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Conditions of Use
Thank you for visiting the CSGnet
web site and reviewing our Use Policy. Please be aware that the
State has a privacy policy, also available on this web site. The
State wants you to know about the collection, use, security and
access to information that may be obtained through use of California's
web portal. By visiting this web site, you are accepting the policies
and practices described in this Notice which covers the following
topics:
Please note that this Use Policy is subject to
change without notice, and that it reflects the State's current
business practices. This policy is dated December 7, 2000.
Also note that each department within the State
may have additional privacy and use policies specific to the mission
and needs of its work. Be sure to review those policies as you access
additional sites within the State.
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CHOICE
"Personal information" is information
about a natural person that identifies or describes an individual,
including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security number,
physical description, home address, home telephone number, education,
financial matters, and medical or employment history, readily identifiable
to that specific individual. A domain name or Internet Protocol address
is not considered personal information; however, it is considered
"electronically collected personal information".
According to Government Code ยง 11015.5, "Electronically
collected personal information" means any information that
is maintained by an agency that identifies or describes an individual
user, including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security
number, physical description, home address, home telephone number,
education, financial matters, medical or employment history, password,
electronic mail address, and information that reveals any network
location or identity, but excludes any information manually submitted
to a state agency by a user, whether electronically or in written
form, and information on or relating to individuals who are users,
serving in a business capacity, including, but not limited to, business
owners, officers, or principals of that business.
"Electronically collected personal information"
we automatically collect includes your domain name or Internet Protocol
address, and statistical information about which web pages you visit.
If you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for specific
information (i.e., completing a request for assistance, personalizing
the content of the web site, sending an e-mail or participating
in a survey), more detailed data will be collected. If you choose
not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way
affect your ability to use any other feature of the web site.
If any type of personal information is requested
on the web site or volunteered by the user, state law, including
Information Practices Act of 1977, Government Code Section 11015.5,
and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this
information may be a public record once you provide it, and may
be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected
by federal or state law.
Additionally, departments and agencies of the State
of California are required to adhere to the Privacy Policy which
is also accessible on this web site. Please see Department of General
Services Management
Memo 00-14, effective January 1, 2001.
A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT
CHILDREN
Children are not eligible to use services that
require submission of personal information and we require that minors
(under the age of 18) do not submit any personal information to us.
This includes submitting personal information to the State as part
of a user profile or personalization profile. If you are a minor,
you can use these services only if used together with your parents
or guardians. If you are a minor, you should seek guidance from your
parents.
If the State decides to begin collecting personal
information from children, it will notify parents that it is being
requested, disclose the reasons for collecting it, and disclose
our intended use for it. The State will seek parental consent before
collecting any personally identifiable information. If it does collect
it, parents may request information on the type of data being collected,
view their child's information and, if they choose, prohibit the
State from making further use of their child's information. The
State will not provide personal information about children to third
parties.
INFORMATION COLLECTED AND
HOW IT IS USED
We do collect personal information directly
from individuals who volunteer to use some of our services. Collection
of this information is required to deliver the specific services,
but use of these services is voluntary.
If you do nothing during your visit to the web
site, but browse or download information, we automatically collect
and store the following information about your visit:
- The Internet Protocol Address and domain name are used, but
not the e-mail address. 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 and generate statistics used
in the management of this site;
- The type of browser and operating system you used;
- The date and time you visited this site;
- The web pages or services you accessed at this site;
- The web site you visited prior to coming to this web site;
- The web site you visit as you leave this web site;
- If you downloaded a form, the form that was downloaded.
The information we automatically collect or store
is used to improve the content of our web services and to help us
understand how people are using our services. This information does
not identify you personally and is used for gathering web site statistics.
The information we automatically collect and store in our logs about
your visit helps us to analyze our web site to continually improve
the value of the materials available. Our web site logs do not identify
a visitor by personal information, and we make no attempt to link
other web sites with the individuals that browse the State's web
site.
Government Code § 11015.5 (6) prohibits all
state agencies from distributing or selling any electronically collected
personal information, as defined above, about users to any third
party without the permission of the user. The State does not sell
any "electronically collected personal information". Any
distribution of "electronically collected personal information"
will be solely for the purposes for which it was provided to us.
The State may provide or distribute certain lists
and statistical reports of regulatory information as provided by
law, but no personal information is sold or distributed and all
relevant legal protections still apply to the State's web sites.
WHAT HAPPENS TO INFORMATION
YOU SUBMIT TO US?
If you choose to submit information to us, the
information will be transmitted through secure lines to our departmental
database. Any private information will only be used for the purposes
for which it was provided and will not be shared with another entity,
except as prescribed by law. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional
information.
USE OF INTERNET REQUEST
FOR ASSISTANCE FORM INFORMATION
Any information you provide to us will only
be shared with entities involved in your case, as necessary. Information
you provide may be included with other consumers' information to be
used for statistical reporting, trending data, and/or investigative
actions. For example, we may need to retain information that becomes
part of an enforcement action or consumer complaint case for a period
of time after the closing date of the case.
If you provide us with information regarding an
issue that does not fall within our regulatory jurisdiction, we
may refer your information to the appropriate local, state or federal
agency on your behalf.
SURVEYS
If during your visit to the State's web site
you participate in a survey or send an e-mail, the following additional
information will be collected:
- The e-mail address and contents of the e-mail; and
- Information volunteered in response to the survey.
The information collected is not limited to text
characters and may include audio, video and graphic information
formats you send to us.
The information is retained in accordance with
Government Code § 11015.5.
IF YOU SEND US E-MAIL
You may choose to provide us with personal information,
as in e-mail with a comment or question. We use the information to
improve our service to you or to respond to your request. Sometimes
we forward your e-mail to other state employees who may be better
able to help you, and this staff may be employed by a different agency
within the State. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations
or as required by law, we do not share our e-mail with any other organizations.
We use your e-mail to respond appropriately. This
may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further
improve our web site, or to forward the e-mail to another agency
for appropriate action.
ORDER FORMS
If you place an order with us, we request information
from the user on our order form. A user must provide contact information
(like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit
card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing
purposes and to fill your order/request. If we have trouble processing
an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with you.
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
In the State of California, 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. These exceptions serve various needs, including maintaining
the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions.
All information collected at this site becomes
public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the
public, unless an exemption in law exists. In the event of a conflict
between this Use Policy and the Public Records Act, the Information
Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure of records,
the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other applicable
law will control.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Under Government Code § 11015.5, if you
choose, you may have any personal information collected about you
discarded without reuse or distribution, provided we are contacted
in a timely fashion.
AUTOMATIC COLLECTION OF INFORMATION/COOKIES
Cookies are simple text files stored on your
computer by your web browser. The State portal (MyCalifornia (my.ca.gov))
does not use cookies to maintain personalization. However, some
departmental applications accessed through the portal may use cookies.
The State makes every attempt to avoid the use
of cookies. When needed to maintain the functionality of an application,
unlike the common usage of cookies, the State only uses cookies
during the session in which you access our interactive applications.
Cookies created on your computer by using this
web site do not contain "personal information" and do
not compromise your privacy or security. We use the cookie feature
only to store a randomly generated identifying temporary tag on
your computer. You can refuse the cookie or delete the cookie file
from your computer by using any of the widely available methods;
however, if you turn your cookie option off, you may not be able
to access some of the features in our interactive applications.
SECURITY
The State, as developer and manager of this
web site, has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its
telecommunications and computing infrastructure, including, but not
limited, to authentication, monitoring, auditing and encryption. Security
measures have been integrated into the design, implementation and
day-to-day practices of the entire state operating environment as
part of its continuing commitment to risk management. This information
should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal or other
advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided
via the State's supported web site. The technical standards governing
security are enforced by the Department of Information Technology.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Our web site has links to sites we believe might
be useful to you and which may provide services. When you link to
another site, you are no longer on our site and are subject to the
privacy policy of the new site.
This web site and the information it contains are
provided as a public service by the State of California. 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.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
The State attempts to maintain the highest accuracy
of content on its web site. Any errors or omissions should be reported
for investigation.
The State makes no claims, promises or guarantees
about the absolute accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the contents
of this web site and expressly disclaims liability for errors and
omissions in the contents of this web site. No warranty of any kind,
implied, expressed or statutory, including, but not limited to, the
warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability,
fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus,
is given with respect to the contents of this web site or its hyperlinks
to other Internet resources. Reference in this web site to any specific
commercial products, processes or services, or the use of any trade,
firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience
of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation
or favoring by the State of California or their employees or agents.
This Use Policy is subject to change without notice.
OWNERSHIP
In general, information presented on this web
site, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain.
It may be distributed or copied as permitted by law; however, the
State does make use of copyrighted data (e.g., photographs) which
may require additional permissions prior to your use. Furthermore,
the unique branding of the site and various official seals and marks
may not be used without permission of the State. In order to use any
information on this web site not owned or created by the State, you
must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources.
The State shall have the unlimited right to use for any purpose, free
of any charge, all information submitted via this site, except those
submissions made under separate legal contract. The State shall be
free to use, for any purpose, any ideas, concepts or techniques contained
in information provided through this site. |
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