We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to give us that information. If you are conducting business with the State Auditor’s Office, we will ask for only the information needed to complete the transaction or required by law.
If you do nothing during your visit to our website but browse, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit:
- The Internet protocol address and domain name you used. The Internet protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or your computer. We use the Internet protocol address to direct Internet traffic to you. This address can be translated to determine the domain name of your service.
- The type of browser and operating system you used.
- The date and time of the visit.
- The Web pages or services accessed.
- The Web site you visited prior to coming to this website.
This information is used only to improve the content of our Web services and to help us understand how people are using our services.
If you participate in a survey, send an e-mail, or perform some other transaction through this Web site, the following information will be collected:
- The email address and contents for those who communicate with us via e-mail.
- Information volunteered through an online form for any other purpose.
The information collected is not limited to text and may include audio, video and graphic information formats you send us.
We use your e-mail to reply to you, to address issues you may identify, to further improve our website or to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action.
You may choose whether to provide personal information online.
Personal information includes an individual’s name, address and phone number. A domain name or Internet protocol address is not considered personal information.
When using our HelpDesk, we ask that you provide an email address. You may provide a phone number on the HelpDesk form as an alternate means of contact.
If personal information is requested on the Web site or volunteered by the user, state law and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information is a public record once you provide it and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by federal or state law.
If you believe that your personal information is being used for a purpose other than what was intended when submitted, you may send an email to the Manager of Legal Affairs.
The State Auditor’s Office does not knowingly collect any personal information from minors. Users are cautioned that the collection of personal information requested from or volunteered by minors online or by e-mail will be treated the same as information given by an adult and may be subject to public access.
The State Auditor’s Web site and the information relayed through it are subject state public disclosure laws. Visit the State Auditor’s public records page .
The State Auditor’s Office, as developer and manager of www.sao.wa.gov, has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its data and prevent unauthorized access to information maintained by the State Auditor’s Office. For site security purposes and to ensure that this Website remains available to all users, the State Auditor’s Office employs software to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage to this website. These measures are designed and intended to prevent corruption of data, block unknown or unauthorized access to our systems and information, and to provide reasonable protection of private information in our possession.
This information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided via the State Auditor’s Office Web sites.
To offer comments about the State Auditor’s Office’s website, or about the information presented in this Privacy Policy, please email the Webmaster.
Last modified: January 2014