Privacy Statement
Purpose
The purpose of the statement is to inform users of this site with regard
to the collection and use of personally identifiable information.
Nothing herein should be construed to, nor does it, create any new or
different rights than those available under existing state and federal
laws. This policy only applies to information received through
interaction between Charleston County and the public through the
Charleston County Transportation "Half-Cent" Sales Tax Internet site.
Definition of Personally Identifiable Information
For the purposes of this statement, "personally identifiable
information" means any information relating to an identified or
identifiable individual who is the subject of the information. This
includes information such as names, addresses, social security numbers
and credit card numbers.
Personally Identifiable Information Not Routinely Collected
Users are not required to provide personal information simply to visit
Charleston County Web sites or to download information. Government
agencies may request personally identifiable information in order to
provide requested specialized services, but such information is handled
as it would be on an in-person visit to a government office.
Personally Identifiable Information that May Be Subject to
Public Disclosure
In the state of South Carolina, laws exist to ensure that government is
open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and
information possessed by a government agency. At the same time, there
are exceptions to the public right to access certain records in order to
preserve the privacy of individuals. Such exemptions are authorized by
both state and federal laws. Information collected by Charleston County,
like information collected during an in-person visit to a government
office, may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless
such an exemption in law exists. In the event that there is a conflict
between this Privacy Statement and a state or federal law governing the
disclosure of public records, the applicable state or federal law shall
control.
Use, Collection and Retention of Personally Identifiable
Information
The IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of computers used to visit
Charleston County Web sites are noted as part of the statistical
analysis used to better design government services and improve access to
them. However, Charleston County does not attempt to obtain personally
identifiable information on individual users or to associate individual
users with IP addresses.
Charleston County collects, retains, and uses personal information only
where it is lawful and is essential to administer and to provide
products, services and other opportunities requested by a constituent
via the Charleston County Internet site. It is the policy of Charleston
County to avoid the display of social security numbers on the Web sites
to the fullest extent possible.
Use of Cookies
Some Charleston County applications create "cookies" to hold user
information. These "cookies" are then sent to, and stored on, the user's
computer. Any Charleston County application or Web page that uses
"cookies" will identify itself as such. This information is handled in
the same way as other personally identifiable information obtained by
Charleston County. No user information will be gathered through the use
of "cookies" except that which is required to run the specific
application(s) being accessed by the user via the Charleston County
Internet site.
Use of Constituent E-mail Addresses
E-mail addresses obtained as a result of requests to Charleston County
Web sites will not be sold or given to any organization outside of
Charleston County agencies for marketing purposes. The information
collected is subject to the access and confidentiality provisions of the
State's Freedom of Information Act and other applicable sections of the
South Carolina Code of Laws and/or federal law. E-mail or other
information requests sent to Charleston County Web sites may be
maintained in order to: respond to the request, forward that request to
the appropriate agency, communicate updates to the Charleston County
website page that may be of interest to citizens, or provide the Web
designer with valuable customer feedback to assist in improving the
site.
Non-Charleston County Web Sites
Various Web sites will be linked through Charleston County. This
includes Web sites of other governmental agencies, as well as Web sites
of private entities. Many of these sites may not be subject to the South
Carolina Code of Laws, or may operate under different privacy standards.
Visitors to those Web sites are advised to check the privacy statements
of those sites and be cautious about providing personally identifiable
information without a clear understanding of how the information will be
used.
Contact Us
To offer comments about Charleston County or about information presented
in this Privacy Policy, you may contact Charleston County:
publicinfo@charlestoncounty.org
.
