Welcome to the Borough of Bogota, owned and produced by Borough of Bogota, Inc. and its subsidiary and successors, and assigns (collectively referred to as "Borough of Bogota"). All Products and Services on the Borough of Bogota (as defined in our Terms and Conditions) are made available subject to this Privacy Policy. By using our Products and Services, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by this Privacy Policy or any other privacy or data collection policy applicable to any individual Borough of Bogota Web site and to receive any required legal notices regarding our privacy practices through the continuous posting of a clear and conspicuous link to the current version of this Privacy Policy throughout the Borough of Bogota near the bottom of most pages. If you become an inactive user, we will adhere to the policies and practices as described in this Privacy Policy, which may be revised from time to time.

Please note that the Borough of Bogota contains links to other sites and occasionally allows other sites to be co-branded with the Borough of Bogota name. Web sites that are linked to Borough of Bogota sites or carry the Borough of Bogota brand for co-branding or marketing purposes may have privacy policies which differ from that of the Borough of Bogota web site.

The Borough of Bogota Privacy Policy discloses our privacy practices and contains detailed information about the following:

1. What information of yours does the Borough of Bogota collect?
2. What organization is collecting the information?
3. What are "cookies" and "Web beacons" and how does Borough of Bogota use them?
4. How does the Borough of Bogota use the information?
5. With whom does the Borough of Bogota share
   the information that is collected?
6. How can you access or edit your information?
7. What types of security procedures are in place to protect
   againist the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?
8. How does the Borough of Bogota comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)?
9. What can you do to better protect yourself on the Internet?

Our goal is to become your favorite Internet destination by providing the information, services, and product offerings that are most relevant to you. To achieve this goal, the Borough of Bogota must collect information so we can understand what makes you different from its millions of other unique users. While you are not required to register for any services on the Borough of Bogota web site, some Products and Services may not function properly or may not be accessible unless you do.

Information collected online is usually defined as being either anonymous or personally identifiable.

• Anonymous information refers to data that cannot be tied back to a specific individual. For example, Borough of Bogota collects some information each time a visitor comes to a Borough of Bogota site so we can improve the overall quality of the visitor's online experience. Borough of Bogota collects the visitor's IP address (e.g., whether the user is logged on from ibm.com or aol.com), referral data (e.g., the Internet address of the last Web page visited by a user before clicking over to a Borough of Bogota site), and browser and platform type (e.g., a Netscape browser on a Macintosh platform). You do not have to register with the Borough of Bogota before we can collect this anonymous information.

• Personally identifiable information refers to data that tells us specifically who you are, such as your name and postal address, which may be collected in addition to the anonymous data described above. Borough of Bogota collects personal information in the following ways from different parts of its web site of Web sites:

When you use Products and Services designed to post or transmit data (e.g. Borough of Bogota Tax Payment, Borough of Bogota DPW Truck Rental, etc.), that content is necessarily stored in our computers for varying periods of time and associated with the registration information for your account. Borough of Bogota will not use or disclose such content except as described in this Privacy Policy.

When you register for a service within the Borough of Bogota web site, that information is generally collected and maintained solely by the Borough of Bogota unless specifically stated otherwise at the point of collection. If data is collected and/or maintained by any company other than Borough of Bogota, we will tell you at the point of collection. If you do not want to share your information with that company, you can choose not to use that service.

In addition to the personally identifiable information that the Borough of Bogota actively collects when you register, we also collect anonymous information passively using cookies. This technology plays an important role in making the Internet work, but there is much confusion among Internet users about what cookies and Web beacons are and how they are used.

A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred from a Web site to the hard drive of your computer so that the site administrator may identify your computer and passively track its activities on the Web site. This unique number identifies your Web browser to our computer system whenever you visit one of the sites in the Borough of Bogota web site. A cookie will not allow a Web site to learn any personally identifiable information (such as your real name and address) that you have not otherwise disclosed.

Cookies allow the Borough of Bogota to automatically remember your Web browser when you visit our web site of Web sites. To help serve you better, Borough of Bogota generally uses cookies to

• Allow us to deliver products and services more efficiently. By storing certain registration and preference information on cookies or associating cookies with registration, preference or profile information stored on our computers, we can deliver products and services that use such information more quickly and efficiently for more users. This information is normally saved in an encrypted form that only Borough of Bogota can interpret.

   

• Prevent others from using your account. On some Borough of Bogota sites, cookies help us efficiently determine that only one user is logged on under the same member name at a time.

   

• Measure statistics such as audience size and traffic patterns. This information is only collected in aggregate form and will not be linked to your personally identifiable information.

The use of cookies is an industry standard, and they are currently used on most major Web sites. It is possible to adjust your Web browser preferences to alert you when a cookie is sent to your hard drive, or to refuse cookies altogether. While Borough of Bogota does not require you to use cookies, keep in mind that certain sites and services will not function properly if you set your browser to refuse all cookies.

Without cookies, it would be difficult for Borough of Bogota to know which services have a larger audience than others. Tracking audience size helps us to better understand when to launch new services and enhance the current offerings. 

Any personally identifiable information you share with Borough of Bogota when registering for Products and Services at any of our web site sites is maintained and accessible only by Borough of Bogota unless specifically stated otherwise. Borough of Bogota requests information from its users so that users can enjoy customized experiences across the Borough of Bogota web site, including personalization services, interactive communications and much more. Products and Services are available to you at no cost, and the Borough of Bogota displays advertisements so we can continue to provide great content and services free of charge. We can also better prepare future content based on your interests.

The following are examples of how the Borough of Bogota may use the information it collects:

• Borough of Bogota uses the information collected (both anonymous and personal) to personalize and enhance the content you see on the Borough of Bogota web site, such as news, advertisements and more. In some cases, our Products and Services cannot work unless you have volunteered accurate information (for example, we need a valid email address to send emails related to major town events, police bulletins and other important information).

   

• Borough of Bogota also uses the aggregate data to perform statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our registered users and visitors, to measure user demographics and interests regarding specific areas of the Borough of Bogota web site, and to analyze how and where best to use our resources. We do not track what pages individual users are browsing, but rather how well each page performs overall. Without such data, we would not know which parts of the Borough of Bogota are the most popular, and we would not be able to change and update the content and services appropriately.

   

• Borough of Bogota sometimes uses an individuals registered user's data to "pre-populate" online forms that are displayed for the purpose of collecting additional individual data by the Borough of Bogota web site.

   

• Borough of Bogota may, from time to time, use your information to contact you about changes or enhancements to Products and Services on the Borough of Bogota web site, issues regarding your account, or Borough of Bogota Terms and Conditions violations or suspensions.

• Go directly to this page. You will receive a prompt to log in to the web site with your Borough of Bogota Member Name and password.

   

• After you log in, you will be taken to the Membership Information page, which contains your user profile. If you see a field that needs to be updated, click the appropriate Edit button.

   

• Make the necessary changes and click the Update button to save your changes.

The Borough of Bogota has security measures in place to attempt to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of your user data under our control. Borough of Bogota uses physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect any personally identifiable data stored on its computers. Only authorized employees have access to the information you provide us. Any particularly sensitive information, such as a credit card number used to purchase premium services, is encrypted prior to transmission using a Verisign Digital Certificate.

While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration to data will not occur, we take many precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.

You are ultimately responsible for the security of your Borough of Bogota ID and password. Please take care when using and storing them. Borough of Bogota recommends that you do not divulge your password to anyone. You should log out of your browser at the end of each computer session to ensure that others cannot access your personal information and correspondence, especially if several people have access to your personal computer or you are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 provides safeguards to protect children who use the Internet by regulating the online collection of personal information from children under the age of 13.

Know the risks.
Meeting new people in an online community (chat room, forum, newsgroup, message board, Web page, etc.) is one of the best things about the Internet, but you should always be careful about disclosing personal information such as an actual name, member name, email address, and so on. This information may be collected and used by others within the online community to send unsolicited email messages from other parties, outside the Borough of Bogota web site. Some of the messages you receive may be useful to you, but some may not. In an effort to curtail unsolicited email, Borough of Bogota blocks certain email addresses and domains from sending messages to email addresses at our domains.

Educate yourself.
Search the Web for as much information as you can about how to protect your privacy. Look for a privacy policy on the Web sites you visit. A good place to start is TRUSTe -- an independent, non-profit organization with a mission to build trust and confidence in the Internet. The Federal Trade Commission has a great Web site with useful information on being a Savvy Internet Traveler along with other privacy initiatives. Additional privacy resources can be found at by clicking on any of the following links

Department of Education: Parents Guide to the Internet
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents /internet/

Better Business Bureau (BBB)
http://www.bbbonline.com

Center for Democracy and Technology
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/ - Data Privacy
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/ - Guide to Online Privacy

Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
http://www.the-dma.org/

Electronic Frontier Foundation - non-profit dedicated to protecting public interest in online privacy.
http://www.eff.org

EPIC.org (Electronic Privacy Information Center)
http://www.epic.org

Net Nanny - child safety software that filters potentially harmful Web sites
http://www.netnanny.com/

NetCoalition.com
http://www.netcoalition.com

Online Privacy Alliance
http://www.privacyalliance.org/

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
http://www.privacyrights.org/

Tell your children: "Never talk to strangers!"
While the Borough of Bogota works hard to protect children on the web sites within the Borough of Bogota web site, we cannot protect their privacy once they leave. Please teach children that they should not reveal their names or other personal information to anyone they encounter on the Internet. They should also be instructed not to fill out any forms or register at any Web site without your knowledge and consent. Parents can also prevent or limit a child's access to inappropriate material on the Web by using commercially available parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services). Take advantage of the online resources for parents available on the Borough of Bogota web site.

Questions regarding this statement should be directed to:

Borough of Bogota WebMaster
Borough of Bogota
375 Larch Avenue
Bogota, NJ 07603
(201) 342-1736
webmaster@BogotaOnline.org
 

The Borough of Bogota will update this policy from time to time so please check back periodically. When such changes occur, you will see the word "Updated" next to the Privacy Policy link on the front page of each site on the Borough of Bogota web site. If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will prominently post such changes prior to implementing them.

Last updated 01/01/2008.