Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and Scope

secretary-of-states.org/ ("we," "us," "our," or "the Site") is an independent informational website covering Secretary of State offices and related state and federal records services in the United States. This Privacy Policy describes our practices when you read the Site, click around, or send us an email.

By using secretary-of-states.org/ you acknowledge you have read this Privacy Policy and understand how information about you is collected and used. If you do not agree with any part, the simplest course of action is to stop using the Site.

This policy applies only to secretary-of-states.org/. It does not apply to any third-party website linked from our content — including state Secretary of State sites, NASS, the IRS, SEC EDGAR, USPTO, SAM.gov, or any other government or commercial site we reference. Each operates under its own privacy notice.

2. Who We Are

For the purposes of this policy, the operator of secretary-of-states.org/ is the entity responsible for the information described here. Where required by law, contact details for the operator are available on request by emailing info@secretary-of-states.org.

The Site is run as an editorial publication. There are no user accounts, no payment processing, no e-commerce, no customer-relationship-management database. The data we hold is therefore limited to server logs, analytics data, advertising cookies set by partners, and any email correspondence you initiate.

3. Information We Collect

The information we hold falls into two categories: information you choose to give us, and information collected automatically when you visit.

3.1 Information You Provide Voluntarily

The only way you actively send information to us is by emailing us. When you write — typically to flag a correction, suggest a topic, or ask a question — we receive your email address and the content of your message. The Site has no signup forms, no comment sections, no account systems, no paid newsletters tied to personal data, and no checkout flows.

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you load any page, certain technical information is captured automatically by our servers and the third-party services we use:

• Internet Protocol (IP) address, in full or truncated form depending on the service
• Browser type and version (for example, Chrome 124 on Windows 11)
• Operating system and device category (desktop, mobile, tablet)
• Referring URL — the page or search you arrived from
• Pages viewed on our Site and time spent on each
• Approximate geographic location, derived from IP (typically city or region level)
• Date and time of your visit
• Screen resolution and language preferences
• Interaction events such as scroll depth and clicks on outbound links

We do not deliberately collect your full name, postal address, telephone number, Social Security number, business EIN, payment card details, or any other directly identifying personal information through automatic means.

4. How We Use Information

We use the limited information we collect for a small set of clearly defined purposes:

• To deliver, operate, and maintain the Site and its content
• To understand which guides are useful and where editorial improvements are needed
• To detect, prevent, and respond to abuse, security incidents, or technical errors
• To serve and measure third-party advertising in line with the relevant ad network policies
• To respond to email inquiries, corrections, and feedback you send us
• To comply with applicable legal obligations or respond to lawful requests from authorities

We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. We do not rent email lists. We do not use information collected on the Site to build standalone marketing profiles for our own products, because we do not sell any products or services.

5. Cookies and Tracking

Cookies are small text files that websites place on your device. We use cookies and similar technologies for limited operational and analytical purposes, and the third-party services on our Site use them for advertising and analytics. For a complete list and detailed controls, see our separate Cookie Policy.

You have full control over cookies. Every modern browser lets you view, block, or delete cookies on a per-site or global basis:

• Google Chrome cookie settings
• Mozilla Firefox cookie settings
• Safari cookie settings
• Microsoft Edge cookie settings

6. Advertising and Google AdSense

secretary-of-states.org/ displays third-party advertisements served primarily by Google AdSense and its associated networks. Advertising revenue is what allows the Site to remain free to read and to fund the verification work behind every guide.

6.1 How AdSense Works

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this Site. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visits to this Site and to other sites on the internet.

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our sites and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• Users in the US may also opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) or the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI).

7. Web Analytics

We use web analytics services, primarily Google Analytics, to understand how visitors arrive at the Site, which pages are read most, and where the experience can be improved. Analytics tools collect information such as page URLs viewed, time on page, scroll depth, device type, and approximate location (city or region).

You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

8. Third-Party Services

The Site uses or links to several external services that have their own privacy practices.

When you click an outbound link in any of our guides — to a Secretary of State page, to NASS, to the IRS, to USPTO, to SEC EDGAR — you leave the Site and that destination’s privacy practices apply.

9. Information Sharing

We share information only in these limited circumstances:

• With service providers who operate the technical infrastructure of the Site (hosting, security, analytics, advertising) under contractual obligations limiting their use of the data.
• With ad networks as described in the Advertising section.
• For legal compliance if we receive a valid legal request, court order, subpoena, or are required by applicable law to disclose information.
• To protect rights and safety where disclosure is reasonably necessary to investigate fraud, abuse, security threats, or violations of our terms.
• In connection with a business transfer if the Site is ever sold, merged, or restructured, in which case any information held would transfer to the successor under the same privacy obligations.

10. California Privacy Rights (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), gives you specific rights regarding your personal information.

To exercise your California rights, email info@secretary-of-states.org with the subject line “California Privacy Request” and indicate which right you are exercising. We respond within forty-five days as required by California law and may extend by an additional forty-five days for complex requests.

You may also use the “Your Privacy Choices” or cookie opt-out link in our cookie banner to opt out of advertising-related sharing.

11. Other US State Privacy Laws

Several other US states have enacted comprehensive privacy laws that grant rights similar to California’s. We honor these rights for residents of the relevant states.

If you are a resident of one of these states, you generally have rights to access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain processing. To exercise these rights, email info@secretary-of-states.org with the subject line “[State] Privacy Request” — for example, “Virginia Privacy Request” — and identify which right you are exercising. We respond within the timeline required by your state’s law (typically forty-five days, with an extension permitted in some states).

12. Children’s Privacy (COPPA)

secretary-of-states.org/ is intended for an adult audience and is not directed at children under the age of thirteen. Consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under thirteen. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under thirteen has provided personal information to us through the contact email, please write to info@secretary-of-states.org and we will delete the information as quickly as reasonably possible.

For more information about COPPA, see the FTC’s guidance at ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/childrens-privacy.

13. International Visitors (GDPR / UK GDPR)

Although secretary-of-states.org/ is a US-focused publication, our content is accessible globally. If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with comprehensive data protection law, you may have additional rights under those laws — including the GDPR (EU) and UK GDPR.

For visitors from those jurisdictions, the lawful bases we rely on are typically legitimate interests (for site operation, security, and analytics) and consent (for non-essential cookies and advertising). You may exercise rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection by emailing info@secretary-of-states.org. EU/EEA residents may also lodge a complaint with their national data protection authority; UK residents may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

14. Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal. There is no industry consensus on how websites should respond to DNT signals, and we do not currently respond to them. However, you can use the cookie controls and opt-out networks described above to limit advertising and analytics tracking. Some US state laws (notably California) require honoring the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a valid opt-out request from sale or sharing; where required, we honor GPC.

15. Data Security

We use commercially reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the limited information we collect, including HTTPS encryption for all pages, restricted server access, and use of reputable hosting and security providers. No system that transmits or stores data over the internet can be guaranteed one hundred percent secure, and we cannot make absolute guarantees about the security of information transmitted to or from our Site.

16. Data Retention

We retain different categories of data for different periods:

• Server log data is typically retained for up to ninety days for security and abuse-prevention purposes, after which it is deleted or anonymized.
• Analytics data is retained according to the retention settings of the analytics provider, typically fourteen to twenty-six months in aggregated form.
• Advertising cookies follow the retention rules of the relevant ad network.
• Email correspondence is retained as long as necessary to complete the conversation and any related editorial follow-up, after which it may be archived or deleted.

17. International Data Transfers

The Site may store data with hosting and analytics partners located in the United States, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we and our partners use appropriate safeguards required by applicable law — including Standard Contractual Clauses, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, the UK Addendum, and similar mechanisms.

18. Changes to This Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the services we use, or applicable law. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top and, where appropriate, post a more prominent notice on the Site. Continued use after a change indicates acceptance of the revised policy.