Web Site Privacy & Information Disclosure Notice

Thank you for visiting our web site. This notice addresses privacy concerns about the information collected on this site.

The following topics are covered:

1. Links to Other Sites - A Disclaimer
2. Information Collected When You Just Browse
3. Public Disclosure
4. Personal Information and Nondisclosure
5. Requesting Personal Information Inspection
6. Secure Transmission
7. Cookies
   
8. Asking questions about this policy

Links to Other Sites - A Disclaimer (return to top)

This site has links to other web sites as a convenience to our customers. These include links to web sites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses. When you use one of these links, you are no longer on this site and this Privacy Notice will not apply. When you link to another web site, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site.

Information Collected When You Just Browse (return to top)

If you do nothing during your visit to this web site but browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the standard data collected by all web server software. That information is as follows:

1. The Internet Protocol (IP) address and domain name used (but not the e-mail address). The IP address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet IP to respond to your browser request.  Example: 122.125.36.42;
2. The Domain name (DNS) assigned on the Internet to your IP Address (if there is one).  Example:   somename.com;
3. The type of browser and operating system you used.  Example:  Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows NT; IE4WDUS-1998101501);
4. The date and time you visited this site;
5. The web pages or services you accessed at this site; and
6. The web site you visited prior to coming to this web site. (Note: this is included so that summary analysis can be done on how visitors get to this site, i.e., from a search engine, from a link on another site, etc.)

We summarize this information to determine how often our pages are being used (5). We do not track individual user navigation choices. We summarize what browsers are being used on our site to determine what techniques we can use to develop pages that will work with different browsers (3).  And we summarize our traffic by organization name to determine such things as the search engines that are good at directing people to the site (6) and what organizations are our most frequent users (2) to better target our content for the audience.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this site may monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. If security monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, system personnel may provide the results of such monitoring to appropriate officials. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the state law and federal statutes including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.

Public Disclosure (return to top)

All information collected at this site becomes a public record unless an exemption in law exists. ORS Chapter 192 contains the Oregon Public Records Law and other program specific ORS's and OAR's.

In the State of Oregon, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public's right to access public records that serve various needs including the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions. We may request personally identifiable information from you in order to provide requested services, but such information is handled as it would be on an in-person visit to a governmental office.

Personal Information and Nondisclosure (return to top)

"Personal information" is information about a natural person that is readily identifiable to that individual, such as an individual's name, address and telephone number. Such personal information may be exempt from disclosure if disclosure would constitute an unreasonable invasion of privacy under the circumstances. A domain name or Internet Protocol (IP) address is not considered personal information. Most information collected by state government is assumed to be open to the public unless specifically exempted. ORS Chapter 192 contains the Oregon Public Records Law.  Under this law, individuals are permitted to request that public officials not disclose a public record that contains their home address and telephone number under certain circumstances. ORS 192.445 specifies how to request non-disclosure.

E-mail

If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personal information, or fill out a form that e-mails us this information, we will only use the information needed to respond to your request. We may redirect your message to another government agency that is in a better position to answer your question.

The information collected is subject to the access and confidentiality provisions of the Oregon law including ORS Chapter 192.

Forms

Each electronic form that collects personal information on this site will have a specific privacy statement or a link to the privacy statement that explains the conditions (if any) under which information may be shared with other parties.

Requesting Personal Information Inspection (return to top)
You have the right to review information collected about you by this site. Contact the agency that provides the service you requested.

Secure Transmission (return to top)
For secured-data transmission, this site uses the industry standard encryption software, Secure Socket Layer (SSL). The URL in your browser will change to "HTTPS" instead of "HTTP" when this security feature is invoked. Your browser may also display a lock or key symbol on its task bar to indicate invoked secure transmission. If these indicators are not present, any information is susceptible to interception by other parties. Most Internet e-mail communication will not be secure. If you are communicating sensitive information, you might want to consider sending it in by postal mail.

Cookies (return to top)
A cookie file is a small text file created by a web site on your computer hard drive that contains unique information the site can use to track such things as passwords, lists of pages you've visited, the date when you last looked at a specific page or to identify your session at a particular web site. A cookie is often used in commercial sites to identify the items selected for a specific shopping cart application. If cookies are used on the web site, their use will be clearly marked. While most browsers have an option that allows you to control the use of cookies; their use might provide some features that can not be used if cookies are turned off. Each application start page where cookies are used will have a specific statement that explains the use of the cookies, what information is being stored, and whether the information is deleted or retained for future use when you complete your session.

Asking questions about this privacy notice (return to top)
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact the DCBS Webmaster, Royann Janus. (royann.a.janus@state.or.us).