City of Manhattan Beach Privacy Policy
The City of Manhattan Beach is committed to protecting online users' privacy. We believe that protection of personal privacy on the Internet is important to assure citizen confidence, increase participation in online activities and support effective delivery of services. The purpose of our policy is to inform you about the types of information we gather when you visit our site, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the choices you have regarding our use of the information.
If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personally identifying information, or fill out an electronic form that e-mails us, or otherwise collects this information, we will only use the personally identifiable information to respond to your request and analyze trends. We may redirect your message to another government agency or person who is in a better position to answer your question or respond to your request for service, or to one of our service providers that work with the City in providing services to the public.
We collect some information that is used for analysis and statistical purposes that help us manage the City of Manhattan Beach web site(s).
We automatically collect electronically generated information about your visit to our site, such as the date, type of browser used, and technical Internet protocol data. We collect this information about each user session from our user logs, and refer to it in summary form for statistical purposes.
This information may include such things as name, address, telephone number, and other personal and business data, depending on the particular service you use. We collect only that data necessary to provide the service that you are requesting.
At any time, while accessing our site(s), any user, while online, may decline participation in any activity that asks for information (i.e. survey, e-mail or e-commerce). Your choice not to participate will in no way affect your ability to use other features on our site(s). In online applications that ask for personal information, you also are provided the option of canceling and terminating the application. However, obviously if you do not identify yourself we will not be able to respond back to you.
We do not use "persistent" cookies to collect personal information. We may use "persistent" cookies (which would reside on the user's computer) to increase ease of use or to identify you as a unique anonymous visitor to our site for statistical purposes. Such a cookie might contain the user's ID number, thereby relieving the user of having to always enter the number.
We do use "non-persistent" cookies in applications (such as the online permitting application) that keep track of a user's online session and make it possible for you to complete a form or use a function, but this cookie disappears when you finish using an application.
As a governmental agency, we are governed by public records laws. Any information that we receive through use of our site is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper. Otherwise, we do not share personal identifying information with any third party without your permission. We disclose only in aggregate form our statistical analyses or demographics of users to third parties. This information is not reported or used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information, and will not be released to any outside parties unless we are legally required to do so in connection with law enforcement investigations or other legal proceedings.