Privacy Policy

co.fairfield.oh.us and/or fairfieldcountyohio.gov will collect no personal information about you when you visit the site, unless you voluntarily choose to provide that information by entering it in an online form, sending an e-mail, or performing an online service transaction.

Data Collection

If you do nothing during your visit but browse to read pages or download information, the site will automatically gather and store certain non-identifying information about your visit, transmitted by your web browser. We automatically collect and store only: the numeric IP address from which you access the site (mapped into an internet domain name); the type of browser and operating system used; and the pages you visit, including graphics and downloaded documents such as PDFs.

Use of Cookies

A "cookie" is a small text file that a website can place on your computer to collect information about your activities on the site. You can set your browser to warn you when a site attempts to place a cookie, or to refuse cookies altogether. Essential cookies that are strictly necessary to make the site work (for example, remembering your cookie choice) are always active. The County does not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

Cookie Preferences & Consent

When you first visit the site, a banner asks for your cookie preferences. No optional or analytics cookies are set until you choose "Accept All." If you choose "Essentials Only," only the strictly necessary cookies described above are used. Your choice is remembered on your device, and you can change it at any time using the "Cookie Preferences" button that appears in the corner of every page.

Google Analytics

If you consent by choosing "Accept All," the site uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to help us understand how visitors use our pages so we can improve them. Google Analytics sets cookies that collect non-identifying information such as the pages you visit, your approximate region, browser and device type, and how you arrived at the site. We have enabled IP-address anonymization, so your full IP address is not stored by Google Analytics. We do not use this information to identify individual visitors, and we do not sell it.

This information is processed by Google in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy). You can prevent Google Analytics from being used in your browser by declining analytics cookies in our banner, by clearing cookies, or by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout). Most browsers also let you block or delete cookies through their settings.

Voluntary Personal Information Submission

If you choose to identify yourself by sending an e-mail or using online forms, some personal data may be collected and used only for limited purposes. When you use online payment services and pay by credit card, the cardholder's name, address, account number, and card expiration date are requested. These activities are purely voluntary; however, performing an online service transaction requires providing some personal information.

Restrictions on Use and Disclosure of Personal Data

The County will only send personally identifiable information about you to other companies, agencies, or people when: we have your consent; it is needed to provide a product or service you requested; it must be sent to companies working on our behalf to provide a service to you; we are required to do so by law, subpoena, court order, or legal process; or your actions violate the Terms of Use or usage guidelines.

SMS Usage and Privacy

With consent to receive text-based (SMS) communications, you agree to receive SMS messages from Fairfield County Government Departments and Offices at the number you provide. Information obtained as part of the SMS consent process will not be shared with third parties. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time by texting "STOP" to the number from which you received the message; for assistance, text "HELP."

Child Protection

The site is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. The County encourages parents and teachers to be involved in children's internet explorations, and does not sell products or services for purchase by children.

Security

The County is committed to ensuring the integrity of the information and systems it maintains, and has instituted security measures so that information will not be lost, misused, or altered. For site security, software programs monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information. Industry-standard secure socket layer (SSL) encryption is used to protect data transmissions.

Changes

co.fairfield.oh.us and/or fairfieldcountyohio.gov reserves the right to change this privacy policy as necessary.