Privacy Policy

Who we are

This app is operated by [Maestrado Group LLC], a [Texas] limited liability company (the “Company”). (“we,” “us,” or “our”). You can reach us at [[email protected]]. Our mailing address is [5900 Balcones Drive, STE 100, Austin, TX, 78731, US].

This privacy policy explains what information we collect when you use the app, how we use it, how we protect it, and the choices you have.

What we collect

When you use the app, we collect and store:

• A hash of your phone number. When you verify your phone, we immediately convert your number into a one-way cryptographic hash (SHA-256 with a server-side secret). We store only the hash. We do not store your raw phone number after verification is complete.
• Your username and a hash of your password. The password is hashed with bcrypt or similar before storage. We never see or store your password in plain text.
• Your votes on bills. When you vote Yes or No on a bill, we record the position, the bill, the time, and the phone hash that cast the vote. Votes are linked to the phone hash, not directly to your user account — this is intentional and explained below.
• Your forum posts, replies, and reactions. If you post in the forum, the content is stored and linked to your user account.
• Your display preferences. Such as whether you want to appear in the forum with your username or anonymously.
• Basic technical data. Such as your IP address when you interact with our servers. IP addresses are used for rate limiting and security. They are not stored long-term and are not linked to your account.

Why we hash your phone number

We use phone verification to prevent one person from creating multiple accounts and voting multiple times on the same bill. But we don't need to know what your phone number actually is — we only need to know whether two verification attempts came from the same number. Hashing is a one-way operation: we can check “does this new verification match an existing one?” without being able to recover the original number.

In practice, this means that even if our database were fully compromised by an attacker, they would not be able to recover the list of phone numbers that have used this app. They would only see hashes, which are not reversible.

How we use what we collect

• To authenticate you when you sign in.
• To prevent duplicate voting by ensuring one phone number can only cast one vote per bill.
• To display your votes, posts, and replies in the app.
• To calculate aggregate constituent opinion on bills and your representative's alignment with that opinion.
• To moderate the forum and prevent abuse.
• To contact you if needed about your account or the service.

We do not use your data for advertising, personality profiling, behavioral tracking, or resale.

Who we share it with

We share your data only with service providers who help us run the app:

• Twilio. When you verify your phone, we send your raw phone number to Twilio so they can deliver a verification text. Twilio sees the number during that process. After the text is delivered, we do not retain the raw number — only the hash. See Twilio's privacy notice.
• Render.Our web app and database run on Render's infrastructure. Render has access to our data as a technical matter (they host the servers). See Render's privacy policy.

We do not sell your data to anyone. We do not share it with advertisers, data brokers, political parties, campaigns, pollsters, researchers, or any other third parties for their own purposes.

We may disclose data if required by a valid legal process, such as a court order or subpoena. If we receive such a request, we will review it carefully and push back on overbroad demands where we can.

How long we keep it

• Account data (phone hash, username, password hash, display preferences) is kept as long as your account is active.
• Verification codes are deleted after they are used or after they expire (typically within 15 minutes).
• Votes and forum posts are kept indefinitely as part of the historical record of constituent opinion, even after you delete your account. They become anonymized (see below).

Your rights and how to delete your account

You can at any time:

• Delete your account. Go to your Account page and click Delete Account. When you do:
  • Your username and password are removed.
  • Your phone hash is kept on votes you already cast, but is removed from your user profile. This means:
    • You can no longer sign in.
    • Your past votes remain in the tallies as anonymous signals. They don't disappear.
    • You cannot create a new account with the same phone number and re-vote on bills you already voted on from your previous account. This is intentional to preserve vote integrity. You can, however, verify the same phone again and cast votes on new bills.
  • Your forum posts remain visible but are shown as posted by a deleted user.
• Change your display preferences. You can switch between appearing as your username and appearing anonymously in the forum at any time from your account page.
• Contact us with questions, concerns, or requests about your data. Email [[email protected]].

California residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives you additional rights, including the right to know what personal information we have about you, the right to request deletion of that information, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell personal information as defined by the CCPA. To exercise your rights, contact us at [[email protected]].

California law also recognizes “political opinions” as sensitive personal information. Because this app collects data about your views on legislation, we treat your votes and forum contributions as sensitive and take additional care in how we store and share them.

Children

This app is not intended for users under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, please contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your data, including hashing phone numbers and passwords, using HTTPS for all traffic, and limiting who has access to our database. No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a data breach that affects you, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app changes. If we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, if the change affects how we handle existing data, we will notify active users through the app or by email if we have one on file.