Privacy Policy
Our Policies Privacy Policy TheHide.Guide ("we", "us", "our") operates the website thehide.guide and the The Hide Guide mobile application (together, the "Service"). This policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and safeguard your information when you use the Service. Effective date: 9 March 2026
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Information you provide
Account details — name, email address and password when you register.
Sighting submissions — species observations, photographs, dates and locations you submit.
Support enquiries — any information you include when you contact us.
1.2 Information collected automatically
Device & usage data — IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited and access times.
Location data — approximate or precise location when you grant permission, used to show nearby reserves and contextualise sightings.
Cookies & local storage — session tokens and user preferences. We do not use third-party advertising cookies.
2. How We Use Your Information
Provide, operate and improve the Service.
Display relevant wildlife sightings, reserves and map layers.
Authenticate your account and remember your preferences.
Respond to support requests and communicate Service updates.
Generate anonymised, aggregated statistics about wildlife observations (no personally identifiable information is shared).
3. Data Sources
The Service displays wildlife observation data sourced from publicly available datasets including eBird (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). These records are used under the respective open-data licences of each provider.
4. Sensitive Species
Some species enjoy legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 1) or are flagged as conservation-sensitive by the BoCC5 Red list or the NBN Sensitive Species List. For these species, we deliberately reduce the precision of public location data — typically rounding to a 10 km grid square — to avoid disclosing breeding sites or roosts that could attract disturbance. Submitting a sighting of a sensitive species is welcomed; we'll record it accurately in our database but will not display its precise location publicly. See the Sensitive Species policy for the full detail.
5. Sharing Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share data with:
Service providers — hosting, database and analytics providers who process data on our behalf under contract.
Legal obligations — when required by law, regulation or legal process.
Aggregated data — anonymised usage statistics that cannot identify you.
6. Data Retention
We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. Sighting submissions become part of the community dataset and are retained in anonymised form. You may request deletion of your account and personal data at any time by contacting us.
7. Security
We use industry-standard measures to protect your data, including encrypted connections (TLS), hashed passwords and restricted server access. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction you may have the right to:
Access the personal data we hold about you.
Request correction of inaccurate data.
Request deletion of your personal data.
Object to or restrict certain processing.
Receive your data in a portable format.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the address below.
9. Children's Privacy
The Service is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have collected such information, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The revised version will be indicated by an updated effective date at the top of this page.
11. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at [email protected] .
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