Website Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy
for the Official Website of the Town of Cumberland, Maine

The Town of Cumberland encourages its residents and visitors to access the Town’s official website for important information and resources related to our community and local government. While we respect the privacy of personal information about the users of this site, the Town collects a limited amount of information as necessary to efficiently and effectively operate, maintain and publish this site. Furthermore, as a public agency, all information collected on the Town of Cumberland website must be treated the same as any written communication of or to the Town and is subject to the confidentiality and public disclosure provisions of the Maine Freedom of Access Act (1 M.R.S.A. §§ 401 – 521).

PRIVACY STATEMENT

Visitors to the Town of Cumberland Website

The Town may collect information about visitors who view or download information from its websites through website logs, which are reviewed and analyzed by the Town and its third party website developer for the purpose of improving the content of the Town’s website and to understand the ways in which the site is being most utilized. The information collected through these website logs is not personally identifiable and neither the Town, nor its website developer will use such information to link it with particular individuals that use the Town’s website. Examples of the information collected by the Town and its developer for this purpose include, but may not be limited to:

Date
Date the visit occurred

Time
Time the visit occurred

Client IP
Unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the website visitor. The IP address recorded is normally that of the visitor’s Internet service provider, e.g., aol.com if the visitor connects from and America Online Account

Server IP
Unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the municipal web server accessed.

HTTP Status
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) error code E.g. “404 Requested Page Not Found”.

HTTP Request
Identifies the web page or file requested by the website visitor.

Bytes Sent
Amount of data sent from the web server to the website visitor during that connection.

Bytes Received
Amount of data sent from website visitor to the web server

User Agent
Type of web browser or other client software that made request to the web server.

Referrer
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that referred to the requested file.

Protocol Version
Version of HTTP used by the visitor’s web browser software.

Personally Identifiable Information

"Personally identifiable information" is information about a person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. It includes, for example, an individual's name, street address, e-mail address, or phone number.

Personally identifiable information will not be collected unless you voluntarily send an e-mail message, fill out and send an online form, or fill out personal information and send in a survey. Your choice not to participate in these activities will not impair your ability to access certain information or obtain a service online.

Unless specifically protected under state law, any information provided may be inspected by the public or disclosed in a legal proceeding.

E-mail Senders

E-mail messages, sent to the Town of Cumberland Website, will be treated the same as any other written communication to the Town. They may be subject to public inspection or legal disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before they are destroyed. E-mail or other information requests sent to the municipal website may be maintained in order to respond to the request, forward that request to the appropriate agency, or to provide the web designer with valuable customer feedback to assist in improving the site. E-mail addresses obtained as a result of a request to the municipal site will not be sold or given to private companies for marketing purposes.

Electronic Form Filers

Any other information provided by a visitor at the request of the Town of Cumberland, such as the completion and electronic filing of a form, will be considered to be voluntarily provided by the visitor and will be treated in the same manner as information provided in written form or in person during a visit to the agency. Information provided may be subject to public inspection and legal disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before it is destroyed.

Surveys

Surveys will be used for the purpose stated. If personally identifiable information is collected it may be subject to public inspection and legal disclosure and may be saved for a period of time before it is destroyed.

Email Subscribers

The Town of Cumberland collects, retains and utilizes the email address of Website visitors only when they volunteer to subscribe to agendas, minutes, and/or bulletins on the municipality's Website. The information is used to administer subscriber accounts and to provide documents requested by Email Subscribers.

Cookies

Definition: Cookies are small text files that a web server may ask your web browser to store, and to send back to the web server when needed. Cookies may be used to store a transaction identifier or other information a user may provide.

We do not use cookies in order to track your visit to our website.

Changes to Policy/Statement

The Town reserves the right to make substantive changes to this privacy policy at any time and will publish a notice of such changes as soon as practicable in advance of or upon the effective date of such changes. Any information collected under this current policy will remain bound by the terms of this privacy statement. After the changes take effect, all new information collected, if any, will be subject to the revised privacy statement.

Disclaimer

Neither the Town of Cumberland, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the Town of Cumberland warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on the Town of Cumberland website, nor endorses any products or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Portions of the information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this system does so at his or her own risk. Various websites may be linked through the Town of Cumberland website. Visitors to those sites 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.