Published: September 24, 2021
Welcome to www.connect.la.gov.
Important Note:
This policy applies solely to the direct use of www.connect.la.gov.
The primary function of this website is to provide the residents, partners and local government entities of Louisiana with information and direct links to the public services offered by the Office of Broadband Development & Connectivity. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.
This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit www.connect.la.gov (our "website") and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.
This policy applies to information we collect:
- On this website.
- In email and other electronic messages between you and this website.
It does not apply to information collected by:
- Us through any other means, including on any other website operated by the state or any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries); or
- Any third party (including our affiliates and subsidiaries), including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from (or on) the website.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our website. By accessing or using this website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Updates and Changes). Your continued use of this website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
As you navigate www.connect.la.gov you will see links that, when clicked, take you directly to resources or websites hosted outside of the www.connect.la.gov website. These resources or websites will have their own individual privacy policies. Some of these policies will be similar to the www.connect.la.gov policies, while others will be specifically tailored to the interactions available through that website.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
Our website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. Children under the age of 13 are not eligible to use services that require submission of personal information and should not submit any personal information to www.connect.la.gov. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this website or, through any of its features, register on the website, make any purchases through the website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this website, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at connect@la.gov.
Collection of Information
www.connect.la.gov collects information by the following processes:
- Information We Collect Automatically
- Google Analytics
- How and when you linked to connect.la.gov, searches you initiated and things you clicked on.
- Your IP address, the type of browser and operating system you used and the pages you requested and visited.
- Cookies
- When you visit or interact with connect.la.gov, we or our authorized service providers use persistent cookies solely to provide you with a better, faster and safer experience.
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our website.
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
- Security Monitoring
- All state systems employ various security mechanisms for monitoring and protecting our systems from attempted or actual improper use or intrusion. By using connect.la.gov you accept the use of such security monitoring and the state reserves the right to use any legally appropriate measures to prevent and investigate any individual attempting to modify, deface, delete, abuse or otherwise inappropriately use www.connect.la.gov.
- Except for authorized security event response and law enforcement investigations, no attempt is made to discover the identity of individual users.
- The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the website like message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the website.
- Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the website.
- Google Analytics
- Information You Voluntarily Provide:
- Records and copies of your correspondence (including email address), if you contact us.
- Location-Based (geo-location) Information
- connect.la.gov does not attempt to directly gain access to your location-based information from your mobile phone, tablet, laptop computer or web browser.
- connect.la.gov does not require you to share your current location in order to use the interactive map features located at www.connect.la.gov/get-started/gather-information/parish-profiles-with-map.
- Location-Based (geo-location) Information
- Contact Email
- When emailing connect@la.gov, you should only supply the minimum amount of information required to provide a description of the purpose of your message and enough contact information to be reached.
- Records and copies of your correspondence (including email address), if you contact us.
Use of Information
How your information will be used:
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
- To present our website and its contents to you.
- To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us.
- To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
- To provide you with notices about your account/subscription, including expiration and renewal notices.
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
- To notify you about changes to our website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features on our website.
- In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
We automatically collect information to improve the content of our web services and help understand how our services are being used. This information does not identify you personally and is used for gathering web site statistics. The information we automatically collect and store in our logs about your visit helps us analyze our website to continually improve the value of the materials available. Our website logs do not identify a visitor by personal information, and we make no attempt to link other websites with the individuals who browse our web site.
The information you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to state employees or officials, or those under contract with the state, on a “need-to-know basis” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as answering your questions; responding to any requests for assistance; generating summary statistics about usage; auditing applications and detecting fraud; aiding in the planning, design and development of www.connect.la.gov; and fulfilling any legal obligations.
How your information will not be used:
No information collected through www.connect.la.gov will be used for financial gain, or for any other advertising or marketing purposes. The state will not sell, lease or distribute any information to any third party unless required by state or federal law.
Do Not Track
Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference that users can set in some web browsers to signal their preference regarding potential "tracking" by third party websites. While the United States Federal Trade Commission has endorsed DNT, this site does not currently support DNT codes. However, except as otherwise disclosed herein, this site limits tracking to the internal uses described above. This site does not track your use across multiple websites; however, other websites to which we link may track your use. Please review privacy policies when you visit other websites to understand how you may be tracked.
Data Protection
This site and systems used to support this site comply with Louisiana’s Information Security Policy.
Updates and Changes
www.connect.la.gov reserves the right to change this privacy policy as necessary. Any such changes will be reflected by the “effective date” below. Please revisit this page regularly to stay apprised of any changes.