Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account and contact information, such as your email address, mobile number, and verification status.
• Saved places, such as a home address and optional additional addresses or locations you choose to monitor.
• Preferences, including selected municipalities, topics, distance settings, email and SMS choices, pause settings, and unsubscribe choices.
• Communications, including support requests, feedback, and records of your consent to or withdrawal from communications.

Information collected automatically

• Device and log information, such as IP address, browser and device type, operating system, pages viewed, referring page, timestamps, and error or security logs.
• Service activity, such as account access, alert delivery, links opened or clicked, and interactions used to operate, secure, and improve the Service.
• Cookies and similar technologies needed to maintain sessions, remember settings, protect the Service, and understand basic usage. We do not currently use cookies for cross-site behavioral advertising.

Information derived from other sources

We collect public meeting agendas, packets, attachments, schedules, and related records from public-body websites. We may convert a saved address or a location found in a public record into coordinates and approximate distance using mapping or geocoding providers. We may also receive delivery, bounce, complaint, and opt-out information from email and SMS providers.

2. How we use information

We use personal information to:

• create, verify, authenticate, and maintain your account;
• match public meeting items to your saved places and topics;
• send the alerts and account messages you request;
• show why an item matched and link you to the public source;
• honor communication, access, correction, deletion, and other preferences;
• provide support, troubleshoot, measure performance, and improve the Service;
• detect spam, fraud, abuse, and security incidents; and
• comply with law, enforce our agreements, and protect rights and safety.

We may create aggregated or deidentified information that cannot reasonably be linked to you and use it for lawful purposes. We will not attempt to reidentify it except to test whether our deidentification processes work.

3. How we disclose information

We may disclose personal information to:

• Service providers that host data, deliver email or SMS, verify accounts, geocode addresses, monitor errors and security, provide analytics, or support the Service. They may use information only to perform services for us under appropriate restrictions.
• Professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, and insurers when reasonably necessary.
• Authorities or other parties for legal and safety reasons if we reasonably believe disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect rights, safety, property, users, or the Service.
• A business successor in connection with a financing, merger, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction, subject to applicable law.
• Others at your direction or with your consent.

Municipalities and other public bodies provide the public records we monitor, but they do not operate PorchPing. We do not disclose your identity, contact details, saved places, or topic preferences to them unless you direct us to do so or the law requires it.

We do not sell personal information for money. We also do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or use it to serve targeted ads. If these practices change, we will update this Policy and provide any choices required by law before beginning them.

4. Location information

A street address is sensitive in context. We use saved places to determine whether public meeting items are nearby and to provide place-based alerts. We may send an address or a reduced form of it to a geocoding provider to obtain coordinates. We do not continuously track your device’s precise location. Avoid saving a place if you are not authorized to use it.

5. Automated processing

We use automated tools to extract, classify, compare, locate, and summarize public meeting materials and to match them to preferences. These tools can make mistakes. PorchPing does not use this processing to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, and we do not intentionally provide your contact details or saved home address to a generative-AI provider to create agenda summaries.

6. Retention

We retain account information, saved places, and preferences while your account is active. After you delete your account, we aim to remove this information from active systems within 30 days, unless we need it longer for security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, or legal compliance. Residual copies may remain in protected backups for up to 90 additional days.

We may retain communication consent and opt-out records for up to five years after the related communication or withdrawal so we can demonstrate and honor your choices. Security and access logs are generally retained for up to one year. Support records are generally retained for up to three years after resolution. Public records and deidentified or aggregated data may be retained longer. We delete or deidentify information when it is no longer reasonably necessary for these purposes.

7. Your choices and privacy requests

You can update your places, topics, and delivery preferences; pause alerts; unsubscribe from email; reply STOP to texts; or request account deletion. You may also ask us to provide access to, correct, or delete personal information associated with your account.

Send a request to [email protected] from the email address associated with your account. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and authority before acting. We will respond within the period required by applicable law. You may use an authorized agent where law permits, but we may request proof of authorization and identity. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

Depending on where you live and whether a particular privacy law applies to PorchPing, you may have additional rights, such as obtaining a portable copy, restricting or objecting to certain processing, or appealing our response. You may appeal by replying to our decision with “Privacy Appeal” in the subject line.

8. Email and SMS choices

Service messages needed to operate or secure your account may still be sent even if you turn off optional alerts. See our Email & SMS Terms for instructions and details. We process opt-out signals to suppress future messages; this means we may retain a minimal suppression record after account deletion.

9. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Use a secure email account and mobile device, and notify us if you suspect unauthorized account access.

10. Children’s privacy

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it. Users between 13 and the age of legal majority should use the Service only with a parent’s or guardian’s agreement.

11. United States service

PorchPing is intended for use in the United States. Information is processed and stored in the United States and may be handled by providers in other locations where permitted by law. If you use the Service from elsewhere, you understand that privacy laws may differ from those where you live.

12. External links

Links to government websites, public records, and other third-party services are provided for convenience. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not this one.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy as the Service and law change. We will update the effective date and, if a change materially affects how we use information already collected, provide reasonable notice and obtain consent where required.

Contact us

PorchPing is operated by VoteVoteWin LLC.

Questions, notices, and privacy requests may be sent to [email protected].