This Policy guides how La Porte County collects, stores, and uses information about citizens who visit this website, and it will be periodically assessed. La Porte County government strives to provide online resources in a safe, secure manner that respects your privacy when you visit our sites.

This Privacy Policy addresses the collection, use, disclosure, and security of information that may be obtained by La Porte County through its website.

La Porte County may, from time to time, modify this Privacy Policy to reflect legal, technological, and other developments. In that event, the changes will appear at this location. We will also post the last date of revision at the top of this page.

This Privacy Policy is maintained by the: La Porte County Information Technology Department, Darlene Hale, Director, 302 W. 8th Street, Suite 1, Michigan City, Indiana 46360. Telephone Number- (219) 326-6808, Ext. 2487.

If you visit the La Porte County website, the County may collect some or all of the following information:

• The name of your domain; for example, “xyzcompany.com” if you use a private Internet access account;
• An IP address; a number automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet;
• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
• The Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site;
• The pages you visit within the County websites; and
• The links made to other websites through the County websites.

This information is collected for statistical analysis using third-party or proprietary software programs to create summary statistics of web traffic. The statistics are used for the purpose of determining what information is of most and least interest to all visitors and identifying system performance or problem areas in order to better plan future site enhancements. This information is not collected for commercial marketing purposes. The County currently collect no other personal information.

La Porte County currently does not use or set “cookies” on its website. A cookie is a line of computer code inserted onto your computer by a web site which you visit. The cookie can then be read by the site’s web browser if you return to the site. Cookies are used for many things, from making web sites more personal to speeding on-line transactions. Cookies can also be used to track your web browsing habits.

La Porte County does not collect personal information without your permission. Any information that you volunteer or that we send to you in response is transferred using industry standard encryption technologies. If, during your visit to this website, you voluntarily provide personally identifiable information, we will collect such information. Examples of personally identifiable information may include:

• Your name, address, or phone number;
• An e-mail address if you are communicating to us through e-mail;
• Information you voluntarily submit to La Porte County for the purposes of completing or submitting an application or form online;
• Other information volunteered, such as vendor profile/contact information, survey information, or content of e-mail.

However, you should be aware that when you give us your personal information for purposes of communicating with or requesting information from La Porte County, such communications become a part of the public record and may be subject to disclosure under applicable Indiana and Federal law. As a general rule, we will not disclose any personally identifiable information collected online to entities outside of La Porte County departments and agencies except where you have given us permission or are otherwise required by law.

E-mail addresses or any personally identifying information about individuals are not sold or rented to any governmental or commercial entities.

La Porte County’s website may provide links to other websites. These include links to web sites operated by other County agencies and officials, other government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. When you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site.