Information You Send
Search Terms
A name, location, or other text entered into a search box is sent to the third-party provider that operates that tool. The private reference site does not store or log those search terms on its own systems, although the provider may handle them under its own notice.
Messages and Requests
Emails and contact messages don't linger. They stay just long enough to be read, answered, and filed as a basic business record, then they remain inside the operating organization. One exception exists. Law can require disclosure, or someone's rights may need protecting. Only then does anything leave.
Technical Details Collected
When a browser loads a page, the service may pick up ordinary technical details, the same as nearly any public website does.
- Internet protocol address and approximate location information.
- Browser, device, operating system, language, and screen details.
- Pages viewed, referring page, time of access, and interaction data.
- Error details used to keep the pages working.
Cookies and Similar Tools
Cookies do a few small jobs here. They can count page visits, remember a setting you chose, or support the advertising and search tools on the site. Your browser can block or delete them anytime. Just know some features may behave differently once cookies are switched off.
How Information Is Used
- To operate, secure, maintain, and improve the pages.
- To answer messages and handle site administration.
- To understand which information is useful and fix broken links or errors.
- To measure traffic and support advertising or referral relationships.
- To comply with legal process and protect people, property, or the service.
Links to Other Services
These pages point to outside resources, including the Madison County Sheriff, the county jail inquiry, the Circuit Clerk, corrections agencies, federal and immigration sources, news outlets, and third-party search services. Once you click through, you're on someone else's turf. Their privacy policy governs what gets collected, how it's secured, how long it's kept, and whether the service is even available. None of that sits under a county agency's control.
Advertising partners deserve a separate word. They may use their own systems to track activity across sites or serve interest-based ads. That tracking follows the partner's rules, not ours.
Who May Receive Data
Your personal information is not sold. Period. A few limited groups may receive it, but only when a stated purpose actually calls for it.
- Search partners that process a query submitted to their tool.
- Analytics providers that report page and technical use.
- Advertising or referral partners operating their own systems.
- Service providers that host, secure, or maintain the pages.
- Law enforcement, courts, or another authority when required by a lawful order.
Security Is a Best Effort
Protection here is a best effort. Reasonable safeguards are in place. They cover both technical and administrative ground, and they're taken seriously. Still, no site online is perfectly secure. No guarantee exists that access, loss, or interception can never happen, so treat any connection to the internet with that in mind.
Visitors Under 18
This service is built for adults. Personal information is not knowingly collected from anyone under 18. That's the rule. If a parent or guardian believes a minor submitted something, they can contact the operator and request deletion. Occasionally, recordkeeping duties require keeping a record anyway.
Your Privacy Choices
- Ask what contact information is held and request correction.
- Ask for deletion of a contact message when no legal or business reason requires retention.
- Withdraw consent for optional messages or marketing where that choice is offered.
- Block cookies through browser settings or use a provider’s opt-out controls.
Privacy requests go through Get in Touch. That's the doorway. Include enough detail to pinpoint the message or device involved, since vague requests are hard to act on. Some technical records can't be removed, though. Security or legal compliance depends on them.
Changes to This Notice
Privacy practices won't stay frozen forever. Tools change. Laws shift. Operations move with them, and this notice may move too. A revised version takes effect the moment it's posted here. So check the effective date rather than trusting an old copy you saved.