Privacy Policy
To keep things simple, the team at BirdWatchGuides.com will be presented using terms as “we”, “our website”, or “this website”.
Below you can read a complete summary of both the personal and non-personal data collected by BirdWatchGuides.com, how we store it, and how we keep it safe from attacks. Also, this summary will talk about how we process this data to make our website better for our users.
What kind of data do we collect?
BirdWatchGuides.com gathers both personal and non-personal information from the users. The data in the non-personal category includes cookies and other internet-specific information. The data in the personal category can only come in our possession if users give their explicit consent. When they enter our website and are asked to enter personal information, they receive a notification where they are informed that we intend to collect that data. Before we can proceed with data storage, they need to explicitly give their consent. If they do not give this consent, we cannot collect any private information.
What kind of non-personal information do we collect?
This website collects non-personal data that offers internet-related information about the users. Since it suits the non-personal category, we cannot use this data to discover the identity of our users or track them down.
Non-personal info we gather:
- Information specific to the users’ browser;
- Browser history data, such as logs or browsing patterns users follow on our website;
- The pages users usually visit before and after they come to our website;
- The IP address and other Internet Service Provider data.
What kind of personal information do we collect?
We cannot collect data of the personal kind without the explicit consent of the users. Whenever users enter our website and they need to introduce their private data, they receive a notification telling them that we intend to collect this information. They need to hit the Agree button and only afterwards are we able to go on with data collection.
Also, we rarely gather data of a sensitive nature or that might be used to reveal the identity of the users. Here are some examples of the personal information we collect: first name, last name, address, email, and, in some cases, phone number or social media profiles. Also, we might need data regarding the location and gender of the users.
The only purpose of this information is to build statistical analyses. Through them, we seek to improve our website and make it as informative and relevant to our visitors as possible.
BirdWatchGuides.com officially declares that it will never use the personal data for commercial purposes and will never give it away to third parties to gain monetary benefits.
How do we use personal information?
The main purpose of this data collection is purely statistical. In the end, we at BirdWatchGuides.com seek to understand what users want and shape our website according to these desires. Some third parties might receive access to the data we collect, but this will never happen for monetary benefits.
Those third parties that will access the data are partner companies, such as SEO, marketing, or web hosting companies. They might also offer access to user data to some of their employees, but they are strictly forbidden from sharing this information outside of their company.
Other situations might force us to share the information we collect from our users. If we need to obey federal or state laws, regulations, warrants, or court orders, we will have to offer this information to the authorities.
Caution: this privacy policy does not concern the cookies collected by third party advertisers that display ads on the pages displayed to our visitors. These third parties are responsible for the information they collect and must provide make sure they keep user data safe.
How do we collect information?
Below you can read a complete list of all the methods used to collect both personal and non-personal information from the users and visitors of this website:
1. Cookies
Cookies are the most common tool used on the internet. They are code snippets that collect information while running in the background. This information includes online data and browsing patterns, and it serves strictly a statistical purpose.
Cookies cannot be used to detect the identity of our users.
2. Log Files
Log files can record how much time users spend on certain pages of our website and how many clicks they make on these pages. Also, they can detect the pages that brought users to our website, their internet service provider, and other browser-specific information. Just like cookies, log files are used to build statistical analyses.
Log files cannot be used to detect the identity of our users.
3. Register Requests (Sign Ups)
Signup requests are the only means to collect personal information. We ask users to submit this type of data to prove they are real persons and to match their account to a real identity. However, we need this type of information to improve our communication with the users. We cannot collect it without their explicit consent, and we will never use it commercially.
All the personal data that users submit is and will stay confidential.
How do we protect this information?
To make sure no malicious hackers get access to the data we collect from our users, BirdWatchGuides.com makes use of a security system in three steps. This system provides the electronic protection of the data, its physical protection, but also managerial protection. This way, we make sure the data stays safe from attacks and confidential.