Web Site Privacy Policy

Introduction
Thank you for visiting the County of Sonoma’s public web site. This site has been designed to assist visitors in locating and using local government resources and services. The County of Sonoma is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to this web site. As a result, you should be aware of the following information regarding data collection on this web site.

Usage Statistics
Like most web sites, we collect anonymous statistical information about the visitors who use the information and services we provide. The data we gather is used to analyze the performance of our hardware and software systems, determine the needs and interests of web site visitors and improve the overall effectiveness of our web site. This includes information such as:

• Web domain (www.aol.com, www.sonic.net, etc.)
• Internet connection’s IP address (192.168.0.270, etc.)
• Web browser brand and version (Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.02, etc.)
• Operating system and version (Windows 98, Linux, etc.)
• Errors in the pages viewed (Hyperlink errors, missing pages, etc.)
• Time required to open and view files

Cookies
A cookie is a small text file containing a random and unique alphanumeric identifier that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your web browser (unless you set your browser to reject cookies) that enables our systems to recognize your browser.

We do not store any personally identifiable information in cookies.

In some cases our websites use browser cookies to maintain session and preference information, or provide other complex functionality. In some sites, cookies are used to capture IP addresses for statistical analysis. You may adjust your Internet browser to disable the use of cookies and other web technologies; however, some features of this website may be disabled (such as preferences selected during a previous visit) if you block these technologies.

Personal Information
Visitors to the County of Sonoma web site are not required to enter personally identifiable information to access data and services. As a convenience, many departments and agencies offer assistance through the web site as an alternative to calling, writing or visiting their offices. To receive assistance through the web site a visitor may be asked to voluntarily supply personal information such as:

• Name
• Electronic Mail Address
• Mailing Address
• Phone Number

This information is used by County of Sonoma personnel for internal purposes and is never sold to outside agencies, we do not collect or use this information for commercial marketing.

E-mail Privacy
Please note that electronic mail is sent to the County of Sonoma email system and may be subject to archiving and review by someone other than the intended recipient.

Links
Web sites maintained by the County of Sonoma may contain links to external web sites maintained by government, non-profit or private organizations. Links are provided as a convenience to our visitors and do not constitute an endorsement of content, viewpoint, policies, products or services of that web site. Once you follow a link to a web site that is not maintained by the County of Sonoma you are subject to the terms and conditions of use for that web site, including its privacy policy.

In an effort to distinguish links to external web sites from internal County of Sonoma web sites, we typically open a separate window of a smaller size for external web site links.

Contacting Us
Should you have questions about this Privacy Policy or other practices relating to our web site please contact the Webmaster via email.

or write to:

Webmaster
Web Services Team
County of Sonoma Information Systems
2615 Paulin Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403