I run on reading the fine print out loud, so here's ours, written to be understood, not to protect us from you. This page lists every tracking tool on this site, what it does, and how to block it. If we ever add a tool, this page changes first.
This site loads Meta's tracking pixel on every page. Here's the honest reason: we run ads on Facebook and Instagram, and the pixel is how a small campaign learns whether those ads reach anyone. When you visit, Meta learns that your browser loaded a page on ross4co.com: which page, and when. If you're logged into a Meta account, Meta can connect that visit to you. The pixel sets cookies (_fbp, _fbc) in your browser for that purpose.
Two details most sites bury, so I'll say them plainly. First: if you arrive from a Facebook ad and later donate, our donation page passes the ad's click ID along to our payment processor so we can tell which ads led to contributions. Second: the pixel doesn't see what you type into our forms, but because it sees which pages you load, Meta can infer that you submitted a form when your browser lands on our thank-you page. That's how pixels work everywhere. Most sites just don't tell you.
Am I comfortable with this? Honestly: it's a trade-off, and I'd rather show you the trade than pretend it isn't there. A challenger campaign without ad measurement is a campaign spending donor money blind. But the surveillance I fight at the Capitol is government surveillance you can't refuse. This, you can refuse. So here's how.
We also run boosted posts on X, and this site loads X's pixel the same way it loads Meta's: it fires from your browser when a page loads, tells X that your browser visited ross4co.com, and sets X's cookies so X can measure whether its ads led to visits. If you're logged into an X account, X can connect the visit to you. Same deal, different company.
What we have not done, for either platform, is turn on the "server-side" versions of these tools, the ones that send hashed emails, phone numbers, or IP addresses from our systems directly to the platforms in a way your browser can't block. Both companies recommend them. We declined. If your browser blocks a pixel, we consider ourselves blocked. Every page, form, and donation link on this site keeps working anyway.
Use a content blocker. Free browser extensions like uBlock Origin block both pixels automatically, on this site and everywhere else. This is the single most effective step.
Use a browser that blocks trackers by default. Safari and Firefox both ship with tracking protection that stops these pixels out of the box. Brave blocks it too.
Tell Meta to forget the connection. If you have a Facebook account, the "Off-Facebook Activity" setting shows you which sites have reported your visits and lets you disconnect that history and turn off future collection.
On X, the ads-preferences settings let you turn off personalization based on your off-X activity.
None of this affects your ability to use this site. Every page, form, and donation link works exactly the same with the pixel blocked. We will never make blocking us cost you anything. That's the standard I'd hold any website to, so it's the standard here.
Contact and volunteer forms are processed by Formspree, which delivers your message to the campaign. What you submit (name, email, phone, message) goes to us, and we use it only for campaign communications. We do not sell it, rent it, or hand it to data brokers. Period.
Donations are processed by Anedot on their secure page, not ours. We never see or store your card number. One thing to know that isn't our policy but is the law: Colorado requires campaigns to report the name, address, employer, and occupation of anyone contributing over $20 to the Secretary of State, where it becomes public record. That's true for every campaign in the state. If you'd like to see those records, ours or anyone's, they're at tracer.colorado.gov, and I'd encourage you to look.
Hosting and the basics. Like nearly every website, our infrastructure keeps standard server logs (IP addresses, pages requested) for security and reliability. We don't use them to identify or profile visitors.
What we don't do: no selling your data, no data brokers, no third-party ad networks beyond the Meta pixel described above, no tracking tools we haven't listed on this page. If that changes, this page changes first. And if you ever find something on this site that this page doesn't disclose, email me at [email protected] and I'll fix the tool or fix the page, whichever is wrong.
You just read a complete list of what this website knows about you and how to opt out. Now ask when a government surveillance program last offered you the same.