PRIVACY POLICY

Effective Date: 4/25/2026

Bloodhound Media LLC is an investigative reporting venture dedicated to raising awareness about issues impacting West Virginia, sharing public information, and elevating Mountaineer voices. We respect your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it when you visit our website, submit information to us, or subscribe to our records database.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information to provide a better experience for our readers, manage subscriptions, and facilitate investigative reporting. We collect this in three ways:

Information You Provide Directly

  • Account & Subscription Data: When you subscribe to access PDF records, we collect your name, email address, and account credentials.
  • Payment Information: Purchases are processed by our third-party service provider (Stripe). We do not store your full payment card numbers on our servers; we only receive transaction confirmations and subscription status.
  • Submission Forms: If you use our “Submit a Lead”, “Enhancements & Story Requests,” or other submission forms, we collect the information you choose to provide. This may include your contact details and the contents of your message. Note: We treat information submitted through our Submit a Lead form with the highest level of confidentiality appropriate for journalistic work.
  • Engagement Data: Information you provide when participating in polls, quizzes, or games, is used to generate results and analyze community engagement.
  • Public Contributions: If you leave comments, reviews, or ratings on our articles or pages we collect the content of your comment, your name or username, and the time of submission. Please be aware that any information you provide in these areas is public. We urge you to exercise caution when deciding to disclose any personal information in these public sections.

Information Collected Automatically

When you interact with our Data Maps, My Representative inventory, or Bulletin, we automatically collect certain technical information:

  • Usage Data: Information about how you use the site, such as which records you view, time spent on specific data maps, and which representatives are searched most frequently.
  • Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and device information to ensure the site displays correctly and to prevent automated scraping of our Records Database.
  • Cookies: We use cookies to remember your login status, manage user sessions, and understand site traffic patterns.

Information from Public Sources

In our mission to share public information, we gather and display data obtained from government entities, including records (meeting minutes, contracts, and ledgers), reporting data, and contact information. While this information is already public, we include it here to ensure full transparency regarding the data displayed in our My Representatives, Data Map, and Records Database features.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide and manage subscriber accounts and Records Database access.
  • Process subscriptions and secure payments.
  • Review and investigate leads, story requests, and nominations.
  • Analyze engagement with our interactive features (maps, quizzes, polls) to improve our content.
  • Communicate with you about your account, site updates, and editorial notices.
  • Detect, prevent, or respond to fraud, scraping, abuse, or unauthorized access to our systems.

3. Service Providers

We use trusted third-party service providers to operate our site and manage specific functions.

  • SureCart helps manage our e-commerce operations, user accounts, and subscription tiers.
  • Stripe securely processes payments and acts as a data controller for payment information according to its own privacy policy.

4. Journalism and Public Records

Bloodhound Media is an investigative journalism organization. This Privacy Policy governs the data of our visitors, subscribers, and account holders. It does not govern the contents of public records, court documents, or other materials published as part of our journalism.

We publish, quote, and analyze public records, documents, and other lawful source materials in the interest of government transparency and public accountability. We may redact information when we believe it is appropriate for privacy, safety, or editorial reasons.

5. Cookies and Analytics

We use cookies, pixels, or similar technologies to support login functions, deliver subscription features, maintain site security, and gather basic analytics. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but please note that disabling cookies may prevent you from logging into your account or accessing subscription-only PDF records.

6. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information or share it with marketing firms. We may share limited information only in the following circumstances:

  • Service Providers: With vendors that help us operate the site (like Stripe and SureCart).
  • Source Protection & Legal Requirements: We vigorously protect our journalistic sources and leads. We will only disclose user data or communications to legal authorities when strictly required by a valid subpoena, court order, or law.
  • Protection of Rights: To protect the rights, property, and safety of Bloodhound Media, our users, or the public.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal account information for as long as reasonably necessary to operate your subscription, maintain business and legal records, and prevent abuse. Information submitted via forms (leads, tips, story requests) is retained as part of our journalistic research and editorial archives.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information. However, no internet transmission is completely secure. If a breach of computerized personal information occurs, we will provide notice as required by applicable law, including West Virginia law where relevant.

9. Your Choices and Requests

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your account and subscription information by contacting us. We may retain certain information when required for legal, tax, security, or administrative reasons.

Please note: Requests to delete personal data apply to user accounts. We do not alter or delete information contained in published journalistic articles, the Records Database, or the My Representative public inventory upon request, as this information is a matter of public record and editorial prerogative.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our website, forms, and subscription services are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our site features or legal obligations. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, your subscriber account, or your personal information, please contact us at:
Email: connect@bloodhound.media