Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 19, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect information when you use this website. By using the site, you agree to the terms described here.

Information We Collect

We may collect limited technical information automatically, such as browser type, device information, IP address, pages visited, and approximate location derived from your device or network settings. Visitors do not need to create an account to use this site.

Search Activity

Because this is a search engine website, we process search terms that you enter so the service can return relevant results. Depending on how the site is configured, search terms may be stored temporarily for performance, security, debugging, abuse prevention, or analytics purposes. We do not sell your search data.

Database Content

The listings on this site describe locations, groups, institutions, and businesses — not private individuals. Entries include names, descriptions of documented conduct or history, danger levels, operating status, and (where applicable) location information such as areas or map zones. All content is compiled from the published sources described on our Sources & Methodology page and reviewed before inclusion.

Maps

Map pages display background map imagery from OpenStreetMap's public tile servers. When a map loads, your browser requests those images directly from OpenStreetMap, which necessarily involves your IP address, like any image loaded from the web. No personal information, search terms, or database content is sent to OpenStreetMap. See the OSM Foundation privacy policy for how they handle those requests.

Address Lookup & Route Planning

When you type an address into the search box or the Plan A Route tool, that address text is sent to outside mapping services so it can be converted into map coordinates, and — for Plan A Route specifically — so a driving route between two points can be calculated. We use OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service and Mapbox for this. Beyond the address text itself and the ordinary technical information any web request involves (such as your IP address), no personal information, unrelated search history, or database content is sent to these services. See OSM Foundation's privacy policy and Mapbox's privacy policy for how each of them handles that.

Submissions

Submissions (a new threat, a new Anti-Black List entry, or a suggested edit to an existing listing) are handled through this website's own forms -- not a third-party form service. What you enter is sent directly to our own database for review; it is not processed or stored by Google or any other outside form provider. A submission is reviewed by a site admin against our sources before anything is added or changed. Do not include personal information about yourself in a submission beyond what the form asks for.

Submitter Information (Vetting)

Every submission form also asks for a name or alias, your email address, whether you are a Foundational Black American (Freedman), and a short answer about your background or lineage. This information is used only to help us assess and follow up on a submission -- it is never published, shown publicly, or shared outside of reviewing that submission. It is saved once per browser (not once per submission), using a small essential cookie that identifies your browser -- see the Cookies section below -- so that if you submit again later from the same browser, the form can offer to fill it back in for you rather than asking again; you can review and change any of it yourself before submitting. Submitting from a different browser or device, or clearing that cookie, starts this over rather than carrying your answers across. This information is kept for as long as needed to support reviewing submissions, and like the rest of the site's data, is protected the same way described in the Security section below.

Downloadable Data

We offer downloadable exports of both datasets (names, reasons, danger levels, locations, and operating status) so the underlying data remains available to the community even if something happens to this website. Exports do not include any visitor information or other non-public data.

Cookies

Most of this site does not require cookies to function. Two features use a small essential cookie that contains only a random value, with no personal information in it: it lets the "Found this helpful?" thumbs up/down widget on a Threat Database entry remember your own vote, and lets a submission form recognize your browser so it can offer to fill your name/email/vetting answers back in on a later submission (see Submitter Information above). This cookie is not used for advertising, analytics, or tracking you across other websites, and -- unlike the analytics cookie below -- it isn't part of the cookie banner's choice, the same way a typical login/session cookie wouldn't be, since the features it supports don't work at all without it. We also use analytics cookies, described below, which you can decline — see the cookie banner shown when you first visit the site, or the Analytics section below for how to change your choice at any time. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Analytics

With your consent, we use Google Analytics to understand overall traffic patterns — for example, which pages are visited and roughly how many people visit over time. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as pages viewed, time spent on the site, general device/browser information, and an approximate location derived from your IP address. It does not receive any personal information from us beyond that. Google, as the provider of this tool, receives this data directly through its own tracking code running in your browser; you can read Google's own privacy policy for how they handle it.

Google Analytics does not load at all until you choose "Accept All" on the cookie banner shown on your first visit — choosing "Essential Only" means it never loads, not just that it's disregarded. You can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser's local storage for this site, which makes the banner reappear. You can also opt out of Google Analytics tracking across all websites using Google's official opt-out browser add-on.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to help protect the site and its data. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

We also use an error-monitoring service to help us detect and fix technical problems with the website. If a page encounters an unexpected technical error, limited details about that one request — such as the page address and general browser information — may be sent to that service so the problem can be diagnosed. This happens only when something goes wrong technically, not during normal browsing, searching, or submitting.

Corrections

If you believe any information in the database is inaccurate, use the contact email or the adjustment form to report it. Reports are reviewed against our sources.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date above reflects the most recent revision. Continued use of the site after changes means you accept the updated policy.