Privacy Policy

Statement

PREAMBLE

Berrien County maintains this website as a public service to provide available services and information to our constituents. The purpose of this policy is to explain how Berrien County handles information collected from you during your visit to the County website. It is important to keep in mind that Berrien County does not collect personally identifiable information (name, address, email address, social security number, or other unique identifiers) on our website unless we specifically advise you that we are doing so.

Please Note: All information collected or maintained by Berrien County is subject to the Michigan Public Information act.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

We collect and store only the following information about you: the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (i.e., charter.net, if you are connecting from a Charter account, or comcast.net if you are connecting from Comcast's domain); the date and time you access our site; the item you requested from the server; and the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site. If your browser accepts cookies we may use a cookie to determine if you are a repeat or new visitor, or to understand how many different visitors come to our sites. When we examine this data, it is always presented in an aggregate form. Except as outlined in the Security section at the bottom of this document, we do not track or look at individuals' usage behavior.

CORRESPONDENCE

When you send us personally identifying information, (e.g., in an electronic mail message containing a question or comment), or by filling out a form that Emails us this information, Berrien County will use this information to respond to your request. We may also forward the information you submit (including your Email address) to other Government employees, who are better able to answer your questions.

We want to make it clear that we will not obtain personally identifying information about you when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information to us. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, or as otherwise required by law, we do not share any information we receive with any outside parties.

POLICIES FOR INDIVIDUALS UNDER 13 YEARS OF AGE

The County of Berrien is committed to complying fully with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Accordingly, if you are under the age of 13, you are not authorized to provide us with personally identifying information, and we will not use any such information in our database or other data collection activities. We appreciate your cooperation with this federally-mandated requirement. Users are cautioned that the collection of personal information volunteered by children online or by email will be treated the same as information given by an adult and may be subject to public access.

LINK DISCLAIMER

The documents posted on this Website may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for your convenience. Berrien County does not control or guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information from non-Berrien County sites.

Cautionary Note: The Berrien County privacy policy only applies to this website. When you follow a link to another site, even the sites of state agencies, local governments, and local Berrien County officials, this policy will not apply. You should check the privacy policy of each of these sites if you have concerns about how they handle personally identifiable information.

The inclusion of links or pointers to websites is not intended to assign importance to those sites or the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse or recommend any views expressed, or products or services offered on these sites.

SECURITY

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, Berrien County web servers employ industry-standard methods to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on Berrien County servers are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

In the specific context of this security monitoring, there is no expectation of privacy. However, only in the case of actual law enforcement investigations will we attempt to identify individual users or their usage habits.

COOKIES & BERRIEN COUNTY

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of information that is sent to your browser- along with a Web page- when you access a website. There are two kinds of cookies. A session cookie is a line of text that is stored temporarily in your computer's RAM. Because a session cookie is never written to a drive, it is destroyed as soon as you close your browser. A persistent cookie is a more permanent line of text that gets saved by your browser to a file on your hard drive. Depending on your browser settings, you may receive notification that a given site is requesting cookie information, possibly with an expiration date. Persistent cookies have an expiration date in the future. Session cookies have no date associated with them.

Berrien County's Use of Cookies

The site does not utilize cookies at this time.

COUNTY SEAL

It is a violation of the law to use the Berrien County Seal in an unauthorized manner. It is strictly prohibited for anyone to use the Berrien County Seal or any other official logo on the Berrien County website to imply an official endorsement, recommendation, partnership, or other relationship with Berrien County without the express written consent of Berrien County.

LEGAL NOTICES

Access to the County of Berrien's website is provided subject to the following terms and conditions. Please read these terms carefully as use of these sites constitutes acceptance of all of the following terms and conditions:

Disclaimer of Liability

Neither the County of Berrien nor any of its employees shall be held liable for any improper or incorrect use of the information described and/or contained herein and assumes no responsibility for anyone's use of the information. In no event shall the County or its employees be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement or substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this system, even if advised of the possibility of such damage. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury, including but not limited to those caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortuous behavior, negligence or under any other cause of action.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Accuracy of Data

Although the data found using the County of Berrien access systems have been produced and processed from sources believed to be reliable, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information. This disclaimer applies to both isolated and aggregate uses of the information. The County provides this information on an "as is" basis. All warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, freedom from contamination by computer viruses and non-infringement of proprietary rights are disclaimed. Changes may be periodically made to the information herein; these changes may or may not be incorporated in any new version of the publication. If you have obtained information from any of the County's web pages from a source other than the County pages, be aware that electronic data can be altered subsequent to original distribution. Data can also quickly become out-of-date. It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data associated with a file, and that the originator of the data or information be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, we encourage you to report them to the Web Master via email.

Disclaimer of Endorsement

The County of Berrien is a distributor of content sometimes supplied by third parties and users. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers, users, or others, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and do not necessarily state or reflect those of the County of Berrien and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the County.

Disclaimer for External Links

The County of Berrien contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites and resources. The County of Berrien is not responsible for the contents of any off-site pages referenced. The user specifically acknowledges that the County is not liable for the defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of other users, links, or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with the user. Links from the County of Berrien's web pages on the World Wide Web to other sites do not constitute an endorsement from the County. These links are provided as an information service only. It is the responsibility of the web surfer to evaluate the content and usefulness of information obtained from other sites. Since the County of Berrien website is not responsible for the availability of these outside resources or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to its site administrator or webmaster.

Disclaimer of Duty to Continue Provision of Data

Due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, resources that are free and publicly available one day may require a fee or restricted access the next, and the location of items may change as menus, home pages, and files are reorganized. The user expressly agrees that use of the County's website is at the user's sole risk. The County does not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error free. The documents and related graphics published on this server could contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. The County and/or its respective agencies and programs may make improvements and/or changes in the information and/or programs described herein at any time.

Security

The Berrien County Information Systems Department, as developer and manager of this website, has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its communications and computing infrastructure, including but not limited to authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption. Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day practices of Berrien County?s entire operating environment as part of its continuing commitment to risk management.

This information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided via supported websites.

Choice of Law

Construction of the disclaimers above and resolution of disputes thereof are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan. The laws of the State of Michigan, U.SA., shall apply to all uses of this data and this system. By use of this system and any data contained therein, the user agrees that use shall conform to all applicable laws and regulations and user shall not violate the rights of any third parties.