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Privacy Policy

This page explains what personal data we keep when you use TaxoCheck (and its sister site), why, for how long, and who else sees any of it. Written in plain language; if something is unclear, ask us through the contact form.

Who is responsible

TaxoCheck is operated by a private individual. [Operator name, postal address and contact e-mail to be completed before the public launch.] Until then, use the contact form for any request about your data.

What we store, why, and for how long

  • Account (one account for TaxoCheck and CitationCheck): e-mail address, name, optional title, and a password hash (never the password). Needed to give you access and to send you e-mails about your account. Kept until you delete your account.
  • Payments: amount, date, and Stripe references (session, payment and invoice numbers). Needed to give you the service you paid for, to refund failed checks and for accounting. Card details are handled by Stripe and never reach us. Payment records are kept as long as accounting and tax law require, even if you delete your account.
  • Checks: file name, what was read from the PDF (the taxon names, with short text snippets around them, and the DOIs of the references they come from) and the results. Kept until you delete the check or your account; you can do either at any time.
  • The PDF itself is not stored. It is read in memory and discarded.
  • Names you suggest after a check (“Is a taxon missing?”): if the catalogue confirms a name, we add it to our own list of taxon names, which is used to read every later article. The list contains scientific names only; it is shared by all users and is not shown to anyone with your identity. We keep internally which account added a name (to prevent abuse); this link is removed when you delete your account.
  • Technical data: your IP address is used briefly, in memory, to limit abuse (for example repeated log-in attempts). We do not build visitor profiles.

What leaves our server, and to whom

  • GBIF (gbif.org): the taxon names found in your document, one by one, to look them up. Not your document, not the snippets.
  • Global Names Verifier (verifier.globalnames.org), which asks Catalogue of Life and other public checklists: only those names that GBIF does not know, as a list of names.
  • Crossref and DataCite: the DOI of a reference, only when a name in that reference’s title is not accepted by the catalogues, to read the title as it was published. A DOI identifies a publication, not you.
  • Stripe handles card payments and invoices; it receives your e-mail, the billing details you enter on its page and the amount. Stripe may process data outside the EU under its own privacy policy.
  • E-mails (confirmation, password reset) are sent through our own mail server.

We do not sell your data and do not use it for advertising.

Cookies

One cookie keeps you logged in (strictly necessary) and your light/dark choice is kept in your browser. We use no advertising or analytics cookies.

Your rights

You can see and change your details in your profile, and delete your account and all checks there. You may also ask us, through the contact form, for a copy of your data, to correct it, to restrict or object to its processing, and you have the right to complain to your national data-protection authority.

Last updated: 14 October 2026. This text is a plain-language draft and is to be reviewed.