What we keep about you, and why

Who we are

The Austin Area Firewise Alliance is an independent volunteer organization in Travis County, Texas. We are not a government agency. Our postal address is P.O. Box 4211-A, Austin, TX 78731.

If you just read the site

We collect nothing about you personally. Like any website, ours keeps standard server logs — the address your connection comes from, the pages requested, the time — which we use only to keep the site running and are not combined with anything else. There are no advertising trackers and no analytics services on this site. The one thing the site stores in your browser is your text-size setting, if you change it, and that never leaves your device.

If you sign up for updates

When you fill in the form on the home page, we keep:

• Your email address and/or mobile number, whichever you gave us
• Your name, neighborhood, and what you said you were interested in, if you filled those in
• Which way you asked to be contacted — email, text, or both
• A record of your consent: the exact wording you agreed to, the date and time, the page you were on, and the internet address your request came from
• When you confirmed, and later, if you unsubscribe, when and how

Nothing is sent to you until you confirm — by clicking the link we email you, or entering the code we text you. If you never confirm, your details are deleted after seven days.

Why we keep it

To send you occasional messages about wildfire preparedness and Alliance activities — meeting notices, seminars, chipper days, and what agencies tell us when we ask. The consent record exists because sending texts to people who did not agree to receive them is against the law, and we want to be able to show that you did.

What we do not do

• We do not sell, rent, or share your details with anyone for their own use
• We do not send you anything unrelated to the Alliance
• We do not let anyone outside the Alliance board see the list

Who can see it

Alliance board members, after signing in to the part of the site only they can reach. Every change a board member makes to a record is logged with their name.

To actually deliver messages we use services run by Amazon Web Services — the company that hosts this site — for email and text. Your address or number is handed to them only to send you a message, in the same way a postal address is handed to the post office. If we ever use a different delivery service, this page will name it.

Where it is kept, and for how long

In Amazon Web Services data centers in the United States, in an account owned by the Alliance. We keep your details for as long as you are on the list. If you unsubscribe, we keep a note of your address and the fact that you asked to stop — so that we do not add you back by accident — but we stop sending. If you ask to be removed entirely, we delete the record.

How to stop, change, or be removed

You never need to ask anyone. Any of these works:

• Email: every message has an Unsubscribe link at the bottom. One click.
• Text: reply STOP to any message. Reply HELP for help, START to resume.
• On this site: Change how we contact you — switch between email and text, pause, or remove yourself entirely. We send a link to the address we have for you, so nobody can change a subscription that is not theirs.
• Ask a board member, at a meeting or through the form on the home page.

Messages and data rates

Text messages are occasional — a few a month at most. Your carrier's usual message and data rates apply, as with any text you receive. Message frequency varies. Texts are only sent between 8am and 9pm Central time.

Children

The list is for adults. If you believe a child's details have been added, use the manage page to remove them or tell a board member.

Changes to this page

If what we collect or how we use it changes, this page changes first, and the date at the top moves. We will not quietly widen what we do with your details.

Questions

Ask through the form on the home page, at any Alliance meeting, or by post to the address above.