Privacy Policy

Who we are

1. About this policy and who it covers

Open Law Services Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity (EIN 42-2351258) that publishes free, plain-English Florida civil legal guides. This Privacy Policy applies to the website openlawservices.org and its subdomains. It does not apply to third-party websites we link to, which have their own privacy practices.

If you have questions about this policy or your information, contact us at info@openlawservices.org.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us

We only collect personal information you choose to submit through our forms — principally the Contact form and the Volunteer form. Depending on the form, this may include your name, email address, phone number, the jurisdiction or practice areas you select, and the contents of your message. We ask only for what we need to respond to you or to evaluate a volunteer inquiry.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the site, limited technical information is processed to keep the site running and secure. This includes standard information your browser sends (such as IP address, browser type, and pages viewed), which our hosting provider records in server logs, and privacy-first, aggregate usage statistics (such as page views and referring pages). Our analytics are configured to be cookieless and do not track you across other websites or build advertising profiles.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

OLSI does not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not run third-party ad networks on this site. Our usage analytics are designed to work without cookies. Some third-party content we rely on (for example, web fonts, an embedded transparency seal, or embedded video) may set its own cookies or log requests when it loads; those are governed by the relevant provider’s privacy policy. You can control or block cookies in your browser settings at any time.

4. How we use information

We use the information described above to:

• respond to questions and messages you send us;
• review and follow up on volunteer inquiries;
• operate, maintain, secure, and improve the website and its content;
• understand, in aggregate, which guides are most useful; and
• comply with legal obligations and protect our rights and users.

We do not use your information to make automated decisions that produce legal effects, and we do not use it for behavioral advertising.

5. Service providers we use

We rely on a small number of reputable third-party services to run the site. These providers process information only to perform services for us:

• Website hosting and analytics — our host serves the site and provides privacy-first, aggregate traffic analytics.
• Form delivery — when you submit a form, a form-processing service transmits your submission to our email inbox so we can respond.
• Web fonts — typefaces are delivered by a font provider, which may log the request (including IP address) when your browser loads a font.
• Transparency seal and embedded media — our nonprofit-transparency seal and any embedded video walkthroughs are served by their respective providers.

6. How we share information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share it only: (a) with the service providers described above, to operate the site; (b) when required by law, subpoena, or valid legal process; or (c) to protect the safety, rights, or property of OLSI, our users, or the public. If OLSI is ever reorganized or its assets transferred to another nonprofit, information may pass to the successor organization under this policy.

7. Data retention

We keep form submissions and correspondence only as long as needed to respond to you and for reasonable record-keeping, then delete or archive them. Aggregate analytics are retained in non-identifying form.

8. Your privacy rights and choices

You may ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal information you have submitted, or ask us to stop contacting you, by emailing info@openlawservices.org. We will respond within a reasonable time. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights — for example, residents of California (under the CCPA/CPRA) and the European Economic Area or United Kingdom (under the GDPR) have rights to access, correct, delete, and restrict certain uses of their information, and to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. We honor these rights regardless of where you are located, to the extent they apply. We do not sell personal information as that term is defined under those laws.

9. Children’s privacy

Our site provides general legal information for adults and is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Data security

The site is served over encrypted HTTPS connections, and we take reasonable administrative and technical measures to protect the information we hold. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, however, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Links to other sites

Our guides link to courts, government agencies, and other legal resources. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites. Review their policies before providing information to them.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Material changes will be reflected on this page.

13. Contact us

Questions about this Privacy Policy or your information? Email info@openlawservices.org, call (917) 947-9462.

The information on this site, including this page, is legal information, not legal advice.