Privacy Policy

Revision Date: July 28, 2026

Website: https://civicbd.org

Welcome to CIVIC Bangladesh. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, interact with our content, register an account, or participate in our civic engagement initiatives.

By using our website, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

1. Who We Are

  • Organization Name: CIVIC Bangladesh
  • Website Address: https://civicbd.org
  • Contact Information: For any privacy-related inquiries, data requests, or concerns, please reach out to our administrative team through our contact page.

2. What Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect:

  • The data shown in the comments form (such as your name, email, and website).
  • The visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with automated spam detection.

An anonymized string (or hash) created from your email address may be provided to the Gravatar service to check if you are using a profile picture. The Gravatar service privacy policy can be viewed here. Once your comment is approved, your profile picture becomes publicly visible alongside your comment.

Media Uploads

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images published on the site.

User Accounts and Registration

If you register for an account on our website, we collect the personal information you provide in your user profile (such as your name, email address, and organizational affiliation).

  • All users can view, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (note: you cannot change your username).
  • Website administrators also have access to view and edit that information to maintain platform security and integrity.

3. Cookies

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze site traffic, and personalize content.

  • Comment Cookies: If you leave a comment, you may opt-in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies for your convenience. These last for one year.
  • Login & Authentication Cookies:
    • When you visit our login page, a temporary cookie is set to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
    • When you log in, we set cookies to save your login credentials and screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for one year.
    • If you select “Remember Me”, your login persists for two weeks. Logging out removes these login cookies.
  • Content Editing Cookies: If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie is saved in your browser containing the post ID of the edited article. It expires after 1 day.

4. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles and pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g., videos, maps, social media feeds, images, articles). Embedded content from external websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the host website directly.

These third-party websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content—including tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that specific website.

5. Who We Share Your Data With

  • Automated Spam Services: Visitor comments may be checked through automated spam detection services (such as Akismet).
  • Password Resets: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset notification email for security verification.
  • Legal and Safety Obligations: We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal data. However, we may disclose your information if required by law, regulation, or court order to protect the rights, property, or safety of CIVIC Bangladesh, our users, or the public.

6. How Long We Retain Your Data

  • Comments: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This allows us to automatically recognize and approve follow-up comments instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
  • Registered Users: We store the personal information provided in user profiles for as long as the account remains active. Users can delete or update their profile data at any time.

7. What Rights You Have Over Your Data

If you have an account on this site or have left comments, you have the right to:

  • Request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us.
  • Request the erasure of any personal data we hold about you.

Note: This excludes any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

8. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments and submission forms are routinely screened through automated anti-spam and security monitoring services to protect the integrity of CIVIC Bangladesh’s digital platform.

9. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technological advancements, or legal requirements. We encourage users to check this page frequently to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.