PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: September 11, 2026

The Institute for Human Discovery respects your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we may collect when you visit our websites, subscribe to our newsletter, contact us, purchase a product, download material, or otherwise interact with us; how that information may be used; and the choices available to you.

In this policy, “The Institute,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to The Institute for Human Discovery and the websites, publications, services, and online properties that we operate.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect only information reasonably necessary to operate our websites, communicate with our readers and customers, provide requested products and services, understand how our websites are being used, and improve our work.

Information You Provide to Us

Depending on how you interact with us, you may provide information such as:

  • your name;
  • your email address;
  • information submitted through contact forms;
  • newsletter subscription information;
  • billing or shipping information associated with purchases;
  • correspondence you send to us;
  • survey, research, or feedback responses that you voluntarily provide; and
  • any other information you choose to submit.

You are not required to provide personal information simply to read publicly available material on our websites.

2. INFORMATION COLLECTED AUTOMATICALLY

When you visit our websites, certain technical information may be collected automatically.

This can include:

  • Internet Protocol (IP) address;
  • browser type;
  • device type;
  • operating system;
  • referring website or page;
  • pages viewed;
  • approximate geographic region;
  • dates and times of visits;
  • links clicked; and
  • other information about how visitors interact with our websites.

We may use this information for security, website operation, troubleshooting, analytics, and improving the experience of our visitors.

3. NEWSLETTER AND EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

If you voluntarily subscribe to one of our newsletters, we may use your email address and related information to send you research, articles, announcements, publications, educational material, product information, or other communications from The Institute.

Our email systems may record information such as whether an email was delivered, opened, or whether a particular link was clicked. This information helps us understand whether our communications are useful and relevant.

You may unsubscribe from marketing or newsletter emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link provided in the email.

We do not require you to remain subscribed in order to access publicly available information on our websites.

4. PURCHASES AND PAYMENT INFORMATION

If you purchase a book, product, service, or other item through one of our websites, information necessary to complete that transaction may be collected.

Payments may be processed by third-party payment processors. Depending on the transaction, these companies may collect information such as your name, billing address, payment information, email address, and other information necessary to process the payment.

The Institute does not necessarily receive or store your complete credit-card or other payment credentials when those credentials are processed directly by an independent payment processor.

We may retain transaction information necessary for accounting, customer service, fraud prevention, taxation, legal compliance, and fulfillment of your order.

5. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES

Our websites may use cookies and similar technologies.

Cookies are small files stored on your device that can help websites remember preferences, maintain functionality, measure traffic, understand how visitors use a website, and improve performance.

Cookies may be used for purposes including:

  • essential website functionality;
  • remembering preferences;
  • security;
  • analytics;
  • measuring website performance;
  • understanding how visitors find and use our content; and
  • improving our websites and communications.

Depending on your browser and jurisdiction, you may be able to block, restrict, or delete cookies through your browser settings or through privacy controls presented on our websites.

Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of parts of the website.

6. ANALYTICS

We may use analytics services to better understand how people use our websites.

These services may process technical information such as your device type, browser, approximate location, pages visited, referral source, and interactions with the website.

We use analytics information to identify technical problems, understand which material is useful to readers, improve navigation, measure website performance, and make our websites better.

7. HOW WE USE INFORMATION

We may use information we collect to:

  • provide products, services, publications, downloads, or information you request;
  • operate and maintain our websites;
  • send newsletters and other communications you have requested;
  • respond to questions and correspondence;
  • process and fulfill purchases;
  • provide customer support;
  • improve our websites, publications, products, and services;
  • understand how people interact with our content;
  • maintain website and account security;
  • detect fraud, abuse, or technical problems;
  • maintain business and accounting records;
  • comply with applicable laws and legal obligations; and
  • protect the rights, property, and safety of The Institute, our users, and others.

We do not sell personal information to data brokers.

8. HOW INFORMATION MAY BE SHARED

We may share information with trusted service providers when doing so is reasonably necessary for them to perform services on our behalf.

These may include companies that provide:

  • website hosting;
  • email delivery;
  • newsletter management;
  • payment processing;
  • order fulfillment;
  • analytics;
  • cloud storage;
  • website security;
  • technical infrastructure;
  • customer support; or
  • other services necessary to operate The Institute.

These service providers may process information only to the extent necessary to provide their services or as otherwise permitted by their own applicable agreements and privacy obligations.

We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to:

  • comply with applicable law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or lawful governmental request;
  • investigate fraud, abuse, security threats, or illegal activity;
  • enforce our agreements or protect our legal rights;
  • protect the safety or rights of another person; or
  • complete a legitimate corporate transaction such as a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or transfer of assets.

9. WE DO NOT SELL YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

We do not sell or rent our newsletter subscriber list to third parties for their independent marketing purposes.

Your decision to subscribe to The Institute should not become an invitation for unrelated companies to contact you.

10. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

Our websites frequently link to scientific papers, universities, government agencies, publishers, companies, news organizations, researchers, videos, social-media platforms, and other external websites.

Once you leave a website operated by The Institute, the privacy practices of the external website apply.

We do not control the privacy, security, accuracy, or practices of third-party websites and encourage you to review their policies when appropriate.

11. DATA RETENTION

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, to maintain legitimate business records, to fulfill contractual obligations, or to comply with applicable legal requirements.

Different types of information may be retained for different periods.

For example, newsletter information may generally be retained while you remain subscribed, while transaction records may need to be retained longer for accounting, taxation, fraud-prevention, or legal purposes.

When information is no longer reasonably required, we may delete, anonymize, or securely dispose of it.

12. YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS

Depending on where you live, you may have legal rights concerning your personal information.

These may include the right to request:

  • access to personal information we hold about you;
  • correction of inaccurate information;
  • deletion of certain personal information;
  • restriction of certain processing;
  • withdrawal of consent;
  • information about how your data is being used;
  • a copy of certain information in a portable format; or
  • that we stop sending marketing communications.

Not every right applies in every jurisdiction or circumstance.

If you would like to make a privacy-related request, contact us using the information provided at the end of this policy.

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.

13. EMAIL UNSUBSCRIPTION

You may unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link contained in the email.

Unsubscribing from marketing communications does not necessarily prevent us from sending transactional or administrative messages that are necessary to complete a purchase, respond to a request, or provide a service you specifically requested.

14. SECURITY

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures intended to protect information in our possession against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

However, no website, computer network, storage system, or method of Internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

For that reason, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

15. INTERNATIONAL USERS

The Internet allows people throughout the world to access our work.

As a result, information may be processed or stored in countries other than the country in which you live, including through service providers that operate internationally.

Privacy and data-protection laws differ between jurisdictions.

Where required by applicable law, appropriate measures may be used to protect personal information transferred between jurisdictions.

16. CHILDREN'S PRIVACY

Our websites are intended primarily for a general adult audience and are not designed to knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without appropriate authorization.

If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us inappropriately, please contact us so that we can review the matter.

17. RESEARCH AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED VOLUNTARILY

From time to time, The Institute may conduct surveys, experiments, research projects, questionnaires, or other voluntary initiatives.

When a project involves the collection or use of personal information beyond the practices described in this general Privacy Policy, additional information concerning the collection and use of that data may be provided at the time of participation.

Participation in such activities will be voluntary unless clearly stated otherwise.

18. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The Institute may update this Privacy Policy as our websites, services, technologies, and legal obligations change.

When significant changes are made, the Last updated date at the top of this page will be revised.

We encourage visitors to review this page periodically if they would like to remain informed about our privacy practices.