Privacy Policy

What we collect

• What you send us. Tips, story feedback (the “Help us out, Newport.” box), emails to hello@balboalocal.com, and any name, email address, phone number, photos or recordings you choose to include. Invited contributors may send written or recorded replies through a private link.
• Basic technical information. Like most websites, our hosting provider and site software automatically receive information such as your IP address, browser type, device, the pages you visit and when. This is used to run, secure and protect the Site (for example, to block spam and abuse). Our hosting provider keeps these server logs for a limited period for security and troubleshooting, and then deletes them.
• Audience measurement. We use Google Analytics, provided through Google’s Site Kit tool for WordPress, to understand how many people read our stories and which pages they visit. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies and collects information such as your IP address, device and browser, and the pages you view. You can learn how Google uses this information at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and you can opt out with Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• Story and ad counts. We count how often our “Read next” suggestions and sponsored cards are shown and tapped. These are simple totals; we do not use them to identify you. To prevent abuse, an IP address may be used briefly in a scrambled (hashed) form and is not stored.
• Small settings in your browser. The Site stores a few settings in your own browser (for example, so the homepage can vary the order of stories between visits, or so a closed card stays closed). They stay on your device and you can clear them at any time.

How we use it

• To report the news: to read, verify and follow up on tips and feedback, and to contact you about what you sent.
• To publish material you sent us, as described in our Terms of Use. If you ask us to keep your identity confidential, we will treat it as described in Our Standards.
• To run, secure and improve the Site, and to report audience totals to advertisers (never information about individual readers).
• To comply with the law.

Service providers

We use trusted providers to operate the Site, and they process information on our behalf: website hosting (SiteGround), WordPress and its plugins, analytics (Google, see above), database and automation services, AI services that help us research, draft and check stories (they receive published or public information, and the text of a reader submission only when needed to help us review it; we do not send them your contact details), and audio narration (ElevenLabs, which receives only the published text of our stories). Each receives only what it needs to provide its service.

Sharing

We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. We may disclose information if required by law, but we will resist demands for information that would identify confidential sources to the full extent the law allows.

How long we keep it

We keep tips, feedback and correspondence as long as needed for our reporting and records, generally no longer than three years, and then delete them, unless the material is part of our published journalism or we are required by law to keep it longer.

Your choices and rights

• You can ask us to see, correct or delete information you sent us by writing to hello@balboalocal.com. We may keep information we are required to keep or that is part of our published journalism.
• You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of any sale or sharing of your personal information.
• California residents. California law, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, may give you the right to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose; to ask us to delete or correct it; to opt out of the sale or sharing of it; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and not to be treated differently for using these rights. We honor these requests from California residents whether or not the law requires it of a publisher our size. To make a request, email hello@balboalocal.com with “Privacy request” in the subject line. We will confirm we received it within 10 business days, may ask for information to verify your identity, and will respond within 45 days. You may use an authorized agent. In the past 12 months we have not sold or shared personal information, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Children

The Site is a general-audience news site and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Security

We use reasonable measures to protect information, but no website or email is completely secure.

Changes

We will post any changes here and update the date at the top.

Contact

Questions or requests: hello@balboalocal.com.