How we handle information

How the North Texas Shoreline Initiative handles information when you contribute a photo at a field station or visit this site.

The photograph. A fingerprint of the file so we can refuse exact duplicates. Whether you marked it “right after a storm.” An optional note for reviewers (500 characters). The version of the terms you agreed to and the time you agreed. A receipt code, stored only as a scrambled hash so we can recognize it but never read it back.

No account. No name, email, phone, or age. No precise location: the station itself is the location. Our software does not store your IP address. To limit repeated uploads, it keeps a scrambled, one-way code derived from it, deleted within a day. You must be 18 or older to contribute; we do not collect your date of birth.

Phones write technical details into image files. On upload we remove anything that could identify you or your device: GPS coordinates, serial numbers, owner and author names, and manufacturer data blocks. We keep details that help the science and identify nobody: camera make and model, lens and focal length, exposure settings, orientation, and the capture time your phone recorded. The exact lists are below.

The original is private and visible only to the initiative’s administrators, each with an individual, audited login. If a photo is approved, a copy prepared for display becomes public. Photos focused on identifiable people, license plates, or private interiors are not published.

Uploads that never complete: deleted within two days. Files that fail safety checks: deleted right away, with the rest of their records, including any note, erased within 30 days. Photos rejected by reviewers: deleted within 30 days of upload. Approved originals: for as long as the project’s scientific record is active. Public display copies: while published. We keep information longer only when the law requires it or to resolve a legal claim or dispute. Our administrative log keeps technical records of what happened to each submission, with no personal information in them. Deleted information may remain for a limited period in routine backups before those backups expire and is not used for ordinary operational purposes after deletion.

For 30 days after submission, a person with the receipt code may request removal as a matter of course. After that period, NTSI may decline an ordinary removal request, but it will comply with applicable law and will review copyright or ownership disputes, privacy and safety concerns, legal requests, and minor-related concerns at any time.

After a photo is received we attach public environmental readings for the station and time: lake level from the U.S. Geological Survey (provisional) and weather from Open-Meteo. These describe the station, not you.

No analytics, no advertising trackers, no cookies on the public site. Fonts and code are served from our own hosting. NTSI’s application does not store your IP address. Hosting, database, storage, and security providers may process ordinary network and security logs, including IP addresses, as necessary to provide and protect their services and under their own retention practices.

Questions and privacy requests: hello@ntxshoreline.org