Privacy & Your Data

What We Collect

When you report a sighting, we store your photos, the location you provide, and any optional details like descriptions or height estimates. We also store your email address for authentication. That's it. We're here for the trees, not your browsing habits.

Location Privacy

The location you submit is stored securely and visible only to you and our moderation team. The public map displays an approximate position: enough to show the neighbourhood, not enough to find the front door. Street names are never shown publicly.

Why So Careful?

Many monkey puzzle trees live in front gardens, on private property. We celebrate these trees; we don't want to cause their owners any bother. A magnificent Araucaria deserves admiration, not a stream of uninvited visitors peering over the hedge.

Photos

Uploaded photos are stored securely. During processing, we strip EXIF metadata (GPS coordinates are only retained with your consent for location tagging). We ask submitters to focus on the tree and avoid capturing identifiable faces, house numbers, or car registrations. All photos are reviewed by our moderation team before publication.

Your Content

You keep the copyright to everything you upload. By submitting a sighting, you grant Monkey Puzzle Watch a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, display, reproduce, and distribute your content in connection with operating and promoting the service. This licence is transferable (meaning it carries over if the service changes hands) and sublicensable (meaning our hosting providers can serve your photos without asking you first). You can withdraw this licence at any time by deleting your content.

Children

Photos containing identifiable children will always be rejected during moderation. We cannot verify the parental consent required by UK law for under-13s, and we'd rather err on the side of caution. The tree is the star, so please keep it that way.

Your Data Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to access, correct, or delete your data. You can download your data or delete individual sightings from your account. Need help? Contact us.

Account Deletion

You have three options for managing your account from the account settings page:

• Deactivate: hide your profile and pause your account. Reversible at any time by logging back in.
• Delete account (keep tree data): your personal information is erased, but tree sighting records are preserved anonymously for conservation research. GDPR Art. 17(3)(d) permits retaining anonymised data for scientific purposes.
• Delete everything: all data removed, including tree sighting records.

Deletion requests include a 30-day grace period. You can cancel at any time during this window by logging in.

Cookies & Authentication

We use httpOnly cookies for authentication only, the secure, sensible kind that keep you logged in. No tracking cookies. No analytics cookies. No third-party cookies. No cookie banners asking you to accept things you shouldn't have to accept.

Data & Research

We don't sell your personal data to advertisers or third parties. We may share anonymised, aggregated statistics, such as regional tree density or seasonal trends, with conservation bodies and researchers. Your individual sightings always remain under your control.