🔒 Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy

1. Who We Are

SAW Finland (sawfinland.com) is a free information website for immigrants living in Finland. We provide guides on work, study, housing, health, and daily life in Finland. SAW Finland is operated as a personal/community project and is not a registered company.

For any privacy-related questions, please contact us via the Contact page.

2. What Information We Collect

SAW Finland does not require you to create an account or provide personal information to use the site. However, the following data may be collected automatically:

2.1 Analytics Data (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our website. This includes:

• Pages visited and time spent on each page
• Country and city of origin (approximate, based on IP address)
• Device type (mobile, desktop, tablet)
• Browser and operating system
• Referring website (how you found us)

This data is anonymous and aggregated — we cannot identify individual users. Google Analytics data is processed by Google LLC. For more information, see Google's Privacy Policy.

2.2 Advertising Data (Google AdSense)

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on this website. Google AdSense may use cookies and similar technologies to show you relevant ads based on your browsing history and interests. This is known as interest-based advertising.

Google AdSense data is processed by Google LLC. For more information, see Google's Advertising Policies.

2.3 Contact Form Data

If you contact us via our contact form or email, we will receive your name, email address, and the content of your message. We use this information only to respond to your enquiry and do not share it with third parties.

3. Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device by your browser. SAW Finland uses the following types of cookies:

Managing Cookies

You can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. You can also opt out of Google's use of cookies for advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.

Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of some features on this website.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• To understand how visitors use our website and improve our content
• To display relevant advertisements that help fund the free content on this site
• To respond to enquiries sent through our contact form
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for their marketing purposes.

5. Third-Party Links

SAW Finland contains links to external websites, including Finnish government services (Migri, Kela, DVV), job portals, and our sister site SurvivalFinnish.com. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

6. Affiliate Links

Some links on SAW Finland may be affiliate links (for example, links to Ria Money Transfer). If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the site free. All affiliate relationships are disclosed where applicable.

7. Your Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Right of access — You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification — You can ask us to correct inaccurate data
• Right to erasure — You can ask us to delete your personal data
• Right to object — You can object to the processing of your data for certain purposes
• Right to data portability — You can request your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us via the Contact page. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Data Security

SAW Finland does not store sensitive personal data on its servers. The website is hosted on Netlify, which uses industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption. For more information, see Netlify's Privacy Policy.

9. Children's Privacy

SAW Finland is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:

• Website: sawfinland.com
• Contact form: Contact page
• Sister site: survivalfinnish.com