Policy Statement for the Town of Branford website

Thank you for visiting the Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut.

This statement provides you with information regarding the policies we have established and follow by which we protect the privacy and integrity of the information we collect.

This statement describes:
Who we are. What information we collect via our Web Site(s), and how the information is collected. How we use and protect the information we collect.What choices are available to you regarding collection, use, and distribution of the information.

Linkage

The Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut provides links to many web sites that are not controlled, maintained, or regulated by us. As such, we are not responsible for the content of those web sites. Use of information from those web sites is voluntary. Rely on that information only after undertaking an independent review of its accuracy. References at those web sites to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Official Site of Branford, Connecticut. When you link to another site you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.

Terms of Use

By visiting the Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut, users agree that they will not use the Site for any unlawful activity or use it in any way that would violate the following terms and conditions.

Use of Communication Forums

The Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut, has, will, or may contain threaded discussions, chat rooms, ListServs and other communication forums. By participating in any of these, users agree to send and receive messages that are both proper and related to the forum topic. The following actions are unacceptable practices:

  • Defaming, harassing, threatening, or otherwise violating the legal rights of others, including their privacy (see below);
  • Misrepresenting one's person, background, or character;
  • Posting any defamatory, infringing, obscene, false or unlawful material;
  • Selling, advertising, or exchanging any goods or services unless expressly allowed;
  • Posting any copyrighted material owned by a third party.

Also, you agree to use any Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut forum at your own risk. While championing proper use of such forums, The Town of Branford cannot guarantee that violations of the above code will not occur.

Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the State of Connecticut that all government records are open for public inspection as provided in the Connecticut General Statutes as may be amended from time to time. When you use our Site, you are acknowledging that personal information you provide is subject to Connecticut's Public Records laws as stated in the Connecticut General Statutes. We may be required to disclose that information under certain circumstances.

You do not have to give us personal information to visit our Web Site, download our publications, use our e-mail communications, and many other features. We collect no personal information about you when you visit Branford's Web Site unless you choose to provide this information to us. We will use the information that you voluntarily provide to us to notify you of selected content changes or new publications. We may also use it to conduct statistical analyses of user activities in order to measure user interest in the information we provide and how we provide it. However, we do collect and store some non-personal information automatically.

The following is an example of some of the information we may collect:

What We Collect and Store Automatically

  • Name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, xcompany.com, if you use a private; Internet access account, or yourschool.edu if you connect from an educational institution's domain);
  • The page from which you came and the pages that you access;
  • Date and time you access our Site;
  • Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our Site;
  • Your system's IP (Internet Protocol) address; and
  • The type of browser and operating system you used to access our Site.

We use the information we collect in aggregate to count the number of and types of visitors to the different pages on our Site, and to help us make our Site more useful to visitors like you.

How we use the personal information we collect

Our primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide you with a secure, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. We may use your personal information to:

  • provide the services and customer support you request;
  • process transactions and send notices about your transactions
  • resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems;
  • prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce our User Agreement;
  • customize, measure, and improve our services and the content and layout of our website;
  • compare information for accuracy and verify it with third parties.

How We use Cookies

In order to process some transactions (or in the future to customize content specific to your geographic area or interests), we may use cookie technology. A cookie is data that is stored on your computer's hard drive or is stored temporarily by our system. This data allows your browser to communicate with our Web servers. We use the cookie to track your progress during a transactional process-like paying your real estate taxes online. When your transaction is completed, the cookie is saved on your PC. The only time we create a cookie is when you conduct a multi-part transaction.

You may choose to reject all cookies by modifying your browser preferences. However, if you do no accept cookies, you will not be able to use some of our functions that require their use.

Disclaimer Regarding Accuracy of Information

Visitors to, and users of the Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut, are advised that information contained within the pages of the Site is believed to be accurate. However, errors can occur-even with computer-generated information. The Town makes no representation regarding the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of such information and data or that such information and data will be error-free. In the event that the information on the Town's official printed documents differs from the information contained on this Web Site, the information on the Town's official printed documents will control and take precedence. Please be aware that in the event an error or omission occurs, the Town of Branford will use all of its resources to recover fees and taxes due to it.

Visitors are encouraged to review the official version of all documents upon which they plan to rely. Any special notices related to the accuracy or the currency of specific elements of data presented in our Site will be defined on those specific pages.

Site Security

When you use your credit card, debit card, or on-line checks to do business on the Official Site of the Town of Branford, Connecticut, we do our best to protect the integrity and privacy of your account information with advanced technologies. Our systems use Internet data encryption technology, known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, and Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).We will not be taking credit card information into our servers or databases.

However, even with advanced technologies, it is not always possible to prevent unauthorized access or unauthorized disclosure. The Town makes no representation and assumes no responsibility or liability concerning the accuracy of the information or for any loss which might result to the user by the use of this Web Site. Please be aware that in the event unauthorized access, unauthorized disclosure, third party intervention, or any loss occurs due to error, omission, or inaccurate information being displayed on this Web Site, Branford reserves the right to recover any unpaid fees and taxes.

Refund Policy

Because we are a municipality we operate under State and Federal FOI laws and are compliant with them. We charge fees for requested products and services. Typical services are: building permits, dog licenses, park/ beach parking permits etc.The refund policy for the Town of Branford website will be consistant with the Town of Branford municipality, all refunds will be on a per case basis and should be presented to the department from which the service was purchased.

Intrusion Detection

For security purposes and to help ensure this service remains available to you, we use special software programs for monitoring network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise to cause damage to this government computer system. These programs collect no information that would directly identify individuals, but they do collect information that could help us identify someone attempting to tamper with this Web Site.

If you use this system, you should understand that all activities may be monitored and recorded. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring. WARNING - If such monitoring reveals possible evidence or information of criminal or suspicious activity, monitoring records may be provided to law enforcement officials.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, we make no other attempts to identify individual users or their usage habits. We only use raw monitoring data logs for determining trends in usage patterns and in diagnosing system problems.

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