Privacy Policy

1. Scope and operator

This policy applies to Comal.News websites, reader accounts, newsletters, alerts, forms, and direct communications that link to it. In this policy, “Comal.News,” “we,” and “us” mean the Comal.News publication and its owner and operator.

It does not control a government website, social network, payment service, or other third-party site merely because we link to it. Those services apply their own terms and privacy policies. The policy also does not promise confidentiality for ordinary email or social-media messages; see “Journalism and public records” below.

2. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Reader accounts: email address, optional display name and home area, newsletter and alert preferences, selected topics and localities, and saved-story references.
• Newsroom communications: tips, questions, interview responses, correction requests, public-record correspondence, press releases, photo permissions, attachments, contact details, and related message metadata.
• Business communications: information supplied in advertising, sponsorship, membership, support, or partnership inquiries.
• Third-party sign-in: if Google sign-in is enabled and you choose it, we receive the account identifiers needed to create a session. We do not receive your Google password.

Information collected when you use the service

Hosting, security, authentication, and network providers may process an IP address, browser or device details, timestamps, requested pages, and diagnostic or security logs to deliver and protect the service. Authentication cookies keep signed-in readers in their sessions.

Our own audience system records bounded events such as page path, article and section identifiers, reading milestones, action type, screen-size category, referring hostname, and explicitly named campaign fields. It rejects raw IP addresses, user-agent strings, full referring URLs, names, email addresses, and arbitrary form text.

3. How we use information

We use collected information to:

• deliver reporting, reader accounts, saved stories, newsletters, alerts, and requested support;
• authenticate users, prevent abuse, secure our systems, and diagnose technical failures;
• receive, evaluate, verify, report, and follow up on tips, records, statements, images, and corrections;
• understand readership in aggregate, improve coverage and products, and measure campaigns;
• communicate about services or opportunities you requested and honor unsubscribe choices;
• operate advertising or sponsorship relationships without giving advertisers private newsroom communications;
• comply with law, enforce our terms, and protect readers, sources, the public, and our rights.

We do not sell reader personal data. We do not use site measurement for personalized advertising, and we do not process reader data to make automated decisions about employment, credit, housing, insurance, health care, education enrollment, criminal justice, or access to basic necessities.

4. Automated tools

Comal.News uses software-assisted and automated workflows to organize public records and messages, detect duplicates, transcribe meetings, summarize source material, identify possible reporting leads, generate accessibility audio, and support editing and production. These systems may process information contained in a submission or public record when that work is necessary for newsroom operations.

Automation does not change our sourcing standard: publication decisions and factual claims remain subject to the applicable reporting, verification, attribution, and correction processes. We do not make the consequential consumer decisions listed above using automated profiling.

5. When information is shared

We may disclose information in these limited circumstances:

• Service providers: vendors that provide hosting, databases, authentication, content management, email delivery, security, analytics, storage, transcription, and audio production. Current providers may include Vercel, Supabase, Sanity, Resend, Cloudflare, Google, and ElevenLabs.
• At your direction: when you ask us to publish, attribute, transmit, or otherwise use information, or otherwise consent to disclosure.
• Reporting: information may be published when it is lawfully obtained and editorially relevant. A private message is not automatically a promise that every detail will remain confidential.
• Law and safety: when we reasonably believe disclosure is required by valid legal process or necessary to investigate abuse, protect rights or safety, or defend the service.
• Organizational change: as part of a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale, subject to appropriate confidentiality and this policy or notice of a replacement policy.

Advertisers may receive aggregate performance information, such as total impressions or clicks, but not your private tip, account email, or one-to-one newsroom correspondence from us. Links, embedded media, and social platforms may let those third parties collect data under their own policies when you interact with them.

6. Cookies, analytics, and your browser choices

We use necessary cookies for reader authentication and security. We also use our privacy-limited first-party audience measurement and Google Analytics to understand which Comal County reporting is useful, how readers arrive, and whether they return. Google Analytics may set measurement cookies and receive page, device, and referring-site information. We do not use Google Analytics for personalized advertising.

Our first-party browser identifier is random and rotates after 30 days; a separate identifier lasts for one browser tab. Both are irreversibly hashed before storage. We honor the browser’s Do Not Track setting for our first-party measurement and Google Analytics. The control below removes our audience identifiers and disables future audience measurement in this browser until its site data is cleared.

If reader sign-in is enabled, Cloudflare Turnstile may process technical signals to distinguish people from abusive automation. Your browser and the providers’ own controls may offer additional cookie choices, though blocking necessary cookies can prevent account features from working.

7. Retention and security

We keep information only for as long as reasonably needed for the purposes described here, newsroom and archival integrity, security, dispute resolution, and legal obligations. Retention differs by category: account data is generally kept while an account is active; opt-out and security records may be retained to honor preferences and prevent abuse; published reporting and its supporting editorial record may be preserved as part of our archive.

We use access controls, limited credentials, encryption in transit, database row-level security for reader settings, and other organizational and technical safeguards appropriate to the information. No online service, email system, or storage method is perfectly secure. Do not send highly sensitive material through ordinary email or direct messages when disclosure could put someone at risk.

8. Journalism, public records, and source communications

News gathering is different from audience tracking. Comal.News may collect and retain lawfully obtained public records, meeting material, source communications, research, interview recordings, transcripts, and other editorial material for reporting, verification, corrections, legal review, and the historical record.

Sending a tip does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship, fiduciary duty, employment relationship, or promise of anonymity or confidentiality. Before sharing material that could expose you to retaliation or danger, contact the newsroom without sending the material and ask to discuss a safer channel. We evaluate privacy requests involving published reporting alongside accuracy, public-interest, legal, and archival obligations; a request to correct a story should go to corrections@comal.news.

9. Your privacy choices and requests

Depending on applicable law, you may ask whether we process your personal data and request access, correction, deletion, or a portable copy. You may also opt out of sale, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. Comal.News does not sell personal data or use it for targeted advertising or consequential automated profiling, but we will still record and honor an applicable opt-out request.

Email privacy@comal.news from the address connected with your account or request. Describe what you want us to do and the service involved. We may verify your identity and ask for only the information reasonably necessary to prevent an unauthorized disclosure or deletion. If we deny an applicable request, reply with “Appeal” and the reason you believe the decision should be reconsidered. We will not discriminate against you for exercising a privacy right.

You may unsubscribe from a marketing newsletter using the link in that email. Authentication, security, correction, or other transactional messages may still be sent when necessary. Texas residents may learn about state privacy rights or submit a complaint through the Texas Attorney General’s privacy page.

10. Children

Comal.News is a general-audience news service and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly create reader accounts for or collect personal information online from a child under 13 without legally sufficient parental consent. A parent or guardian who believes a child provided personal information should contact privacy@comal.news so we can investigate and take appropriate action.

11. Changes, transfers, and contact

We operate primarily in the United States, and information may be processed in the United States or other places where our service providers operate. Those locations may have different data-protection laws than your location.

We may update this policy when our products, vendors, or legal obligations change. The date at the top identifies the current version. If a change materially affects how existing account information is used, we will provide additional notice appropriate to the change.

Privacy questions and requests: privacy@comal.news
General legal notices: legal@comal.news
Corrections: corrections@comal.news