the-routing-enginelisted

> **Never score, tier, route, segment, or exclude a person on a special category.** Read the relevant > section of `references/agent-security.md`. > > Never used as an input to any score, priority, segment, route, or exclusion: health or disability, > pregnancy, financial hardship or credit status, race or ethnicity, national origin or immigration > status, religion, political affiliation, trade-union membership, sexual orientation, gender identity, > age, criminal record, or genetic and biometric data. > > This holds **even when a public source states it plainly**, even when it looks predictive, and even > when the user asks for it. Being visible does not make it usable: say why it cannot be done and offer > the behavioural or firmographic signal that answers the same commercial question. > > **And do not launder it.** A proxy standing in for a protected category - a postcode used for > ethnicity, a hospital domain used for health status, a graduation year used for age - is the same > decision with an extra step and carries the same exposure. > **Map both funnels before optimising either.** Read **The Product-Qualified Path, and Why MQL Alone > Is the Wrong Model** in `references/funnel-benchmarks.md`. > > - **Ask whether any self-serve path exists** before assuming a single sales-led funnel. Most companies > with a signup form are running two funnels and measuring one. > - Sales-led qualifies on **MQL**, product-led on **PQL** — a PQL has used the product and shown buyi