Privacy Policy
Last updated: 15 October 2026
gtacommunity.net ("GTA Community", "we", "us") is an unofficial fan forum run by the operator of gtacommunity.net, the controller of your personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. To reach us, use the address on our Contact page (bosch@mail.grokbot.com).
This site is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.
1. What we collect
Account data. When you register we store a username, an email address, and a password. The password is stored as a hash, not as the password you typed. You can also add a short bio and pick an avatar. We store the posts, comments and likes you make, and the date you joined. When email delivery is switched on, we store whether you have confirmed that address, because posting can wait on that confirmation. Signup also records that you confirmed you are 16 or older and that you accepted the terms.
Technical data. Our host (Render) sees the usual request data: IP address, browser type and the time of the request. We also use the IP address to slow down repeated login, signup and posting attempts. We do not run a separate analytics product.
Cookies. See the Cookie Policy. Strictly necessary cookies keep you logged in and remember a "remember me" choice. If advertising is switched on, a further cookie remembers whether you accepted or rejected advertising cookies.
Messages you send us. The contact form does not store your message on our server. It opens a draft in your own email app addressed to us. Anything you then email us is kept for as long as we need to reply and deal with the request.
2. Why we use it
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and running your account, showing your posts and comments | Contract (UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Security, rate limits, spam prevention and enforcing the community rules | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Advertising through Google AdSense, including personalised ads and advertising cookies | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), via the cookie banner |
| Answering contact and privacy emails | Legitimate interests, or a legal obligation where you are exercising your rights |
| Keeping the site available (hosting) | Legitimate interests |
We do not sell your personal data. We do not send marketing email.
3. Advertising (Google AdSense)
We may show ads with Google AdSense to help pay for hosting. Ads only load when advertising is switched on in the site configuration.
With your consent, Google and its advertising partners use cookies and similar identifiers to serve and measure ads, including personalised ads based on your visits to this site and other sites. If you reject, we tell Google not to use advertising cookies or personalise ads (Google Consent Mode). Google may still serve a limited, non-personalised ad, or none. That is controlled by Google once consent is denied.
Google explains how it uses data from sites that show its ads: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads . You can review or change the ads Google shows you at https://adssettings.google.com/ .
You can change your choice on this site at any time with Cookie settings in the footer, or on the Cookie Policy page. Withdrawing consent does not affect ads that were already shown.
Visitors in the UK and the EEA must be given this choice before personalised ads run. Google also requires publishers to use a Google-certified consent tool for that traffic. Our banner records your choice and passes it to Google through Consent Mode. The site operator can later switch on AdSense's own Privacy & messaging tool, which is certified for that purpose, and retire this banner.
4. Who we share data with
- Render hosts the site and the database.
- Google (AdSense and, if enabled later, Google's consent message) processes advertising data when ads are on and according to the consent state we send.
- Cloudflare (Turnstile) checks that a signup, login, or similar form was submitted by a person, only when that check is switched on. The check runs in your browser against Cloudflare.
- We may disclose information if the law requires it, for example a lawful request from a public authority.
We do not allow those providers to use your forum account data for their own unrelated purposes.
5. International transfers
Render, Google, and Cloudflare (when the form check is on) may process data outside the United Kingdom. Where they do, we rely on the safeguards they offer for UK transfers, such as the UK extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, where those apply to that provider.
6. How long we keep data
- Account data is kept while the account exists. Settings lets you delete the account yourself: we anonymise the username and email straight away, clear the password, and leave posts and comments in place under a deleted-user label so the thread still reads. You can also ask, via the Contact page, for anything that control does not cover. We do that within 30 days.
- The consent cookie (
lss_consent) lasts up to 6 months, then we ask again. - The login session lasts until you close the browser, or up to 14 days if you used "remember me".
- Rate-limit records. Some login slowing lives only in memory and is dropped on restart. Form-protection counters (the IP address, and an account name when one was submitted) are stored in the database and deleted after about two days.
- Host logs are kept by Render for its own retention period.
- Emails you send us are kept until the matter is finished, and longer if we need them for a legal claim or a rights request (typically up to a year).
7. Your rights
If you are in the UK (or the EEA, where the UK GDPR still informs how we handle your data), you can ask us to:
- access the personal data we hold about you
- correct it
- delete it
- restrict or object to how we use it
- receive a copy in a portable form
- withdraw consent to advertising cookies at any time
Email the address on the Contact page and put "Data request" in the subject. We will reply within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (https://ico.org.uk, 0303 123 1113). We would appreciate the chance to help first.
8. Children
You must be at least 16 years old to register or post. Grand Theft Auto is a mature series (PEGI 18) and this forum is not aimed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal data, email the Contact page and we will delete it.
9. Changes
We will update this page and the date at the top when the policy changes. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will post a notice on the forum.