Effective September 25, 2026
PublicSense respects the privacy of readers who visit makepublicsense.com or submit a question through the site.
Information you provide
When you use the ASK AGAIN form, we collect the question you submit, your email address, and the title and web address of the explainer you were reading. Your question is stored privately and sent to PublicSense at ask@makepublicsense.com. It is not posted as a public comment.
Please do not submit sensitive personal information that is not necessary to explain your question.
Security and spam prevention
Our systems receive technical information needed to operate and protect the website. The ASK AGAIN form uses validation, a hidden anti-spam field, rate limiting, and a salted hash derived from an internet address. The stored hash helps limit repeated submissions without retaining the address in its ordinary form. Website hosting, security, and consent tools may also process browser, device, cookie, or server-log information as needed to provide their services.
How we use information
- To review and respond to reader questions.
- To decide whether a question may support an explainer or follow-up report.
- To protect the form and website from spam, abuse, and security threats.
- To maintain and improve the website.
Publication of reader questions
PublicSense may publish or paraphrase a submitted question as part of its editorial work. We will not publish the reader’s email address. We may remove identifying or unnecessary personal information. If attribution would identify a reader, we will seek permission before naming that person.
Service providers and outside links
We use service providers for website hosting, form processing, email delivery, security, spam prevention, and related site functions. These providers may process information on our behalf. We may also disclose information when reasonably required by law or necessary to protect the website, PublicSense, or another person.
Articles may link to government websites, source documents, social platforms, or other third-party services. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.
Sale of personal information
PublicSense does not sell readers’ personal information.
Retention
Questions and related records may be retained for editorial, security, documentation, or legal purposes. We retain personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for those purposes.
Your choices
You may ask what personal information you have submitted, request a correction, or request deletion when we are not required to retain it. Email ask@makepublicsense.com. We may need enough information to verify and locate the request.
Children
PublicSense is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly seek personal information from children under 13.
Policy changes
We may update this policy as the site or its services change. The effective date above will identify the current version.
Contact
Questions about this policy may be sent to ask@makepublicsense.com.