PIERCE COUNTY WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY

At Pierce County, your privacy is important to us. This easy-to-understand privacy policy explains what information we collect and how it is used.

OUR POLICY ON YOUR PRIVACY

Simply put, if you visit Pierce County’s website, some information about your visit will be collected. If you choose to provide us with personal information through our website or emails, the information you provide us will be recorded. Since we are a government agency, certain circumstances may require us to release your information, in accordance with laws regarding public records. However, we will not release your information to any third party, except as required by law.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Pierce County gathers the following kinds of information from site visitors:

Automatically collected information:

We may gather information about your visit to our site through automatic means, and may capture, among other things, the pages you viewed, the date, time, and length of your visit, the type of web browser you used to access this site, and the website you visited before you came to our site. Such automatically collected data does not include personal information, meaning information about a natural person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. Personal information includes such things as an individual's name, address, and phone number. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information.

Voluntarily provided information:

During your visit to the Pierce County website, you may choose to participate in an online forum, subscribe to an electronic newsletter, register for various site features, participate in polls or surveys, or provide your email address and other personal information.

COOKIES

The Pierce County Website is cookie enabled. This means that in certain cases, we may place a text file called a "cookie" in the browser files of your computer. We use these cookies to track user traffic patterns and to provide you with a site experience more aligned with your preferences. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites.

You can refuse cookies by disabling them in your internet browser. However, disabling cookies may prevent you from using certain Pierce County site features and may lower the quality of your site experience.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION

The information you voluntarily provide, as well as the information that is automatically collected from your site visit, is used to enhance your site experience and to provide you with information you requested.

HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION

As stated above, Pierce County does not share your information with any third party, except as required by law.

SECURITY MEASURES

Pierce County uses leading encryption and firewall technology to protect your personal information. Our security and privacy policies and procedures are periodically reviewed and updated to maintain a high level of security. Our policy states that only appropriate and authorized individuals have access to the information collected from our site visitors.

OPT-OUT POLICY

Wherever we ask for personal information, we will always attempt to provide you with a means to opt out of the process. For instance, if you subscribe to a newsletter and later decide that you wish to discontinue receiving it, we will provide a simple process that allows you to end that service.

Certain site features may require a reasonable amount of personal information to access them, such as requiring your email address to email you a newsletter. Our goal is to make the site as accessible as possible, while still working to maintain an appropriate level of security.

AGREEMENT TO TERMS

By using this site, you consent to the terms of this privacy policy and to the collection and use of this information by Pierce County.