Privacy Policy
Last updated: October 23, 2026. Effective: October 23, 2026.
This policy covers what Listen Public, Inc. ("we", "us") collects when you use listenpublic.com, publicpublicrecord.com, or the API behind them (together, "the service"), why we collect it, who processes it for us, and your rights over it. We collect only what we need to run the service. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not show ads.
Listen Public, Inc., PO Box 471, Portsmouth, NH 03802, contact@listenpublic.com.
What we collect and why
Your account
One account signs you in to both sites. When you sign in, we ask for your email address, or receive your name, email address, and profile picture from Google if you sign in with Google. We use them to sign you in, to identify you to the other members of your workspace (the profile picture appears beside your name), and to send you the emails the service depends on, such as sign-in codes. If you fill in our sign-up form, we also keep the name, role, organization, and message you give us, so we can reply.
When a workspace has claimed the domain of your email address, we add you to that workspace when you sign in, and its members can see your name and email address.
We will never sell your personal information to third parties, and we won't use your name or organization in marketing without your permission.
What you create
We store what you create in the service, including feeds, notes, comments, questions you ask, and files you upload, so you can use it and share it with the people you choose. When you ask a question or write something the service answers with a language model, the text you wrote is sent to a model provider (listed below) to produce that answer.
Usage and technical data
Our hosting providers log each request to the service, including your IP address, browser, and the page requested, for security, abuse prevention, and troubleshooting. When the service hits an error while you are signed in, the error report includes your account id, email address, and current workspace so we can find and fix the problem.
We use PostHog, a product analytics service, to see how people use the service so we can improve it. It records the pages you visit, what you click, and recordings of your visits, which we watch to find and fix problems. Recordings hide what you type into forms and every email address on screen. Once you sign in, this activity is tied to your account. We don't sell it or use it for advertising, and we use no advertising trackers.
Cookies
Each site sets its own first-party cookies that the service needs to work: one keeps you signed in, one protects forms against cross-site request forgery, and one remembers your current workspace. One more, set by PostHog under our domain, recognizes a returning browser for the analytics above. We set no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can block cookies in your browser, but you will not be able to sign in.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
We don't track you across other websites, so there is no cross-site tracking for a Do Not Track signal to turn off. We do not change our behavior in response to the signal. We do not sell or share personal information, so a Global Privacy Control signal changes nothing either; we honor it as a matter of course.
Correspondence
When you email us, we keep the correspondence, including your email address, so we have a history to refer to if you write again.
People named in public records
The service republishes records that governments publish, and those records name people: officials, staff, applicants, and members of the public who spoke at a meeting or wrote to a public body. Our Corrections policy says how we correct what we write about them and when we remove information from a record we show.
Who processes your information for us
We use these service providers to run the service. Each receives only what it needs for the function listed.
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | Hosts our servers, database, and file storage (United States) | Everything stored in the service |
| Vercel | Hosts the website | Request logs, including IP address |
| Postmark | Sends sign-in codes and other service email | Your email address and the message |
| Signs you in, if you choose Google | Your name, email address, and profile picture, under Google's own privacy policy | |
| Rollbar | Collects error reports | Your account id, email address, and workspace, with the error |
| PostHog | Product analytics | Your account id, name, and email address, and how you use the service, including recordings of your visits |
| Slack | Notifies our team of sign-ins and sign-up requests | Your email address, and what you wrote in the sign-up form |
| Anthropic, OpenAI | Language models that answer questions and summarize records | Text you write when you ask the service to answer it, which their API terms bar them from training on |
We may also disclose information:
- At your direction, for example when you share a feed with someone.
- To investigate or act on abuse of the service, as described in our Terms of Service.
- When required by law. We are a U.S. company and our infrastructure is in the United States. We disclose user data to a government only when compelled by valid legal process, such as a warrant, subpoena, or court order, and we will notify affected users first unless the law or an emergency prevents it.
- In a merger or acquisition. If we are acquired or merge with another company, we will notify you before your personal information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
We may use aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot identify you, for any purpose, including improving the service, and we will not attempt to re-identify it.
Your rights over your information
The service is offered from and intended for use in the United States, and your information is stored there. The rights below are our commitment to every account holder regardless of location. You can:
- Know and access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct personal information that is wrong.
- Delete your account and personal information. Deleting your account ends your access to the service.
- Receive a copy of your personal information in a portable format.
To exercise any of these rights, email contact@listenpublic.com from the address on your account. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.
Security, deletion, and retention
All data is encrypted in transit between your browser and our servers, and our database and its backups are encrypted at rest.
We keep your account information while your account is active. When you ask us to delete your account, we remove your personal information from our active systems within 30 days, and it leaves our backups as they expire, within 60 days of your request in all. Our team notifications in Slack, which include your email address, are deleted after 30 days. Error reports in Rollbar, email records in Postmark, and analytics in PostHog are kept under those providers' retention schedules. We may keep information longer where the law requires it or to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
Children
The service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes and questions
We may update this policy to reflect new practices or legal requirements. When we make a material change, we will email account holders at least 14 days before it takes effect and show the new effective date at the top of this page. Changes that are not material take effect when we post them.
Questions about this policy, your data, or your rights go to contact@listenpublic.com.
Adapted from the 37signals Privacy Policy, licensed under CC BY 4.0. We changed it to describe our service.