Privacy Policy
for the Official Website of the City of
Brewer
Individuals who visit the City of
Brewer
website are important to us. Because visitors
to our website are important, we do not capture personal information about them
without their permission. We endeavor to collect only the minimum amount of
information needed to meet the purposes for which the website was created.
Public
Disclosure
All information collected on the City of
Brewer website will be treated the same as any written communication and is
subject to the confidentiality and public disclosure provisions of 1 MRSA
Chapter 13 – Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Visitors to the City of Brewer Website
We may collect some or all of the following
information through our web hosts about visitors who view or download
information from our websites:
|
Information
|
Definition
|
|
Date
|
Date
the visit occurred.
|
|
Time
|
Time
the visit occurred.
|
|
Client
IP
|
Unique
Internet Protocol (IP) address of the website visitor. The IP address
recorded is normally that of the visitor's Internet service provider,
e.g., aol.com if the visitor connects from an America Online account.
|
|
Server
IP
|
Unique
Internet Protocol (IP) address of the City of
Brewer
web server accessed.
|
|
HTTP
Status
|
Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) error code. E.g., "404 Requested Page
Not Found."
|
|
HTTP
Request URL
|
Identifies
the web page or file requested by the website visitor.
|
|
Bytes
Sent
|
Amount
of data sent from the web server to website visitor during that
connection.
|
|
Bytes
Received
|
Amount
of data sent from website visitor to the web server.
|
|
User
Agent
|
Type
of web browser or other client software that made request to the web
server.
|
|
Referrer
|
Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) that referred to the requested file.
|
|
Protocol
Version
|
Version
of HTTP used by the visitor's web browser software.
|
The information we collect is used to improve
the content of our web services and help us understand how people are using our
services. The information in our website logs is not personally identifiable,
and we make no attempt to link it with the individuals that browse our website.
Some of this statistical information, such as
a running count of the number of visitors, may be displayed on the website or
shared with others to aid in the provision of better service to the public.
Personally Identifiable Information
"Personally identifiable
information" is information about a person that is readily identifiable to
that specific individual. It includes, for example, an individual's name, street
address, e-mail address, or phone number.
Personally identifiable information will not
be collected unless you voluntarily send an e-mail message, fill out and send an
online form, or fill out personal information and send in a survey. Your choice
not to engage in these activities will not impair your ability to browse our
website. However, it may impair your ability to utilize some of our online
services.
Unless specifically protected under state
law, any information provided may be inspected by the public or disclosed in a
legal proceeding.
E-mail Senders
E-mail messages, sent to any City of
Brewer
address, will be treated the same as any other
written communication. They may be subject to public inspection or legal
disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before they are destroyed.
E-mail or other information requests sent to the city website may be maintained
in order to respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate
department, or to provide the web designer with valuable customer feedback to
assist in improving the site. E-mail addresses obtained as a result of a request
to the city site will not be sold or given to private companies for marketing
purposes.
Electronic Form Filers
Any other information provided by a visitor
at the request of the City of Brewer, such as the completion and electronic
filing of a form, will be considered to be voluntarily provided by the visitor
and will be treated in the same manner as information provided in written form
or in person during a visit to a city department. Information provided may be
subject to public inspection and legal disclosure and may be saved for a period
of time before it is destroyed. It may be shared with another for appropriate
action.
Surveys
Surveys will be used for the purpose stated.
If personally identifiable information is collected it may be subject to public
inspection and legal disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before it
is destroyed.
Cookies
In order to better serve you, the user, we
may use cookies for certain types of online transactions.
Cookies are small text files that a web
server may ask your web browser to store, and to send back to the web server
when needed. Cookies may be used to store a transaction identifier or other
information a user may provide. We may use cookies in the following ways:
-
Complex transactions:
Cookies are used to store and retrieve unique transaction identifiers or
other server-generated or user-provided information in complex, multi-page
web applications. This allows us to distinguish between different users, and
to use information provided at one stage of an application at a later time
(for instance, items placed in a 'shopping cart' might need to be displayed
on a later 'check-out' screen). When we use cookies in this way, the cookie
is stored on your web browser only temporarily; the cookie is destroyed at
the end of the transaction or at the end of the browser session.
-
Customized Services:
Cookies may also be used to automatically identify a particular user to the
system, in order to provide a customized service, such as a personalized web
page. In this case, a cookie containing a unique user identifier will be
permanently stored on your web browser. We do not store sensitive
information in such cookies; only a unique user identifier or generic
preference values are stored. Personal information you give us for
processing a transaction or using one of our personalization features, may
be stored on our secure web server.
We do not use cookies in order to track your
visit to our website.
The "help" portion of the toolbar
on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new
cookies or how to disable cookies altogether. However, cookies allow you to take
full advantage of many of the City of
Brewer
services, and we recommend that you set your
web browser to accept cookies.
You can refuse the cookies or delete the
cookie file from your computer by using any of the widely available methods.
Disclaimer
Materials on this site are provided for
general informational and educational purposes only. Many of the materials are
from our archives or archives of others and should not be assumed to be
up-to-date. None of the materials are provided as specific legal advice.
Readers should not act upon any information without communicating directly with
the appropriate department. Web links are not intended as referrals or
endorsements of the linked entities.
Various websites may be linked through the
City of
Brewer
website. Visitors to those 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. This Privacy Statement does not apply to
non-City
of
Brewer
websites linked to the City of
Brewer
website.
Contact Information
To offer comments about the City of
Brewer
website or about information presented in this
Privacy Statement, contact webmaster@brewerme.org.
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