{
  "updated": "July 10, 2026",
  "publisher": "Real Estate Agent AI Index Research Desk",
  "policy_scope": "Consumer research publication, shortlist worksheet, future permission-based introductions, and ranking independence.",
  "ranking_independence": {
    "summary": "Ranking placement cannot be purchased.",
    "rules": [
      "Commercial relationships cannot buy rank, badges, favorable scoring, category placement, or source edits.",
      "Consumer shortlist requests do not change rankings.",
      "Corrections require public source evidence and do not guarantee higher placement."
    ]
  },
  "privacy": {
    "summary": "The site is an informational publication with narrow, purpose-specific consumer, agent, correction, evidence, and press intake paths. Browsing does not require personal information.",
    "allowed_future_fields": [
      "consumer_role",
      "target_market",
      "price_band",
      "property_type",
      "timeline",
      "representation_preference",
      "proof_priorities",
      "contact_permission"
    ],
    "prohibited_fields": [
      "Social Security numbers",
      "bank credentials",
      "loan documents",
      "private financial files",
      "legal dispute files",
      "medical or protected-class information"
    ],
    "consumer_control": "Follow-up is permission-based and includes a practical opt-out path.",
    "agent_claim_control": "Agent profile claims collect business identity and contact information for verification. Quarterly score or program updates require a separate explicit opt-in; submitting a claim alone is not marketing consent.",
    "press_inquiry_control": "Press inquiries collect professional identity, outlet, business email, deadline, and the question asked. A reply requires explicit permission, and the route must not be used for source-confidential files or unrelated sensitive data."
  },
  "analytics": {
    "provider": "Google Analytics 4",
    "enabled": true,
    "measurement_id": "G-HW0M63HRHS",
    "purpose": "Aggregate traffic, page-use, referral-source, and device-category measurement for publication improvement.",
    "advertising_features": false,
    "google_signals": false,
    "ad_personalization": false,
    "consent_defaults": {
      "ad_storage": "denied",
      "ad_user_data": "denied",
      "ad_personalization": "denied",
      "analytics_storage": "granted"
    },
    "visitor_control": "Visitors can deny or restore analytics storage from the Privacy page in the current browser.",
    "google_privacy_url": "https://policies.google.com/privacy",
    "google_analytics_safeguards_url": "https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9019185"
  },
  "terms": {
    "summary": "The Index is a public-evidence research tool, not legal, tax, lending, valuation, or fiduciary advice.",
    "consumer_checks": [
      "Interview candidates directly.",
      "Verify license status and disciplinary history through official sources.",
      "Confirm fees, representation scope, team responsibilities, and service terms.",
      "Review any referral or compensation disclosure before choosing an agent."
    ]
  },
  "referral_disclosure": {
    "summary": "Future referral or introduction compensation must be disclosed and must remain separate from the ranking methodology.",
    "compensation_entity": "Max T Jones PC",
    "activation_prerequisites": [
      "Referral agreements must name Max T Jones PC as the compensation entity before any referral-fee workflow is activated.",
      "A per-market license, referral-fee, brokerage, and disclosure check must be completed before consumer introductions are activated in that market.",
      "A market must be publicly launched through the proof-gate process before any lead-capture activation can route consumers to referral workflows.",
      "Consumer permission, privacy routing, opt-out handling, and no-storage fallback must pass before any real submission is stored or routed.",
      "Ranking placement, scores, badges, category labels, and editorial language must remain isolated from referral status and commercial relationships."
    ],
    "rules": [
      "A paid relationship cannot change a score.",
      "A paid relationship cannot cause an unqualified candidate to appear as ranked.",
      "Consumer permission is required before using submitted information for follow-up introductions.",
      "Consumers should know when a commercial relationship may exist before relying on an introduction.",
      "Any referral-fee agreement must identify Max T Jones PC and the applicable market-specific compliance review."
    ]
  }
}