Privacy Policy

What we collect

Ecosphere is a reading site. We do not ask you to register, we do not run a comment system, and we do not sell plants or collect shipping details. The only information we hold is what a web server normally records when a page is requested: an IP address, the page requested, the referring page, a user-agent string and a timestamp.

If you email us at [email protected], we hold your message and your address for as long as it takes to answer you and to keep a record of corrections we have made to a plate.

Cookies and similar technologies

The site itself sets no cookies for readers. Cookies are placed by the third-party advertising and analytics services described below, and they are used to measure traffic and to select advertising. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time; the plates will still read normally.

Third-party advertising and Google AdSense

This site is supported by advertising and may display advertising served by Google AdSense and its partner networks.

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site. Google’s use of advertising cookies, including the DoubleClick DART cookie, enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and to other sites on the internet.

You can opt out of personalised advertising from Google at any time by visiting Google Ads Settings at https://adssettings.google.com. You can also opt out of personalised advertising from many other third-party vendors at https://www.aboutads.info/choices, and read how Google handles data in advertising products at https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads.

Where required by law we ask for consent before advertising cookies are set, and you may withdraw that consent at any time through the consent control shown on the page.

Analytics and statistics

We measure aggregate traffic so that we know which plates are useful. Aggregate figures may include page views, approximate country, device class and referring source. We do not attempt to identify individual readers from these figures, and we do not combine them with any other data set to do so.

Third-party links

Build plates occasionally link to suppliers, botanical references or public research. Those sites operate under their own privacy policies and we have no control over what they collect. Read their policies before you submit information to them.

Your rights under the GDPR and the CCPA

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, you have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to receive it in a portable format, and to lodge a complaint with your national supervisory authority.

If you are a California resident, you have the right to know what personal information is collected, to request its deletion, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. Ecosphere does not sell personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, write to [email protected] and we will respond within the period required by the applicable law.

Children

This site is written for adults building terrariums. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and if you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

When our practice changes — for example if we add a newsletter or a different advertising partner — we will update this page and move the "last updated" date at the top. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the revised policy.