Privacy Policy

1. Data Protection Officer (DPO)

We have appointed a designated Data Protection Officer to oversee compliance with European, British, and international privacy frameworks. If you have questions regarding data rights, data erasure, or regulatory compliance, you may contact our DPO directly:

2. Google AdSense & Advertising Disclosures

We partner with third-party advertising networks, including Google AdSense, to support our independent journalism. To ensure transparency, we provide the following mandatory publisher disclosures:

• Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to your website or other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. Alternatively, users can opt out of third-party vendor cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.

3. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

A cookie is a small text file stored on your browser. PublicVocal uses the following categories of cookies:

4. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance

For readers residing within the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom, PublicVocal complies with the legal bases established under GDPR. You possess the following enforceable statutory rights:

• Right of Access: You may request confirmation as to whether your personal data is being processed and receive a machine-readable copy.
• Right to Rectification: You have the right to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You may request the permanent deletion of your reader comments or contact records.
• Right to Data Portability: You may request transfer of your provided data to another controller.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.

To exercise any GDPR right, email publicvocal@gmail.com. We respond to verified data subject access requests within 30 days free of charge.

5. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA / CPRA) Disclosures

This section provides additional disclosures required under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) for residents of California:

• Notice of Collection: We collect identifiers (name and email for contact/comments) and internet network activity (browser headers, IP address for locale detection).
• No Sale of Personal Information: PublicVocal does not sell your personal information or share it with data brokers for monetary consideration.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will never deny services, charge different prices, or alter editorial access because you exercised your California privacy rights.

California residents may submit verifiable consumer requests by emailing publicvocal@gmail.com with the subject line "CCPA Request".

6. Data Retention & Security Architecture

We implement industry-standard cryptographic safeguards, including TLS 1.3 encryption in transit and isolated storage partitions for user feedback. Contact form submissions are retained only as long as necessary to address the editorial matter and are purged automatically after 24 months.

If you have security concerns or wish to report a vulnerability, please notify our technical infrastructure desk at publicvocal@gmail.com.