Privacy Statement
Colac Otway Shire Council is committed to protecting user privacy. We understand that visitors and users of this website are concerned about their privacy, and the confidentiality and security of any information that is provided.
Information collected on the Colac Otway Shire Council website
Unless you specifically tell us, the Colac Otway Shire Council will never know who you are when you access the website.
During your visit to this website, our Internet Service Provider's standard web logs record anonymous information for statistical purposes only, including:
- the type of browser you are using
- your traffic patterns through our site such as the date and time of your visit to the site, the pages you accessed and documents downloaded, the previous page you visited prior to accessing our site and the Internet address of the server accessing our site.
Circumstances where the Council will attempt to identify your personal details
- In the event of an investigation when a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider's or Colac Otway Shire Council's website logs.
- If you choose to fill out forms on our website which ask for your personal details.
- No attempt will be made to identify your personal details except in the circumstances outlined above.
When would your email address be recorded?
Council will only record your email address if you send us a message. Your email address will only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which you have provided it and it will not be added to a mailing list or used or disclosed for any other purpose without your consent.
Email correspondence sent to the Colac Otway Shire Council will be archived in accordance with Council processes and will be retained as required by Council policies and other relevant regulations. Once these processes, policies and regulations are satisfied, archived e-mail correspondence will be destroyed.
We will not add any details to a mailing list without your consent, and we will not disclose your details to third parties without your consent, unless required by law. We will disclose your email details to the relevant authorities if necessary to protect the safety of the public or to protect the rights and property of the Colac Otway Shire Council.
Our Internet Service Provider may monitor e-mail traffic for system trouble-shooting and maintenance purposes only.
Use of cookies
This website uses cookies.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a piece of information that a website sends to your browser when you access information at that site. Upon receipt of the information your browser saves the information on your hard-disk (unless your browser doesn't support cookies). Each time you use your computer to access that same website, the information that was previously received is sent back to the website by your browser. Most commonly used browsers support the use of cookies.
Why are cookies used?
When you access the internet through a public ISP, each request you make to a website cannot be linked to a previous request, as each request does not contain a permanent unique identifier. Cookies allow website operators to assign a unique permanent identifier to a computer which can be used to associate the requests made to the website from that computer.
Cookies indicate to a website that you have been there before and can be used to record what parts of a website you visit. While cookies in themselves may not identify you, in the way a name or address does, a cookie could potentially be linked with other identifying information. For example, if you provide extra information about yourself to the website by buying something on-line or subscribing to a free service, then the cookies can be used to build up a profile of your buying habits and what you are interested in. They can then be used to tailor banner advertising to your interests.
Types of cookies
Cookies can be either "persistent" or "session" based. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer, contain an expiration date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon return to the issuing web site. Session cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you quit your browser.
How do you avoid Cookies?
Many web surfers object to having files, like cookies, placed onto their hard drive without their permission. There are various things you can do to avoid cookies if you do not trust them, these include:
- Setting the browser cookie file to be read only. Whether you can do this or not may depend on what sort of Operating System (OS) or browser you are using. But if you can do this then the cookies will only last for as long as your browser is running.
- Set up your computer to delete the cookies file whenever you start your browser.
- Many browsers allow you to set them up so that you are notified when a cookie is to be written to your computer. However there may be instances where there are so many cookies that it becomes annoying to reject them all.
- Install a software product which will reject or manage cookies for you. You can perform an internet search to find them.
Directory privacy statement
Council collects personal information through the compilation of an Online Business Directory and Community Directory. The personal information will be used solely by Council for that primary purpose or directly related purposes. The applicant understands that the personal information provided is for our directories and that he or she may create their own log-ins to amend that information.