(Last Updated February 19, 2025)

Welcome to our privacy policy! Having a FormerGov privacy policy is a little strange because our goal at FormerGov is kind of the opposite of privacy—it is to increase the visibility of our Members and their expertise. Thus, the vast majority of the information you share with us will be public, or we are not doing our job.

Nonetheless, given the recent global focus on data privacy, it seemed wise to create a privacy policy. This privacy policy is part of our Terms of Service, and is hereby incorporated into it by reference.

1. Is the “privacy policy” a binding contract?

1. You agree to this: Yes, this is also a contract.

   1. This contract is with you: This agreement is with you, the Member, Visitor, or Searcher, even if you are using our services on behalf of an organization or if an organization is paying for your use of FormerGov.

   2. What if I don’t agree to this?: If you do not agree to the privacy policy, do not access or otherwise use FormerGov, and feel free to stop reading. We reserve the right to restrict, suspend, or terminate your account if you breach this contract, or the law, or are otherwise misusing FormerGov.

   3. We can update this policy: Life is full of change, so we may make changes to the Privacy Policy. If we make material changes, we will let you know, either through our website, or by other means, to provide you the opportunity to review the changes before they become effective. You acknowledge that your continued use of FormerGov after we publish or send a notice about changes to this Privacy Policy means that the collection, use and sharing of your personal data is subject to the updated Privacy Policy, as of its effective date.

   4. Will changes be retroactive?: We don’t have a time machine (yet) so changes will not be retroactive, as we don’t want to interfere with the space/time continuum. If you object to any changes, you can always close your account. Your continued use of FormerGov after we publish or send a notice about our changes to these terms means that you consent to the updated terms as of their effective date.

2. What do we do with your data?

Members

1. We make your profile information public: The information Members share with us will generally be made public on the FormerGov website. That is the whole point of FormerGov. To the extent you do not want particular information made public, please do not provide it. If you already provided it, please edit your profile to remove it. We don’t want to have any of your information that you don’t want to be public.

2. Do not provide us with sensitive contact information: Please do not provide us with sensitive contact information. Members should provide us with contact information that is either already publicly known or easily disposable. We are fine with a disposable phone number and/or email address, as long as it supports multi-factor authentication and can be used to contact you directly or indirectly.

3. What we look at with respect to messaging: With respect to messages sent to Members over the FormerGov platform, for analytics purposes, FormerGov might analyze (a) the volume of messages a Member receives over a given period; (b) which box the sender selects as the purpose for the reachout (e.g., representation, speaking opportunity, board membership, etc.); and (c) the sender’s contact information (for analytics and future communications related to feedback to us and other services). FormerGov will not review the contents of messages. An exception might be if the Member forwards us the message he/she receives because he/she wants our help with it (e.g., help responding, interpreting, blocking, or tackling.) When you receive a message, we might reach out to you to find out if it led to anything useful, since we want to promote more of that and less unhelpful communications.

4. Improving search experiences: We might use the information in Members’ profiles to improve search experiences, by attempting to provide more tailored search results. We might also use the information in Members’ profiles to make them aware of features, events, or opportunities that we think will be of interest to them.

5. My employer (or another organization) pays for my Membership: That’s wonderful! We are sure your employer is benefiting significantly from your (and its) increased visibility.

   • Even though your employer is paying for your membership, it does not have any special rights with respect to your data. Your data is still your data. That being said, whether your employer is paying for your membership or not, if your employer asks you to change something about your profile, it may be a good idea for you to listen if you are interested in keeping your job.
   • In addition, in some instances, your employer or another organization will pay for your membership and then send us information to help us contact you about the membership or to help us start preparing a profile for us. Do not be alarmed! Your employer is just trying to help increase your visibility!

Site Visitors

1. Who are Site Visitors?: Everyone who visits our site is a “site visitor” for purposes of this policy, whether they are a Member, a searcher, or just someone who got lost and ended up on our site for no good reason.

2. What we do with requested information: You might be afforded the opportunity to provide us with certain limited information, like your name, phone number, and/or email address. If you provide that information to us, and all things go as planned, we will have it. We might use that data (1) to make you aware of FG offerings, services, or events that we think may be of interest to you; (2) to help tailor search results; (3) for multi-factor authentication (MFA); or (4) to solicit feedback from you. Please do not share information with us that you believe is sensitive. We are fine with a disposable phone number and/or email address, as long as it supports multi-factor authentication and can be used to contact you directly or indirectly. Please let us know if we are doing anything that bothers you at all by emailing us at contact@formergov.com and we will cut it out!

3. What we do with metadata: Let’s start with the observation that “metadata” sounds way cooler than it is actually is. By “metadata,” we are referring to data related to those that visit our website, such as IP address, device information (e.g., your operating system, computer type, browser, etc.), cookie information, click-through data (i.e., where you clicked), etc. We might use this data to help identify you, log your use, understand how our site is being used, improve your browsing experience and make our website better (or at least prevent it from getting worse.) For example, we may discover that certain pages on our site are only of interest to people with IP addresses resolving to New Jersey. (We can use New Jersey as an example because our CEO is from there. Go New Jersey!) We could then make those pages more accessible to those from New Jersey, and less accessible to those from less desirable states. (Kidding–your state is no less desirable than New Jersey). If anything we do actually makes us feel like we are in Matrix, we will stop immediately.

   • Usage logging: We might use metadata to log your visits and use of FormerGov, including through mobile apps. We might log usage data when you visit or otherwise use FG, such as when you view or click on content or ads (on or off our sites and apps), or perform a search.

   • Device recognition: As described in our Cookie Policy, we might use cookies, pixels, ad tags, sprinkles (we made that one up), and the like, to collect data (e.g., device IDs) to recognize you and your device(s) on, off, and across different services and devices where you have engaged with FormerGov. We might also get information about your network and device (e.g., IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser and add-ons, device identifier and features, cookie IDs and/or ISP, or your mobile carrier). We might also allow some others to use cookies. You can opt out of cookie use here.

   • Click-through data: We might review how users move around our site and what they click on in an effort to make our site work better for you and other members.

   • Other websites: When you visit or leave FormerGov, we might be able to identify the URL of both the site you came from and the one you go to and the time of your visit.

   • Location information: If you use our Services from a mobile device, that device might send us data about your location based on your phone settings. We will ask you to opt-in before we use GPS or other tools to identify your precise location.

4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Some of us have business degrees or worked at fancy consulting firms so we (think) we know what a KPI is. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so we may also collect statistics to show how many people are visiting what pages, clicking what buttons, and messaging Members. If our KPIs look good, we will become happier. If they are moving in the wrong direction, come meet us at a local speakeasy or piano bar.

3. What are your data rights?

Your data is your data. We want you to do whatever you want with it, and we don’t want any more than we need.

1. Access: Have at it! All of your data is accessible on your profile and it looks great to us! If you are looking for something more complicated like metadata or billing records, email us at contact@formergov.com.

2. Choice / Consent: When it comes to your data privacy, we are proudly pro choice! So, if we want to do something new or surprising with your data, we will email you or otherwise contact you about that. Right now, we can’t think of anything, but we’ll probably come up with some good ideas in the future, like “FormerGov: The Video Game.” (Please let us know if you think you would play that video game more than once.)

3. Erasure/Destruction: If you want to remove your data, go ahead and remove it. We won’t take it personally. (Ok, we probably will be pretty sad, but that’s really not your problem.) If you want us to remove your data for you, email us at contact@formergov.com, and we’ll get it done. If you submit an article and we publish it, once it is published, it will be at FormerGov’s discretion as to whether and when to remove it.

4. Modification: If you want to edit your data, go ahead and edit it. You know what they say: “There’s no great writing, just great rewriting.” If we publish your article, however, once it is published we will likely only consider “corrections,” as opposed to “improvements” because “the perfect is the enemy of the good” and we all have to move on at some point.

5. Portability: If you want a copy of your profile, email us at contact@formergov.com, and we can send you a .csv file or something like that. It might be faster to just visit the Members Lounge, go to “edit my profile,” and copy the information you want yourself.

6. Data Localization: While we welcome anyone to use FormerGov, we are currently focused on the U.S. market. Our website is currently only available in English. FormerGov is not targeting any foreign jurisdictions, marketing in any foreign jurisdictions, and has no foreign employees. In addition, the data collected by FormerGov is largely intended to be public. Thus, at this time, FormerGov does not offer data localization options. If this raises concerns for you, please don’t provide us with data or feel free to contact us at contact@formergov.com.