Purpose

This policy's main objective is to assure website visitors that their right to privacy is of primary concern to the City of Columbus. It contains information about what data are collected and how that information is used. This policy may be updated periodically, so please check back from time to time.
When you follow a link to another web site, even the site of another governmental agency, you are subject to the privacy policy of that site. You should check the privacy policies of each of these sites if you have questions about how they handle personally identifiable information.

Automatic Collection of Certain Information

No personally identifiable information is collected from visitors who simply browse this site or who download information from it. While our web servers maintain logs of user activity to help us manage the web site, information stored in these logs or in cookies does not identify you personally. The logs store things such as the domain name and IP address from which you access our site, the type of browser and operating system you used, the date and time you accessed our site, the pages visited and the address of the site that you linked to us from (if you linked to our web site from another web site).
We use this information to learn how many visitors we have, where they are coming from, which parts of our web site are of most interest to visitors, and other facts that will help us improve the web site and the services we offer.

Personal Information

Visitors who request services through this site may be required to furnish additional information in order for us to provide the service requested. The additional information collected will be no more specific than if the visitor were requesting the service by any other means, including by telephone or an in-person visit to a city or county facility. If you participate in a survey, send us an email or submit an online form, your email address and the other information you volunteered will be collected. We may share this information with other governmental agencies or organizations to provide the help you are requesting. We may also use that information to help assess user needs and analyze trends.
If you use this web site for electronic commerce, we may collect, process and disclose your name, address and payment information (if applicable) to the extent necessary to complete the online transaction and for record-keeping activities as billing, permits and licenses.

Privacy and Security

We will not rent, sell, or provide any Internet information identifying you individually (name, address, phone, number, etc.) to third-parties for marketing or mailing list. We will not send you unsolicited e-mail regarding any commercial offers or advertisements at any time.
Some information that you submit to us through this web site may be protected by encryption technology, whereas other information may not. Unless a particular web page on this site indicates that encryption technology is being used, you should not assume that information you submit through that web page will be secure. If you submit information to our server through a web page containing visible indicators of active encryption technology, we will take reasonable precautions to safeguard the confidentiality of such information. The City shall not be held liable for any injury caused by the disclosure of your information, whether by security breach, accident, inadvertence, or any other act resulting in disclosure.

Public Records

Information submitted through the City of Columbus' website may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request. Information submitted through the City's website may be shared with another governmental agency if the visitor's inquiry relates to that agency. Certain types of information (such as electronic payment information) are exempt from disclosure as public records. If you have questions about the Ohio Public Records laws, refer to State of Ohio's Revised Code, Section 149.43, Availability of Public Records.

Disclaimer

The City of Columbus, Ohio, its agencies, departments, officers, nor employees warrant the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on the City of Columbus' website. The city does not endorse any content, viewpoints, products, or services on or linked from its website system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by any reliance on such information. Portions of the City of Columbus website's information may be incorrect or outdated. Any person that relies on any information obtained from the City of Columbus' website system does so at his or her own risk.

Linking Policy

This policy describes the terms for linking to and from all non-library Web sites maintained by the City of Columbus. The City of Columbus' Director of Technology is responsible for administering this policy.
City of Columbus Web sites contain hypertext links to other World Wide Web Internet sites. This information is created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. The City is not responsible for, and accepts no liability for, the availability of these outside resources. Linked Web sites are not under the control of, nor maintained by, the City of Columbus. The City is not responsible for the content of these Web sites, which can and do change frequently; nor for any internal links the displayed Web sites may contain. In addition, inclusion of the linked Web sites does not constitute an endorsement or promotion by the City of Columbus of any persons or organizations sponsoring the displayed Web sites. The linked Web sites are provided to further the purposes of the City and as a convenience to the public, not as a benefit to the linked party.
The City of Columbus will link to sites of its choosing to better support the needs of citizens, city employees and visitors by providing useful information in a more efficient manner. Links to commercial web sites, individual homepages, political candidates, political parties or organizations, and ballot issues are generally prohibited, however, if a person or organization is a partner or sponsor with the City, a logo or statement of their sponsorship may be permitted on the City's Web site.
The City periodically reviews external links on the City's Web site to confirm the link still furthers City purposes. The Director of Technology, or his/her designee, has the right to deny or delete a link at its sole discretion at any time and without notice.

Whenever a user selects a link to a site not controlled by the City of Columbus, a warning disclaimer must be included on the same page, warning the user that he/she is leaving the City's web site. The disclaimer will appear at the bottom of the page where the external link(s) are located, informing the user that City does not endorse the product or entity for which a link may be provided, and the City is not responsible for the content or availability of this external link.
This policy does not give any party the right to link on the City of Columbus Web site. You may email or submit a written request for a link to the Department of Technology's Web Team (put in postal and email address). You will subsequently be notified whether your link will be included on a City of Columbus Web site, within 30 days of your communication to the City. If you do no receive a written confirmation from us within 30 days you should consider that your request has been denied without prejudice to the later refilling of the request. If approved, the link is not to exceed the duration of an event without additional approval.

Linking to Columbus.gov

Unless you are subsequently advised otherwise by the City of Columbus, Director of Technology, you are granted permission to create hyperlinks to the content of a Web site maintained by the City of Columbus, provided that the link accurately describes the content as it appears on the site. No relationship with the City is to be implied or expressed by the link or the context in which the link appears. The link shall open to the City's Web site in a full browser window and not within the content of the linking site, such as in an HTML frame. The City has the right to revoke this permission at any time. Be advised that the City's site organization, page titles, and URL's may change at any time. The City is not responsible for notification of these changes.