Privacy Policy

1.The short version

The rest of this page is the detailed version. If anything is unclear, ask us at [email protected].

2.Who we are and what this covers

Find With Dennis LLC, doing business as Find With Dennis ("we," "us," "our"), is the Virginia company that operates DENNIS. We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy.

This Privacy Policy covers:

• the DENNIS app and platform at app.findwithdennis.com, including the features for families and caregivers, volunteers, first responders, agencies, schools, and facilities (the "App");
• our website at findwithdennis.com and its forms (the "Site");
• DENNIS+ at plus.findwithdennis.com, including its notify list;
• the provider directory and our sponsorship programs; and
• emails, text messages, and other messages between you and us.

Together we call these the "Services." Read this policy with our Terms & Conditions.

3.Information you give us

When you create an account, build a profile, volunteer, raise or join an alert, fill out a form, join a list, or contact us, we collect what you provide. Depending on how you use DENNIS, that may include:

Some information is optional. Leaving optional fields blank may limit what DENNIS can do, for example how well an alert can be matched to the right volunteers.

Testing phase. While DENNIS is in testing, testers are asked to use test profiles only and not to enter information about real people.

Screening by your organization. DENNIS does not run background checks on volunteers and does not order, receive, or store background check reports. Volunteers are screened by the organization they join through, such as a search and rescue team, a public agency, or Community Search Network, an independent nonprofit. That organization collects what it needs under its own privacy policy. DENNIS receives only your organization and whether it has cleared you, and when. If you answered screening questions in an earlier test version of the App, those answers are no longer used and will be deleted when testing ends.

DENNIS+ notify list. DENNIS+ is not open to new members right now. If you join the notify list, we keep your email address, your first name if you give it, and the date and wording of the consent you gave. We use it only to tell you when DENNIS+ opens. Ask us at any time and we will remove you.

DENNIS+ organizer information (when DENNIS+ is open). Members choose what to put in their organizer, such as people they care for and helpers, appointments, to-do items, notes about where documents are kept, guides they save, links from other websites, and display preferences. Some of it may say something about health or disability. We treat it as private, use it only to show it back to the member, never to rank, score, or profile anyone, never for advertising, and we never sell it.

Information about other people. Profiles and organizers may hold information about people who are not DENNIS users, such as your child or a parent. You are responsible for having the right to share it. Those people may ask us to remove it.

Payments. Stripe processes payments for sponsorships, directory listings, and DENNIS+ when it is open. We receive Stripe customer and payment identifiers and what was purchased. We do not receive or store your full card number.

4.Information collected automatically

Location. When you allow it, the App uses your device's precise location to tell volunteers about alerts near them, to show a volunteer's position to the people coordinating a search that volunteer joined, to show how far you are from each area of concern, to record the path you searched during a search you joined, and to place sightings and alerts on the map. Outside an alert you joined, your location is not shown to other users. When approved responders search for volunteers, they see only your city or county, never your exact location. You can turn location off in your device settings; if you do, you will not be alerted to nearby searches.

Device and usage information. We and our service providers collect limited technical information: IP address and approximate location from it; device type, operating system, browser, and app version; the token used to send push notifications; pages and screens viewed and the referring page; dates and times; and diagnostic information if something goes wrong.

Abuse prevention. To spot fake accounts and false alerts, we keep one-way coded versions (hashes) of the device and connection used at sign-up, not the raw addresses.

Face or fingerprint sign-in. If you turn it on, your fingerprint or face never leaves your device. We store only a public key that lets your device prove it is you. The same sign-in can be used to confirm in the App that a call to DENNIS support really came from you.

When a DENNIS+ member saves a link, our server visits that page once to read its title and description.

5.Cookies and similar technologies

The Site uses strictly necessary cookies, set by our website and form platform, so pages, sign-in, and forms work and spam is blocked; and analytics cookies that count visits, used only with consent where the law requires it. We do not use advertising cookies or retargeting pixels. You can block or delete cookies in your browser. We honor Global Privacy Control signals where the law requires it.

6.How we use information

• to create and run your account;
• to send alerts to the right people nearby, including matching an alert's situation to the skills and training volunteers and responders told us about;
• to show profile information to everyone searching during an active alert, and the medical note only if you share it during that search;
• to show areas of concern and how many people have claimed each one, so searchers can choose where to go;
• to coordinate searches, including sharing positions, sightings, and areas searched with the people working that search;
• to let approved responders identify a person they have found, and find and contact volunteers, as described in Section 8;
• to verify who you are when you contact DENNIS support about your account;
• to verify licenses, certifications, organizations, facilities, and the authority of profile owners, and to approve first responders and agencies;
• to show an organization's admin the members of their own organization so they can mark them cleared or revoked;
• to send alerts, account messages, and service messages by push notification, text, and email;
• to process payments;
• to decide when and where to open search access in each community;
• to tell notify-list members when DENNIS+ opens;
• to answer your questions and requests and to improve the Services, including through tester feedback;
• to keep the Services secure and prevent false alerts, spam, fraud, and abuse; and
• to comply with law and enforce our Terms.

We may publish aggregated or de-identified statistics, such as how many families and volunteers have joined in a county. We will not try to re-identify them.

We do not sell personal information, do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and do not use it for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you. Software decides who receives an alert; people decide whether to take part, and decisions to verify credentials and owner documents are made by a person.

7.Legal bases for processing

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on: contract (to provide the Services); vital interests (to help find a person who may be in danger); consent (for location, sensitive information you choose to add, marketing messages, the notify list, and non-essential cookies; you may withdraw consent at any time); legitimate interests (operating and securing the Services and preventing abuse); and legal obligation.

8.How we share information

• During an active alert. Volunteers and responders who receive or join it see the same profile: everything except the medical note, and the medical note if the owner shares it during that search. Every change to what is shared is recorded. They also see recent photos, the last known location, and updates. Coordinators see the names and positions of volunteers who joined. When the alert closes, volunteers lose access to the profile.
• Ground searched. During a search, other volunteers see which ground has been covered without names; responders and the person leading the search can see who searched where. This record is part of the search record.
• With your organization. If you belong to an organization in DENNIS, its admin sees your name, account email, and cleared status for that organization only.
• With linked facilities. A facility linked to a profile sees the person's name, age, group, and photo so it can start a search from its own address. It cannot see or change the rest of the profile.
• With first responders and law enforcement. Approved responders can see, start, and take command of searches in their own jurisdiction. Search records, such as times, who raised the alert, volunteers who joined, locations, and areas searched, may be provided to law enforcement so they can take over, continue, or restart a search, investigate, or reunite a found person with their family. Approved responders can also search the DENNIS profile network nationwide, including profiles that are not part of an active search, to identify and reunite a person they have found. Every lookup is recorded.
• Between volunteers and responders. Approved responders can find volunteers by first name and last initial, city or county, and skills and equipment, and can ask them through DENNIS for help with a search. Your email address and phone number are not shown in these searches. Responders within your travel area, and any agency that worked a search you took part in, may contact you about that search. An agency outside your travel area may contact you only if you said yes, and you can change that answer at any time for the future. Each request is logged. We do not give agencies a list of our volunteers to keep or download, and we never sell it.
• Release of a volunteer's phone number. DENNIS may give a volunteer's phone number to a requesting agency only for one of these purposes: the volunteer needs help; a life-safety emergency; a law enforcement investigation; a subpoena, warrant, or court order; or follow-up by an agency about a search the volunteer took part in. Before any release, DENNIS verifies the request with the agency and records the agency, the officer, the purpose, and any case number. We tell the volunteer when their number is released unless a court order or the investigating agency directs us not to, and we follow that direction for as long as it applies.
• DENNIS support staff. Staff cannot search accounts by email address or phone number. If you or a family member contact us for help with your account, a staff member can see your contact details only after verifying the caller with your support PIN, security questions, or a confirmation you approve in the App. Each request is recorded with the staff member and the caller. Requests from law enforcement are handled only through the release process above.
• Service providers. Companies that run parts of the Services for us under contract and only on our instructions: cloud hosting and database (currently Render, moving to Google Cloud, in the United States); our website, form, email, and text-message platform (GoHighLevel, provided through BACINI CRM, a company owned by our founder); payments (Stripe); push notification services; and map, hazard, and weather data services.
• Professional advisers such as attorneys, accountants, and insurers, where they need it to advise us.
• Legal requirements, such as a subpoena or court order, or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect someone's life, safety, rights, or property.
• Business transfer, such as a merger or sale of assets, where the recipient must honor this policy or tell you before any materially different use.
• With your direction or consent.

We do not share profile or organizer information with directory providers or sponsors. Sponsors receive no user data.

9.Children and information about minors

DENNIS accounts are for adults 18 and older. Children do not use DENNIS themselves. A parent or legal guardian may create a profile for a child in their care; we collect a child's information only from that parent or guardian and use it only to help find or support the child as described here. The parent or guardian can review, change, or delete it at any time. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13, and we delete it promptly if we learn we have.

10.Sensitive and health-related information

Some of what DENNIS holds is sensitive: health, disability, and behavioral notes, precise location, information about children, and documents proving legal authority over a person. Health and behavioral details in a profile are always your choice, are used only to help keep that person safe during an alert, and are shown to everyone searching only during an active alert. The medical note is shared only if you choose to share it during that search. Where the law requires consent for sensitive information, we ask for it first.

Documents proving legal authority over a person are encrypted, every access is logged, and they are seen only by the DENNIS staff who review them. They are never shown to anyone searching. DENNIS holds no background check reports about volunteers.

Find With Dennis LLC is not a covered entity or business associate under HIPAA, and information in DENNIS is not protected health information under that law. We protect it as described in Section 13.

11.Marketing emails and text messages

Alerts and service messages are part of the Services. You choose how you receive alerts in your settings; turning them off may mean you miss an alert near you.

Marketing emails are sent only if you agreed, and each one has an unsubscribe link.

Text messages. If you gave us a mobile number and opted in, we may text you. Consent is never a condition of any purchase. Message and data rates may apply, message frequency varies, and you can reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. We do not share mobile numbers or text consent with third parties for their own marketing. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties, excluding aggregators and providers of the text message services.

12.How long we keep information

Accounts and profiles: while your account is open. You can delete a profile or your account at any time in the App or by asking us. A deleted profile or account is removed from use right away and hidden from everyone, then kept for 18 months so it can be provided to law enforcement if needed for a safety matter or investigation, and then permanently deleted.

Alert and search records, including locations and photos shared during them: as long as needed to complete the search and afterward for safety, legal, and law-enforcement purposes, including any investigation.

Records of contact requests and phone-number releases: as long as needed for safety, legal, and law-enforcement purposes.

Searcher Acknowledgment records: each time a volunteer accepts the Searcher Acknowledgment, or confirms they are choosing to join a search, we keep a record of the wording accepted, the date and time, and the device. These records are kept permanently, including after an account is deleted, as the record of what was agreed.

Test data: test profiles and test searches created during the testing phase may be deleted when testing ends.

Organization clearance: while you belong to the organization, and afterward as part of the record of any search you took part in.

Documents proving legal authority: while the owner's authority is active, and afterward under the same 18-month hold as deleted profiles.

Ground searched: as part of the alert and search record.

Answers to screening questions from an earlier test version of the App: deleted when testing ends.

DENNIS+ notify list: until DENNIS+ opens and we have told you, or until you ask to be removed.

DENNIS+ organizer information (when open): while you are a member and for 90 days after membership ends, then deleted.

Website and interest-list information: reviewed at least once a year. If you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your information, we may keep a minimal suppression record, usually your email alone, so we do not contact you again.

Billing records: as long as tax and accounting law requires. Backups roll off within 30 days after deletion.

13.How we protect information

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, including encrypted connections, access limited to people who need it, profiles that volunteers can see only during an active alert, responder lookups that are recorded, contact details that cannot be searched, support PINs stored only in one-way coded form, automated security testing of the software before changes go live, and reputable service providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach affects your personal information and the law requires notice, we will notify you and any required regulator without undue delay.

14.Your privacy rights

Wherever you live, we will honor these requests to the extent we can verify them: know and access, correct, delete, portability, and opt out of marketing or withdraw consent. You can see and edit your account and profiles in the App at any time. To make a request, email [email protected] from the address on your account or write to the address in Section 20. We will respond within the time the law allows (generally 45 days, extendable where permitted) and will not discriminate against you for exercising a right. Deletion is subject to the 18-month hold described in Section 12. An authorized agent may make a request with proof of authorization.

15.Virginia residents

The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act gives Virginia residents the rights in Section 14, including to confirm whether we process your personal data and to opt out of targeted advertising, sale, and certain profiling. We do not sell personal data, do not use it for targeted advertising, and do not profile in furtherance of decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. We process sensitive data, such as precise location and health information, only with your consent.

Right to appeal. If we decline your request, we will tell you why. You may appeal by emailing [email protected] with "Privacy Appeal" in the subject. We will answer in writing within 60 days. If your appeal is denied, you may complain to the Virginia Attorney General at oag.state.va.us.

16.Other U.S. state rights

Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Utah, Washington, and other states with privacy laws have similar rights, including appeal where their state provides one. We extend the rights in Section 14 to all U.S. residents. California residents: we have not sold or shared personal information as the CCPA/CPRA defines those terms in the past twelve months, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that require a right to limit. Washington residents: health-related information is collected and used only as described in Sections 3, 6, and 10, with your consent.

17.Users outside the United States

We operate in the United States, and information you provide is processed and stored here. Where a transfer mechanism is required, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

18.Third-party links

The Services may link to other websites, including providers in our directory. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content or privacy practices.

19.Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as DENNIS and the law develop and will change the "Last updated" date above. For material changes, especially to how we use or share information, we will give prominent notice in the App or on the Site and, where the law requires, notify you directly before the change takes effect.

20.How to contact us