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GovFacts.org Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 24, 2026

1. Introduction

Welcome to GovFacts.org from Something Better, Inc. (“we”, “our”, “us”). Something Better, Inc. is a private company. This Website is not a government agency and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any federal, state, local, or tribal government agency. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our users. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices you have about your information.

One thing follows from that, and it matters here. The federal Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act apply to government agencies, not to us. The same is true of state public-records laws. You cannot file a public-records request for what this site holds, and the protections those laws give you against an agency do not apply to us. What you can ask us for is set out in section 12, and it comes from this policy and from state privacy law.

By using our Website and services, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Please read them carefully.

2. How Privacy Law Applies to Us

The California Consumer Privacy Act applies to this site, and we operate under it. We also follow Washington’s My Health My Data Act, Connecticut’s health-data law, and Nevada’s, all of which apply regardless of a company’s size.

We reach California’s threshold because we share personal information — cookie identifiers and IP addresses — with advertising partners so they can show relevant ads. That counts as “sharing” under the law whether or not we are paid for it.

Where another state gives its residents rights we are not strictly required to provide, we provide them anyway rather than sorting people by where they live.

3. Information We Collect

We collect information to provide and improve our services. The types of information we collect are:

Information You Provide Directly:

  • Communications: When you contact us at help@govfacts.org, sign up for newsletters, or respond to surveys, we collect the information you provide, such as your name and email address.
  • Feedback: If you send feedback through a form on this site, we keep what you wrote, the page you were on, and your name and email address if you chose to give them.
  • Questions you ask the assistant: If you use the GovAsk assistant, we keep a general restatement of what you asked, and a record of which pages you read. Section 5 explains this in full.

Information Collected Automatically:

  • Log Information: When you use our services, our servers automatically record information, including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and the date and time of your request.
  • Cookies and Similar Technologies: Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We do not set cookies to store your preferences. Cookies on this site are set by Cloudflare, which sits in front of the site, to tell real visitors from automated traffic, by Google Analytics to measure traffic, and by our advertising partners to choose and measure ads. You can set your browser to refuse cookies or to tell you when one is being sent, though that does not stop everything: pixel tags and other local storage can still load. The control that reaches the advertising is the footer opt-out in section 10. The GovAsk assistant sets no cookie at all; please see section 5.
  • How the site is used: Which pages are read, in what order, how long is spent on each, and how far down the page. The assistant uses a random value stored in your browser tab for this, not a cookie, and it is deleted when you close the tab.
  • Use of interactive tools: When a page offers one of our tools, we record that it was shown, that it was used, and that it gave a result, with the tool’s name and the page it appeared on. We do not record what you enter, or which of a tool’s source links you open. The tool works in your browser and does not send your answers to us or to anyone else.

4. Third-Party Services and Data Use

We use third-party services to operate and improve our Website. These services may collect information about you using their own cookies and tracking technologies.

  • Analytics (Google Analytics): We use Google Analytics to analyze website traffic. This service collects data such as your IP address, browser information, and how you interact with our site. This helps us understand user behavior and improve our services. For more information, see Google’s Privacy & Terms (also: https://policies.google.com/privacy). You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The three tool events described in section 3 go to Google Analytics as well; they carry the tool’s name and the page it appeared on, never what you entered.
  • Advertising. CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a Raptive (“Raptive”) is a service provider of this Site for the purposes of placing advertising on the Site, and Raptive will collect and use certain data for advertising purposes. To learn more about Raptive’s data usage, click here: https://raptive.com/creator-advertising-privacy-statement
  • Delivery and security (Cloudflare): Cloudflare sits in front of this site and in front of the assistant’s API, so every request to either passes through it before it reaches us — your IP address, the page you asked for, and the question you type into the assistant. Cloudflare is a service provider to us, for delivery and for keeping the site up. It sets the one cookie described in section 3, named __cf_bm, which tells real visitors from automated traffic.
  • The GovAsk assistant: Parts of this site offer GovAsk, an automated assistant that answers questions using articles published here. It is operated by us — the same company that publishes GovFacts.org — from api.govask.org. When you use it, your browser communicates with that address as well as this one.
  • AI processing (Anthropic, OpenAI): To answer a GovAsk question we send it to two AI providers: Anthropic, which drafts the answer from our articles, and OpenAI, which converts the question into a numeric form used to find the relevant passages. Before either provider sees it, we automatically remove structured personal identifiers including Social Security numbers, account and case numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, payment card numbers, dates of birth, and street addresses. Each provider states that it does not use your question to train its systems, and we do not train or tune any system on questions asked here.
  • Email delivery: When we send you email, a provider will deliver it on our behalf and will handle your address only to deliver the message.

5. The GovAsk Assistant

The GovAsk script runs on every page of GovFacts.org, whether or not the assistant is offered there. It records which pages you read, in what order, how long you spend on each, and how far down you scroll. It uses a random value stored in your browser’s session storage that is deleted when you close the tab. We set no cookie for this, do not store your IP address with it, and do not fingerprint your device. If you come back tomorrow, we have no way of knowing it is you. That describes what we do. The advertising on this site is run by Raptive, whose own Advertising Privacy Statement says it may identify your browser with a unique pseudonymous identifier — see section 10.

Why we collect it. To understand how people move through the site and whether they can find what they came for, so that we can organize and improve our articles.

What we keep from a question. We do not store the words you type. We first remove structured personal identifiers automatically, as described in section 4. We then replace what remains with a short, general restatement of the subject, produced by software, with personal details taken out. If a usable restatement cannot be produced, we store nothing in its place.

The restated question is recorded alongside your visit. That lets us see which pages were read before a question was asked, which is how we tell whether somebody could not find the answer or could not find the page. There is no name, email address, IP address, or cookie stored with it, and the value that ties them together disappears when you close your tab.

We also record how the assistant handled the question: whether it answered or declined, which articles it drew on, how confident it was, how long it took, and what it cost to run.

If your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, we record nothing about your browsing, and your question is stored with no connection to your visit. See section 14.

6. Email Updates and Feedback

You can ask us to tell you when we cover a question the assistant could not answer, or when an article you read is updated. To do that we store your email address, and — for a coverage request — the general restatement of the question, so that we can match it against new articles. Asking to be told about an article stores no question at all.

Each follow records the page you were on when you signed up, which part of the assistant you used, and, once we find one, the article that answered your question. Follows you set up in one sitting are grouped by a token that expires after 24 hours, so you can add a second without typing your address again.

Anyone holding a link we emailed you can see and change what that address follows. That is what lets you unsubscribe without an account, and it is why those links are worth treating like a password.

We confirm every address before sending anything to it. Until you use the link in the confirmation email, no subscription exists and nothing is sent. If you never use it, the link and the address behind it are deleted after seven days.

If you use a feedback form, we store what you wrote and the page you were on, together with your name and email address if you chose to give them. Unlike a question to the assistant, feedback is stored as you wrote it, so please do not include details you would rather we did not keep.

7. Health and Other Sensitive Subjects

People ask this site about disability benefits, health coverage, mental health, addiction, domestic violence, and similar subjects. Two separate things happen, at different points.

Before you get an answer, the assistant compares your question against examples of what people write when they need immediate help, so it can show a crisis line instead of a policy summary. When that happens, we add one to a count for the category — for example, self-harm, or an immediate need for food or shelter. All the count keeps is the date and the category. There is no time of day, no session, no question and no page attached to it, so there is nothing in it that leads back to you. The category is never stored beside your question, and unlike other questions, the record that a routing happened is not connected to your visit. We keep the count because a feature like this can stop working without anyone noticing, and the count is how we would see that over time.

Separately, and on every question whether or not it looks urgent, sensitive details are removed before anything is stored. A question about a health condition is stored as a question about the subject, not about you.

Some of our tools ask about subjects like these, such as household income, a health condition that might qualify you for job-protected leave, or citizenship. Your answers stay in your browser: we do not receive them, store them, or pass them to any advertising partner.

Pages written for people with a particular health condition or their caregivers, and pages with a tool that asks about health, carry a signal telling our advertising partner, Raptive, to show only non-personalized ads to visitors from the states whose consumer health privacy laws call for it, which Raptive currently lists as California, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

We do not sell this information, share it for advertising, or use it to target anything. We use it to improve the articles on this site and for nothing else. Washington, Nevada, and Connecticut place specific obligations on us regarding health-related information, and give their residents the right to see what we hold and to ask us to delete it. Write to help@govfacts.org and we will do that, whatever state you live in.

8. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide, maintain, and improve our services.
  • Develop new services and features.
  • Communicate with you and respond to your inquiries.
  • Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities.
  • Protect GovFacts.org and our users from fraud or security threats.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you. The assistant answers questions; it does not score you, profile you, or decide anything that affects you, and it cannot decide whether you qualify for a government program. Neither do the tools: they apply published rules to what you enter, in your browser, and we never see the result.

  • Understand whether the site is organized so that people can find what they came for.

9. How We Share Information

We do not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of GovFacts.org except in the following cases:

  • With Your Consent: We will share personal information when we have your explicit consent to do so.
  • With Service Providers: We may share information with third-party vendors and service providers (like those listed above) who need access to such information to carry out work on our behalf.
  • For Legal Reasons: We will share personal information if we have a good-faith belief that it is reasonably necessary to:
  • Meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.
  • Enforce our Terms of Use, including investigation of potential violations.
  • Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues.

10. Selling and Sharing Your Information

The advertising on this site counts as “selling” or “sharing” under California law, and as “targeted advertising” under other state laws. Raptive and its advertising partners receive information about your visit and use it to choose and measure ads.

The assistant, and what you enter into an interactive tool, are separate from that. We do not pass your question, the restatement we keep, or an address you give the assistant to Raptive or to any advertising partner. We have also turned off the Raptive feature that would otherwise detect an email address typed into a form on this site.

To opt out, use “Do not sell or share my personal information” in the footer. Our advertising partner puts that link there and it reaches the advertising directly. We also honor the Global Privacy Control signal automatically, so you do not have to tell us twice. If you live in Nevada, you may also send a verified request that we not sell your information to help@govfacts.org, and we will confirm within 60 days.

11. Data Protection and Retention

We work hard to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction. We use encryption to keep your data private while in transit and review our security practices regularly.

We retain personal data for as long as we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so. The specific retention periods vary depending on the type of information:

  • Questions and how the site was used: 30 days. This covers the restated questions, the answers, and the record of which pages were read. After 30 days these records are deleted completely — not emptied out, deleted.
  • Daily totals: Kept indefinitely. Before anything is deleted we write a summary of each day — how many questions were asked, how many were answered or declined, how many people visited. It contains no page, no subject, and no visitor, so no individual visit can be found in it. It is a count, not personal information, which is why it can be kept when everything behind it is deleted.
  • Feedback and user communications: 30 days, unless a longer period of time is required to address the issues you raise.
  • Confirmation links for email updates: 7 days, if you never use one.
  • Analytics Data: Google Analytics data is held by Google, not by us. Google’s stated retention for this data is up to 26 months, after which Google deletes it automatically. That period is set by Google, and we cannot verify it.
  • Tool use: We keep no record of what you enter into a tool. The events described in section 3 are held by Google Analytics under the retention above.
  • Email subscriptions: For as long as you are subscribed. Unsubscribing takes effect immediately.
  • If you unsubscribe, we keep a record that you did. That record is the unsubscribe, and without it a later sign-up could put you back on a list you had left. We keep it even if you ask us to delete everything else. If you want to start receiving email from us again, write to help@govfacts.org and we will set that up.
  • Advertising: Retention is set by Raptive and its partners, not by us. Their policy is linked in section 4.
  • Delivery and security logs: Held by Cloudflare, not by us, under their retention rather than ours.

12. Your Data Rights and Choices

You have certain rights regarding the personal information we hold about you, which may vary depending on your location. We provide you with the ability to exercise these rights by contacting us at help@govfacts.org. We will respond to your request after verifying your identity.

Whatever state you live in, you can ask us to tell you what we hold about you, to delete it, and to stop selling or sharing it. We will not treat you differently for asking.

One honest limit. Most of what we hold about questions is not connected to you by anything — no name, no address, no account. If you ask us to delete “my questions”, there is usually nothing we can identify as yours, because the system is built not to make that connection. What we can find and delete is anything attached to an email address you gave us.

How to ask. Email help@govfacts.org, or write to us at the address in section 18. Tell us what you want and enough for us to find it. Somebody may make a request for you if you authorize them in writing; we will ask them to prove it. We will reply within 45 days. If we need longer, we will tell you why and take no more than 45 days more.

If we say no, you can appeal. Reply to our answer and tell us you are appealing. We will review the decision again and write to you within 45 days with our conclusion and the reasons for it. If we still say no, we will tell you how to complain to the attorney general in your state.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

  • Right to Know: Request what personal information we collect, use, and share, and ask for a copy of it
  • Right to Delete: Request deletion of your personal information
  • Right to Correct: Ask us to fix personal information about you that is wrong
  • Right to Opt-Out: Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: We won’t discriminate against you for exercising your rights
  • Right to Limit: Ask us to use sensitive personal information only to provide this site, and not to target advertising or build a profile. Write to help@govfacts.org.

We share personal information with third-party advertising partners (including through Raptive) in ways that may constitute a “sale” or “share” under CCPA. To opt out, click on “Do not sell or share my personal information.” in our footer. You can also turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, which we and our advertising partner both honor, or write to help@govfacts.org.

We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as valid opt-out requests.

13. International Data Transfers

Our Website is hosted and operated in the United States. If you are accessing the Website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using our services, you consent to your information being transferred to our facilities and to the facilities of those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

This site is intended for people in the United States. We do not direct it to people outside the United States and we do not offer services there. You are welcome to write to us at help@govfacts.org from anywhere.

14. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

We honor both the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal and the older Do Not Track (DNT) signal as valid opt-out requests. A number of states now recognize GPC as a binding opt-out. DNT has no such status, but someone who turns it on means the same thing by it, so we treat it the same way. This describes what we do. The advertising on this site is a separate system, and what reaches it is described below.

Your browser sends these signals to us directly and we read them ourselves. When either is present, the GovAsk assistant collects no information about your browsing at all (your browser does not send it, rather than our server receiving it and discarding it) and any question you ask is recorded with no connection to your visit. We also treat the signal as an opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. Our advertising partner reads the Global Privacy Control signal from your browser independently, for the advertising on this site. Do Not Track does not reach the advertising; the opt-out that does is the footer link described in section 10.

These signals do not cancel a service you have asked for. If you have given us an email address for updates, those updates continue until you unsubscribe.

15. Children’s Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to delete such information.

We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16, and we would need their permission, or a parent’s, for anyone under 13, before we could.

We do not ask your age and we do not try to work it out. Guessing would mean building the kind of profile we are trying not to build. If you tell us you are under 13, or a parent or guardian tells us, we will delete what we hold and confirm that we have done so. Write to help@govfacts.org.

16. Keeping Your Information Safe

We protect information with encryption in transit, restricted access, and regular review of how we do it. No system is perfect. If something happens that affects your information, we will tell you and the relevant authorities as the law requires.

Email we send you always says who it is from, carries a one-click unsubscribe, and includes our postal address. Unsubscribing takes effect immediately. We confirm every address before sending anything to it, so nobody can sign you up.

17. Changes to This Policy

Our Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will post any changes on this page. If the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (such as an email notification).

18. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us at help@govfacts.org. You can also write to us at Something Better, Inc., 19528 Ventura Blvd, Ste 472, Los Angeles, CA 91356.