PRIVACY

Public and User Privacy Policy

Purpose:

The purpose of this policy is to establish privacy guidelines for the information Erie MetroParks collects on its website.

Scope:

Board of Park Commissioners, all Erie MetroParks employees, including exempt and non-exempt; full-time, part-time, interns and seasonal staff.

Objective:

To protect personal information of Erie MetroParks’ users by not disclosing, misusing, selling, distributing, or sharing private information without user consent or permission, in compliance with federal law.

Definitions:

IP address: a unique string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.

URL:
is one type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); the generic term for all types of names and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web. The term “Web address” is a synonym for a URL that uses the HTTP or HTTPS protocol.

Cookie: A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings.

Related Policies:

3.4 Process for Public Information, Community Relations, Marketing; 3.5 Management Information Systems, 3.5.1 Application of Technology

Policy:

Erie MetroParks shall protect public and user privacy in compliance with the federal laws, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM).

Procedures:

Erie MetroParks is committed to protecting public and user privacy by creating a safe and secure online environment for anyone who visits and uses our website and the reservation system on our site or in house.

Erie MetroParks collects personal information from our visitors only on a voluntary basis. We do not require this information for customers to obtain access to our website. However, in order to register for some of the programs offered on the Erie MetroParks website, a person may have to provide personal information such as name, address, phone number and email so that Erie MetroParks may contact the person for program confirmation, as well as process credit card information to complete a financial transaction relating to a program or service.

Occasionally, Erie MetroParks may also ask for personal information (such as age, ZIP code or which parks a person visits) for our own internal marketing use. This information also is provided solely on a voluntary basis. Erie MetroParks assures those providing such information that we will maintain his or her privacy and will not sell, rent or share this information with third parties. In compliance with the CAN SPAM Act, only those people who ask to be added to our e-newsletter list or who ask for information from us will receive emails from Erie MetroParks. We also offer an “unsubscribe” feature that allows a person to discontinue email communications from Erie MetroParks’ e-newsletter at any time.

This website uses cookies to enhance users’ browsing experience. A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings.

Below is a list of the types of cookies used by this site and their definitions.

Preferences

These cookies allow our websites to remember information that changes the way the site behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region you are in.

Analytics

Google Analytics is Google’s analytics tool that helps website and app owners to understand how their visitors engage with their properties. It may use a set of cookies to collect information and report website usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google.

In addition to reporting website usage statistics, Google Analytics can also be used to help show more relevant ads on Google properties (like Google Search) and across the web.

Session State

These cookies inform the browser when and how a user engages with the site and allow content to appear or remain hidden based on a users interaction. For example, a notification may appear to an individual user only once a day, regardless of how many times they visit the site in a single day. Without these cookies, these notifications would appear every time the user visits the site.

Cookie Opt-Out

Some people prefer not to allow cookies, which is why most browsers give you the ability to manage cookies to suit you.

Some browsers limit or delete cookies, so you may want to review your cookie settings and ads settings. In some browsers you can set up rules to manage cookies on a site-by-site basis, giving you more fine-grained control over your privacy. What this means is that you can disallow cookies from all sites except those that you trust.

In the Google Chrome browser, the Tools menu contains an option to Clear Browsing Data. You can use this option to delete cookies and other site and plug-in data, including data stored on your device by the Adobe Flash Player (commonly known as Flash cookies).

Regarding personal identifying information pertaining to a child (age 12 and under) collected on its website, pursuant to COPPA, Erie MetroParks shall retain such personal information for only as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected.  Erie MetroParks then shall delete such information using reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to, or use of, the information.

Erie MetroParks posts its privacy policy on its website.

General statistical information and data about our website and its visitors, such as IP addresses (Internet provider), browser type, domain names, access times, duration of visit, referring URL (web address), operating system platform, timestamp and exit page information are gathered for statistical purposes only, as part of our confidential website analysis. None of this data is personally identifiable.Erie Metro Parks will not reveal or use a website visitor’s name, address or any other personal data for anything other than our internal use, unless required to do so by law.

Approved By:

Executive Director – 10/3/2016

Erie MetroParks Employee Guide Board Approved:  10/17/2016