Thank you for visiting the Dare County website and reviewing our privacy policy. We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us. 

Here is how we handle information about your visit to our website:

• If all you do during your visit is browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. Only the following information is automatically collected and stored about your visit: 

• The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our website:

• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The pages you visit; and
• If you linked to our website from another website, the address of that website.

We use this information to help us make the site more useful to visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits. 

 

• If you choose to provide us with personal information -- by filling out a form with your personal information and submitting it to us through the website -- we use that information to respond to your message and to help us get you the information you have requested. We only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. Dare County does not collect information for commercial marketing. 

• Public Disclosure: As a general rule, the County does not disclose any personally identifiable information collected online except where you have given us permission, or where the information is requested to be disclosed and is public information under the State of North Carolina statutes or other applicable laws. 

• Choice: You may decline participation in any activity that asks for information (i.e., surveys or emails). Your choice to not participate will have no effect on your ability to access information on the County's web sites. 

Cookies:

To better serve you, we occasionally use "cookies" to customize your browsing experience. Cookies are simple text files stored by your web browser and they provide a method of distinguishing among visitors to the web sites. Cookies created on your computer by using our web sites do not contain personally identifiable information and do not compromise your privacy or security. We use the cookie feature to store a randomly generated identifying tag on your computer. You can refuse the cookie or delete the cookie file from your computer at any time by using any one of a number of widely available methods. Your choice to refuse the cookie will not inhibit your access to any of the information available on the County web site. Your acceptance of the cookie will serve to provide you with additional functionality in choosing the information you wish to view on a regular basis. 

In certain instances, you will have the opportunity to receive or create a password to access or submit personal information. You should not divulge your password to anyone and the County will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or e-mail. When you are finished with those applications that are password protected, you should exit the page. 

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs commercial software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. 

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with State guidelines for records management and retention. 

Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. 

The Dare County Information Technology Department provides links to many web sites that are not controlled, maintained, or regulated by Dare County or any organization affiliated with Dare County, and as such Dare County is not responsible for the content of those web sites. Use of information obtained from those web sites is voluntary, and reliance on that information should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy. Reference at those web sites to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Dare County. 

The website has links to many other governmental agencies. In some cases we link to private organizations. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. 

The Dare County Information Technology Department, in its sole discretion, will determine whether the external web site meets the purpose of this web portal or for the specified informational purposes. The inclusion of a hypertext link to an external web site is not intended as an endorsement of any product or service offered or referenced on the linked web site, the organizations sponsoring said web site, or any views that might be expressed or referenced in the web site. 

Hypertext links to external web sites and pages may be removed or replaced at the sole discretion of the Dare County Information Technology Department, at any time without notice. 

In the event you discover problems with or have concerns regarding the format, accuracy, timeliness or completeness of a linked external web site, please contact the organization responsible for the linked external web site -- the Dare County Information Technology Department does not control nor is it responsible for any linked external web sites, pages, or content. 

The Dare County Information Technology Department provides content in several formats that require plug-ins, or separate browser components, to properly view. All required plug-ins are free to use.  If your browser or assistive technology can not view the content using the plug-in, please contact Information Technology for an alternate version of the content. 

The Plug-ins used are:
Adobe Reader
Microsoft Word Reader
Microsoft PowerPoint Reader

Dare County reserves the right to change this privacy policy as necessary. 

We welcome your comments and invite you to contact us if you have any questions or concerns by contacting us: 

Matt Hester
Information Technology Director
252.475.5832
email: matthew.hester@darenc.gov

Dare County Information Technology Department
PO Box 1000
Manteo NC 27954