Who we are

Our website address is: https://observed.org.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are choosing to display a gravatar using that service. If you are not, then that information is destroyed. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. If you do you the Gravatar service, then after approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. If not, only your comment etc. is visible.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images that reveal any private information like embedded location data (EXIF GPS) or background information that might reveal your identity or location.

If you leave a comment on our site you may be automatically opting-into saving your provided name, email address and website in session cookies. These are for your convenience, so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies are not saved forever, and eventually they will be permanently discarded, which will require you to login again and/or re-enter information to leave comments etc. in the future.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Certain areas of our website may display embedded content (e.g. an interesting online video from a streaming service like Vimeo or YouTube, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website directly.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged into that website.

We will never display any hidden elements from third parties. That is to say, we will not stream a hidden video in the background or otherwise abuse your visiting experience by employing covert methods which may undermine your safety or security.

Who we share your data with

If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Where your data is sent and to whom do you share my information?

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service. We do not sell, trade, share, exchange, gift, or otherwise transmit your data to any third party for any reason without a court order. Even with a court order, every effort will be made to double check the legal right of any order before we comply. If we are compelled to reply, the data will be provided exactly as it is saved in electronic form, including any encryption, which may be genuinely beyond the ability of any entity to decipher due to the way data is stored in our system. Reasonable efforts may be made to protect portions of our saved data in advance, while still allowing us to comply with any compulsory legal requests with as little concern as possible over the ability for any entity to make sense of certain data points supplied by legal force. No apologies are made for any lack of recoverability, because storing data in an unrecoverable format is not a crime.