Last updated: July 28, 2026

Privacy Policy

CivicDots ("we," "us," or "our") is a self-service software platform that helps newsrooms monitor publicly available government meetings on YouTube, generate transcripts, and produce AI-assisted editorial materials for human review. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and safeguard information when you visit our website or use our application and related services (collectively, the "Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you acknowledge the practices described in this policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to:

• Visitors to our marketing and public website pages
• Registered account holders who create or join a workspace
• Members of organization workspaces ("Newsrooms") on the Service
• Recipients of invitations, transactional emails, or public share links generated through the Service

If you use the Service on behalf of a news organization or other entity, you represent that you have authority to accept this policy on that entity's behalf, and "you" includes that organization where the context requires.

2. Information we collect

We collect information you provide directly, information generated through your use of the Service, and limited information from third-party services you choose to connect. The categories below describe the personal information and workspace content we process.

2.1 Account and identity information

When you register, sign in, or manage your profile, we may collect:

• Display name and email address (used as your account username)
• Authentication credentials, stored only in hashed form
• Notification preferences (for example, alerts when new meetings are detected)
• Organization membership and role assignments (Owner, Editor, Reporter, or Viewer)
• Default workspace selection and related account settings

2.2 Organization and workspace information

When a Newsroom is created or managed, we may collect:

• Organization name and workspace identifier (slug)
• Subscription plan, trial or grace period status, and processing-minute usage
• Workspace preferences such as automatic meeting processing and automatic public share-link creation
• Pending invitation details (invitee email, role, invitation token, and expiration)
• Billing relationship identifiers from our payment processor (for example, customer or subscription IDs)

2.3 Meeting sources and meeting content

The Service processes publicly accessible meeting content that your Newsroom chooses to monitor. Depending on how you use the Service, this may include:

• YouTube channel, playlist, video, or livestream URLs and related identifiers you submit as sources
• Public meeting metadata retrieved from YouTube (titles, descriptions, thumbnails, channel identifiers, durations, and publish dates)
• Transcript text and timestamped transcript segments generated for monitored meetings
• AI-generated editorial materials such as executive summaries, agenda breakdowns, structured events (for example, votes, decisions, and story leads), draft articles, and related evidence references
• Human edits, article revisions, section review and approval state, archive status, and activity history within your workspace
• Public share tokens and sharing status when your Newsroom enables sharing for a meeting

We do not host full meeting video files. Playback uses YouTube embeds of the original public recordings. We do not intentionally collect private, non-public, or access-restricted government communications through the Service. Meeting content you configure is treated as customer content belonging to your Newsroom workspace.

2.4 Usage, processing, and billing information

To operate accounts and enforce plan limits, we collect:

• Processing minutes consumed and billable transcription usage
• Background job metadata (job type, status, provider, correlation identifiers, attempt counts, and error messages)
• Estimated AI token usage and related cost metrics associated with analysis jobs
• Payment and subscription transaction identifiers handled by our payment processor

We do not store full payment card numbers on our servers. Card data is collected and processed by our payment processor on its hosted checkout and customer portal pages.

2.5 Communications and notifications

If you enable notifications or receive Service emails, we may process:

• Your email address and notification preferences
• Transactional message content such as invitation links, review-ready alerts, and new-meeting notices
• Meeting titles, thumbnails, summaries, highlights, and links included in those messages

When a new Newsroom registers, we may also send limited registration details (organization name, owner email, and display name) to our operations contact so we can support onboarding and prevent abuse.

2.6 Technical and security data

Like most online services, we automatically collect limited technical information, including:

• IP address, browser type, device characteristics, and similar request metadata as recorded in server or security logs
• Pages requested, authentication events, and diagnostic or error identifiers
• Cookies and similar technologies used for session management, authentication, and request integrity (including anti-forgery tokens)

We do not currently operate third-party product analytics, advertising pixels, or behavioral advertising trackers on the Service.

2.7 Third-party sign-in

If you choose to link Google sign-in to an existing account, we receive basic profile information permitted by Google, such as your name and email address, solely for authentication and account linking. We do not receive your Google account password.

3. How we use information

We use collected information to:

• Provide, maintain, secure, and improve the Service
• Create and administer user accounts, Newsroom workspaces, roles, and invitations
• Discover new public meetings from sources you configure
• Transcribe meeting audio via our transcription provider using the public YouTube URL you selected
• Generate AI-assisted summaries, structured events, draft articles, and related editorial aids
• Support human review, editing, approval, archiving, export, and public sharing workflows
• Send transactional emails and optional new-meeting or review-ready notifications
• Measure processing usage against subscription limits and administer billing
• Respond to support requests and communicate about Service changes, security, or account matters
• Monitor for abuse, troubleshoot errors, protect the Service, and comply with applicable law

3.1 Artificial intelligence and automated processing

We use artificial intelligence and automated processing to analyze transcripts of public meetings. Transcript text and related meeting metadata may be transmitted to our AI processor to generate editorial assistance materials. Those outputs are stored in your workspace as drafts and analytical aids.

AI outputs are not a substitute for journalistic judgment. They are intended to assist reporters and editors and are not meant to be published without human review and verification. Where feasible, our systems associate AI claims with transcript evidence to support editorial verification.

4. How we share information

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We may disclose information only as described below.

4.1 Within your Newsroom

Account holders in your organization can access meeting sources, transcripts, AI-generated materials, revisions, and related workspace data according to their assigned roles and permissions. Organization Owners control membership, billing settings, and certain workspace preferences.

4.2 Public share links

If your Newsroom enables sharing for a meeting (manually or via automatic share-link preferences), anyone with the share URL can view the shared meeting package without signing in. Shared content may include the meeting player embed, transcript, AI analysis, draft materials, organization name, and related source information. You control whether sharing is enabled, and you can disable sharing to stop public access through the Service. Archived meetings are not shown on public share pages.

4.3 Service providers (processors)

We use vetted third-party processors to operate the Service. These providers process data on our behalf under contractual or comparable obligations to protect it and use it only to deliver services to us. Depending on configuration and your use of the Service, processors may include:

• Cloud hosting and databases (for example, Microsoft Azure / Azure SQL) for application hosting and persistent storage
• YouTube Data API to discover and retrieve public video metadata for sources you configure
• Supadata for transcription based on the public YouTube watch URL
• Azure OpenAI for AI analysis of transcript content and meeting metadata
• Stripe for subscription billing, checkout, and customer portal payments
• Mandrill (Mailchimp Transactional) for transactional and notification email delivery
• Google for optional OAuth sign-in and for YouTube embeds loaded in the browser

These providers may receive only the information necessary for their function—for example, a YouTube URL for transcription, transcript text for AI analysis, an email address and message body for delivery, or organization billing metadata for subscription management.

4.4 Legal, safety, and compliance

We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or when we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, safety, or security of CivicDots, our users, or the public; to investigate fraud or abuse; or to enforce our terms.

4.5 Business transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will continue to protect information consistent with this policy, and any successor will be bound to protect it in a manner consistent with this policy or provide notice of material changes.

5. Data retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service and fulfill the purposes described in this policy:

• Account and workspace data are retained while your account or Newsroom remains active and for a reasonable period afterward to close accounts, resolve disputes, and meet legal obligations.
• Meeting transcripts, AI analysis, revisions, and related workspace content remain in your Newsroom until you reset or archive meetings, remove sources, or request account closure, unless a longer retention period is required by law.
• Meeting reset within the Service removes associated analysis, events, revisions, reviews, and transcript data for that meeting and returns it to an unprocessed state.
• Billing and subscription records may be retained as required for accounting, tax, audit, and legal compliance.
• Operational logs may be retained for a limited period for security, debugging, and reliability purposes before being overwritten or deleted in the ordinary course.

We do not permanently store extracted meeting audio files as part of the standard transcription path. Transcription is performed by sending the public YouTube URL to our transcription provider. You may request deletion of your account or workspace data by contacting us. Some residual information may remain in encrypted backups or logs for a limited period before rotation.

6. Security

We implement administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), hashed credential storage, role-based authorization, and organization-scoped data isolation so one Newsroom's content is not exposed to another in the ordinary course of operation. Access to production systems and secrets is restricted to personnel and systems that need it.

No method of transmission or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, and you are responsible for protecting your account credentials and for configuring sharing settings appropriate to your newsroom's editorial and confidentiality needs.

7. Your choices and rights

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to:

• Access, correct, or delete personal information we hold about you
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Request export of data associated with your account
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Opt out of optional new-meeting email notifications in your account settings

Organization Owners and Editors can manage sources, meeting processing, sharing, archiving, and member access through the Service. To exercise privacy rights that cannot be completed in-product, contact us using the information below. We may need to verify your identity and authority (for example, as an Organization Owner) before fulfilling a request.

8. Cookies and similar technologies

We use essential cookies and similar technologies to maintain authenticated sessions, protect forms against cross-site request forgery, and operate the Service securely. We do not use cookies for third-party advertising on the Service.

When you view a meeting page that embeds a YouTube player, YouTube may set its own cookies or collect information according to Google's policies. Those technologies are controlled by Google, not by CivicDots. You can configure your browser to refuse cookies, but some features of the Service may not function properly.

9. Children's privacy

The Service is intended for news organizations and professional users. It is not directed to children under 13 (or the applicable age of digital consent in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

10. International data transfers

CivicDots is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, your information may be processed and stored in the United States or other countries where we or our service providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws that differ from the laws in your jurisdiction. By using the Service, you acknowledge such transfers subject to applicable law.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect product, legal, or operational changes. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Material changes may also be communicated through the Service or by email to account holders. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy, except where applicable law requires additional consent.

12. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, or a privacy rights request, contact us at:

CivicDots
Email: info@c2itconsulting.net