Privacy Policy

Purpose Of Policy

This policy addresses the following privacy and security practices during your visit to the County's website:

• What we automatically collect online
• Why we collect information
• How private information will be used
• Choices on how we use the information you provide
• Information practices for children
• Cookies or other tracking devices
• What security measures have been implemented
• What is being monitored
• Methods of securing your information
• Your rights under the Privacy Act of 1974

This Privacy & Security Policy explains our online information practices only and does not apply to non-county websites that you are able to reach from this website. We encourage you to read those privacy policies to learn how they collect and use your information.

Scope

This policy facilitates xxx.ocgov.com email domain name uniformity by including:

• Alternatives to the policy
• Costs
• Domain name options for ocgov.com
• Email domain naming standard
• Implementation and migration
• Name registration process
• Recommends periodic review

This standard applies to agencies/departments participating in the standard email domain naming conventions. Grandfathered agencies/departments are not governed by this policy, however all agencies/departments are encouraged to follow this standard.

What We Automatically Collect Online

We collect information about your visit that does not identify you personally. We can tell the computer, browser, and web service you are using. We also know the date, time, and pages you visit. Collecting this information helps us design the site to suit your needs.

In the event of a known security or virus threat, we may collect information on the web content you view.

Why We Collect Information

Our principal purpose for collecting personal information online is to provide you with what you need and want, address security and virus concerns, and to ease the use of our website.

We will only use your information for the purposes you intended, to address security or virus threats, or for the purposes required under the law. See "Choices on How We Use the Information You Provide" to learn more.

We collect information to:

• Respond to your concerns
• Reply to your "feedback comments"
• Manage your access to restricted areas of the website
• Monitor Website activity that is visited
• Fulfill requests for reports and other similar information
• Register you for a member account

How Private Information Will Be Used

We may share personally identifiable information you provide to us online with representatives within the County of Orange's Administration and related entities, other government agencies, or other named representatives as needed to speed your request or transaction. In a government-wide effort to combat security and virus threats, we may share some information we collect automatically, such as IP address, with other government agencies.

Also, the law may require us to share collected information with authorized law enforcement, homeland security, and national security activities. See the Privacy Act of 1974 below.

Choices On How We Use The Information You Provide

Throughout our website, we will let you know whether the information we ask you to provide is voluntary or required. By providing personally identifiable information, you grant us consent to use this information, but only for the primary reason you are giving it.

We will ask you to grant us consent before using your voluntarily provided information for any secondary purposes, other than those required under the law.

Information Practices For Children

We do not intentionally collect information from children under the age of 13. If in the future we choose to collect personal information from children, we will comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Cookies Or Other Tracking Devices

A "Cookie" is a small text file stored on your computer that makes it easy for you to move around a website without continually re-entering your name, password, preferences, for example. We only use "session" cookies on our website. This means we store the cookie on your computer only during your visit to our website.

After you turn off your computer or stop using the Internet, the cookie disappears with your personal information.

What Security Measures Have Been Implemented

Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day practices of the entire County operating environment as part of its continuing commitment to risk management.

The technical standards governing security are enforced by the County's Executive Office Information Technology department. These standards are generally derived from Generally Accepted Security Principles and Practices for Securing Information Technology Systems, published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a division of the United States Department of Commerce.

What is Being Monitored

The County of Orange provides this website and the information it contains as a public service. This system is monitored to ensure proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for comparable purposes. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring. Unauthorized attempts to modify any information stored on this system, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution.

Methods of Securing Your Information

• Properly securing the information we collect online is a primary commitment. To help us do this, we take the following steps to:
• Employ internal access controls to ensure the only people who see your information are those with a need to do so to perform their official duties
• Train relevant personnel on our privacy and security measures to know requirements for compliance
• Secure the areas where we hold hard copies of information we collect online
• Perform regular backups of the information we collect online to insure against loss
• Use technical controls to secure the information we collect online including but not limited to:
  • Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
  • Encryption
  • Firewalls
  • Password protections
  • We periodically test our security procedures to ensure personnel and technical compliance
  • We employ external access safeguards to identify and prevent unauthorized attempts of outsiders to hack into, or cause harm to, the information in our systems

Tampering with County of Orange's website is against the law. Depending on the offense, it is punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

Your Rights Under The Privacy Act of 1974

The Privacy Act of 1974 protects the personal information the federal government keeps on you in systems of records (SOR) (information an agency controls recovered by name or other personal identifier). The Privacy Act regulates how the government can disclose, share, provide access to, and keep the personal information that it collects. The Privacy Act does not cover all information collected online. The Act's major terms require agencies to:

• Publish a Privacy Act Notice in the Federal Register explaining the existence, character, and uses of a new or revised SOR
• Keep information about you accurate, relevant, timely, and complete to assure fairness in dealing with you
• Allow you to, on request, access and review your information held in an SOR and request amendment of the information if you disagree with it.

When the County of Orange collects information from you online that is subject to the Privacy Act (information kept in an SOR), we will provide a Privacy Act Statement specific to that collected information.This Privacy Act Statement tells you:

• The authority for and the purpose and use of the information collected subject to the Privacy Act
• Whether providing the information is voluntary or mandatory
• The effects on you if you do not provide any or all requested information