Privacy Policy

Effective date: August 11, 2026

WantToKnow.info (the “Site”) is operated by Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service (“PEERS,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a nonprofit organization based in California.

We value privacy and try to collect as little personal information as reasonably necessary to operate WantToKnow.info, communicate with readers, accept donations, provide research tools, and keep the Site secure.

This Privacy Policy explains what information may be collected when you use WantToKnow.info, why we use it, when it may be handled by service providers, and what choices you may have.

1. Who Is Responsible for Your Information?

PEERS operates WantToKnow.info and is responsible for decisions about how personal information collected through the Site is used.

Our privacy contact is:

Mark Bailey
Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service
16791 Greenhorn Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945 United States

Email: mark [at] wattoknow [dot] info Replace “[at]” with “@” and “[dot]” with “.”

You may also contact us by mail.

2. Information We May Collect

Most of WantToKnow.info can be read without giving us your name, email address, or other directly identifying information.

We may receive or process information in several ways.

Information Needed to Deliver the Website

When you visit WantToKnow.info, our web server and services that help deliver or protect the Site may automatically process technical information.

This can include:

• your IP address;
• browser and device information;
• operating system;
• date and time of a request;
• pages or files requested;
• referring page;
• basic network information;
• security-related information; and
• technical errors or similar diagnostic information.

This information is used to deliver the Site, maintain security, prevent abuse, troubleshoot problems, and keep our systems working properly.

Some of this information may be processed or temporarily stored by outside infrastructure providers, such as hosting, content-delivery, or website-security services.

We do not use this information to create advertising profiles about our readers.

Newsletter Subscriptions

If you subscribe to one of our newsletters, you may provide information such as your name, email address, and subscription preferences.

Our newsletter service provider may process this information for us so that we can send and manage the communications you request.

Every regular newsletter includes a way to unsubscribe.

Donations

If you make a donation, a third-party payment or donation service may collect information needed to process the transaction.

This can include your name, contact information, payment information, billing information, donation amount, and transaction details.

Payment-card and similar financial information submitted directly to a payment processor is handled by that provider.

PEERS may receive information about the donation that we need for accounting, acknowledgments, donor communication, legal compliance, and organizational recordkeeping.

Messages and Other Information You Send Us

If you contact us, we may receive your name, email address, the contents of your message, and any other information you choose to provide.

Please do not send sensitive personal information unless it is necessary for the reason you are contacting us.

Search and Research Tools

When you use a search or interactive research feature, we process the words or phrases you enter so that we can provide the requested results.

Some search features may use artificial intelligence to summarize information found through a search. When WantToKnow.info presents an AI-generated summary to readers, we clearly identify it as AI-generated.

A search query may be processed by systems operated by PEERS or by technical service providers that help us provide the feature.

Please avoid entering confidential or highly sensitive personal information into a search box.

Our broader use of artificial intelligence is explained on our How We Use AI page.

3. How We Use Information

We may use information collected through or in connection with WantToKnow.info to:

• provide pages, search results, and other requested services;
• send newsletters or other communications you requested;
• process and acknowledge donations;
• respond to questions or messages;
• maintain and improve the Site;
• diagnose technical problems;
• protect the Site and our systems from attacks, fraud, spam, or abuse;
• maintain accounting and organizational records;
• comply with applicable legal obligations; and
• protect the rights and security of PEERS, our readers, and others.

We do not use personal information collected through WantToKnow.info to create behavioral advertising profiles.

4. Legal Basis for Processing Where Data-Protection Laws Apply

Different privacy laws apply in different places.

Where the European Union GDPR, UK GDPR, or another law requires us to have a legal basis for processing personal information, the basis depends on what we are doing.

It may include:

• Consent, such as when you choose to subscribe to an email newsletter;
• Legitimate interests, such as operating and securing our website, responding to readers, and maintaining our organization;
• Providing something you requested, such as processing a donation or returning a search result; or
• Legal obligations, such as maintaining records required by law.

Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw that consent. Withdrawing consent does not make earlier processing unlawful.

For example, you may withdraw your consent to receive newsletters by unsubscribing.

5. Service Providers

We use outside service providers for some functions needed to operate WantToKnow.info and PEERS.

These services may include:

• website hosting;
• content delivery and protection against attacks;
• email and newsletter delivery;
• donation and payment processing;
• software and computing infrastructure;
• search or artificial-intelligence infrastructure;
• accounting and organizational administration; and
• professional services.

The companies we use may change over time.

These providers may process information reasonably necessary to perform their services. Depending on the service, that may include IP addresses, website requests, technical information, email addresses, donation information, transaction records, search queries, or information voluntarily submitted by users.

Some information may therefore be processed or stored on systems operated by our service providers rather than directly by PEERS.

We seek to use providers appropriately for the functions they perform and to limit the information we provide to what is reasonably necessary.

6. When We May Disclose Information

We may disclose personal information:

• to service providers performing functions for us;
• when reasonably necessary to comply with applicable law or valid legal process;
• when reasonably necessary to investigate or prevent fraud, abuse, attacks, or security problems;
• when necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights; or
• as part of a legitimate organizational transfer or reorganization involving responsibility for PEERS or WantToKnow.info.

If responsibility for WantToKnow.info were transferred to another nonprofit or organization, information needed to continue its services could be transferred with it, subject to applicable privacy obligations.

7. We Do Not Sell Your Personal Information

PEERS does not sell our readers' personal information.

We also do not provide personal information to advertisers for the purpose of building behavioral profiles of our readers or targeting them with advertisements across unrelated websites.

This does not prevent us from giving necessary information to service providers that perform functions for us, such as delivering newsletters, processing donations, protecting the Site, or providing technical services.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We try to minimize our use of cookies and similar technologies.

WantToKnow.info may use cookies or local browser storage when needed to provide Site features, remember selections or preferences, maintain security, prevent abuse, or provide another function requested by the user.

We do not use cookies for cross-site behavioral advertising.

Some third-party media, embedded content, subscription tools, or other services displayed on the Site may use cookies or similar technologies when a user's browser connects directly to those services. Those technologies and the information they collect are governed by the third party's own privacy practices.

Where practical, we design the Site to avoid unnecessary third-party browser connections and tracking.

9. Artificial Intelligence

PEERS uses artificial intelligence for certain research, proofreading, software-development, and search-related tasks.

We do not use AI to select or curate the news articles featured in our newsletters, to write or summarize those news articles, or to write the text or video scripts of our investigations.

Some search tools may use AI to summarize information found in search results. Those summaries are clearly labeled as AI-generated.

Information entered into a feature that uses AI may be processed as needed to provide that feature, including by service providers where applicable.

See our How We Use AI page for a fuller explanation.

10. How Long We Keep Information

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or for legitimate security, accounting, organizational, legal, or recordkeeping needs.

Different kinds of information may be kept for different periods.

For example:

• newsletter information may remain with our newsletter provider while a subscription is active and for whatever additional period is reasonably necessary to administer the service;
• donation and financial records may be retained as required for accounting, tax, or legal purposes;
• correspondence may be retained when useful for organizational records or follow-up; and
• technical and security logs may be retained by us or our infrastructure providers for periods appropriate to system administration, security, troubleshooting, or their service configuration.

We periodically review our practices and may change retention periods as our systems or legal requirements change.

11. How We Protect Information

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect the information we handle.

We also rely on established service providers for functions such as hosting, content delivery, security, email delivery, and payment processing.

Within PEERS, access to nonpublic personal information is limited to staff, contractors, or service providers who reasonably need access for their work.

No Internet service or information-storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot promise absolute security.

One reason we seek to collect relatively little personal information is that information we do not collect cannot be lost, stolen, or misused from our systems.

12. Your Choices and Privacy Rights

You may unsubscribe from our newsletters at any time by using the unsubscribe link provided in the email.

You may also contact us to ask about personal information we maintain about you or to request access, correction, or deletion where appropriate.

Depending on where you live and the law that applies, you may also have rights to:

• receive information about how your personal information is used;
• obtain a copy of certain personal information;
• correct inaccurate information;
• request deletion;
• restrict or object to certain processing;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• withdraw consent; or
• complain to an appropriate data-protection authority.

These rights may be subject to legal exceptions and do not necessarily apply in every situation.

We will make reasonable efforts to respond to valid privacy requests as required by applicable law.

13. Browser Privacy Signals

Some browsers provide “Do Not Track” or other privacy preference signals.

Because we do not use personal information for cross-site behavioral advertising, traditional Do Not Track signals generally do not change the way WantToKnow.info operates.

Where applicable law requires us to recognize a legally valid browser-based privacy preference or opt-out signal, we will honor that requirement.

14. Children

WantToKnow.info is a general-audience educational and news website. It is not designed as a service specifically directed to children.

We do not knowingly ask children for personal information in circumstances where parental consent or another legal requirement would apply.

If we learn that we have improperly collected personal information from a child, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

A parent or guardian who has a concern may contact our privacy contact.

15. Links to Other Websites

WantToKnow.info links to many websites, documents, publications, and resources operated by other organizations.

When you follow a link away from WantToKnow.info, the privacy and security practices of the destination website apply.

PEERS does not control the privacy practices of unrelated websites.

16. International Visitors

WantToKnow.info is operated by an organization based in the United States.

If you use the Site from another country, information associated with services you use may be processed in the United States or in other countries where our service providers operate.

Where privacy or data-protection laws of another jurisdiction apply to our activities, we seek to comply with their applicable requirements.

17. Changes to This Policy

Our website, service providers, and technology will change from time to time.

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect those changes or changes in applicable law.

When we make a material revision, we will update the effective date shown at the top of this page. Where appropriate, we may provide additional notice.

18. Questions, Privacy Requests, or Complaints

For questions about this Privacy Policy, requests concerning personal information, or privacy complaints, contact:

Mark Bailey Privacy Contact Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service 16791 Greenhorn Road Grass Valley, CA 95945 United States

Email: mark [at] wanttoknow [dot] info Replace “[at]” with “@” and “[dot]” with “.”

You may also contact us by physical mail.

If a privacy or data-protection law gives you the right to make a complaint to a regulatory or supervisory authority, you may also contact the authority responsible for data protection where you live.