Privacy Policy
This policy explains how The Quiet Ledger handles your personal information as a user. Use the contents below to jump to a section.
1. Introduction #
The Quiet Ledger (“TQL”, “we”, “us”) is a legislative-intelligence and research product: it analyzes public federal legislation and the public records of members of Congress and presents that analysis for research. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect from users, why, how we protect it, and your choices. It applies to https://thequietledger.org.
A note on what this policy is and isn’t about: TQL’s subject matter is public data about public officials and government activity. This policy is about your personal information as a user — a deliberately separate thing.
2. Operator #
TQL is operated under the name “The Quiet Ledger.” Privacy questions can be sent to privacy@thequietledger.org.
3. Scope #
This policy covers personal information about users of TQL. It does not govern the public legislative and campaign-finance records TQL analyzes (see “Legislative and public-record data”), which are public information. Political Integrity Network is a separate product with its own policy (see “Relationship with PIN”).
4. Account information #
When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, profile photo, and an account identifier from your sign-in provider, plus an internal account identifier we derive from it. A signed-in account lets you save research and manage your subscription.
5. Authentication information #
You sign in through a third-party provider and we mint our own session for you, scoped to TQL’s own domain. We never receive your provider password. Two-factor authentication, if you enable it, is managed by our authentication provider, and we store its enrollment metadata.
6. Google and Microsoft OAuth data #
Signing in with Google provides your Google account identifier, email address, and basic profile information (such as name and photo where available). We use it only to create and operate your TQL account. Specifically: TQL does not receive your Google password; TQL does not sell Google user data; TQL does not use Google user data for advertising or political profiling; TQL does not transfer Google user data for unrelated commercial purposes; and our access, use, storage, and sharing of Google user data is limited to the purposes in this policy. Microsoft sign-in, when enabled, provides equivalent identity information based on the scopes we request. TQL and PIN use separate authentication identities.
7. Subscription and entitlement information #
We keep your plan and entitlement status (for example, free, a paid tier, or a complimentary grant) so we can provide the right level of access. Complimentary access is a product entitlement only — it confers no ownership or administrative authority.
8. Payment information #
TQL does not currently process payments — paid billing is built but not enabled. When paid billing is enabled, payments will be handled by a third-party payment processor (Stripe). In that case, TQL will not store your full payment-card number; the processor handles card data under its own terms, and TQL keeps only limited billing status needed to manage your subscription.
9. Research activity #
If you use research features while signed in, we store the research you choose to save and organize — for example, saved queries, collections, watchlists, and alert rules — so you can return to them. This reflects your research choices; it is not a behavioral profile of you.
10. Saved searches, follows, and alerts #
Saved searches, followed bills or members, and alerts you configure are stored to power those features and to notify you in-app of relevant changes. You can edit or delete them.
11. Exports and API usage #
If you export data or use our API, we record the activity needed to provide and secure those features (for example, export history and API request metadata associated with your account and credentials). API credentials you create are associated with your account.
12. Legislative and public-record data #
The bills, votes, sponsorships, member records, and grades TQL presents are drawn from public government records and TQL’s analysis of them. This is public information about public officials and government activity — it is not information about you.
13. Campaign-finance and other public financial data #
TQL presents public campaign-finance information (for example, FEC candidate, committee, and contribution records). This is public data about candidates and committees. Retrieving it does not send us your personal information.
14. User-created research artifacts #
Research artifacts you create (such as saved collections or notes, where offered) belong to you and are stored to provide the feature. We do not use them to profile you or sell them.
15. Technical, log, and security data #
Operating and securing TQL involves standard technical information handled by our hosting provider, including IP address, basic request and browser information, and server logs, plus security and audit events for privileged actions. We use these to serve the product, prevent abuse, and diagnose issues.
17. How information is used #
We use personal information to authenticate you and manage your account and subscription; to provide research, saved items, alerts, exports, and API access; to send in-app notifications; to provide support; to secure the service and prevent abuse; and to comply with legal obligations. We do not use your activity to infer your political views or to target you.
18. How information is disclosed #
We disclose personal information only to service providers that operate TQL on our behalf (see “Service providers”), to a payment processor if and when paid billing is enabled, and where required by law or to protect safety. We do not sell personal information.
19. Service providers #
- Supabase — authentication and database hosting (stores your account, subscription, and saved research).
- Vercel — application hosting and delivery (processes requests and standard logs, including IP address).
- Google (and Microsoft, when enabled) — sign-in providers that verify your identity.
- Stripe — payment processing, only if and when paid billing is enabled; TQL does not store full card numbers.
Public data sources (such as Congress.gov and the FEC) are read-only public sources; we retrieve public records from them and do not send them your personal information. The automated analysis that produces bill grades operates on public legislative text, not your personal information (see “Automated analysis”).
20. Google user-data disclosure #
Consistent with Google’s requirements: TQL’s use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Google user data is used to provide and secure your TQL account and the features you request, is not sold, is not used for advertising or political profiling, and is not transferred for unrelated purposes. Deletion of your account removes stored Google-derived account data as described below.
21. Automated analysis (AI) #
TQL’s bill grades and related summaries are analytical outputs produced by an automated pipeline that includes algorithmic scoring and large-language-model assistance applied to public legislative text. This pipeline processes public government records, not your personal information. Automated outputs may contain errors; the authoritative source is the underlying public legislative record, and you should consult primary sources for consequential decisions. The grading methodology is fixed and is not changed by, or personalized to, individual users.
22. Security #
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the information we handle, including encrypted transport, authenticated and access-controlled data stores, optional two-factor authentication, and additional verification for privileged operations. No method is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
23. Data retention #
We keep personal information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the service, then retain it only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here or to meet legal, security, or audit obligations. On account deletion we delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable period, subject to limited retention where required. (Specific retention durations are being finalized; contact us for current details.)
24. Account deletion #
You can request deletion of your TQL account at privacy@thequietledger.org. We remove or de-identify your account and associated saved research, subject to limited retention for legal, security, or audit purposes.
25. User rights #
You can request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a copy (export) of your personal information, and you can withdraw consent where applicable. Use in-product controls where available or contact privacy@thequietledger.org. We will verify and respond within a reasonable period, and you will not be discriminated against for exercising a right.
26. Communications preferences #
TQL’s primary notifications are in-app. If we enable email notifications, we will honor your preferences and provide an opt-out for non-essential messages; essential account, billing, and security messages may still be sent.
27. Relationship with PIN #
Political Integrity Network (“PIN”) is a separate product with its own account system and privacy policy. TQL supplies legislative intelligence to PIN (such as bill grades). A PIN role does not grant TQL privileges, and a TQL subscription or entitlement does not grant any PIN organizational authority. If we offer account linking in the future, it will be explicit and permission-separated between the products.
28. Political privacy #
TQL analyzes public political records about public officials — how legislation is written and how members vote. It draws a hard line at your private behavior: TQL does not use your private user activity (your searches, follows, or reading) to infer your political ideology, or to build persuasion or targeting profiles for sale or advertising. Any future feature that would change this would be explicitly disclosed and reviewed before launch.
29. Children #
TQL is intended for adults and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us personal information, contact privacy@thequietledger.org and we will delete it. A minimum account age is stated in our Terms of Service.
30. U.S. state privacy rights #
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain a portable copy of your personal information, to opt out of certain processing, and to appeal a decision. TQL does not sell personal information and does not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising. To exercise a right or appeal, contact privacy@thequietledger.org.
31. International users #
TQL is operated in the United States and intended for use there. If you access TQL from elsewhere, your information is processed in the United States under this policy.
32. Changes to this policy #
We may update this policy. For material changes we will update the “Last updated” date and provide additional notice where appropriate. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.
33. Contact #
Privacy questions or requests: privacy@thequietledger.org. See also our Terms of Service.