Biomimicry Institute Privacy Policy
Last updated 9/19/2024
PLEASE READ THIS BIOMIMICRY PRIVACY POLICY (“PRIVACY POLICY”) CAREFULLY. This Privacy Policy
pertains to your accessing and using our “Services,” which include:
Our online services, including biomimicry.org, asknature.org, d4t.biomimicry.org,
asknaturehive.biomimicry.org, toolbox.biomimicry.org, youthchallenge.biomimicry.org
(collectively, the “Services”).
Our offline services, including services you use when you attend an in‐person event, training,
take part in an education initiative, or contact us via phone or videoconference.
The Services are operated by Biomimicry Institute, PO Box 9216, Missoula, Montana 59807 (“We” or
“Biomimicry”). This Privacy Policy describes the information collected through your use of the Services,
how We use it, how We share it, how We protect it, and the choices you (“You”) can make about Your
information.
ATTENTION: PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SERVICES. ACCESSING,
DOWNLOADING CONTENT FROM, OR USING THE SERVICES INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE
TO BE BOUND BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY IN FULL. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THIS PRIVACY POLICY, DO NOT
ACCESS, DOWNLOAD FROM, OR USE THE SERVICES. You acknowledge that You have read and
understood this Privacy Policy and consent to its terms.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that augment or enhance the current Services shall
be subject to this Privacy Policy.
Please review the Privacy Policy each time You use the Services. BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO
ACCEPT THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF THE PRIVACY POLICY. If We MATERIALLY change this Privacy
Policy, We will update this page to reflect any changes to this Privacy Policy and will let You know by
sending an email to the email address We have on record for You.
1. Information We Collect
We collect personal information from You when You create a profile, use the Services, register for
challenges or our accelerator program, download curriculum, join and interact with the AskNature Hive
community, contact, or interact with us, fill out a form, and voluntarily provide us with Your comments
and other content in connection with using the Services.
A. Information You Provide to Us
When You create a profile, We may collect Your name, telephone number(s), email address, company
name, mailing address, user ID, and password.
When You contact us, We may collect: Your name, email address, and any other information that You
provide to us voluntarily.
When You sign up for our newsletter, We may collect Your first name, last name, and email address.
When You make a donation or make any other payment through the Services, We may collect: Your first
name, last name, telephone number, email address, company name, mailing address, credit card
number, card expiration date, and other information sufficient for our payment processors to process
the transaction and provide fraud screening, information security, and compliance, other account
information, and any other information that You provide while registering or making a payment. If You
are making a donation, We may also collect any information that You voluntarily provide related to the
gift. If You select to provide recurring donations or automatic renewals, We will maintain your
information for the duration of your membership, including your payment information, with our
payment processor.
When You submit an entry to any of our Design Challenges or download curriculum, We may collect
Your name, email address, location, school, and advisor information. We may also collect any
information that You voluntarily provide related to the submission, including any textual content in the
submission, photos, and video content. Your Design Challenge or Ray of Hope Prize/Accelerator
submission will be shared with judges and portions of the submission will be posted on the gallery.
When You submit an application for our programs or Ray of Hope Accelerator Program, We may collect
Your name, email address, and any other information that You voluntarily provide related to your
application, including any textual content in the application. Your program or Ray of Hope application
will be shared with judges and mentors and portions of the submission will be posted on the gallery.
When you join and participate in the AskNature Hive community platform, We may collect Your name,
email address, and any personal information contained in the contents of your posts, comments, or
other activities on the platform. We may collect photos, videos, audio/voice recordings, or any files that
you add to any of your posts on the platform. The personal information you share on the platform will
be publicly available to all other AskNature Hive members.
B. Information We May Collect Automatically When You Use the Services
When You access and use the Services, We automatically collect information regarding You and Your
device, including Your user name, roles/permissions for the Services, Your device’s Internet Protocol
address, the domain name of Your Internet service provider, Your location, the Services features You use
and the time of Your use, Your mobile device information (e.g. device model and operating system
version), and aggregated information that cannot be used to specifically identify You. Additional
information collected is described in the Analytics and Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies sections
below.
C. Information We May Collect From Other Sources
We may collect information about You from third party sources such as Your Accelerator or design team
coach, social media companies, analytics providers, and advertising networks.
We may combine all of the information We collect from or about You and use it in the manner described
in this Privacy Policy.
2. How We Use Your Information
We may use the information that We collect for several purposes, including:
The purposes for which You provided it;
To provide information and services to You;
To connect with Your social media accounts and share information with You, should You choose
to connect with Biomimicry’s social media accounts;
To process and respond to Your inquiries and comments;
To send You information about Your relationship or transactions with us;
To facilitate payment transactions (Your information will be used to submit Your payment
information to our payment processor);
To process Your donations;
To administer, operate, and improve the Services or develop new services;
To personalize and enhance Your experience using the Services;
To send periodic emails. If You choose, the email address You provide may be used to send You
occasional news, updates, etc. Note: If You would like to unsubscribe from receiving future
emails at any time, We include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email;
To generate and review reports and data about our user base and Services usage patterns;
To analyze the accuracy, effectiveness, usability, or popularity of the Services;
To compile aggregate data for internal and external business purposes;
To prevent fraud and abuse of the Services and to otherwise protect users and visitors and our
organization;
To assist law enforcement and respond to subpoenas; and
To perform other business activities as needed, or as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.
As explained elsewhere in this Privacy Policy, personal information We collect may be processed
by our partners in providing services related to the Services (such as administration services,
technical services relating to the maintenance, servicing, and upgrading of software, hosting
services, customer service, data migration services, and analytical services, among others).
Please note that You may choose not to allow us to use Your personal information for certain purposes
as described in the Your Choices Regarding Your Information section below.
3. Legal Bases for Processing Your Information (For Users in European Economic Area)
A. Performance of a Contract
The use of Your personal information may be necessary to perform the agreement You have with us to
provide products and services. For example, to complete Your purchase, to register and maintain Your
membership and account, to facilitate and process donations, to correspond with other users, to join
AskNature for deeper access to the Services, to sign up to receive newsletters, to submit for challenges,
to participate in webinars, and to respond to Your requests.
B. Legitimate Interests
We may use Your personal information for our legitimate interests. We rely on our legitimate interest to
deliver our services to our users, to administer, analyze and improve our services and the content on the
Services, to operate our business including through the use of service providers and subcontractors
(who may have access to Your data – see further under the section How Your Information is Disclosed),
to send You notifications about our services, for archiving, records keeping, statistical and analytical
purposes, or to use Your personal information for administrative, fraud detection, audit, training,
security, or legal purposes.
C. Consent
Prior to accessing this site and providing Your personal data, You may have provided Your informed
consent to the collection and use of certain personal data. Insofar as other legal bases referred to in this
section 3 for the processing of your personal information do not apply, We may rely on your consent as
the legal basis for processing. You are free to withdraw Your consent at any time. See also the Your
Choices Regarding Your Information section below.
D. Compliance with Legal Obligations
We may use Your personal information to comply with legal obligations to which We are subject,
including to comply with legal process.
E. Performance of a Task Carried Out in the Public Interest
We may use Your personal information to perform a task in the public interest.
4. How Your Information is Disclosed
Information may be disclosed to third parties in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Please note that a
user may choose not to share certain information as described in Your Choices Regarding Your
Information below.
A. Third Party Service Providers and Business Partners
We may use third party service providers and business partners to perform functions in connection with
the Services and our other services, such as delivering announcements by email, website searching,
analyzing and improving the Services usefulness, reliability, user experience, and operation, storing data,
securing data, hosting data, migrating data, advertising, social sharing, providing users with services, and
providing other services as described in this Privacy Policy. We may share Your personal information
with these providers and partners for their marketing and promotional purposes and so they can
provide services to You (where legally required, subject to Your express consent).
Adobe Typekit. We use Adobe Typekit to serve fonts on our website and to enhance the
performance of our website. Adobe Typekit may collect information relating to Your JavaScript
version, the amount of time it takes for You to download and apply fonts, and whether You are
using an ad blocker and the effects of Your ad blocker on website rendering. For more
information on Adobe Typekit, please visit Adobe Typekit’s privacy
policy: https://www.adobe.com/privacy/policies/typekit.html.
Algolia. We use Algolia to provide and optimize search functions on the Services. Algolia may
collect personal information relating to Your use of the search function on the Services. For
more information, please visit Algolia’s privacy policy: https://www.algolia.com/policies/privacy.
Bill.com. We use bill.com as our financial operations platform and third party accounts payable
platform. Please visit bill.com’s Privacy policy and Terms: Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
DoubleClick/Google Ad Manager. We use Google Ad Manager to improve advertising. Google
Ad Manager is a Google/Alphabet service which uses cookies to collect information about the
user and uses user data to serve targeted advertising. For more information on the information
Google Ad Manager will collect, please visit: https://support.google.com/dfp_premium/answer/2839090?hl=en&ref_topic=7395141. If
You wish to opt out of Google Ad Manager’s use of cookies, please
Eventbrite. We use Eventbrite as a registration service for our paid or free events. For more
information please visit Eventbrite’s privacy policy and terms of use: Terms and policies
Facebook. By clicking on the Facebook button on the Services, You will be automatically
transported to the official Facebook Page for Biomimicry, https://www.facebook.com/biomimicryinstitute. By Your posting to Biomimicry’s
Facebook page, Biomimicry may be able to collect personal information about You related to
Your Facebook account. For more details on the information that Facebook collects or makes
available, please visit Facebook’s privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.
Facebook Connect. We use Facebook Connect to facilitate single sign on for our users. By using
Facebook Connect, We may be able to retrieve Your full name, pictures, wall posts, friend
information, and other available Facebook content. For more information on what information
may be available from or collected by Facebook, please visit the Facebook privacy
policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.
Facebook Custom Audience. We use Facebook Custom Audience for behavioral targeting. We
upload user contact information to Facebook, and Facebook Custom Audience allows us to
advertise to Services users or others with similar characteristics through the Facebook
advertising network. Please visit the Facebook privacy policy for more information: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
Indeed. We use Indeed for our recruiting purposes, to accept applications for open hires. For
more information visit the Indeed privacy policy for more information: Privacy Policy & Terms
Instagram. By clicking on the Instagram button on the Services, You will be automatically
transported to the official Instagram Page for Biomimicry, https://www.instagram.com/biomimicryinstitute/.
JotForm. We use JotForm from time to time to collect information internally and externally for
fundraising projects. For more information please visit JotForm’s privacy policy and terms of
use: Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Kajabi. We use Kajabi to host our AskNature Hive platform. For more information please visit
Kajabi’s privacy policy: Privacy and Terms of Service
LinkedIn. By clicking on the LinkedIn button on the Services, You will be automatically
transported to the official LinkedIn page for Biomimicry, https://www.linkedin.com/company/biomimicryinstitute.
Mailchimp. We use MailChimp to disseminate newsletters and other communications.
MailChimp may collect information from users subscribing to Biomimicry newsletters, including
name, physical address, email address, IP address, phone number, details including gender,
occupation, and other demographic information. For more information, please visit MailChimp’s
privacy policy: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/.
Medium. By clicking on the Medium button on the Services, You will be automatically
transported to the official Medium page for Biomimicry, https://biomimicry.medium.com/
NeonOne CRM. We use Neon CRM to accept donor payments, manage relationships with our
donors and members, send correspondences, and to coordinate other fundraising activities. We
may submit Your personal information into the Neon CRM tool for these purposes. Privacy Policy & Terms
Notion. We use Notion for notetaking and feedback gathering. For more information, please
visit Notion’s privacy policy: Terms and Privacy (notion.so).
Paypal. We use Paypal for accepting payments and donations on our websites. For more
information, please visit Paypal’s privacy statement: Privacy Statement
Squarespace. We host our youthchallenge.biomimicry.org site on here. For more information,
please visit Squarespace’s privacy policy and terms. Privacy Policy & Terms
SurveyMonkey. We use SurveyMonkey both internally and externally to produce surveys for
program impact assessment. For more information, please visit SurveyMonkey’s privacy policy:
TravelPerk. We use TravelPerk for coordinating participants’ travel arrangements. For more
information, please visit TravelPerk’s privacy policy and terms: Privacy Policy and Terms
X. By Your posting to Biomimicry’s official X feed of Biomimicry,
@BIOMIMICRYINST, https://twitter.com/BIOMIMICRYINST. Biomimicry may be able to collect
personal information about You related to Your X account. For more details on the information
that X collects or makes available, please visit X’s privacy policy: https://twitter.com/en/privacy.
YouNoodle: We use YouNoodle for our Innovation, Ray of Hope Prize applications platform. For
more information, please visit YouNoodle’s privacy policy: Privacy Policy
YouTube. By clicking on the YouTube button on the Services, You will be automatically
transported to the official YouTube page for Biomimicry, https://www.youtube.com/c/biomimicryorg.
Zoom. We use Zoom for our webinars and virtual events. For more information, please visit
Zoom’s privacy policy and Compliance page: Privacy Policy and Compliance
B. Judges, Mentors, Advisors, the Public
If you enter a design challenge or apply to participate in our Ray of Hope Accelerator program or other
outreach, competition, educational program(s), your personal information may be shared with mentors
and advisors, with judges, and in certain cases, with the public. For example, proposals or entries may be
featured on Our Services or shared in other venues. Please refer to your program materials for a
particular program for more information on how your information may be shared.
C. Payment Processing
Any subscription payment information You provide through the Services may be shared with and may be
stored by our credit card processor, Stripe, and is subject to its privacy policy, including in the case of
data breach. You may review Stripe’s privacy policy at https://stripe.com/us/privacy.
Any donation payment information You provide through the Services may be shared with and may be
stored by our credit card processor, NeonPay and is subject to its privacy policy, including in the case of
data breach. You may review NeonPay’s privacy policy at https://neonone.com/privacypolicy/.
If you choose Paypal as your method of payment, any payment information You provide through the
Services may be shared with and may be stored by Paypal, and is subject to its privacy policy, including
in the case of data breach. You may review Paypal’s privacy policy at Privacy Statement.
If you choose Google Pay as your method of payment, any payment information You provide through
the Services may be shared with and may be stored by Google Pay, and is subject to its privacy policy,
including in the case of data breach. You may review Google’s privacy policy at Google Privacy & Terms
D. Business Changes
If We become involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, joint venture, securities offering,
bankruptcy, reorganization, liquidation, dissolution, or other transaction or if the ownership of all or
substantially all of our organization otherwise changes, We may transfer Your information to a third
party or parties in connection therewith.
E. Affiliates
We may also share Your information with our affiliates for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Our affiliates will be required to maintain that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
F. Investigations and Law
We may disclose information about You to third parties if We believe that such disclosure is necessary
to:
Comply with the law or guidance and cooperate with government or law enforcement officials
or private parties;
Investigate, prevent, or take action regarding suspected illegal activities, suspected fraud, the
rights, reputation, safety, and property of us, users or others, or violations of our policies or
other agreements with us;
Respond to claims and legal process (for example, subpoenas); and/or
Protect against legal liability.
G. Aggregated Information
We may share aggregated information relating to users of the Services with affiliated or unaffiliated
third parties. This aggregated information does not contain personal information about any user.
H. Analytics
We use third party analytics tools to better understand who is using the Services and how people are
using it. These tools may use cookies and other technologies to collect information about Your use of
the Services and Your preferences and activities. These tools collect information sent by Your device or
the Services and other information that assists us in improving the Services. This information may be
used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, and
better understand Your online activity.
We use Google Analytics to conduct user ID tracking for logged‐in users and to better understand who is
using the Services and how people are using it. Google Analytics uses cookies, pixel tags, and other
technologies to collect and store information such as Services pages visited, places where users click,
time spent on each Services page, Internet Protocol address, type of operating system used, locationbased
data, device ID, search history, gender, age, and phone number. We use this information to
improve the Services and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. Please
see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ for information about how Google Analytics uses
this information, and visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout for information about the Google
Analytics Opt‐out Browser Add‐on. Google may track Your activity over time and across websites. We
also participate in certain Google Advertiser features including Demographics and Interest Reporting,
Remarketing, and Google Display Network Impression Reporting. These features use third‐party cookies
and other tracking mechanisms and allow us to market our products to You through advertisements on
other websites. You can opt out of these Google features by downloading and installing Google’s optout
browser add‐on.
We use Heap analytics to better understand how the Services are being used. Heap conducts user ID
tracking for logged‐in users and uses cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies to collect information
regarding users and their actions on the Services including clicks, taps, swipes, form submissions, and
page views. Heap may collect information regarding such cookie and interaction data, IP address, and
other information the user may interact with on the Services. We use this information to improve the
Services and as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. For more information about the information
that Heap may collect, please visit https://heapanalytics.com/terms.
I. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
We, along with third parties, use cookies, web beacons, pixels, and other technologies. These
technologies are used for tracking, analytics, and personalization and optimization of the Services.
Cookies are small files that are transferred to and stored on Your computer through Your Web browser
(if You allow it) that enable the website’s or service provider’s system to recognize Your browser and
capture and remember certain information. You can instruct Your browser to stop accepting cookies.
But, if You do not accept cookies, You may not be able to use all portions of all functionality of the
Services.
Web beacons and pixels are small strings of code that provide a method for delivering a graphic image
on a web page or in an email message for the purpose of transferring data. You can disable the ability of
web beacons to capture information by blocking cookies and disabling remote content and images in
your email system and browser.
We and authorized third parties may use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
for “strictly necessary” purposes necessary for our Services to operate (such as maintaining user
sessions, content delivery, online shopping carts and the like);
for “functional” purposes, such as to enable certain features of our Service (for example, to display
custom or localized content or configurations, fonts, or similar features);
for “analytics/performance” purposes and to improve our digital services, such as to analyze the
traffic to and on our digital services (for example, We can count how many people have looked at a
specific page, or see how visitors move around the Service when they use it, to distinguish unique
visits/visitors to our digital services, and what website they visited prior to visiting our Service, and
use this information to understand user behaviors and improve the design and functionality of the
Service);
for “targeting,” Targeted Advertising, or other advertising and marketing purposes, including
technologies that process information about your online activities, preferences, and other data so
that We and authorized third parties can deliver, buy, or target advertisements which are more
likely to be of interest to you; and
for “social media” e.g. via third‐party social media cookies, or when you share information using a
social media sharing button or “like” button on our Service or you link your account or engage with
our content on or through a social media website such as Facebook, Reddit, TikTok, or X.
See Your Choices Regarding Your Information for information regarding opt‐out rights for cookies and
similar technologies.
Third parties may view, edit, or set their own cookies or place web beacons on our Services. We, or
third party providers, may be able to use these technologies to identify you across platforms, devices,
sites, and services. Third parties may engage in Targeted Advertising using this data. Third parties have
their own privacy policies and their processing is not subject to this Policy.
J. Targeted Advertising
In some jurisdictions, Biomimicry, and certain third parties operating on or through the Services, may
engage in advertising targeted to your interests based on personal information that We or those third
parties obtain or infer from your activities across non‐affiliated websites, applications, or services to
predict your preferences or interests (“Targeted Advertising”). This form of advertising includes various
third parties and service providers engaged in the processing of personal information in connection with
advertising. These parties may be able to identify you across sites, devices, and over time.
The parties that control the processing of personal information for Targeted Advertising purposes may
create or leverage information derived from automatic collection, third party collection, or collection
from you. In some cases, these parties may also develop and assess aspects of your activity on the
Services to determine whether you are a type of person to whom a company wants to advertise, and
determine whether and how ads you see are effective. These third parties may augment your profile
with demographic and other personal information, and may track whether you view, interact with, or
how often you have seen an ad, and whether you purchased advertised goods or services.
We generally use Targeted Advertising for the purpose of marketing our Services and third‐party goods
and services, and to send marketing communications, including by creating custom marketing audiences
on third‐party websites or social media platforms.
5. Security
We implement a variety of security measures to protect the safety of Your personal information when
You enter, submit, or access Your personal information.
While We take reasonable measures to protect the information You submit via the Services against loss,
theft and unauthorized use, disclosure, or modification, We cannot guarantee its absolute security. No
Internet, email, or mobile application transmission is ever fully secure or error free. Email or other
messages sent through the Services may not be secure. You should use caution whenever submitting
information through the Services and take special care in deciding with which information You provide
us.
We cannot guarantee that transmissions of Your personal information will be fully secure and that third
parties will never be able to defeat our security measures or the security measures of our partners. WE
ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION DUE TO TRANSMISSION ERRORS,
THIRD‐PARTY ACCESS, OR CAUSES BEYOND OUR CONTROL.
Any information collected through the Services is stored and processed in the United States. If You use
our Services outside of the United States, You consent to have Your data transferred to the United
States.
6. Data Retention Policy, Managing Your Information
We will retain Your information for as long as You use the Services and for a reasonable time thereafter.
We may maintain anonymized or aggregated data, including usage data, for analytics purposes. We may
retain and use Your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and
enforce our agreements, and/or the period required by laws in applicable jurisdictions. Please note that
some or all of the information We have collected may be required for the Services to function properly.
7. Links to Other Websites or Applications
This Privacy Policy applies only to the Services. The Services may contain links to other websites or apps
or may forward users to other websites or apps that We may not own or operate and to which this
Privacy Policy does not apply. The links from the Services do not imply that We endorse or have
reviewed these websites or apps. The policies and procedures We describe here do not apply to these
websites or apps. We neither can control nor are responsible for the privacy practices or content of
these websites or apps. We suggest contacting these websites or app providers directly for information
on their privacy policies. Nonetheless, We seek to protect the integrity of our Services, and welcome any
feedback about these linked websites and mobile applications.
8. Your Choices Regarding Your Information
You have choices regarding the use of information by the Services.
Changing Your Information – You may request to review, update, or have deleted any personal
information collected from You through the Services. Just send us an email asking to review or
update Your personal information, or to have us delete Your personal information. However,
We reserve the right to retain personal information as necessary for our business purposes and
to comply with federal and state laws. To change Your information, please login to Your account
and edit Your profile or contact us at media@biomimcry.org..
Closing Your Account – If the email account associated with Your email address is not active, We
may remove it from our system without notice.
Withdrawing Consent – If You are an individual residing in the EU, and You provided Your
consent for any particular processing of Your personal information, You have the right to
withdraw Your consent to our processing of Your information any time. You may also request
that Your personal information be deleted. See further under the section EU Privacy Rights
below. This deletion is permanent and Your information cannot be reinstated. To proceed with
this request, please email media@biomimcry.org
Opt‐Outs Available from Our Partners – Some of our partners allow users to opt‐out of their
collection of information. Some of our partners provide information on controlling cookies. For
more information You may visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s Consumer Opt‐Out Link
and/or the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Opt‐Out Link to opt‐out of receiving tailored
advertising from companies that participate in those programs. To opt out of Google Analytics
for Display Advertising or customize Google Display Network ads, You can visit the Google Ads
Settings page. Please note that to the extent advertising technology is integrated into the
Services, You may still receive advertisements even if You opt‐out of tailored advertising. In that
case, the ads will just not be tailored to Your interests. Also, We do not control any of the optout
links above and are not responsible for any choices You make using these mechanisms or
the continued availability or accuracy of these mechanisms.
9. EU Privacy Rights
Users based in the European Union have the following legal rights in respect of their information:
The right to require Biomimicry to confirm whether or not their information is being processed,
the purpose of any such processing, the recipients of any information that has been disclosed,
the period for which their information is to be stored and whether any automated decisionmaking
processes are used in relation to their information;
The right to require Biomimicry to rectify inaccurate information without undue delay;
The right to request the erasure of their information. Subject to certain conditions, Biomimicry
may be required to erase the information in response to such request where:
the information is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was
collected, such as where a user chooses to terminate his or her use of the Services;
where the processing of the information is based on the user’s consent (and the other
circumstances described in the Legal Bases for Processing Your Information and How
Your information is Disclosed sections above no longer apply), if the user withdraws his
or her consent; or
the user objects to the processing of his or her information and there are no overriding
legitimate grounds for the processing.
Where Biomimicry has disclosed the information of a European Union user to a third party and
the user requests the erasure or rectification of the data, Biomimicry will take all reasonable
steps to inform the third party of such request.
The right to restrict Biomimicry from processing their information in certain circumstances, such
as where the accuracy of that information is disputed or an objection has been raised (see
below). In such circumstances, Biomimicry will only process that information with the express
consent of the user, or for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims or for the
protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of important public
interest;
The right to receive their information from Biomimicry in a structured, commonly used, and
machine‐readable format;
The right to object to the processing of their information by Biomimicry where:
Biomimicry has relied on the ‘legitimate interest’ basis for processing that information, in which
case We will immediately stop processing the user’s information unless We have compelling
legitimate grounds which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the user; or
the information is used for direct marketing purposes, in which case We will
immediately stop processing the user’s information for such purposes.
The right to lodge a complaint with the data protection supervisory authority of the EU member
state where the user resides.
The above legal rights are subject to various conditions and exceptions including where the data
is used for statistical or scientific research purposes and the exercise of the right would prevent
such purposes from being attained or would seriously impair their attainment.
10. Information Collected From Other Websites and Mobile Applications and Do Not
Track Policy
Your browser or device may offer You a “Do Not Track” option, which allows You to signal to operators
of websites, web applications, mobile applications, and services (including behavioral advertising
services) that You do not wish such operators to track certain of Your online activities over time and/or
across different websites or applications. Our Services do not support Do Not Track requests at this
time, which means that We or our analytics providers or other third parties with which We are working
may collect information about Your online activity both during and after Your use of the Services.
11. Children
Our Services are not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal
information from an individual under age 16. If You are under the age of 16, please do not submit any
personal information through the Services. If You have reason to believe that We may have accidentally
received personal information from an individual under age 16, please contact us immediately
12. Changes to Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to update or modify this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time without
prior notice. Please review this Privacy Policy periodically, and especially before You provide any
information. This Privacy Policy was made effective on the date indicated above.
13. How to Contact Us
For any enquiries or complaints relating to the use of Your personal information or this Privacy Policy,
please feel free to contact us by emailing us at media@biomimcry.org. or by writing us at Biomimicry
Institute, PO Box 9216, Missoula, Montana 59807.
14. Your California Privacy Rights
Section 1798.83 of the California Civil Code permits California residents to request from a business, with
whom the California resident has an established business relationship, certain information about the
types of personal information the business has shared with third parties for those third parties’ direct
marketing purposes and the names and addresses of the third parties with whom the business has
shared such information during the immediately preceding calendar year. California residents may make
one request each year by emailing us at media@biomimcry.org or writing us at Biomimicry Institute, PO
Box 9216, Missoula, Montana 59807.
15. Your Nevada Privacy Rights
The Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS 603A.300 et seq.) permit a Nevada consumer to direct an operator of
an Internet website or online service to refrain from making any sale of any covered information the
operator has collected or will collect about that consumer. You may submit a request pursuant to this
directive by emailing us at media@biomimcry.org. We will provide further information about how We
verify the authenticity of the request and Your identity.
16. Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy
Categories of Consumer Health Data We Collect
We collect the following categories of Personal Information linked or reasonably linkable to a consumer
and that may identify the consumer’s past, present, or future physical or mental health status
(“Consumer Health Data”) as defined under Washington State’s My Health My Data Act (“MHMDA”)
and similar laws, for the following purposes:
- Consumer Health Data Collected:
- Biometric data, such as facial photos of voice recordings
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- To correspond with other users
- To join and participate in the AskNature Hive for deeper access to the Services
- To submit for challenges or participate in programs
- To use photos and videos in promotional materials
- To respond to Your requests and provide customer service
- How Consumer Health Data will be used or processed:
- We may collect facial photos if you upload a profile photo that includes your face, or include a photo of your face in any of your
posts in the Services or social media - We may collect voice recordings if you call us and leave a voicemail, or if you include an audio or video recording of our voice in
any of your posts on the Services or social media - We may collect photos or voice recordings during recorded video programs and recorded live events
- We may collect facial photos if you upload a profile photo that includes your face, or include a photo of your face in any of your
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- Biometric data, such as facial photos of voice recordings
- Consumer Health Data Collected:
- Individual health conditions, treatment, diseases, or diagnosis
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- If you provide any health information, such as food allergies, in connection with a Biomimicry event
- How Consumer Health Data will be used or processed:
- Biomimicry or its vendors will use information in connection with offering its events
- How Consumer Health Data will be used or processed:
- If you provide any health information, such as food allergies, in connection with a Biomimicry event
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- Individual health conditions, treatment, diseases, or diagnosis
- Consumer Health Data Collected:
- Date that identifies a consumer seeking health care services
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- To join and participate in the AskNature Hive for deeper access to the Services
- How Consumer Health Data will be used or processed:
- If you post an inquiry in the AskNature Hive pertaining to assessing or learning about biomimicry
as it relates to your mental or physical health, this post may be associated with identifying information
we collect, such as your full name and/or contact info
- If you post an inquiry in the AskNature Hive pertaining to assessing or learning about biomimicry
- How Consumer Health Data will be used or processed:
- To join and participate in the AskNature Hive for deeper access to the Services
- Purposes of collecting, using, and sharing:
- Date that identifies a consumer seeking health care services
Sources of Consumer Health Data We Collect
We collect Consumer Health Data from various sources, which include:
From You: when you set up or update a profile, register for an event, participate in an online or inperson
event or program, or use our Services; When you Contact Us or submit an inquiry; when we have
recorded video or audio calls with You or you leave us a voicemail.
From Social Media: when You post to social media or Your content is shared through social media to us.
Sharing of Consumer Health Data
Categories of Consumer Health Data We Share
We may share the following categories of Consumer Health Data with third parties and specific affiliates:
Biometric data, such as facial photos or voice recordings
Individual health conditions, treatment, diseases, or diagnosis
Data that identifies a consumer seeking health care services
Categories of Third Parties with Which We Share
We may share Consumer Health Data with the following categories of third‐party recipients: Third‐Party
Service Providers and Business Partners; Judges, Mentors, Advisors; the Public; Business Changes;
Affiliates; Investigations and Law; Aggregate Information; Analytics; Cookies and Other Tracking
Technologies.
Specific Affiliates with Which We Share
We may share Consumer Health Data with the following Affiliates: N/A
Consumer Health Data Privacy Rights
Your Rights
Under the Washington State MHMDA and similar laws, residents, and natural persons whose Consumer
Health Data is collected in certain states may have the following rights, subject to verification,
exceptions, and limitations:
Right to Confirm/Access/Know: Up to twice annually, you have the right to (a) confirm whether we are
collecting, sharing, or selling your Consumer Health Data, and (b) access such data, including a list of all
third parties and affiliates with whom we have shared or sold the consumer health data and an active
email address or other online mechanism that you may use to contact these third parties.
Right to Delete: You have the right to request deletion of the Consumer Health Data held by us and our
affiliates, processors, contractors, and other third parties.
Right to Withdraw your Consent/Opt‐Out: You may withdraw any consent you have provided at any
time. The consequence of your withdrawing consent might be that we cannot perform certain services
for you, such as location‐based services, personalizing or making relevant certain types of advertising, or
other services conditioned on your consent or choice not to opt‐out.
Right to Non‐Discrimination: You have the right to not to receive discriminatory treatment as a result of
your exercise of rights conferred by the MHMDA and similar laws.
How to Exercise your Rights
You may submit requests as follows (please our review verification requirements below).
You may send an email to media@biomimcry.org with your email address, phone number or
address on file, along with your request.
You may write to us at Biomimicry Institute, PO Box 9216, Missoula, Montana 59807, United States
of America with your contact information on file, along with your request.
If you have any questions or wish to appeal any refusal to take action in response to a MHMDA rights
request, contact us at media@biomimcry.org. We will respond to any request to appeal within the
period required by law.
Washington Residents: If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can raise a concern or lodge a complaint with
the Washington State Attorney General here.
Nevada Residents: If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can raise a concern or lodge a complaint with the
State of Nevada Attorney General here.
Verification of Consumer Health Data Rights Requests
If you submit a request, we typically must verify your identity to ensure that you have the right to make
that request, reduce fraud, and to ensure the security of Consumer Health Data. If an agent is
submitting the request on your behalf, we reserve the right to validate the agent’s authority to act on
your behalf.
We may require that you match Consumer Health Data we have on file to adequately verify your
identity. If you have an account, we may require that you log into the account to submit the request as
part of the verification process. We may not grant access to certain Consumer Health Data to you if
prohibited by law.