Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 11, 2026

PermitNews (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the website permitnews.com. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and your rights regarding that data.

1. Data we collect

Website visitors

We use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-focused analytics service that does not use cookies and does not collect personal data. Plausible collects aggregate page views, referral sources, and device types. No individual visitors are tracked. See Plausible's data policy.

Newsletter subscribers

When you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address. Email addresses are stored in a separate, encrypted database with pseudonymized identifiers (GDPR Article 25). We use Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) as our email delivery provider. We do not sell, rent, or share your email address with any third party.

Paid subscribers

Payments are processed by Stripe. We store only a pseudonymized reference to your Stripe customer ID. We do not store credit card numbers, billing addresses, or other payment details on our servers. See Stripe's privacy policy.

2. Advertising

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on our website. Google AdSense is a third-party advertising service provided by Google LLC. Google uses cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites on the internet.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on your visit to PermitNews and/or other sites on the internet. You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. Alternatively, you may opt out of third-party cookies for advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info/choices or www.networkadvertising.org/choices.

For more information about how Google collects and uses data, see How Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Paid subscribers do not see advertisements and are not served advertising cookies.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

PermitNews uses cookies for the following purposes:

• Authentication: A session cookie is used to keep you signed in if you are a registered subscriber. This is a strictly necessary cookie and does not require consent.
• Advertising: Google AdSense and its partners may set cookies to serve and measure advertisements. These are third-party cookies. You can manage your preferences through Google's consent mechanism displayed on the site, or through your browser settings.
• Analytics: Plausible Analytics does not use cookies.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking all cookies may affect the functionality of the site (e.g., you may not be able to stay signed in).

4. Public records

Articles on PermitNews are derived from public government records. Names and addresses that appear in articles are part of the public record as published by the City of Framingham and other municipal governments. If you believe that information about you has been published in error, contact us at [email protected].

5. Your rights

Under applicable privacy laws including GDPR and CCPA, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”)
• Export your data in a portable format
• Opt out of personalised advertising
• Opt out of any marketing communications
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected] with the subject line “Privacy Request”. We will respond within 30 days.

6. Data retention

Newsletter subscriber data is retained for as long as you are subscribed. When you unsubscribe, your email address is deleted within 30 days. Published articles derived from public records are retained indefinitely as part of the public record. Authentication session data expires after 30 days of inactivity.

7. Data transfers

Your data may be processed by third-party services (Google, Stripe, Brevo, Cloudflare) that operate servers outside your country of residence. These providers maintain appropriate safeguards for international data transfers. Cloudflare is used for content delivery, DDoS protection, and SSL.

8. Children's privacy

PermitNews is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it promptly.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date. For significant changes, we will notify newsletter subscribers by email.

10. Contact

For privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at [email protected].