Privacy Policy | BirdWatch.info

1. Who is responsible for your information

Platform operator: MARKO RATIĆ PR RAČUNARSKO PROGRAMIRANJE WEBTRIBE BEOGRAD-NOVI BEOGRAD, trading as Webtribe, Belgrade, Serbia.

Business registration number: 62953349 · Tax identification number (PIB): 107734033.

Contact: support@birdwatch.info. Privacy requests: privacy@birdwatch.info or the support address above.

Webtribe is the controller for the personal information it uses to run BirdWatch.info. That means it determines why and how the platform processes that information. This policy covers website browsing, accounts, inquiries, organizer relationships, public contributions and support communications.

An independent organizer normally acts as a separate controller when it handles your inquiry, issues a quote or provides travel services. Its own privacy information applies to those activities. Our GDPR Privacy Notice supplements this policy where EU or UK data protection law applies. Applicable Serbian data protection rights also remain available.

2. Information we receive

Account and profile information: Name, email address, account role and the profile information you provide, such as a biography, professional title or avatar. Passwords are stored as hashes, not as readable account passwords. Account recovery uses information needed to verify and restore access.
Google sign-in: If you choose Google sign-in, Google supplies a stable account identifier, verified email address, name and basic profile information under the requested identity, email and profile permissions. BirdWatch stores the Google identifier and provider email to connect later sign-ins to the correct BirdWatch account. We do not receive your Google password, request offline Google access or gain access to your Gmail messages.
Account agreements: When you create an account, we record the applicable Terms and Privacy Policy versions, the acceptance method, time and request IP address so we can demonstrate which notices accompanied registration.
Tour inquiries: Your name, email, optional phone number, message, selected tour, preferred date and numbers of adults and children, together with submission time and handling status. An inquiry may be linked to your account if you are signed in.
Organizer and contributor information: Business contacts, listing and profile material, photographs, rights and source information, and correspondence about publication. If you provide a review or video testimonial, this can include your chosen public name, country, experience date, rating, story, image, voice and publication permissions.
Support and reports: Correspondence, account identifiers and evidence you provide for a correction, complaint, rights request or security report.
Technical and referral information: IP address, browser and device information, requested pages, request times and technical errors may appear in service logs or be processed by external services. The platform can record landing pages, referring URLs, campaign parameters and advertising click identifiers and associate them with an inquiry.

Information comes from you, your browser, an organizer or person acting for you, sign-in providers and, for professional profiles and listing preparation, relevant public business sources. Publicly available information can still be personal data.

3. Why we use information

Provide accounts, authentication, profiles, favorites and the website features you request.
Receive, route, track and answer tour inquiries and support requests.
Prepare and maintain listings, organizer relationships and public contributions.
Protect accounts, detect abuse, investigate reports and maintain the service.
Understand how visitors find content and which pages lead to inquiries, through technical, referral and analytics information.
Comply with applicable obligations and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

The legal basis depends on the particular activity, as explained in the GDPR notice. A tour inquiry is not an automatic subscription to marketing. Where marketing or optional technologies require consent, that consent must be obtained separately; publishing this policy or accepting the Terms is not a substitute.

4. What happens when you send an inquiry

Your inquiry is saved in BirdWatch's database. Notification emails may contain your name, email, optional phone number, message, preferred date, group numbers and the tour link. They may be sent to the tour's relevant organizer with designated BirdWatch staff copied, or to BirdWatch staff to coordinate a response.

We use this information to follow up on the request and its outcome. The organizer needs enough information to answer your questions or prepare an offer. It may be in the destination country, including a country outside your own data protection jurisdiction. Ask us before submission if you need to clarify who will receive an inquiry.

Only provide information necessary for the request. Avoid passport or identity-document numbers, payment-card details and detailed health information. Discuss special assistance with the organizer using a suitable private channel. If you provide information about companions, tell them how it will be used and ensure you are entitled to share it.

Closing your BirdWatch account does not automatically delete correspondence already lawfully held by an independent organizer. You may need to contact that organizer separately; we can help identify the relevant recipient.

5. Public profiles and contributions

Organizer and guide names, biographies, professional details, avatars, listing content and approved public testimonials can appear on the website. Public material may be indexed by search engines, shared as page previews and copied by other visitors.

Ordinary inquiry messages, internal publication notes and account credentials are not intended for public display. A private account email is distinct from information you deliberately place in a public field. Do not put private customer details or direct operator contact information into public tour fields.

For guest stories, photographs and video, agree which name, image, voice and other details may be published. Contact us to correct or remove material or withdraw consent where consent is the basis. We can act on our own site but cannot directly remove independent third-party copies or search caches.

6. Who may receive information

Relevant organizers: the information needed to answer the inquiry or provide a requested service.
Authorized BirdWatch staff and service providers: hosting, email delivery, maintenance and support providers as needed to operate the platform.
External feature providers: Google for sign-in, fonts and analytics where used, and OpenStreetMap for embedded maps. Their role and information received depend on the service.
Professional advisers and competent authorities: where necessary for a legal obligation, investigation, security issue or legitimate legal claim.
Other visitors: only information published as part of a profile, listing or public contribution.

An organizer must have its own lawful basis for uses beyond answering the request, such as unrelated marketing. The fact that you submitted an inquiry does not give recipients unrestricted rights over your data. Any material change of purpose or recipients requires appropriate privacy information and, where required, a separate legal basis or consent.

7. Cookies and browser storage

Cookies are small values stored by your browser. Local storage and session storage also keep information on your device. Blocking essential storage can prevent sign-in and some forms from working; optional storage has different purposes.

Storage used by the website
Technology	Purpose and duration	Your control
Session cookie	The BirdWatch session supports authentication, form security and session state. Its browser lifetime is normally the session; browser session restoration and server expiry settings can affect this.	Sign out to end authenticated access. Browser controls can remove site cookies.
Inquiry autofill cookies	After an inquiry, the current form stores the submitted name, email and phone in cookies named inquirer_name, inquirer_email and inquirer_phone for up to 30 days, to prefill later inquiries.	Remove these cookies in browser site settings. On a shared device, clear site data after use.
Favorites in local storage	Saved tour details remain in that browser until removed or its site data is cleared. Favorites are not synchronized between accounts or devices.	Remove saved tours on the Favorites page or clear site storage.
Referral and measurement state	Session information can hold landing-page and campaign data; session storage can remember the first content page in a tab. Referral information saved with an inquiry becomes part of that record.	Closing a tab or clearing storage removes browser state, but does not erase an inquiry already submitted. Contact us about stored inquiry data.
Google measurement cookies	When Google measurement runs, cookies such as _ga and _ga_* can distinguish browsers and measure visits. Lifetimes depend on the Google configuration and may be renewed by use.	Browser site settings can show current expiry and remove or block cookies. Removing a cookie does not erase data already received by a provider.

Legal requirements for optional storage apply even where a technology is described as analytics or uses browser storage instead of a cookie. A browser setting is not a replacement for prior consent where the law requires it. See the GDPR notice for the distinction between consent and other legal bases.

8. Analytics, maps and other external services

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are used when enabled to measure visits and interactions. Technical information, identifiers and information about visited pages or campaigns may be processed by Google. Tag Manager loads configured tags; the actual data flow depends on those tags. Do not assume that the absence of a form submission means no technical information is transmitted.

Google Fonts can receive your IP address and request information when font resources load. A tour map embedded from OpenStreetMap similarly makes a request to that service when loaded. Google sign-in involves a separate interaction with Google when you choose it. These providers process information under their applicable service and privacy terms.

BirdWatch's content-measurement events are intended to describe public pages and actions, rather than include inquiry messages, names, email addresses or phone numbers. Technical identifiers and referral information may nevertheless constitute personal data. Information about the legal bases and international processing appears in the GDPR notice.

9. How long information is kept

Retention depends on the purpose and the record. We use the following criteria rather than treating all information as having one fixed lifetime:

Accounts and profiles: while needed to provide the account or publication, then only where a specific obligation, unresolved issue or legal claim justifies continued retention.
Inquiries and correspondence: while needed for the inquiry, related follow-up and any dispute or legal requirement. The relevant trip date, last substantive contact and applicable claim periods inform that assessment.
Public contributions and permission records: while the contribution remains published or permission and rights need to be demonstrated, subject to withdrawal and other applicable rights.
Security and operational records: for the period needed to investigate errors or misuse and maintain service integrity; an active incident may justify longer retention.
Backups: recovery copies can remain until the relevant backup is replaced or expires. A deletion request must also be considered when data is restored.

Browser-storage lifetimes are described above and are separate from server records and email copies. We do not promise immediate erasure from every backup or deletion of records that the law requires us to retain. Ask us for the applicable retention period or criteria for your particular information.

10. Security and sensitive information

We use measures appropriate to the platform, including password hashing, access controls and protections for authentication and form submissions. No website, email service or storage system can guarantee absolute security. Use a unique password and avoid sending unnecessary sensitive information.

Report suspected unauthorized access or accidental disclosure to support. We assess incidents and make notifications to affected people or authorities when applicable law requires them. We do not describe the entire service or all stored data as end-to-end encrypted.

11. Your choices and requests

You can update available account details through your profile, manage favorites in your browser, and contact us about account closure, publication or personal data. Depending on the applicable law and circumstances, you may request access, correction, erasure, restriction or portability, object to certain processing, and withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

Email privacy@birdwatch.info or support@birdwatch.info. Describe your request and provide enough information to locate the relevant account, inquiry or page. Do not send identity documents unless we explain why proportionate verification is needed. We may need to verify authority if you act for someone else.

The GDPR Privacy Notice explains rights, time limits, exceptions and complaints. You may contact a competent data protection authority without first complaining to us.

12. Children

Accounts, organizer tools and inquiry submissions are intended for adults aged 18 or over. An adult arranging family travel may provide the number of children and only the additional information necessary for the request. Do not submit a child's full identity, photograph or sensitive details unnecessarily.

If you believe a child submitted personal data without appropriate authority, contact us so that we can assess and address it.

13. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our practices or legal obligations change and show the revised date above. Material changes will be brought to users' attention where appropriate or legally required. A new policy does not retrospectively authorize incompatible use or replace consent where consent is required.