Standards, rights & privacy

Reporting and editorial perspective

Mountain House Live is an independent community media project, with Gourab Basu as founder and editor. Our sourced news accounts use AI assistance to summarize identified records and explain their local significance. They are not claims that we conducted independent interviews or witnessed each event. We do not speak for the organizations we cite. AI assistance does not remove our responsibility for the material we publish.

Articles identify the originating organization, source date and direct link. Reported facts, allegations and our interpretation must be distinguished. Local analysis explains our perspective on the disclosed facts; a standalone opinion column will be labeled as opinion. An opinion label or source credit does not justify a false factual implication. Disputed allegations, identifiable crime, fatalities and other reputation-sensitive claims are held for the editor rather than automatically published.

We separate proposals from approvals, upcoming events from past events, and background from current notices. A compilation date is not the publication date of every underlying item. We do not require filler or invented developments to meet a story count.

Original sources and rights

Our short takeaway and expanded account are newly written descriptions of the facts in the linked source. They are not the source publication’s full text. The source’s words, photographs, logos, videos, and other creative material remain with their respective rights holders. A link or credit is not a license to copy a work. We reproduce third-party content only when we have permission, a suitable license, or a legally supportable exception. The source link is provided for verification and does not imply affiliation or endorsement.

Mountain House Live’s own interviews and original editorial writing remain its material, subject to the rights of participants and contributors. A submitted pitch or video link is held for review and is never published automatically. We seek permission and check rights before featuring submitted media.

Local imagery and credit

A publicly visible forum post, social photo or video thumbnail is not free stock. Before showing an image within an article, we record the photographer, original page, documented ownership, permission or license, any required attribution and modification notice, the actual event and date, and whether the image might misleadingly imply endorsement. We prefer founder-shot local images. Where reuse rights are uncertain, we link to the original or use an official embed when allowed instead of copying it.

Published images are indexed by source and content fingerprint. An image is withheld when its release or license conditions remain unresolved; an explicit notice replaces it on the page and in the PDF. Captions identify illustrative or historical photographs and their real location. Creative Commons photographs carry source, author, license and modification credits with each article. Stock-photo terms may restrict particular uses and do not necessarily clear rights in recognizable people, property or trademarks. Illustrations do not imply the depicted person or organization is involved in or endorses a story. The September 18 tennis-center still is withheld pending public-release rights review. Earlier newspapers retain their original editorial context.

Accuracy, corrections and changing information

Content is for general information and community discussion, not individualized legal, medical, financial or emergency advice. Confirm time-sensitive details with the original source or responsible organization. Weather and road-closure feeds can be delayed or unavailable; they are not an emergency alert system, an all-clear, or a promise of traffic speeds or travel times. For emergencies, contact the responsible emergency service.

Use the request form to identify the article URL, exact statement and evidence supporting a correction. We review concerns and may correct, update or remove material. Material factual corrections receive a dated note. A submitted request is not an automatic deletion or an admission that an allegation is accurate.

Free launch and future services

The public launch is free English reading, archives and newspaper PDFs. No payment or account is required to read English. Translation, narration and paid memberships have not launched and remain under testing. Daily email delivery has not started. Joining an optional update list does not create a subscription or charge your card.

Before paid services are released, their supported languages, price, billing frequency, renewal terms, cancellation method and any taxes will be disclosed. Future translated text can contain errors. Future synthesized narration will be labeled and will require speaker permission, editor approval and an approved matching-language voice. A narrator does not endorse the articles they read. Availability will depend on completed testing and the approved service allowance.

Past events and portrait films

Time-sensitive episodes move to the archive when their event has passed or an editor marks them as historical. The recording remains available with a notice that event details may have expired. A portrait film may celebrate a person’s documented contribution, but it must distinguish the person’s actions from those of an organization or city, identify its sources, and use licensed footage and music. Inviting the subject to review factual details does not transfer editorial control or imply endorsement.

Advertising and other relationships

No paid advertising or sponsored placements are active in this free launch. Sponsored material, paid promotion, gifted access and other material connections will be labeled clearly and kept separate from editorial accounts. A source link, interview or profile does not imply an organization’s endorsement of Mountain House Live. Contributors do not gain editorial control by submitting material.

Privacy notice

Effective October 2, 2026. This notice covers information collected through this Mountain House Live website. Gourab Basu oversees editorial and privacy requests through the form below. Reading the English edition does not require an email address or account. Please avoid submitting sensitive personal information.

Information we collect and why. If you choose the update form, we save your email, chosen plan, language, optional topics and consent time to handle your launch-update request. Existing daily-email opt-ins are stored separately and do not establish an active delivery service. A story pitch saves your name, reply email, category, title, pitch, optional video link and consent for editorial review. A correction, rights or privacy request saves your reply email, request type, item URL, details and review state so we can locate the issue and respond. Device-local reading preferences are saved in browser storage.

Accounts and voice testing. Signing in for restricted features uses ChatGPT authentication; identity and access information is processed to control access. Voice nominations and service testing remain deferred from the public launch. Any existing or editor-test nomination stores the contributor’s account identifier, language, credit name, own-speaker consent, private recording and review state. The original is restricted to that contributor and the editor. Uploading does not automatically create a clone. A separately authorized test may send a reference to the selected speech provider. Withdrawal removes the original and blocks future site playback; provider-clone deletion is a separate editor action and downloaded audio cannot be recalled. A separately authorized translation test sends edition text to the selected translation provider, not the reader’s submitted contact list.

Service providers and sharing. ChatGPT/OpenAI and the site’s Cloudflare hosting, database and media-storage services process information needed to serve and secure the site, including ordinary connection and security logs. The editor accesses submissions to handle their stated purpose. If a reader opens a YouTube player, YouTube/Google receives connection information and may use cookies or other identifiers under its own policy. Externally loaded thumbnails or opened source links likewise contact their hosts. Future authorized translation or speech tests use the chosen provider for that function. We do not sell the submitted contact list or use it for advertising audiences. Information may also be disclosed when required by law or necessary to address security incidents or legal claims.

Tracking and browser choices. The site application does not install advertising pixels or cross-site audience analytics. It does not change its behavior in response to a browser Do Not Track signal. Hosting, authentication and third-party media services apply their own privacy practices; other parties such as YouTube may collect information about activity across sites when you use their media or visit their links. Embedded YouTube playback uses the privacy-enhanced player and loads after you choose a video. You can read news without opening a player and can clear the site’s local reading preference in your browser. Google privacy notice ↗ · OpenAI privacy notice ↗ · Cloudflare privacy notice ↗

Retention and your choices. Submitted records are retained while needed to handle the request, editorial review or the consented update, and as needed for security or legal recordkeeping. There is no automatic expiration rule for contact submissions. Use the form below to request access, correction, deletion or withdrawal of your update consent. We may ask for enough information to verify and locate your record; do not send identity documents in the form. Requests are reviewed manually, and applicable legal obligations or rights may limit deletion. Backup and provider records may follow their own retention cycles. Submission does not guarantee publication. The forms are not intended for children under 13; do not send a child’s contact details or private recording.

Changes to this notice. Material changes will be posted here with a new effective date and a notice on the site. A materially different use of submitted information will be described before that use, with additional consent where required.

Terms of use and limits

English reading and personal downloads are free. You may share links to our public editions. Third-party text and images retain their own rights; a downloadable newspaper is not a license to extract or reuse someone else’s photograph or work. A pitch is permission to review and contact you, not an automatic transfer of every right or permission to publish a person’s private information.

Information may be incomplete or out of date. To the extent permitted by law, content is provided without guarantees of accuracy, completeness, uninterrupted availability or suitability for a particular purpose. Nothing here excludes liability or limits rights that applicable law does not allow us to exclude or limit. These terms do not replace verification, lawful rights clearance or a proper response to a complaint.