Privacy Policy

Account information: If you create an account, we may collect your name, email address, username, password-related authentication information, profile image, biography, and other profile details you choose to provide.

Observations and community activity: We may collect species names, photographs, observation notes, dates, general locations, comments, posts, likes, favorites, quiz activity, badges, follows, messages, and other information you intentionally submit or create through community features.

Location information: Observation features may allow you to provide a location, state, country, map point, or coordinates. Only share a level of location detail you are comfortable making available through the service. Please do not publish your home address or precise locations that could create a safety risk for you, another person, or sensitive wildlife.

Device and usage information: When you use the site, we and our service providers may automatically receive information such as your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring pages, pages viewed, approximate location derived from network information, timestamps, cookie identifiers, and diagnostic or performance data.

Purchases or paid features: If EncountersWorld offers memberships, merchandise, or other paid services, payment information may be collected directly by a third-party payment processor. EncountersWorld may receive transaction details such as payment status, amount, date, and limited billing information, but we do not need to receive your full payment-card number to operate those features.

Sensitive information: Please do not submit Social Security numbers, financial-account passwords, medical records, or other highly sensitive personal information through public profiles, observations, posts, or other community features.

Provide the service: We use information to create and manage accounts, display profiles and observations, operate maps and quizzes, maintain leaderboards and badges, process requests, and provide other EncountersWorld features.

Personalize and improve: We may use activity and usage information to remember preferences, understand which features are useful, diagnose errors, measure site performance, improve navigation and content, and develop new features.

Communicate with you: We may send account-related messages, security notices, responses to support requests, policy updates, and other communications necessary to provide the service. Promotional messages, if offered, may include an unsubscribe or preference option where required.

Safety and moderation: We may use information to review reported content, investigate spam or misuse, prevent fraud, protect users and wildlife, enforce our Terms of Service, and maintain the integrity of EncountersWorld.

Legal and business purposes: We may use or preserve information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, respond to lawful requests, establish or defend legal claims, protect our rights, or complete a business transition involving EncountersWorld.

Essential cookies: Some cookies or local-storage technologies may be necessary for sign-in, account security, saved preferences, form functionality, session management, and other core website features.

Analytics: We may use analytics services, including services such as Google Analytics, to understand visits, traffic sources, device information, and how people interact with EncountersWorld. Analytics providers may use cookies or similar identifiers according to their own privacy practices.

Advertising: If advertising is enabled, advertising providers such as Google AdSense may use cookies, device identifiers, or similar technologies to deliver, measure, limit, or personalize ads. Depending on your location and applicable law, you may be shown consent or privacy controls before certain advertising technologies are used.

Your controls: You can usually manage cookies through your browser and, where provided, through EncountersWorld’s consent or advertising controls. Blocking some cookies may cause parts of the site to function differently or stop working.

Third-party content: Embedded maps, videos, social-media features, or other third-party content may set or read their own cookies or identifiers when you interact with those features.

Payment processing: If you purchase a membership, subscription, product, or other paid service, payment details such as your card number may be collected and processed directly by a third-party payment processor. EncountersWorld does not need to receive or store your full payment-card number in order to provide these features.

Information we may receive: We may receive and retain limited transaction and subscription information such as your name, email address, billing status, payment status, transaction amount, transaction date, subscription tier, renewal status, cancellation status, payment-processor customer or transaction identifiers, and limited billing details made available by the payment provider.

How we use payment and subscription information: We may use this information to activate and manage paid access, confirm payments, provide receipts or account notices, maintain membership status, process cancellations, respond to billing questions, prevent fraud or misuse, keep required financial records, and provide customer support.

Recurring subscriptions: If a paid membership renews automatically, EncountersWorld and its payment provider may use your subscription status and stored payment authorization to process recurring payments in accordance with the membership terms you agree to at checkout. The specific price, billing frequency, renewal, cancellation, refund, and access rules will be described in the applicable Terms of Service and checkout information.

Payment providers: Payment processors operate under their own privacy policies and security practices. When a payment system is launched, EncountersWorld may identify the payment provider used for the service in this Privacy Policy, at checkout, or in other appropriate disclosures.

Retention: Transaction and subscription records may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the paid service, maintain accounting or tax records, resolve payment disputes, prevent fraud, enforce agreements, and comply with applicable legal obligations.

Account information: You may update information available through your profile or account settings when those controls are provided. If certain information cannot be changed through your account settings, you may contact us to request correction of inaccurate personal information.

Account deletion: You can delete your EncountersWorld account directly through the Delete Account option in your account settings. Once you confirm deletion, your account will be scheduled for deletion and will normally be removed within 24 hours. Certain limited information may remain temporarily in backups or may be retained where reasonably necessary for legal obligations, security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, enforcement of our terms, or other legitimate purposes permitted by law.

Cookies and advertising choices: You can manage browser cookies and use any consent, advertising, or privacy controls made available on EncountersWorld. Where required by law, additional options may be provided to withdraw consent or object to certain advertising or data uses.

Communications: You may opt out of non-essential promotional emails by using an unsubscribe option when one is provided. We may still send service, security, transaction, or policy communications that are necessary for your account or use of the site.

Additional legal rights: Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction of processing, objection to certain processing, or an opt-out from certain targeted-advertising or data-sharing activities. Some jurisdictions may also provide a right to appeal a privacy-request decision.

How to exercise other privacy rights: For privacy rights that cannot be handled directly through your account settings, email contact@encountersworld.com. We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests. Authorized-agent requests may require proof of authority where permitted by law. Account deletion itself should be completed through the Delete Account option in your account settings.

Public content: Usernames, profile information, photographs, observations, species identifications, comments, dates, and location information you choose to publish may be visible publicly, depending on the feature and your settings.

Observation maps: Approved community observations may appear on maps or location-based features. Think carefully before submitting exact coordinates or highly specific location details.

Wildlife and personal safety: Do not publish exact locations of sensitive, threatened, nesting, denning, or otherwise vulnerable wildlife when doing so could create a conservation or safety risk. Do not use observation fields to publish private addresses or another person’s confidential information.

Content moderation: EncountersWorld may review, restrict, remove, or preserve community content when necessary to enforce site rules, address reports, protect the community or wildlife, comply with legal obligations, or maintain the service.

Copies outside our control: Information that was publicly available may have been viewed, copied, shared, indexed, or cached by other users, search engines, or third-party services before it is changed or removed from EncountersWorld.

Account information: Account and profile information may generally be retained while your account remains active. When you confirm account deletion through your account settings, your account will normally be deleted within 24 hours. Limited records may be retained afterward where reasonably necessary to comply with law, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or abuse, enforce our terms, protect users or the service, or maintain required business records.

Community content: Published observations, photographs, posts, and related records may remain available until they are removed by you where controls are provided, removed by EncountersWorld, or deleted in response to an applicable request. Certain records may be retained when necessary for moderation, safety, legal compliance, or to preserve the integrity of community records.

Technical and analytics data: Usage logs, security records, diagnostics, and analytics information may be retained for periods appropriate to security, performance measurement, fraud prevention, and service improvement.

Backups and caches: Deleted information may remain temporarily in backups, caches, logs, or disaster-recovery systems before being overwritten or removed through normal system processes.

Retention decisions: When no specific retention period is stated, we consider the purpose for which information was collected, the sensitivity of the information, operational needs, the risk of harm from continued retention, and applicable legal requirements.

Safeguards: We take reasonable measures designed to reduce unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, loss, or misuse of personal information and account data.

Your responsibilities: Use a strong, unique password, keep your login credentials private, sign out on shared devices, and contact us if you believe your account or personal information has been compromised.

No absolute guarantee: Internet transmission and electronic storage always involve risk. We cannot guarantee that information will never be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed despite our security measures.

Security incidents: If we become aware of a security incident affecting personal information, we may investigate, take corrective action, and provide notices when required by applicable law.

Service providers: We may disclose limited information to providers that help host and secure the site, deliver email, process forms, provide analytics, operate maps, process payments and subscriptions, prevent abuse, or support other EncountersWorld functions.

Examples: Depending on which features are active, services may include Google analytics or advertising products, Mapbox or Esri mapping services, website-hosting and WordPress-related providers, email services, payment processors, and other infrastructure providers.

Independent privacy practices: Third-party services operate under their own terms and privacy policies. Their collection and use of information may differ from ours, especially when you leave EncountersWorld or interact directly with an embedded third-party feature.

Links to other websites: EncountersWorld may link to external websites that we do not operate. We are not responsible for the privacy, security, or content practices of those external sites.

Children under 13: EncountersWorld is not intended for children under 13 to create accounts or submit personal information on their own. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental or guardian authorization when such authorization is legally required.

Removal requests: If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to EncountersWorld without appropriate authorization, contact us at contact@encountersworld.com. We will review the request and take appropriate steps, including deletion when required.

Teen users: Users who are old enough to use the service but are still minors should involve a parent or guardian where required by applicable law and should avoid publishing private addresses, school schedules, precise routine locations, or other information that could create a safety risk.

International transfers: If you use EncountersWorld from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored in, or processed in countries whose privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

EEA, UK, and similar jurisdictions: Where applicable, we process personal information based on one or more recognized legal grounds, which may include performing a contract with you, our legitimate interests in operating and securing the service, your consent, or compliance with legal obligations.

Your rights: Depending on applicable law, you may have rights regarding access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, objection, or withdrawal of consent. You may contact us to exercise applicable rights.

Supervisory authorities: Where provided by law, you may also have the right to submit a complaint to the data-protection or privacy authority responsible for your location.

Updates: When we revise this policy, we will update the “Last Updated” date shown on this page.

Material changes: If a change materially affects how we handle personal information, we may provide additional notice through the site, by email, or through another reasonable method when appropriate or legally required.

Reviewing changes: We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so you understand the information we collect, how it is used, and the choices available to you.

For questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, or privacy rights that cannot be handled through your account settings, contact EncountersWorld at:

Email: contact@encountersworld.com

When making a privacy request, include enough information for us to understand your request and identify the relevant account or content. To delete your EncountersWorld account, use the Delete Account option in your account settings rather than emailing a deletion request. Please do not send passwords, full payment-card numbers, Social Security numbers, or other highly sensitive information by email.

We may request reasonable verification before acting on certain privacy requests in order to protect your account and personal information from unauthorized requests.