Privacy Policy
Effective October 27, 2026
Chicago Incentive Explorer (“CIE”) helps Chicago businesses find economic incentives that may apply to an address. It is operated by the Southeast Chicago Chamber of Commerce (“SECCC,” “we”). This policy explains what information CIE collects, how we use and share it, how we protect it, and the choices you have. Our Chrome extension has its own policy.
Information you give us
- Searches and reports. The addresses, business names, neighborhoods, industries, and project goals you enter to run a lookup or build a report.
- Report delivery and help requests. When you ask us to email a report or ask for help, your name, email address, ZIP code, the report address, and your project goal.
- Accounts. If you sign in, your name and email address, and either your Google profile basics or a password, which we store only in hashed form. Saved reports, projects, watched areas, and business profiles you create (such as legal name, addresses, contact details, industry, and employee count).
- Documents. Files you upload to prepare an incentive application. If you use the option to read a document automatically, its contents are sent to an AI model to pull out the details.
- Concierge chat. The questions you type into the site assistant and its replies.
Information collected automatically
When you use CIE we record activity such as pages viewed, searches run, reports generated or downloaded, and buttons used, along with your device type, screen width, the page that referred you, and campaign tags in the link you followed. If you are signed in, this activity is linked to your account. If you are not, it is linked to a random identifier stored in your browser (see Cookies below). If you later give us your email, for example to receive a report, we may connect that earlier activity to it.
To prevent abuse we use your IP address to rate-limit some requests. We store a one-way hash of it, not the address itself. Our hosting provider also processes standard server logs.
Cookies and similar storage
We do not use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking.
| Type | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Keeps you signed in and protects sign-in forms (Auth.js session and security cookies). | Up to 30 days |
| Essential | Keeps a concierge chat conversation together. | 24 hours |
| Essential | Remembers access you were granted to a gated tool, and staff admin sign-ins. | Hours to days |
| Essential | Remembers your analytics choice (cie_analytics). | 1 year |
| Analytics | A random visitor identifier (cie_vid) that links your activity across visits. | 1 year |
| Analytics | A random page-view session identifier kept in your browser's local storage. | Until cleared |
| Analytics | Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies. | Not stored in your browser |
| Preferences | Map layer toggles, your chosen role, and guide progress, kept in your browser only. | Until cleared |
Analytics is on by default. You can turn it off at any time with or the Cookie Choices link in the footer. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to turn analytics off. Essential cookies stay on because the site does not work without them.
How we use information
- To run lookups, build and deliver reports, and keep your saved work.
- To respond to help requests and connect you with programs or partners you ask about.
- To understand how CIE is used and improve it.
- To keep the service secure and prevent spam and abuse.
CIE is a discovery tool. We do not use your information to make eligibility, lending, or credit decisions about you.
How we share information
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in these cases:
- SECCC staff see help requests and report-delivery requests so they can follow up.
- Partner organizations, such as a land bank, lender, or program administrator, only when you ask to be connected with them.
- Service providersthat run CIE for us: Vercel (hosting, analytics, file storage, and AI gateway), Neon (database), Upstash (caching), Resend (email delivery), Google (sign-in), Mapbox (map display), and OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service (turning an address you type into map coordinates).
- Legal reasons, when required by law or to protect the rights and safety of users and the public.
We may share aggregate statistics that do not identify you, for example how many reports were run in a neighborhood.
The concierge assistant
Questions you type into the concierge are sent through Vercel's AI Gateway to an AI model to generate a reply. If you are signed in, the conversation is saved to your account. If you are not signed in, it is not stored. Please do not enter sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers or bank details.
Public records
CIE shows information from public government datasets, including property, permit, license, and ownership records. Some of these name property owners or businesses. That information comes from the public source, not from you. To correct it, contact the agency that publishes it. You can also tell us and we will review it.
How we protect information
Information travels to and from CIE over encrypted HTTPS connections. Passwords are stored only as salted hashes, and sign-in and reset links are single-purpose and expire. IP addresses used for rate limiting are stored in hashed form, not as the address itself. Your saved reports, projects, profiles, and uploaded documents can only be opened from your own signed-in account, and documents are kept in private storage. Staff tools require a separate sign-in. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will notify affected users if a breach occurs as required by Illinois law.
How long we keep information
We keep account information and saved work while your account is active. We keep report-delivery and help requests, and analytics records, for as long as they are useful for following up and improving CIE. You can ask us to delete your information at any time, including your account, and we will do so unless we are required to keep it.
Your choices
- Turn analytics off using Cookie Choices.
- Use CIE without an account. Most lookups and reports do not require one.
- Ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it (including your account), by emailing us at the address below. You can also delete individual saved reports, documents, and watched areas yourself in your workspace.
Children
CIE is meant for businesses and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from them.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the effective date above, and for significant changes we will post a notice on the site.
Contact
Questions or requests about your information can be sent to billyjoseph243@gmail.com, or to the Southeast Chicago Chamber of Commerce at (773) 721-1999.