logs — for the time necessary to ensure the security of the Website and to detect and investigate faults and misuse, after which they are deleted.
- Google Analytics data on individual events and browsers — 14 months; aggregated reports that do not contain identifiers are retained indefinitely.
- The fawk_zgoda file containing your cookie preferences — 12 months.
The lifetime of the Google Analytics cookie in your browser (13 months, point 7(b)) is distinct from the period for which Google retains the data (14 months).
You may request the deletion of your data at any time (point 6).
5. To whom we disclose data
Data may be entrusted to entities that provide technical support to the Foundation:
- the company which, on behalf of the Foundation, maintains and develops the Website,
- the provider of the servers on which the Website operates — OVH (data centres in the European Union),
- the provider of the analytics tool — Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (Google Analytics, point 7(b)).
The company maintaining the Website, OVH and Google (Google Analytics) process data on the basis of data processing agreements. The Foundation’s email inbox, to which notifications of messages from the form are sent, operates via a Gmail account under Google’s terms and conditions for individual users. Data may also be disclosed to public authorities where such an obligation arises under the law.
If you consent to external content (point 7(c)), your browser connects directly to Google’s servers, which then receive your IP address and the data stored by the browser. Google processes this data further in accordance with its own policies, as the data controller.
The Foundation’s service providers within the Google group may also process data in the United States. The basis for this transfer is the European Commission’s decision on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, in which Google participates, and, subsidiarily, the standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission, as set out in Google’s terms and conditions.
6. Rights of the data subject
You have the right to:
- access your data and receive a copy of it,
- rectify any inaccurate or incomplete data,
- erase your data,
- restrict processing,
- object to processing based on a legitimate interest — on grounds relating to your particular situation,
- to withdraw your consent at any time (statistics, external content) — without affecting the lawfulness of the processing prior to withdrawal,
- to lodge a complaint with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (ul. Stawki 2, 00-193 Warsaw), if you consider that the processing infringes the law.
Please send any requests regarding these matters to fundacja.awk@gmail.com or by post to the Foundation’s registered office. We will respond to requests within one month; in complex cases, this period may be extended by a further two months, in which case we will inform you accordingly.
7. Cookies, statistics and external content
Cookies are small pieces of information stored by a website in your browser. The Website does not use cookies for advertising purposes. Cookies used for statistics and content from external websites operate solely with your consent, which must be given separately for each of these categories.
a) Essential cookies — stored without asking for consent, as without them the Website would not be able to function as the User expects:
Name | Purpose | How long |
|---|---|---|
fawk_zgoda | remembers your choice regarding statistics and external content (whether and when consent was given), so as not to ask on every visit | 12 months, after which the Website will ask again |
fawk_access | maintains the logged-in editor’s session in the editorial panel; does not apply to ordinary visitors | 15 minutes, renewed whilst you are working |
fawk_refresh | allows the editor’s session to be refreshed without having to log in again; does not apply to ordinary visitors | until logout, maximum 30 days |
The Service also includes the LAVA OS feedback tool, which the team maintaining the Service uses to report feedback on its operation. It operates from the website’s server; it connects to the team’s server and stores data in the browser only after a member of that team has logged in — this does not apply to ordinary visitors.
b) Statistics — cookies only with consent. The website uses Google Analytics 4 to track how many people visit it, which pages are viewed and where visitors come from. The Google Analytics script loads on every page, but until you consent to statistics, it operates in a cookie-free mode: it does not save or read anything in your browser and sends only single signals to Google indicating that a page has been viewed, without a browser identifier, from which Google estimates traffic in aggregate. The files listed below are only saved once consent has been given.
Name | Purpose | How long |
|---|---|---|
_ga | to distinguish between different browsers visiting the Website (a random identifier, not a name or email address) | 13 months |
ga<identifier> | stores the status of the current visit | 13 months |
Google Analytics receives information about the pages visited, their titles and the referring page, approximate location (country, city), device type, browser, language and screen resolution, as well as on-page events: scrolling, clicking an external link, downloading a file, playing a video and search terms entered into the Website’s search engine. Google receives the IP address, uses it solely to determine an approximate location and does not store it; for traffic from the European Union, this takes place on servers within the EU. Advertising features and Google Signals are disabled — the data is not used for advertising or to link to a Google account. Retention periods are described in section 4. As a rule, the Foundation uses aggregated reports. Google processes this data on behalf of the Foundation.
c) External content — only with consent. The contact page features a map from Google Maps, whilst articles and certain subpages contain videos from YouTube (in enhanced privacy mode, youtube-nocookie.com). Both services are owned by Google and, once loaded, may store their own cookies in your browser and receive your IP address. Therefore:
- until you give your consent, the Website does not connect to Google or YouTube servers — a notice to this effect and a link are displayed where the map or video would normally appear, which opens the content directly on Google’s website in a new tab;
- you can give your consent via the banner displayed on your first visit or by clicking the ‘Allow external content’ button where the map or video appears — this consent applies to the entire Website, but not to statistics;
- Refusal does not restrict access to the rest of the Website’s content.
The principles under which Google processes data: Google’s Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy).
d) Changing your mind. The ‘cookie settings’ link in the footer of every page allows you to give or withdraw your consent at any time, separately for statistics and for external content. Withdrawal takes effect immediately: statistics are no longer collected using cookies (Google Analytics reverts to anonymous counting), and _ga files are deleted; the map and videos stop loading. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to withdrawal. Cookies stored by the map or videos can be deleted in your browser settings.
e) The introduction of new external content or analytical tools will be described in this section, and the Website will request consent again.
8. Security
The Foundation employs technical and organisational measures to protect data against loss and unauthorised access, including encryption of the connection to the Website (HTTPS) and restricting access to messages from the form and the mailbox to authorised persons only.
9. Changes to the policy
This policy may be updated. The amended version comes into force on the date of its publication on the Website; previous versions remain available at fawk.pl/polityka-prywatnosci/archiwum.
Version 1, effective from 25 September 2026.