Privacy Policy
Maryland Office of People's Counsel is committed to protecting your privacy and developing
technology that gives you the most powerful and safe online experience. This
Statement of Privacy applies to the Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web
site and governs data collection and usage. By using the Maryland Office of People's Counsel
website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.
Collection of your Personal Information
Maryland Office of People's Counsel collects personally
identifiable information, such as your e-mail address, name, home or work
address or telephone number. Maryland Office of People's Counsel also collects anonymous
demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code,
age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites.
There is also information about your computer hardware and
software that is automatically collected by Maryland Office of People's Counsel. This information
can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and
referring Web site addresses. This information is used by Maryland Office of People's Counsel for
the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to
provide general statistics regarding use of the Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web site.
Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable
information or personally sensitive data through Maryland Office of People's Counsel public
message boards, this information may be collected and used by others. Note:
Maryland Office of People's Counsel does not read any of your private online communications.
Maryland Office of People's Counsel encourages you to review the privacy statements of Web sites
you choose to link to from Maryland Office of People's Counsel so that you can understand how
those Web sites collect, use and share your information. Maryland Office of People's Counsel is
not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on Web sites
outside of the Maryland Office of People's Counsel and Maryland Office of People's Counsel family of Web sites.
Use of your Personal Information
Maryland Office of People's Counsel collects and uses your personal
information to operate the Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web site and deliver the services
you have requested. Maryland Office of People's Counsel also uses your personally identifiable
information to inform you of other products or services available from
Maryland Office of People's Counsel and its affiliates. Maryland Office of People's Counsel may also contact you
via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of
potential new services that may be offered.
Maryland Office of People's Counsel does not sell,
rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. Maryland Office of People's Counsel may, from
time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a
particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique
personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number)
is not transferred to the third party. In addition, Maryland Office of People's Counsel may share
data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you
email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All
such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except
to provide these services to Maryland Office of People's Counsel, and they are required to
maintain the confidentiality of your information.
Maryland Office of People's Counsel does not
use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or
political affiliations, without your explicit consent.
Maryland Office of People's Counsel keeps
track of the Web sites and pages our customers visit within Maryland Office of People's Counsel,
in order to determine what Maryland Office of People's Counsel services are the most popular.
This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within
Maryland Office of People's Counsel to customers whose behavior indicates that they are
interested in a particular subject area.
Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web sites will
disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so
by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a)
conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on
Maryland Office of People's Counsel or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of
Maryland Office of People's Counsel; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the
personal safety of users of Maryland Office of People's Counsel, or the public.
Use of Cookies
The Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web site use "cookies" to help you personalize your
online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by
a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to
your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a
web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary
purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The
purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a
specific page. For example, if you personalize Maryland Office of People's Counsel pages, or
register with Maryland Office of People's Counsel site or services, a cookie helps
Maryland Office of People's Counsel to recall your specific information on subsequent visits.
This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as
billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same
Maryland Office of People's Counsel Web site, the information you previously provided can be
retrieved, so you can easily use the Maryland Office of People's Counsel features that you
customized.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web
browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser
setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you
may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the
Maryland Office of People's Counsel services or Web sites you visit.
Security of your Personal Information
Maryland Office of People's Counsel secures your personal information from
unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Maryland Office of People's Counsel secures the
personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a
controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or
disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is
transmitted to other Web sites, it is protected through the use of encryption,
such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.
Changes to this Statement
Maryland Office of People's Counsel will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect
company and customer feedback. Maryland Office of People's Counsel encourages you to periodically
review this Statement to be informed of how Maryland Office of People's Counsel is protecting
your information.
Contact Information
Maryland Office of People's Counsel welcomes your comments
regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that Maryland Office of People's Counsel has
not adhered to this Statement, please contact Maryland Office of People's Counsel at Info@opc.state.md.us. We
will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the
problem.