Your privacy matters — especially when the information you share with us relates to sensitive environmental concerns in your community. This Privacy Policy explains what Brockovich Data Center Reporting ("we," "us," "our," or the "Initiative") collects from people who visit this website or submit a community report ("Site"), how we use it, who else may see it, and the choices you have. By using the Site, you consent to the practices described here.
The short version: we only collect what you voluntarily give us; we never sell your information; we never share it with the data center companies you report on without your explicit permission; and we treat your name, address, and contact details as private by default.
1. Who We Are
The Initiative is an independent, volunteer-run awareness project founded by Erin, an environmental advocate. We are not a government agency, a law firm, or a commercial business. We have no contracts with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, OpenAI, Oracle, xAI, CoreWeave, Anthropic, or any other data center operator, and we do not receive funding from them.
2. Information We Collect
We only collect information you voluntarily provide through the community reporting form, plus the minimum technical data needed to operate the Site safely:
- Contact details you provide — your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address. All of these are used only to follow up on your report. Phone number and mailing address are optional.
- What you're reporting — the location of the AI data center, the owner or operator if you know it, whether it is operational or under construction, the issues you have witnessed, and any other areas you want to raise.
- Photos — up to 5 images you choose to upload. Photos may contain embedded metadata (EXIF data) such as GPS coordinates, device model, and timestamp; see Section 5 for how we handle that.
- Agreement record — a timestamp confirming you agreed to the Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy when you submitted.
- Automatic technical data — standard server logs such as IP address, browser type, referring page, and timestamp, used only for security, abuse prevention, and understanding aggregate traffic.
We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 years old. If we learn that a minor has submitted personal information, we will delete it.
3. What We Use Your Information For
We use the information you provide to:
- Review your community report and decide how to follow up;
- Contact you if we need clarification — for example, to ask which direction you live from a facility, or what month you first noticed an issue;
- Add, update, or correct an entry on the interactive U.S. AI data center map;
- Aggregate report data (e.g., "15 residents within 5 miles of Facility X have reported water-quality concerns") for awareness articles, community newsletters, or public-education materials;
- Collaborate with journalists, academic researchers, or public-interest organizations covering AI data center impacts — always stripped of identifying details unless you have explicitly agreed to be named or quoted;
- Maintain the security and integrity of the Site, including detecting and responding to spam, abuse, or attempts to interfere with the reporting form.
We will never sell your personal information, and we will never forward your identifying details to the data center company you are reporting on without your express written consent.
4. What Is Public vs. What Is Private
We treat the following as private by default, visible only to Erin and the small volunteer team that reviews submissions:
- Your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address;
- Any statement you make that could identify you as the source of a report (such as "I live next door to the facility");
- Raw photo files that contain identifying metadata or faces.
The following may be used in public-facing awareness materials, always in aggregated or anonymized form:
- The location, owner, and construction status of the facility being reported;
- The nature of the issues you describe (noise, water, energy, truck traffic, etc.);
- Photos where faces, license plates, home numbers, and identifying metadata have been removed or are not present.
If we would like to identify you by name or quote you directly — for instance, in a news interview or a published article — we will ask you first and will not publish your name without your written consent.
5. Photo Uploads & EXIF Metadata
Photos taken on smartphones or cameras often include hidden metadata ("EXIF") such as the GPS coordinates where the picture was taken, the exact time, and the device model. This can reveal where you live or work. Before using any photo in public awareness materials, we:
- Strip GPS metadata and other identifying EXIF fields;
- Blur faces, visible license plates, or house numbers where appropriate;
- Credit the photo only with a general location (e.g., "Morrow County, OR") unless you tell us otherwise.
If you'd like to strip metadata before uploading, most phones have a "Remove Location" option when you share a photo.
6. How We Share Information
We may share information only in these limited circumstances:
- With your explicit consent — for example, if you tell us it's okay to quote you in a news article;
- With trusted service providers that help us run the Site (the form-host Formspree, our email provider, and the map tile providers CARTO and OpenStreetMap). These providers only receive the data they need to deliver their service and are bound by their own privacy terms;
- With journalists, researchers, or public-interest groups — only in aggregated or anonymized form, unless you have specifically agreed to be named;
- To comply with law — for example, in response to a valid subpoena or court order, or where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm. If we ever receive a legal request for your information, we will try to notify you first where permitted by law.
We will not share your information with any data center operator, utility, contractor, or industry trade association without your express permission.
7. Anonymous & Minimal-Disclosure Reporting
We understand that reporting on an employer, a nearby facility, or an active construction site can feel risky. You are welcome to:
- Use a pseudonym or first name only in the Name field;
- Provide only an email address and leave phone / mailing address blank;
- Use a burner or privacy-focused email service;
- Describe a facility by general area rather than exact address if precision isn't critical.
Please note: if we cannot reach you, we cannot ask follow-up questions, and we may not be able to verify or act on your report.
8. Data Retention
We keep community reports for as long as they remain relevant to the Initiative's awareness mission, with a default review every 24 months. Aggregated or anonymized data (used for the map and statistics) may be kept indefinitely. You may ask us at any time to delete your personal information by submitting a new report through the reporting form and noting "Deletion request" in the "Other" field — please include the email address you originally used so we can locate your records.
9. Your Rights & Choices
Depending on where you live (including under the California Consumer Privacy Act, Virginia's CDPA, and similar state laws), you may have the right to:
- Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- Correct inaccurate information in your record;
- Delete your personal information, subject to limited exceptions (e.g., information embedded in already-published aggregated reports);
- Withdraw consent for future follow-up communications;
- Opt out of any analytics cookies (see Section 11).
To exercise any of these rights, use the reporting form with the subject "Privacy request." We will respond within 30 days.
10. Security
We take reasonable administrative and technical measures to protect the information you share with us — including HTTPS transport, access-limited storage, and routine deletion of data that is no longer needed. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we ever learn of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify affected individuals as required by law.
11. Cookies & Analytics
The Site uses a small number of cookies and one aggregate analytics tool. We do not use advertising cookies or cross-site behavioral trackers.
Essential cookies. Cookies set by the Site itself (or by the map library) keep things like your map view or language preference working between pages. These are strictly needed to operate the Site.
Google Analytics 4 (property G-FW9Z4YTY6H). We use Google Analytics to understand, in aggregate, how people find and use the Site — for example, which pages are most read, which news links are clicked, and roughly where in the country visitors are coming from. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies (typically _ga and _ga_*) and sends usage data — including a truncated IP address, pages viewed, approximate location (country/region), device and browser type, and referring site — to Google servers in the United States. We do not enable Google Signals, Google advertising features, cross-device tracking, or remarketing. We do not sell this data or use it to identify individual visitors.
How to opt out. You can:
- Install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on;
- Enable "Do Not Track" or a similar privacy signal in your browser;
- Use a privacy-focused browser extension (such as uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger) to block the analytics script;
- Clear or block cookies for this Site at any time — the Site will still function normally.
For more information on how Google handles data collected via Google Analytics, see Google's Privacy Policy and the Google Analytics data usage page.
12. Third-Party Services
The Site relies on a few third-party services:
- FormSubmit — receives your community report and forwards it by email to Erin;
- Google Analytics 4 — provides aggregate traffic analytics (see Section 11 for details and opt-out options);
- OpenStreetMap & CARTO — provide the base map tiles for the interactive AI data center map;
- Google Fonts & unpkg — serve fonts and the Leaflet map library;
- YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com) — embeds news and awareness videos using YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, which does not set cookies unless you start playback;
- External news outlets such as Yahoo Finance, The Hill, Mother Jones, Business Insider, and NC Health News — linked from our news section; opening those links sends you to their site under their own privacy policy.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites; please review their policies separately.
13. Changes to This Policy
If we make material changes to this Policy — for example, adding a new analytics tool or changing how reports are stored — we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, when appropriate, post a notice on the home page for at least 30 days. Your continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.
14. Contact Us
For any privacy question, data request, or concern, please reach out through the reporting form and select or note "Privacy request." Messages go directly to Erin and the volunteer team.