ExoAtlas Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 23, 2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to ExoAtlas (the “Site”), an educational platform offering interactive tools and resources for astronomy enthusiasts, astrophotographers, researchers, and the general public. Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use our services.

2. Information We Collect

We collect two types of information:

A. Personal Information (only if you provide it)

• Email address (if you contact us directly or subscribe to updates)
• Name or other voluntary details (e.g. feedback forms)

B. Non-Personal Information (collected automatically)

• Browser type, operating system, device type
• IP address and geolocation (approximate, not GPS-level)
• Referring pages and exit URLs
• Time spent on the site and page interactions
• Website performance and error data
• Advertising data via Google AdSense

We use cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to gather this data for analytics, personalization, and advertising purposes.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use information to operate, maintain, and improve our services, including:

• Monitor and improve website performance
• Analyze user behavior to enhance site content and usability
• Displaying personalized ads via Google AdSense
• Responding to inquiries or support requests

We do not sell your personal information to any third party.

4. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies to personalize content, provide social media features, and analyze our traffic. These include essential, performance, functional, and targeting cookies. To manage your cookie preferences, we use 'CookieYes', a Consent Management Platform that appears upon your first visit. This tool allows you to:

• Accept all cookies
• Deny all non-essential cookies
• Customize your cookie preferences

You can update your preferences at any time by clicking the "Consent Preferences" button found at the bottom of our site. Additionally, you can manage cookies in your browser settings.

You may also opt out of personalized advertising through Google Ads Settings.

5. Third-Party Services

We partner with trusted service providers to help deliver and protect the site. These include:

• Cloudflare (security, CDN, DNS, SSL)
• Squarespace (website hosting)
• Google Analytics (usage analytics)
• Google AdSense (advertising)
• CookieYes (consent management platform)
• GitHub Pages (supporting content delivery)

Each of these services may collect data in accordance with their own privacy policies.

6. Data Retention

Non-personal data (analytics, logs) is retained indefinitely for performance and business analysis. Any personal data (e.g., submitted through a form or email) is retained only as long as needed to fulfill your request.

7. Your Rights

If you are in the European Union, European Economica Area, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, or California, you have certain rights regarding your data under GDPR or CCPA.

A. European Union User Consent Policy - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Users in the European Union, European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland: in accordance with the Google EU User Consent Policy, we inform users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland that this site uses cookies or other local storage to collect data. This data may be used for personalized ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights, and product development. By using ExoAtlas, you consent to our use of cookies unless you opt out or manage your cookie preferences. We are actively working to implement a consent management platform for additional user control.

B. California Residents - California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Notice

If you are a California resident, you have rights under the CCPA, including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it
• The right to request that we delete your personal information
• The right to opt out of the sale of your personal information

While ExoAtlas does not sell personal data in the traditional sense, we may share usage data with third-party advertisers such as Google AdSense. To learn more or to submit a data request, please contact us.

8. Security

We take the security of your data seriously and implement multiple safeguards to protect your information:

• SSL Encryption: All connections to ExoAtlas are secured using industry-standard TLS (SSL) encryption. This ensures that data transferred between your browser and our servers remains private and tamper-proof.
• HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS): We enforce HSTS to ensure browsers only connect to our site over secure HTTPS. This protects against protocol downgrade attacks and SSL stripping.
• DNSSEC Support: Our domain is protected with DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), adding an additional layer of authenticity to our DNS records and helping to prevent domain spoofing.
• Cloudflare Integration: We utilize Cloudflare as our DNS host and security gateway, which provides protection against DDoS attacks, malicious bots, and unauthorized access attempts. Cloudflare also manages our edge SSL certificates, with automatic renewal for continuous HTTPS coverage.
• Access Control: Only authorized administrators can access backend systems and analytics, with permissions managed under least privilege principles. These permissions are reviewed and audited regularly.

While no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, we are committed to implementing best practices and evolving our defenses in line with emerging threats. If you have any security-related concerns, please contact us at [email protected].

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page and indicated by the “Effective Date” at the top. We encourage you to review it periodically.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact us.

ExoAtlas LLC, Site Administrator
Email: [email protected]