Privacy Policy

Maryland Local Guide collects only the information needed to operate the local directory, review submissions and corrections, manage accounts, protect the service, and understand aggregate product usage.

Information we collect

If you suggest a correction, we may collect the listing or business name, listing URL, your email address, an optional name, the correction details, an optional source or evidence URL, and your consent to submit the correction. A correction does not automatically change a public listing. We review and source-check relevant details before making a change.

If public listing submissions or accounts are enabled, we may collect the account and business or listing information needed to register the account, review the submission, communicate about moderation, and publish approved business facts. Public business contact information intentionally submitted for publication is treated differently from private submitter contact information.

How we use submitted information

We use submitted information to review accuracy, prevent abuse, communicate when reasonably necessary, moderate the directory, maintain source and freshness provenance, and operate the service. We do not sell correction or submission data and do not use correction-form contact information to build advertising profiles.

Retention

Correction and submission records are retained only for operational review and provenance. Spam, duplicate, test or unusable records are targeted for deletion within 30 days after disposition. Full valid private responses are not intended to be retained longer than 12 months. After an accepted correction or submission is resolved, private submitter identity or contact information is targeted for removal or de-identification within 90 days where practical, while non-personal source and change-provenance information may remain to support listing accuracy.

Forms, analytics and technical data

FormGent IP logging is disabled for the correction form, incomplete correction drafts are not automatically saved, and honeypot spam protection is enabled. Hosting and security infrastructure may still process ordinary technical logs as needed to operate and protect the site.

Maryland Local Guide is designed to use privacy-conscious analytics. Analytics events must not intentionally include correction text, names, email addresses, phone numbers, raw entered street addresses, or destination URLs. This policy will be rechecked against the final analytics and cookie configuration before search indexing is enabled.

Your choices

You may contact Maryland Local Guide to ask about personal information you submitted, request correction of that information, or request deletion where applicable. Verified deletion requests are targeted for completion within 30 days unless limited continued retention is reasonably necessary for security, fraud prevention, legal obligations, disputes, or preservation of non-personal public-listing provenance.

Independent local resource

Maryland Local Guide is an independent local resource and is not affiliated with the State of Maryland or any county or municipal government.