The City of Owen Sound is committed to providing site visitors with
a web site that protects their privacy. The City of Owen Sound respects
the privacy of its Internet users and will protect that privacy as
vigorously as possible.
Personal Info Collected
The City of Owen Sound web site does not automatically gather any
specific personal information from you, such as your name, home phone
number or email address. This type of information is obtained only
if you supply it by sending us an email or by registering in a secure
portion of the site. All personal information held or collected by
the City of Owen Sound is protected under the Municipal Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The City of Owen Sound does
not collect information that personally identifies individuals except
when individuals provide such specific information on a voluntary basis.
This information is only obtained if you provide it voluntarily, through
contacting us via e-mail, via paper form or through an online form.Visitors'
personal information received via e-mail is provided only to City of
Owen Sound staff, who require the information to respond to inquiries.
This information is not used for any other purpose. No information
sent to the City of Owen Sound via e-mail or the website inquiry form
is used for any other reason than to respond to and maintain a record
of the inquiry. Information on individual visitors is used by City
of Owen Sound employees who need to know the information in order to
respond to your request or to ensure the security of this system. The
information is only shared with another department or organization
if your inquiry relates to that department or organization. The information
is not used to create individually identifiable profiles.The City of
Owen Sound does not sell, trade, or rent personal information to others.
The City of Owen Sound may provide aggregate statistics about traffic
patterns, and related site information to relevant committees and organizations.
These statistics will include no personally identifying information.
Business Directory
The City Business Directory is an on-line database which allows the
public to search for products and services in the Owen Sound area.
It supports local businesses by providing easy access to the public
for business information. The Business Directory also gathers economic
development statistics to support the Owen Sound business community.
The City offers for sale some of the information collected in the on-line
business directory. The information fields that are contained in the
directory which is for sale are:Business Name, Business Address, Business
Phone Number, Business Fax Number, Contact E-mail Address, Contact
Name, Business Web Site Address, Municipality, Business Type and Business
CategoryAll other fields collected during the registration of a new
business in the on-line directory are used only by City staff, to generate
Economic Development statistics. Individual businesses are not identified
in the presentation of these statistics. Other than the fields mentioned
above, the City does not rent, trade or sell business information from
the on-line business directory to others.
Network Traffic Monitor
The City of Owen Sound employs software programs to monitor network
traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information,
or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the Internet
Protocol (IP) address of the computer that has contacted our web site,
for the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no
attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting
our site.
Cookies
The City of Owen Sound occasionally uses “cookies” to
track how our visitors use this site to determine sites previously
visited. The cookies we use do not allow us to identify individuals.They
are compiled into statistical information on traffic patterns and are
used to assess site efficiency. The system will notify you before any
cookies are used so that you may refuse them providing that option
is set in your browser security options. The refusal of cookies will
not affect the site performance or restrict your ability to access
information from this site. (A “cookie” is a file that
may be placed on your hard drive without your knowledge by a web site
to allow it to monitor your use of the site).
Webmaster
Any message that you may send to the Webmaster for this site will
go to the City of Owen Sound. Information concerning the functioning
of the site is provided to the Webmaster so that they can make adjustments
to the site to maximize its effectiveness. Any questions, concerns
or complaints you may have about how the City of Owen Sound is handling
personal information from this site should be directed to the City
of Owen Sound Privacy Coordinator as listed below.Web Site DesignWeb
site design work for the City of Owen Sound is completed by a third
party. Occasionally, information on individual visitors is used by
this third party company, in order to respond to your request or to
ensure the security of this system. As such, they are considered as
City of Owen Sound staff for the purposes of this Policy. To find out
more about the Privacy Policy for this third party company, contact webmaster.
Privacy Contact Information
Questions or comments regarding this policy, or the administration
of the Municipal Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy
Act at the City of Owen Sound may be directed to the Freedom of Information & Privacy
Co-ordinator by e-mail to privacy@e-owensound.com,
by calling (519) 376-4440 or writing to 808 2nd Avenue East, Owen Sound,
ON N4K 2H4.
Credit Card Transactions
At the City of Owen Sound, our staff is committed to protecting your
privacy. The customer information received from you, including credit
card numbers is used only to process donations or sales and to issue
receipts. When you place a donation or make a purchase using your credit
card, your name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number, credit
card number, credit card expiration date and items to be purchased
are collected from you. This allows us to accept and process your donation
or purchase.Donations and purchases via credit card are processed via
the secure services of Internet Secure. Your credit card statement
will read “City of Owen Sound via Internet Secure”. Your
credit card information is not stored in any way on City of Owen Sound
computers or servers. To find out more about their Privacy Policy,
click on this link: http://www.internetsecure.com/privacy.html.
Credit Card Refunds
Credit card refunds are not available for donations.Credit card refunds
for purchases are handled by contacting the department from which the
purchase was made. Please contact the appropriate City Department,
e-mail cityadmin@owensound.ca,
or call (519) 376-4440 ext 1222 to initiate the refund process.
