Privacy Policy — Mushroom Science

Mushroom Science ("we", "our", or "us") operates the website mushroom-science.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website. Please read this policy carefully. If you disagree with its terms, please discontinue use of the site.

1. Information we collect

Information you provide directly

When you use our contact form, we collect:

First and last name
Email address
The content of your message
The subject category you select

We do not collect payment information, social security numbers, or sensitive personal identifiers of any kind.

Information collected automatically

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain technical information including:

IP address (anonymized after 24 hours)
Browser type and version
Pages visited and time spent on each page
Referring URL
Device type and operating system

This data is collected via cookies and similar tracking technologies only with your consent, as described in our Cookie Policy.

2. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

To respond to your inquiries — contact form submissions are used solely to reply to your message
To improve our content — aggregated, anonymized analytics help us understand which research topics are most relevant to our readers
To maintain site security — IP-level data is used to detect and prevent spam and abuse
To comply with legal obligations — we retain minimal data as required by applicable law

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We do not use your data for automated profiling or decision-making.

3. Legal basis for processing (GDPR)

For users in the European Economic Area, we process personal data under the following legal bases:

Consent — for analytics cookies and newsletter subscriptions
Legitimate interests — for security monitoring and site improvement using anonymized data
Contract performance — for responding to contact form submissions

4. Data retention

Contact form submissions are retained for a maximum of 12 months, after which they are permanently deleted. Anonymized analytics data is retained for up to 26 months. Server logs containing IP addresses are purged after 30 days.

5. Third-party services

We use a limited number of third-party services to operate this website:

Google Fonts — for typography (fonts loaded from Google's servers; subject to Google's Privacy Policy)
Cloudflare — for content delivery and security (subject to Cloudflare's Privacy Policy)

We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any behavioral advertising trackers.

6. Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate data
Right to erasure — request deletion of your personal data
Right to restrict processing — request that we limit how we use your data
Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and analyze site traffic. You can control cookie preferences through the banner displayed on your first visit. For full details, see our Cookie Policy.

8. Children's privacy

Our website is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately and we will delete it.

9. International transfers

Our servers are located in the United States. If you are accessing our website from outside the US, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the US, where data protection laws may differ from your country.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of our website after any changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact:

Email: [email protected]
Postal address: Mushroom Science Editorial, 1234 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209, USA

For EU residents, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.