The District of Highlands Privacy Policy 
The District of Highlands takes your privacy seriously. We recognize that technology has changed the nature and accessibility of government business information and the prospective use of that information. While committed to applying technology to improve access to information, we are strongly committed to protecting your online privacy. The purpose of this statement is to inform you about the types of information we gather when you visit our web site, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, the security precautions we take to protect your privacy, and how to contact us if you have questions or concerns. 

What this Privacy Policy Covers
This Privacy Policy covers this website’s treatment of personally identifiable information that The District of Highlands collects when you are on this website and when you use this website’s services. This policy does not describe information collection policies on other sites, including those linked to or from this site.

Use of Cookies
To help make our web site more responsive to the needs of our visitors, we use a standard feature of browser software, called a “cookie”, to assign each visitor a unique, random number that resides on your computer. The cookie does not identify the visitor, just the computer that a visitor uses to access our site. Unless you voluntarily identify yourself, we won't know who you are, even if we assign a cookie to your computer as the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply. A cookie cannot read unrelated data off your computer. We use cookies to help us deliver a better, more personalized service. For example, we use cookies to track the pages and services on our web site visited by our users. We can build a better web site if we know which pages and features our users are visiting and how often. 

What Type of Information We Collect
We collect information that is used for analysis and statistical purposes that help us manage The District of Highlands' website. Also, we collect information to assist us in delivering service and information to you. 

(1) Information collected for statistical purposes: Our web server automatically collects limited information about your computer configuration when you visit our web site, including the type of browser you use, the operating system you are running, the resolution of your computer monitor, the web site that referred you, and your IP address. Your IP address is a number that is used by computers connected to the Internet to identify your computer so that data such as the web pages you want to view can be transmitted to you. We use IP address information for systems administration and trouble-shooting purposes. 

(2) Information provided when using our interactive forms and functions: This information may include such things as name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and other personal and business data, depending on that particular service you use. We collect only those data necessary to provide the service that you are requesting.

With Whom We Share Information
As a government agency, The District of Highlands is governed by public records laws. Any information that we receive through use of our web site is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper. Otherwise, we do not share personal identifying information with any third party without your permission. We disclose only in aggregate form our statistical analyses or users’ demographics to third parties. This information is not reported or released to any outside parties unless we are legally required to do so in connection with law enforcement investigations or other legal proceedings. Further, we do not reveal any e-mail address information to third parties for independent use unless you specifically authorize us to do so.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
The District of Highlands may revise and update this Privacy Policy at any time by posting such revised Privacy Policy on our website at http://www.highlands.bc.ca/privacy. Your continued usage of this site will mean you accept those changes.

Last Updated
The District of Highlands' Privacy Policy was last updated on October 8, 2013.