Frequently Asked Questions

Your story is intended to be seen. You are not. Stories are published so that legislators, reporters, and the public can read them. Your identifying details stay private to the degree you choose: you select the name that appears, your contact information remains with us, and nothing is provided to the companies this policy debate concerns.

Who runs this site?

This site is run by Lucas for Senate - Louise, Senator Louise Lucas's campaign committee, called the Campaign on this page. It is a political website. It is not a government website, it is not operated by the Senate of Virginia or by Senator Lucas's Senate office, and nothing on it is legal advice.

The Campaign pays for this site. Like every campaign committee in Virginia, it files public reports of everything it raises and spends with the Department of Elections, and anyone can look those up. No data center operator or industry trade association has any say in what appears here.

What is public and what is private?

The site is designed to make stories public. It is not designed to make people public. The distinction matters, and it is set out below.

Public, if you chose to have your story shared:

Your story, in whole or excerpted.
Your first name and last initial, or nothing at all if you chose the anonymous option.
Your city or county.
Any photograph or video you cleared for publication, with embedded data removed.

Private, always:

Your full last name.
Your email address and phone number.
Your consent record.
The original, unmodified versions of any photograph or video you upload.

If we ever want to identify you by full name, in a press interview or a published piece, we will ask you first and get your agreement in writing.

Can I submit anonymously?

Yes. Many Virginians have legitimate reasons for caution. You may work for one of these companies, or your spouse may, or a contractor on the project may be a neighbor. The form is built to accommodate that.

Select the anonymous option, and you are identified only by city or county.
Provide a first name only.
Leave the phone number blank.
Use an email address other than your work address.
Describe a general area rather than naming a specific road.

If you are submitting from a work computer or a shared device, consider who else has access to it.

There is a tradeoff. The less able we are to reach you, the less we can do with what you send. We cannot ask a follow-up question, confirm a detail, or provide your story to a reporter who must verify it before publication.

What happens to my photos and videos?

A photograph taken on a phone contains more than the image. The file also records the coordinates where it was taken, the time it was taken, and the device used. Published without modification, that file can disclose your home address.

We therefore do not publish images without modification. Embedded data is removed from every image before publication. We blur faces, license plates, and house numbers where they appear, and we caption images by county or city rather than by street address unless you ask us to do otherwise.

You may also remove this data yourself. On most phones, the sharing menu includes an option to turn off location before sending a photograph.

Can I take my story down later?

Yes. You can ask us to take your story down, delete your information, or both. The steps and the limits are in the Privacy Policy under Your rights and choices.