The City of Salem takes your privacy seriously. This policy addresses collection, use and security of, and access to, information that may be obtained through use of www.cityofsalem.net. The information presented here is not meant to be a contract of any type, either express or implied, and should not be considered or treated as such by site visitors. The information in this disclaimer and policy may change at any time, without prior notice to any person. This disclaimer and policy shall not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail-proof the security of private information. This disclaimer and policy does not describe information collection policies on other sites, including those linked to or from this site.

You may choose whether to provide personal information online.

“Personal information” is information about a person that is readily identifiable to that specific person. Personal information includes such things as name, address, and phone number. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information.

We collect no personal information about you unless you voluntarily choose to provide it to us by sending us email, subscribing to notifications, participating in a survey, completing an online form, or engaging in an online transaction.

If personal information is requested on the site or volunteered by the user, state law and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information is treated like any other information provided to the City, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected by federal or state law.

If you do nothing during your visit to our web site but browse, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information. We automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

1. The Internet Protocol Address and the apparent Fully Qualified Domain Name (“Domain Name”) used. The Internet Protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet Protocol Address to direct Internet traffic to you. This address can be translated to determine the domain name of your service provider (e.g. xcompany.com or yourschool.edu) or of your computer if your computer has a domain name assigned directly to it. Generally, the City only determines visitor domain names if a security issue is suspected. Unless you have directly registered a domain name, this information will not provide the City with your name or address;
2. The type of browser and operating system you used;
3. The date and time you visited this site;
4. The web pages or services you accessed at this site; and
5. The web site you visited prior to coming to this website.

In order to improve the content and usability of this website, this information is automatically collected for statistical purposes. The information automatically gathered does not identify you personally. This information is used by the City’s software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this site remains available to all users, the City’s site also employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the state Computer Trespass law and federal statutes including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations and the security purposes mentioned elsewhere in this notice, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with Oregon public records retention schedules.

What we collect if you volunteer information

If during your visit to our site you subscribe to notifications, participate in a survey, send an email, or perform some other transaction online, the additional information may be gathered and stored, including, but not limited to:

1. Email address and contents of email.
2. Information volunteered in response to a survey.
3. Information volunteered through an online form for any other purpose, such as applying for a permit or making an inquiry of City staff.
4. Information contained in an online transaction with the City.

The information collected is not limited to text characters and may include audio, video, and graphic information you send us.

We will use your email address to respond to you. Survey information is used for the purpose identified by the survey. Information from other online forms is used only for conducting City business related to the online form.

Information provided as part of an online transaction is used only for the purpose of completing and recording the transaction. Information requested will be no more specific than if a visitor were engaging in the transaction by other means, including by telephone or in-person visit to a City facility. In all cases, the City attempts to collect only the minimum information necessary to provide the service requested.

The City does not sell, rent or otherwise distribute visitor information, including electronic mail addresses, to any outside company or organization, unless required to do so under Oregon’s Public Records Law. The City does not disclose credit card or other personally identifiable financial information other than as necessary to complete a credit card or other financial transaction, or upon explicit permission from the applicable user, or compelled by judicial order or law.

Any information you provide to the City is a public record. Oregon’s Public Records Law exists to ensure that the activities of government take place in the open and that the public has a right to see and obtain copies of records in the possession of public bodies. There are limited exceptions to this general rule. You can obtain more information on these exceptions at: http://www.doj.state.or.us/pdf/public_records_and_meetings_manual.pdf

In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Notice and Oregon’s Public Records Law or other law governing the disclosure of records, the Public Records Act or other applicable law will control.

Some information and services available through this site require us to be able to identify visitors. Visitors interested in viewing and participating in these online services must register for a password-protected account. Your choice to not register will not impair your ability to browse, read, or download general information provided on the site.

The City wants to ensure that your information and preferences are accurate and complete. If you have registered at cityofsalem.net, you may access and change your information at any time by visiting the area of the site where it was submitted. This site is designed to minimize or eliminate the need to submit personal or personalized information more than once using single sign-on technology.

If a registered user has elected to receive further communication from the City, cityofsalem.net will only send information in categories that have been authorized. All e-mail notifications to you from cityofsalem.net tell you how to stop receiving them. Please follow the instructions if you no longer wish to receive the e-mail notifications. If a cityofsalem.net user has elected not to receive further information from the City, cityofsalem.net will not send such information.

Cookies are a type of information collected by a web browser that distinguishes among visitors to a website and are sometimes used to store contextual information during multiple visits from a single person to a website. The use of cookies is a standard practice with Internet websites.

Cookies come in two forms: persistent and temporary. Persistent cookies are placed on the user’s file system and can be read during the current and future browsing sessions. Temporary cookies exist in memory only and are destroyed at the end of a session (the session ends when the user logs off, is logged off automatically due to inactivity, or when the web browser is closed).

The City does not use persistent cookies without an opt-in election by the user. An example of persistent cookies use would be to remember the user login account—only if the user selects the “Save” option from the login page. The City may use temporary cookies that do not survive the browsing session.

A user of cityofsalem.net may have the opportunity to create a password for access or to submit personally identifiable information. A user should not divulge his or her password to anyone, and the City will never ask a user to divulge a password in a telephone call, fax, e-mail or other form of unsolicited communication.

When a user is finished with an application that is password protected, the user should logout and close the relevant page or pages. If the browser used to access the password protected pages is a publicly-accessible browser, the user should close the browser.

The City has integrated security measures and systems that are industry standard or better into the design, implementation, and day-to-day operation of cityofsalem.net and its underlying servers and networks. The City maintains ongoing efforts to identify and/or block unauthorized intrusions into cityofsalem.net, and to upload to or change information on or otherwise cause damage to cityofsalem.net.

Increasingly, users have the option to do business with the City over the Web, including making electronic payments for goods and services. Such transactions are allowed only under tightly controlled circumstances, where there are appropriate technological and other safeguards in place to protect financial and other sensitive data.

The design of the electronic commerce systems supported on the City’s web site is such that financial data remains primarily with the financial institutions. Wherever possible, financial information is not seen or collected by the City itself. Instead, designated banks route the data, transfer the funds and confirm payment to both the user and the City. In addition, measures such as encryption are used to ensure the integrity and security of user’s financial information.

The City’s web site has links to other websites. These include links to websites operated by other government agencies, and nonprofit organizations that engage in activities that further the City’s mission. When you link to another site, you are no longer on the City’s website and this Privacy Notice will not apply. When you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site. Visitors linking to another website are encouraged to examine the privacy policy of that website.

The City does not endorse any content, viewpoint, product, or service by virtue of the fact that a link to a government agency’s or non-profit organization’s website has a link on the City’s website, and the City may not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information on such other websites. Any user that relies on any information obtained from a website linked to the City’s website does so at that user’s own risk.

The City believes that protecting children’s privacy online is extremely important, and respects national and international laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), which applies in the United States. Nothing contained on cityofsalem.net is directed to children under 13, and the City does not knowingly collect personal information from children. However, the City is unable to verify or monitor the age of visitors to the site. Collection of personal information requested from or volunteered by children online or by email will be treated the same as information given by an adult, and may be subject to public disclosure.

Any agency providing personally identifiable health care information via cityofsalem.net will be required to certify that its health care data handling and security procedures are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). If such data and security services are provided to such agency or agencies by a third-party provider, the agency or agencies shall be responsible for such third party’s compliance with HIPAA.

The content of cityofsalem.net’s web pages is copyrighted, and also may contain some images or graphics where the copyright is held by a third party. Permission from the City and/or third party shall be obtained from the City before downloading, copying, reproducing or otherwise using images/graphics.

All approved City of Salem social media sites are listed on the City’s website at Connect with Us. These sites are intended to serve as mechanisms for communications between the public and City departments on topics related to department activities. Any comments submitted to these locations are public records subject to disclosure pursuant to ORS 166-200-0005. By obtaining information from and interacting with the City through any of the approved City of Salem social media sites, you agree to the City of Salem Social Media Terms of Use.

The City of Salem makes no warranty or guarantee concerning the accuracy or reliability of any information available at these sites or any other social media site to which these sites are linked. Links or references to other information or organizations do not constitute an endorsement.

If you have any questions or concerns about the City of Salem’s use of your information or about this Disclaimer and Policy, please send an email to our Webmaster at webmaster@cityofsalem.net and note “Privacy” in the subject line.