Chesterfield County, Virginia
Internet Privacy Policy Statement

Modified July 29, 2004

The following information explains the Internet Privacy Policy which Chesterfield County, Virginia has adopted for its chesterfield.gov Web site. The following is intended to explain our current Internet privacy practices but shall not be construed as a contractual promise. We reserve the right to amend our Internet Privacy Policy and Internet Privacy Policy Statement at any time without notice.

The Privacy Act

We maintain our records in accordance with our obligations as defined by applicable Virginia statutes, including, but not limited to, the "THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974," the "Virginia Freedom of Information Act," and by any applicable U.S. Federal laws.

Links to Other Web Sites

Because the county cannot control the sites to which we link, it cannot be held responsible for content included in them. Moreover, in no way should an external link be considered any form of endorsement by Chesterfield County.

Information contained on chesterfield.gov provides links that are maintained by other public and private organizations. Because the county cannot control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of sites to which it links, the county cannot be responsible for their content. Further, the inclusion of pointers to particular items in hypertext is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered by the author of the reference or the organization operating the server on which the reference is maintained.

Cookies Policy

Transient cookies are small temporary pieces of data held in your computer and do not collect any personally identifiable information about you, the user, while visiting our site.

Persistent cookies are small permanent pieces of data stored by your computer on your hard disk and typically expire after some designated time frame.

Chesterfield.gov makes use of transient cookies to do things like maintain continuity from page to page or populate a form field within our site. These transient cookies are held only in the memory of your machine temporarily and vanish as soon as you close your browser. Chesterfield.gov does NOT make use of persistent or "permanent" cookies anywhere within our site.

Information We Collect

When you access our Web site, the information listed below is automatically collected. No other information is collected through our Web site.

• Routing information - the Internet domain and Internet address of the computer you are using.
• Essential technical information - identification of the page or service you are requesting, type of browser and operating system you are using; and the date and time of access.
• Nonessential technical information - the Internet address of the Web site from which you linked directly to our Web site.

When you deliberately decide to send information (for example, by clicking on a link to send us an email.) The information you might choose to send us is listed below as "optional information."

• Optional information - when you send us an email, your name, email address, and the content of your email; when you fill out online forms, all the data you choose to fill in or confirm.

Usage of Data Collected on Our Web Site

Some of the services that we provide require personal information to be sent to us via the county's Web site, chesterfield.gov. We will not use or share the information collected on our site in ways unrelated to the purpose for which you provided the information. Chesterfield County will use your information only to fulfill your requests for certain services, or to personalize your experience on our Web site.

If you send us e-mail, you should know that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication includes sensitive information (like your bank account, credit card, or social security number) please contact the appropriate county personnel via postal mail or telephone, rather than e-mail (see Contacting the Web Site below.)

From time to time, we may be required to provide personally identifiable information in response to a court order, subpoena, or government investigation. We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful. We may disclose certain personally identifiable information when we believe that such release is reasonable, necessary to enforce or apply our terms and/or conditions, or to protect the rights, property and safety of others or ourselves.

Please be aware that Web sites that have links on our site may collect personally identifiable information about you. This privacy statement does not cover the information practices of those parties and Web sites linked to chesterfield.gov.

Security

Chesterfield County has security in place to protect against the loss, misuse or unauthorized alteration of information under our control. This security includes:

Firewalls

A firewall is a combination of hardware and software used to regulate access.

Secure Socket Layer

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a process (based upon industry standards) that encrypts information transferred between your browser and Chesterfield County.

Web Services – "Gateway Chesterfield"

Web Services are government services offered to subscribers over the Internet and identified on the county’s Internet site as "Gateway Chesterfield." The subscriber of Web services is authenticated through a Personal Identification Number (PIN) issued by the County. A subscriber may receive a PIN through the Single-Sign-On Web application.

Single Sign-On

This provides subscribers of "Gateway Chesterfield" with a single-sign-on to access government services over the Internet. To receive a PIN you are required to provide some personal information and information specific to the services the subscriber would like to access. Application for a PIN constitutes as agreement to the following terms of use.

Terms of Use

These terms constitute an agreement between a "Gateway Chesterfield" subscriber and Chesterfield County regarding the use of "Gateway Chesterfield." Violations of these terms may result in termination of a subscriber's access to the services provided through "Gateway Chesterfield."

Terms of use are

• A subscriber is required to have a PIN issued by Chesterfield County to use "Gateway Chesterfield."
• The subscriber is responsible for maintaining the confidentially of their PIN.
• The subscriber agrees not to use "Gateway Chesterfield" or any of its information for any purpose that is unlawful.
• The subscriber is responsible for reporting loss of PIN information.

Contacting the Web Site

If you have general questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this Web site, your experience with this Web site, or if you chose to review or correct any information you previously submitted, you can contact the Webmaster.

Email: webmaster@chesterfield.gov

Chesterfield County Information Systems Technology
Attn: Webmaster
PO Box 40
Chesterfield, VA 23832

If you have department or service specific concerns, please see our department contact list at http://chesterfield.gov/phonedirectory/