Law Enforcement & Data Request Policy

1. Our Commitment to User Privacy

TrekFreely is committed to protecting the privacy and security of our users. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy, and this principle guides how we respond to law enforcement and government data requests.

We follow these principles when handling data requests:

We will only provide user data in response to valid, properly served legal process.
We will narrowly interpret all requests and provide only the specific data compelled.
We will notify affected users whenever legally permitted.
We will never voluntarily provide bulk or mass surveillance data.
We will challenge requests we believe are overly broad, legally deficient, or otherwise improper.

2. Legal Process Requirements

We require valid legal process before disclosing any user data to law enforcement or government agencies. The type of legal process required depends on the type of data requested:

Subpoena (grand jury or administrative)

Required for basic subscriber information:

Name and email address associated with an account.
Account creation date.
Date and time of last login.

Court order (under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) or equivalent)

Required for transactional records:

All information available with a subpoena, plus:
Trip plan metadata (trip names, dates, activity types — not content).
Check-in timestamps and status records.
Alert and notification logs.

Search warrant (supported by probable cause)

Required for content and location data:

All information available with a court order, plus:
Trip plan content (routes, descriptions, notes, gear lists, group members).
GPS location history and tracking data.
Messages and communications content.
Contact dashboard access logs.

Data we cannot provide regardless of legal process

Medical notes: Encrypted at the application layer with AES-256-GCM. We do not have the ability to decrypt this data in response to legal process. The encryption key management is designed so that medical data is accessible only during active SAR handoff scenarios initiated by the user or their emergency contacts.
Deleted data: Data deleted in accordance with our retention policy is permanently removed and cannot be recovered.
Data we do not collect: Browsing history, IP address logs (not retained), tracking cookies (none used), third-party analytics data (none collected).

3. Emergency Requests

In genuine emergency situations involving imminent danger to life or serious physical injury, we may provide limited information to law enforcement without a court order, consistent with 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(8) and GDPR Article 6(1)(d) (vital interest).

Emergency disclosure is limited to:

Information necessary to address the specific emergency.
The minimum data needed to identify or locate the individual at risk.

Emergency requests must be submitted by a sworn law enforcement officer and must describe the nature of the emergency and why the information requested is necessary to address it. We will document all emergency disclosures and notify the affected user as soon as the emergency has passed, unless prohibited by law.

4. User Notification

TrekFreely will notify affected users of law enforcement requests for their data before disclosure, unless:

We are legally prohibited from doing so by a court order or applicable law (e.g., a gag order).
We believe notification would create a risk of injury or death.
We believe notification would risk destruction of evidence.

If we are prohibited from notifying a user at the time of disclosure, we will notify the user as soon as the prohibition is lifted. We will challenge indefinite gag orders.

5. Preservation Requests

We will preserve account records for 90 days in response to a valid preservation request from law enforcement, pending issuance of formal legal process, in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f). Preservation requests may be renewed for an additional 90-day period.

Preservation does not extend data beyond our normal retention periods — we can only preserve data that has not yet been deleted under our standard retention policy.

6. International Requests

TrekFreely is a United States-based service. International law enforcement agencies seeking user data must submit requests through official channels:

Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process.
Letters rogatory issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Applicable executive agreements (e.g., CLOUD Act agreements).

Direct requests from international law enforcement that do not follow these channels will not be honored, except in genuine emergency situations involving imminent danger to life.

7. Transparency Reporting

TrekFreely is committed to publishing an annual transparency report that includes:

The total number of law enforcement requests received, broken down by type (subpoena, court order, search warrant, emergency request).
The number of requests we complied with, partially complied with, and challenged or rejected.
The number of users affected.
The number of gag orders received.
The number of preservation requests received.

The first transparency report will be published after the first full calendar year of operation.

8. How to Submit a Request

Law enforcement and government agencies should submit data requests to:

Email: [email protected]

All requests must include:

The identity of the requesting agency and the requesting officer.
A valid legal process document (subpoena, court order, or search warrant) or a detailed description of the emergency for emergency requests.
The specific data requested and the specific user account(s) involved.
The legal authority under which the request is made.
Contact information for follow-up questions.

Requests that do not include valid legal process or that are overly broad will be challenged or rejected.

9. Content Removal Requests

TrekFreely hosts user-generated trip plans and personal safety data. We do not host public-facing user-generated content that would typically be subject to content removal requests. If you believe content on TrekFreely violates your rights, contact [email protected] with details.

TrekFreely
Colorado, United States