Privacy Policy | PoliFocus

PoliFocus ("we," "us," or "the Service") is a non-commercial civic information site that helps users explore U.S. Congress members, track legislation, and view public legislative activity. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.

1. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of information:

Account information. If you sign in, we receive your name, email address, and profile image from your authentication provider (e.g., Google) via NextAuth. We store this in our database to identify your account.
Address and location. If you enter an address to find your representatives, we store an encrypted form of the address along with your state code and congressional district. We do not share this with third parties.
Tracked legislation and preferences. Bills you track and any voting preferences (Yea / Nay / No Opinion) you mark on those bills.
Aggregate usage data. We count anonymous page views per bill (not tied to individual users) to power the "trending bills" ranking.
Cookies and session storage. We use first-party cookies for authentication sessions (NextAuth) and to remember your preferences. We use Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights, which may set cookies or use similar local storage technology to measure aggregate performance.

2. YouTube API Services

PoliFocus uses YouTube API Services to display public C-SPAN videos related to bills. By using PoliFocus, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service.

Google's privacy practices are described in the Google Privacy Policy.

When you load a bill page, our server requests video metadata (video IDs, titles, thumbnails, publish dates, channel name, and view counts) from YouTube. This metadata is cached on our server for up to 30 days and refreshed when a bill receives a new legislative action. We do not associate YouTube data with any individual user. We do not request, store, or transmit any YouTube user account information.

You may revoke PoliFocus's access to your data via the Google security settings page at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions.

3. How We Use Information

To authenticate you and maintain your session.
To match your address to your federal and state representatives.
To display the bills you track and your stated voting preferences.
To improve site performance and rank trending content.
To prevent abuse and enforce rate limits.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only with the following service providers, strictly for the purpose of operating the Service:

Vercel — hosting, analytics, and performance monitoring.
Neon — managed PostgreSQL database.
NextAuth providers (e.g., Google) — for sign-in.
Public APIs we query on your behalf: Congress.gov, GovTrack, OpenStates, and YouTube Data API. These calls are made from our server and do not include your personal information.

We may also disclose information if required by law, valid legal process, or to protect the safety and rights of users or the Service.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

PoliFocus uses cookies and similar local storage technologies that are accessed and stored on your device or browser:

Authentication cookies set by NextAuth to keep you signed in.
Analytics cookies and identifiers set by Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights to measure aggregate usage and performance.
Embedded YouTube players. We use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which does not set cookies on your device unless you click to play a video. If you play a video, YouTube may then set cookies and store data consistent with the Google Privacy Policy.

6. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain account data for as long as your account exists. Cached API responses (including YouTube metadata) are pruned automatically when they expire (typically within 30 days). You may request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us at the email below.

7. Children's Privacy

PoliFocus is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

9. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, contact us at john.kahwaty@gmail.com.