The purpose of this statement is to define the City of San José’s policy with regards to the collection and use of personally identifiable information (PII). PII is any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual who is the subject of the information.

The City of San José collects two kinds of customer information: (1) anonymous; (2) personally identifiable information (PII).

Anonymous information: This type of information does not identify specific individuals and is automatically transmitted by your browser. This information consists of:

• The URL (Uniform Resource Locator or address) of the web page you previously visited;
• The domain names and/or IP addresses which are numbers that are automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are connected to the Internet or World Wide Web.
• The browser version you are using to access the site.

This information is used to help improve the City’s Web Site. None of the information can be linked to an individual.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

This type of information could include name, address, email address, telephone number, credit/debit card information. The City will make every reasonable effort to protect your privacy. It restricts access to your personal identifiable information to those employees who will respond to your request. The City does not intentionally disclose any personal information about our customers to any third parties or outside the City except as required by law or by the consent of the person providing the information.

The City only collects personally identifiable information that is required to provide service. You can decline to provide us with any personal information. However, if you should choose to withhold requested information, the City may not be able to provide you with the online services dependent upon the collection of that information.

Access to Personally Identifiable Information

Access to personally identifiable information in public records at local levels of government in San José is controlled primarily by the California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250, et. seq.). Information that is generally available under the Public Records Act may be posted for electronic access through the City’s web site. While the Public Records Act sets the general policies for access to City records, other sections of the California code as well as federal laws also deal with confidentiality issues.

Email addresses

Email addresses obtained through the City’s Web Site will not be sold or given to other private companies for marketing purposes. The information collected is subject to the access and confidentiality provisions of the Public Records Act, other applicable sections of the California code as well as Federal laws. Email or other information requests sent to the City Web Site may be maintained in order to respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate agency within the City, communicate updates to the City page that may be of interest to citizens, or to provide the City web designer with valuable customer feedback to assist in improving the site. Individuals can cancel any communications regarding new service updates at any time.

Use of “Cookies”

Some City applications use “cookies”. A cookie is a small data file that certain web sites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user id that the site uses to track the pages you have visited. But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie is only a test file and cannot read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Cookies can track user traffic patterns, recognize your computer’s browser when you return, and could provide personalized content without requiring sign-in.

You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. However, they may be required to use some of the web applications on the City’s site.

Electronic Signatures and Payments

The City of San José is committed to data security and the data quality of personally identifiable information that is either available from or collected by our web site and has taken reasonable precautions to protect such information from loss, misuse, or alteration. When a City application accepts credit cards or any other particularly sensitive information for any of its services, it encrypts all ordering information, such as your name and credit card number, in order to protect its confidentiality.