Terms of use

What this site is

Loudoun Data Center Watch is an independent, volunteer-run project that maps data center facilities in Loudoun County, Virginia, using the county's public GIS data, and collects first-hand accounts from residents about how those facilities affect them.

It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by Loudoun County government, Erin Brockovich or the Brockovich Data Center Reporting project, or any data center owner, operator or tenant.

Community reports are unverified accounts

Reports published on this site are submitted by members of the public describing their own experiences. They are moderated for the standards below, but they are not investigated, measured, corroborated or verified.

A report is not a finding of fact. It does not establish that any condition exists, that any company caused it, or that anyone has broken any law or permit condition. Anyone relying on this data — journalists, researchers, officials — should treat it as a self-selected sample of resident accounts and describe it that way.

Facility information

Facility locations, statuses, floor areas, zoning and ownership come directly from Loudoun County GIS. Ownership fields reflect the recorded property owner in county land records, which is frequently a holding company rather than the business operating the facility, and which may be out of date. The presence of a facility on this map, next to a community report, does not assert any connection between the two.

If you believe facility information shown here is inaccurate, tell us and we will check it against the county source and correct or remove it.

Submitting a report

By submitting a report you confirm that:

• you are describing your own first-hand experience, not something you were told;
• what you have written is true to the best of your knowledge;
• you own or have permission to submit any photographs you attach;
• you are not identifying any private individual, or making an allegation of illegal conduct against a named company;
• you are 16 or older.

Permission to publish

You keep ownership of everything you submit. You give this project a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to publish, display and distribute the non-private parts of your report — your description, categories, impact rating, district, ZIP code, approximate location and photographs — on this site and in exports of this site's data.

You are not giving permission to publish your name, contact details, street address or exact location. Those are never published. See the privacy policy.

You can withdraw this permission at any time by asking us to remove your report.

Moderation

Every report is reviewed before publication. Reports may be edited for length or declined at our discretion, in particular where they:

• identify a private individual;
• allege illegality or wrongdoing by a named company;
• are second-hand, abusive, defamatory, or obviously automated or duplicated;
• fall outside Loudoun County.

Holding a critical view of data center development is not a ground for rejection. Describing a real experience in strong terms is not either.

Using data from this site

Community report data, as published, may be reused for journalism, research, advocacy and civic purposes, provided it is attributed to this project and described accurately as unverified resident-submitted accounts. Do not use it to identify, contact or harass any individual or household.

Facility data belongs to Loudoun County GIS and is subject to the county's terms. Map tiles are © OpenStreetMap contributors under the Open Database License.

Automated bulk collection, attempts to circumvent the submission limits, and any use intended to disrupt the site are not permitted.

No warranty, no liability

This site is provided as-is, by volunteers, with no warranty of accuracy, completeness or availability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the people running it are not liable for any loss arising from use of, or reliance on, anything published here.

Nothing on this site is legal, medical, environmental or financial advice. If you are considering action about a facility near you, talk to a qualified professional.

Corrections and takedowns

If something here is wrong, or a report concerns you or your organisation, contact us. We will look at it promptly, correct or remove what should be corrected or removed, and tell you what we did. We would much rather fix a mistake than defend one.

No contact address has been configured for this deployment yet. Set CONTACT_EMAIL in js/config.js.

Not an emergency service

Nobody monitors this site in real time. If there is an immediate risk to health or safety, call 911. For noise happening right now, call the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office non-emergency line on 703-777-1021. See Resources for the county's official channels.

Changes

These terms may be updated. Material changes affecting reports already submitted will be flagged on the site.