Privacy policy

The WickedGov sites are publicly editable wikis aiming to share Massachusetts civic knowledge with everyone. Due to the collaborative nature of WickedGov and wikis in general, we must collect, use, and share some information about you so the wiki can work effectively and you can have a good experience. Nevertheless, we aim to respect your privacy whenever possible. This policy summarizes when we may collect, use, and share personal information about you.

Definitions

We aim to keep this page in plain English so that anyone may understand it. There are a few definitions that you should know to better understand this page.

you

You as a user of WickedGov, whether you are a reader or an editor and whether you are an individual, organization, or something else.

we/us

The office that hosts WickedGov.

WickedGov

The sites hosted by us, including all their features and parts.

personal information

Any information that might be used to identify you.

third party/third parties

Anyone except you and us.

Information collected and used

We may collect information about you when you use WickedGov.

Publicly shared information

When you make a contribution to WickedGov (such as editing a page, moving a page, thanking a user, &c.), information about your contribution will be automatically collected and publicly shared by MediaWiki, the software that powers WickedGov. This information includes:

• Your username, if you are logged in.
• Your IP address, if you are logged out.
• The content of your edit and/or the action you took.
• The date and time at which you made the contribution.

When you make contributions, keep in mind that you might be sharing personal information. For example, if you upload media, the media might have personal information attached, such as geolocation.

By creating an account or making contributions, you agree to publicly release all of the above information. In general, we will not censor or erase this information, but we reserve the right to do so at our sole discretion.

User preferences

When you create an account or provide any user settings or preferences to us, those preferences may be stored indefinitely. Some settings, such as your username and preferred pronouns, are public. Other settings, such as your email address, are kept private, unless you choose to share them.

Automatically collected information

• Like many other websites, we use "cookies" to improve your browsing experience.
• Whenever you visit a WickedGov site, your browser sends certain information to us. This includes the type of device you are using (and possibly a unique identifier) and the IP address you are connecting from. This data is collected and retained for 90 days.

Sharing of information

• As stated above, some of the collected information is shared publicly.
• Private information, such as device types, email addresses, and IP addresses, is shared with certain trusted administrators. Additionally, it may be shared publicly and with other entities under the following circumstances:
  • With your consent.
  • When we reasonably believe that the sharing is necessary to protect life or limb.
  • To prevent vandalism or abuse to the WickedGov sites.
  • When we reasonably believe that we are legally required to disclose the information.

Changes to this policy

Changes to this policy are governed by the Amendment Policy.