PRIVACY POLICY
Appraisal & Collection Technologies, LLC (“ACT,” “we” or “us”) provides and maintains this web site ("Site") and the associated database on behalf of the Fort Bend County (“Tax Office”). We take your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy.
This privacy policy describes the types of personal and non-personal information collected by us through the Site and also describes how we use such information and to whom and under what circumstances we may disclose it. By accessing and using the Site, you agree to the collection, use and disclosure of your information as described in this privacy policy. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
We store personal information in the database that we maintain for the Tax Office and we collect personal information when you contact us or pay your property taxes using the Site. Personal information is any information about you that is personally identifiable, such as your name, address, email address or phone number, and any other information that is not otherwise publicly available. If you pay your property taxes using the Site, we will need your billing name and address, as well as your bank account information.
We or our third party service providers may collect and store anonymous information whenever you interact with our Site. For example, we may also collect information relating to your devices, including your device model, operating system, browser type, unique device identifier, and IP address, mobile phone number, mobile network carrier, location, and event information (such as application installations).
USE OF INFORMATION
We use your information for the following general purposes: enable you to research your property taxes, to process payment of your property taxes, administrative purposes, to operate and improve the Site and our services, and to contact you
We may use anonymous information for any purpose, including, but not limited to, analyzing trends, providing a better user experience and gathering broad demographic information for aggregate use. We do not use this anonymous data in a manner that would identify you personally.
COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES
We or our third party service providers may use cookies, web beacons and/or other similar technologies to collect user information. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your web browser. They make it possible for us to recognize your browser when you visit. It is possible to prevent cookies from being used in your browser by turning the feature off.
AUTHORIZED THIRD PARTIES
We may work with third party service providers to monitor certain pages of our Site for such purposes as reporting traffic and other statistics. Where authorized by us, these third party providers may use cookies and/or other monitoring technologies to compile anonymous statistics about our visitors. No personally identifiable information is transferred to these third party service providers.
We may also allow third parties to provide us with analytics about your visits to our Site. The third party analytics services may use cookies, web beacons and other technologies to collect information about your use of the Site, including your IP address, web browser and other anonymous information. This information is provided to us on an aggregated, non-personally identifiable basis, and may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data and better understand users' activity.
INFORMATION SHARING WITH THIRD PARTIES
We will not sell, rent, transfer or otherwise disclose your personal information to third parties except as provided in this privacy policy or as otherwise expressly authorized or directed by you. We may share anonymous information with third parties for any purpose. We may share personal information we collect from and about you with third parties in the following instances:
With our service providers, if the disclosure will enable them to process payments made by you using the Site or otherwise perform a business, professional or technical support function for us or you;
As necessary, if we believe that there has been a violation of the Site, the applicable terms of use or of our rights or the rights of any third party;
As necessary, to identify, investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities or suspected fraud or other abuse related to the Site;
To respond to judicial process and provide information to law enforcement agencies or in connection with an investigation on matters related to public safety, as permitted by law, or otherwise as required by law.
In addition, we reserve the right to disclose and transfer your information, including your personal information and anonymous information about you: (a) to a subsequent owner, co- owner or operator of the Site; or (b) in connection with a merger, consolidation, restructuring, the sale of substantially all of our equity ownership interests and/or assets or other corporate change, including during the course of any due diligence process.
SECURITY
We take commercially reasonable steps to ensure data privacy and security including through various hardware and software methodologies. However, due to the open communication nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and ACT or the Tax Office will be free from unauthorized access by third parties. Users of the Site do so at their own risk with respect to such communications.
CHILDREN
The Site is not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect or use personal information regarding children under the age of 13. If we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected personal information about a child under the age of 13, that information will be immediately deleted from our database.
THIRD PARTY SITES
Our Site may provide links to third-party websites for your convenience and information. If you access those links, you will leave the Site. We do not control those sites or their privacy practices, which may differ from our privacy policy. We do not endorse or make any representations about third-party websites. The personal data you choose to give to unrelated third parties is not covered by this privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policy or any company before submitting your personal information.
CALIFORNIA’S “DO NOT TRACK” NOTICE
"Do Not Track" ("DNT") is a preference you can set in your web browser to let the sites you visit know that you do not want them collecting information about you. Our Site does not currently respond to "Do Not Track" settings. For further details regarding DNT, visit donottrack.us.
UPDATES TO PRIVACY POLICY
We may modify or amend this privacy policy from time to time and in our sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the privacy policy in effect at the time such information is collected. If we make changes in the way we use personal information, we will notify you by posting an amendment to the privacy policy on the website and you consent to notice of changes through such posting. Such modifications will become effective on the day they are posted. We encourage you to frequently review this privacy policy for any modifications.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: ACTWebAccess@lgbs.com.
© ACT, 2016
Last updated: November 1, 2016
