POLICY 112.1 1 Online Privacy

PURPOSE

The City of Wilmington (“City”) is committed to maintaining online privacy and protecting the data of the users of its official website, including users of the City’s 311 services.

Users are urged to never share more information than what is required to complete a transaction.

Information about online safety is available on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website at https://stopthinkconnect.org/.

This document explains the privacy policy for all visitors to the City of Wilmington website.

POLICY

Information Gathering and Cookies

The City limits the collection of personal information of visitors to the website who read or download information (e.g. event schedules, permit applications, etc.), only capturing and storing the domain name of the users computer and other related information to speed up the performance of web page delivery. No other personal information is collected.

The City may use analytic and security tools hosted by third parties or managed within the City as part of maintaining our web presence. These tools help us measure traffic and usage trends for our website and help ensure that this service remains available to all users. Additionally, “cookies”* are use to deliver website functionality and enhance your experience. Users may see evidence of these tools stored as cookies on their personal computer after visiting the City’s website.

*A cookie is a very small text file inserted onto your computer by a website that you visit. When you return to the website, the cookie is then read by the site's web server. Cookies are used for many things, from making websites more personal to tracking your web browsing habits.

Online Transactions

For online government transactions conducted on the City’s website, you may be asked to enter certain information about yourself and/or the organization with which you are affiliated. The specifics of this information will vary as required by the type of transaction (e.g., online job applications and online payment of parking fines).

In each case, any information submitted online for these activities is subject to the same safeguards as if you had engaged in these activities in person rather than over the internet. Information collected in the course of the transaction is used in order to conduct the online transactions with the appropriate City departments, to communicate with you about your transaction, or provide information that may be useful to you.

Phishing

Fraudulent email scams called "phishing" have been increasing in frequency. "Phishing" involves a victim receiving an e-mail appearing to be from a legitimate business. The "from" line is often forged and the email usually contains authentic looking graphics making it appear to be legitimate. The email may also contain what appears to be a legitimate link to that organization (e.g., cityofwilmington.org orwilmington.gov). When the victim clicks on this link, they are then taken to what appears to be a legitimate looking website. Criminals can even make your browser's address bar contain the address of the legitimate organization despite the fact that the website is a forgery. Victims are then encouraged to enter personal information including credit card numbers and expiration dates.

The City of Wilmington will not request confidential personal or financial information from our customers via an unsolicited email.  The City will also never send you an unsolicited e-mail containing a link to a City website where confidential personal or financial information is requested. If you receive such an email, purportedly from the City, you are encouraged to immediately contact 311 to report the issue. For more general information about "phishing" visit the Federal Trade Commission website.

Telephone Calls/Text Messages

Individuals may contact the City via phone for certain services, including 311. Calls to 311 may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes. The telephone system automatically logs the phone number and other characteristics of calls to and from City numbers, such as call duration and the extension in the City that received or made a call. It is not possible to opt-out of this collection of information.

During the course of a call additional information may be we requested. This information will be used to help provide the requested service, as is the case with requests submitted via the website. The call taker will advise the caller about what information is optional.

If a mobile number is provided, the City may send text messages to confirm a service appointment or provide information (e.g. billing reminders, updates regarding City services, etc.)

Website Links

The City’s website contains links to other sites. The City is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of linked sites. Users are encouraged to review the privacy policy of any linked site and directly contact them with any concerns about how personally identifiable information is handled.

Data Sharing

The City of Wilmington understands the value of personal information and works to protect the personal information we collect from the public. The City does not sell or rent data, including personally identifiable information such as phone numbers and email addresses.

As a political subdivision of the State of Delaware, Wilmington is subject to Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) statute. Nearly all information that government entities collect are subject to public records disclosure requests. The State of Delaware’s FOIA statute outlines the legal requirements that govern requests for public records and specifies which records are exempt. The State of Delaware’s FOIA statute may be found here: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title29/c100/.

311 Services

The information of callers who opt to provide your personal information (e.g., phone number, email address, or physical address) when calling 311is stored in our system. The City may contact callers if additional information is needed to resolve a request. In addition, the City will be able to search its system by name, phone number, home address, or email address to follow up on previous requests you have made to 311. Anonymous requests may be submitted using the 311 system. In such instances personal information is not stored and the City is unable make contact should additional information be needed to resolve a request.

The City will send periodic news alerts to the email address provided for those who opt-in to receive the City’s news alerts via the City’s website. Users may opt out of those communications at any time by clicking “unsubscribe from this list” at the bottom of any news alert email. In some cases, when the City sends an email to a user, it may contain beacons that help the City track which emails have been opened and which links are clicked by our recipients so that we may continue to improve communications and services.

Policy approved 9/19/2023.