Privacy Policy

Civik, LLC (“Civik,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the civik.us website and related services. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have concerning your data.

We treat your participation on this platform as an act of civic consequence. Your data is handled with the same seriousness.

1. Information we collect

Account information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and a password (stored as a one-way cryptographic hash, never in plain text).

Address and district data

If you create a constituent profile, we collect your residential address. This address is used solely to determine your legislative districts (U.S. Congressional, state house, and state senate) and match you with your elected representatives. Your full street address is stored securely and is never shared with other users, legislators, or third parties. Legislators see only aggregated, district-level data.

Address verification may include a human review step for disputed or ambiguous addresses. Reviewed cases are handled internally by Civik, LLC staff and are not shared with third parties.

Legislative stance data

When you take a position on legislation (support or oppose), that stance is recorded and associated with your account. Stances are aggregated by district and presented to legislators without personally identifying information. Individual stances are visible on your own profile but are not publicly displayed with your name unless you choose to make them public.

Testimony

When you submit written testimony on legislation, the content and your account identity are stored and attributed to your account. Testimony is delivered to the relevant legislative office and may be included in the public legislative record depending on the receiving office’s policies.

Survey responses

If you respond to a legislator-created survey, your answers are associated with your account and presented to the survey creator in aggregate. Individual responses are not shared with other users.

Constituent messages and conversations

When you send a message to a legislative office through the platform, the content of that message and your account identity are transmitted to the office. Messages are stored in our system and are accessible to authorized staff of the receiving office. Message content is retained for the legislative record.

Constituent cases

If you submit a constituent service case (such as a request for assistance from your representative’s office), the case details and any documents you provide are stored and shared with the relevant legislative office staff. Case information is not visible to other constituents.

Organizational membership

If you join an organization on the platform, your membership status, role, and profile information are shared with the organization’s administrators. Organization administrators may also communicate with you through platform messaging features. Civik, LLC does not control the content of communications sent by organizations to their members.

Saved searches and calendar tokens

We store saved search configurations and calendar feed tokens associated with your account. These are used to power your personalized feed and calendar export features and are deleted when you delete your account.

Usage and analytics data

We collect standard server logs including IP address, browser type, pages visited, and timestamps. We also record platform activity events (such as pages viewed and features used) in an internal analytics system. This data is used for platform security, performance monitoring, and aggregate product analytics. It is not sold or shared with advertisers or third parties.

2. How we use your information

• To verify your identity and match you with your legislative districts
• To display relevant legislation based on your state and district
• To aggregate constituent sentiment for legislators (without personal identification)
• To deliver testimony to the relevant legislative office
• To route constituent messages and cases to the appropriate legislative office
• To deliver survey results to their creators
• To share your membership data with the organization administrators of organizations you belong to
• To communicate account-related information (password resets, security notices, and platform notifications) by email
• To maintain platform security and prevent abuse
• To improve the platform through aggregate usage analytics

3. Data sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share your personal data with advertisers. We do not provide your personal information to political campaigns.

Legislators on the platform see aggregated stance data from their districts. They see how many verified constituents in their district support or oppose a given bill. They do not see your name, address, or contact information through the aggregation.

Authorized staff of a legislative office can see the content of messages, testimony, and constituent cases that you send to that office. They cannot access data you have sent to other offices.

Organization administrators can see the profile and membership details of members who have joined their organization.

We share data with service providers who help us operate the platform, including:

• Amazon Web Services (cloud hosting, database, and transactional email via Amazon SES)
• Error monitoring and logging services

All subprocessors are subject to confidentiality agreements. We will disclose information when required by law or valid legal process.

4. Data retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, your personal information is removed from our systems.

Legislative stances, testimony, constituent messages, and cases are retained as part of the historical record of constituent engagement with the legislative process. After account deletion, previously submitted stances may be retained in anonymized, aggregate form. Testimony and messages sent to legislative offices may be retained by those offices as part of their own records in accordance with applicable law.

Saved searches and calendar feed tokens are deleted upon account deletion. Platform activity logs are retained for security and operational purposes for a limited period and then purged.

5. Security

Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. Sessions are managed through encrypted JWT tokens. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Database access is restricted and monitored. Email is delivered through Amazon SES with authentication controls. We take reasonable measures to protect your data, but no system is perfectly secure.

6. Your rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate personal data
• Request deletion of your account and personal data
• Export your data in a machine-readable format
• Withdraw consent for optional data processing

To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@civik.us.

7. Cookies

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management, and a preference cookie to store your theme selection. We do not use third-party tracking cookies or advertising cookies. For details, see our Cookie Policy.

8. Email communications

We send transactional emails related to your account, including account verification, password resets, security alerts, and platform notifications. These are delivered through Amazon SES. We do not send marketing or promotional emails without your consent.

If you are a member of an organization on the platform, that organization may contact you via the platform’s email features. Civik, LLC transmits those messages on behalf of the organization but does not control their content.

9. Children

Civik is not directed at individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated through the platform or by email. Your continued use of Civik after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal data, contact us at privacy@civik.us.