Privacy Policy

Purpose
The purpose of this statement is to inform users of this site with regard to the collection and use of personally identifiable information. Nothing herein should be construed to, nor does it, create any new or different rights than those available under existing state and federal laws. This policy only applies to information received through interaction between Georgetown County and the public through Georgetown County's internet site.

Definition of Personally Identifiable Information
For the purposes of this statement, "personally identifiable information" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual who is the subject of the information. This includes information such as names, addresses, social security numbers and credit card numbers.

Personally Identifiable Information Not Routinely Collected
Users are not required to provide personal information simply to visit Georgetown County's website or to download information. Government agencies may request personally identifiable information in order to provide requested specialized services, but such information is handled as it would be on an in-person visit to a government office.

Personally Identifiable Information that May Be Subject to Public Disclosure
In the state of South Carolina, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by a government agency. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public's right to access certain records in order to preserve the privacy of individuals. Such exemptions are authorized by both state and federal laws. Information collected by Georgetown County, like information collected during an in-person visit to a government office, may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless such an exemption in law exists. In the event that there is a conflict between this Privacy Statement and a state or federal law governing the disclosure of public records, the applicable state or federal law shall control.

Use, Collection and Retention of Personally Identifiable Information
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of computers used to visit Georgetown County's website are noted as part of the statistical analysis used to better design government services and improve access to them. However, Georgetown County does not attempt to obtain personally identifiable information on individual users or to associate individual users with IP addresses.

Georgetown County collects, retains and uses personal information only where it is lawful and is essential to administer and to provide products, services and other opportunities requested by a constituent via the Georgetown County website. It is the policy of Georgetown County to avoid the display of social security numbers on the website to the fullest extent possible.

Use of Cookies
Some Georgetown County applications may create "cookies" to hold user information. These "cookies" are then sent to, and stored on, the user's computer. Any Georgetown County application or webpage that uses "cookies" will identify itself as such. This information is handled in the same way as other personally identifiable information obtained by Georgetown County. No user information will be gathered through the use of "cookies" except that which is required to run the specific application(s) being accessed by the user via the Georgetown County Internet site.

Use of Constituent E-mail Addresses
E-mail addresses obtained as a result of requests to Georgetown County will not be sold or given to any organization outside of Georgetown County agencies for marketing purposes. The information collected is subject to the access and confidentiality provisions of the State's Freedom of Information Act and other applicable sections of the South Carolina Code of Laws and/or federal law. E-mail or other information requests sent to Georgetown County may be maintained in order to: respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate agency, communicate updates that may be of interest to citizens, or provide the Web designer with valuable customer feedback to assist in improving the site.

Non-Georgetown County Websites
Various websites will be linked through Georgetown County. This includes websites of other governmental agencies, as well as those of private entities. Many of these sites may not be subject to the South Carolina Code of Laws, or may operate under different privacy standards. Visitors to those websites are advised to check the privacy statements of those sites and be cautious about providing personally identifiable information without a clear understanding of how the information will be used.

Contact Us
To offer comments about Georgetown County or about information presented in this Privacy Policy, you may contact jbroach@gtcounty.org.