Last updated: 20 August 2026

I'm Austin. I run divemasteraustin.com, where I write up the dive sites I've been to, review the gear I use, and put together guides to diving different countries. The site is owned and operated by AJT Digital LLC.

This page explains what I collect when you visit, what I do with it, and how to get it deleted. I've tried to write it in plain English instead of the usual wall of legal text.

01What I Collect

Stuff you hand over

• Your email address and name, if you sign up for the newsletter or join the community.
• Whatever you write to me, if you email, reply to a newsletter, or message me on social.
• Poll and survey answers, if you decide to answer one.
• Comments you post on my social channels, which are also covered by that platform's rules.

Stuff collected automatically

• Basic technical info: your IP address, roughly where you are, what browser and device you're on, and what language you've got set.
• How you used the site: which pages you looked at, how long you stayed, what you clicked, and what brought you here.
• Cookies from me and from the services in Section 4.

Stuff other services tell me

• Traffic numbers from Google Analytics and Ahrefs.
• Audience stats from YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. This comes to me as totals, not as a list of names.
• Affiliate reports from Amazon, AvantLink and Genius Link, telling me a click or a sale happened. More on that in Section 3.

02What I Do With It

Honestly, not much. I use it to:

• keep the site running and send you the newsletter you asked for;
• reply when you write to me;
• work out which guides people actually read, so I know what to write and film next;
• check which gear links are earning, so I know the site is paying for itself;
• keep my books straight for tax.

That's it. I don't build profiles on people, and nothing here makes automated decisions about you.

If you're in the UK or EU and want the legal basis spelled out: the newsletter runs on your consent, the tax records are a legal obligation, and everything else is my legitimate interest in running and improving the site. Analytics and ad cookies run on consent where the law requires it.

03Affiliate Links

A lot of pages here have affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, I get a small commission and you pay exactly the same price. That's a big part of how this site stays funded.

I'm in the Amazon Associates programme, and I work with AvantLink, Genius Link, and a handful of dive brands directly.

When you click one of those links, the network drops a cookie so it knows the sale came from me, and it gets your IP address and the page you came from. Genius Link also checks your rough location so it can send you to the store for your own country instead of a US one you can't order from.

Once you've left my site, you're on the merchant's turf and their privacy policy applies. I never see your card details, your address, or what you bought. What reaches me is a monthly total and a count of products.

04Cookies

Here's everything running on the site and why.

You can block or wipe cookies in your browser settings, and most browsers let you kill third party cookies specifically. The site will still work, though embedded videos and sign-up forms might not. There's also a Google Analytics opt-out add-on that works across every site, and you can change what Meta does with your data in your Facebook or Instagram settings.

05Who Else Sees It

I don't sell your data. It gets shared in these situations only:

• The services that run the site, listed in Section 4. Each one only gets what it needs to do its job.
• Affiliate networks, when you click a gear link.
• Social platforms, when you interact with my stuff on their apps, under their own policies.
• My accountant and, if it ever came to it, a lawyer.
• Law enforcement, if I'm legally required to hand something over, or if it's needed to stop something illegal or protect someone.

06The Newsletter

If you sign up, I use your email to send dive write-ups, trip reports and gear notes. It runs on Kit, which tells me whether emails got delivered, opened and clicked so I can see which topics are worth doing more of.

Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom and it works instantly. You can also just reply and tell me to take you off, and I'll do it manually. If you want your details wiped entirely rather than just unsubscribed, say so and I'll do that too.

07Where It's Stored

I'm in the US, and so are the services in Section 4. If you're in the UK, the EU or anywhere else, your data gets transferred to and stored in the United States, where the privacy laws are different from yours.

The providers I use handle those transfers through the standard legal mechanisms, mainly the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-US and UK-US Data Privacy Framework.

08Security

The whole site runs on HTTPS, the accounts holding subscriber data have multi-factor authentication turned on, and access is limited to me. Nothing online is completely secure and I'm not going to pretend otherwise, but if you think something's gone wrong, email me and I'll look into it.

09Changes & Contact

I'll update this page when things change, and the date at the top will change with it. If it's something significant, I'll mention it in the newsletter.

This site links out to dive shops, brands and retailers all over the place. Once you click through, their privacy policy applies, not mine.

Get in touch

AJT Digital LLC
Email: austin@divemasteraustin.com
Web: divemasteraustin.com