Policies

External Social Media Policy (PDF)


Acceptable Use

SC.GOV is a creation and a service of the State of South Carolina (“State”). It is operated and managed under a long-term contract with a private company, South Carolina Interactive, LLC (“SCI” or “South Carolina Interactive”). The term “we” in this policy refers to the State and SCI.

Terms of Use

The State of South Carolina and South Carolina Interactive rely upon state agencies that furnish content made available on SC.GOV to determine that the content is accurate and current. Neither the State of South Carolina, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the State of South Carolina, nor South Carolina Interactive, warrants the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of any information published on, or linked from, the SC.GOV website, nor endorses any products or services linked from this system, and none of them shall be held liable for any losses, damages or injury caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of such information. Portions of the information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that uses or relies on any information obtained from this system assumes all risk of using or relying on any such information.

Links Disclaimer

Any link to third party web sites is provided solely for the purpose of your convenience.  Links made to other sites are made at your own risk and SC.gov accepts no liability for any linked sites.  Further, a link to a third party web site does not mean that SC.gov endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content or the use of such web site.  We have not tested any content, software feature or links found on any sites linked to and do not give any representation regarding the quality, safety, suitability or reliability of any of them or any of the material contained in them.  Users must take their own precautions to ensure what is selected for use is free of such items as viruses, worms, Trojan horses and other items of a destructive nature.

Monitoring the System From Intrusion

All State computer systems are subject to monitoring to determine proper functioning of the system and to provide security for the computer system's operation. By using the computer systems you are consenting to the exercise of such monitoring practices. The State and SCI reserve the right to use any legally appropriate measures to prevent and investigate anyone attempting to modify, deface, delete, or otherwise tamper with or abuse a State Web site, server, database, information system, or other State technology asset.

South Carolina Law and Jurisdiction

The materials made available for public use on the State's Web sites are from computer systems located within the State, and are for the use and benefit of the residents of South Carolina. Any person who uses these systems or attempts to gain access to information or materials on these systems is subject to the jurisdiction of the State of South Carolina. Any dispute arising from a person using or attempting to use information or materials on the State's Web sites shall be determined in accordance with South Carolina laws and in the courts of South Carolina.

What Information Do We Collect?

Treasurer.sc.gov collects from users only the personal information necessary to provide the information and services requested by them. For example, some of our hosted online service applications require us to collect names, addresses, email addresses, date of birth, financial information, social security number, and identification credentials such as driver license number, military identification number, or passport number.

To customize our service for you, we and our partners may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used only to provide and improve our service. We may obtain your consent on your first use of the service.

How Do We Use Your Personal Information?

Personal information in our possession is maintained and used in ways that respect individual privacy. Employees are educated about the importance of protecting personal information and consumer privacy, and only authorized employees and third parties (as specifically described in this policy) are officially granted access to personal information.

Treasurer.sc.gov will not disclose personal information collected from users to private third parties unless the law requires such disclosure or as otherwise described in this policy. Laws do exist in the State of South Carolina to ensure government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by a government agency. At the same time, however, there are exceptions to the public's right to access certain records in order to preserve the privacy of individuals. Such exceptions are authorized by both State and Federal law. Information collected from users by Treasurer.sc.gov, similarly to information collected during in-person visits to a government office, may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless an exemption exists in law. In the event there is a conflict between this Privacy Statement and a State or Federal law governing the disclosure of public records, the applicable law shall control.

Data in the Aggregate: We may disclose "blinded" aggregated data and user statistics to prospective partners and other third parties. Blinded data is data that does not identify an individual person.

Other: We also may disclose your information in special cases. For example, when we believe that we must disclose information to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Acceptable Use Policy, or may be causing injury to or interference with our rights or property, other website users, or anyone else who may be harmed by such activities. We may disclose or access account information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain, service, and improve our products and services.

We may occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, including packaging, delivering or mailing, answering customer questions about products or services, sending postal mail, and processing data. We will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the service, and they are contractually prohibited from using that information for any other reason.

How Can I Control My Personal Information?

We make every effort to develop applications that do not require the transmission or storage of personal information and sensitive data. Treasurer.sc.gov has developed and maintains online service applications in partnership with SC government entities. Some of these online service applications require users' personal information per South Carolina statute. Applications that require end user authentication provide the ability for users to view and edit their personal information using their user account credentials. When the collection, transmission, and store of sensitive data is required, all data is encrypted.

Family Privacy Protection Act of 2002

The Family Privacy Protection Act of 2002 prohibits persons or private entities from using personal information obtained from State agencies for commercial solicitation purposes. A person knowingly violating this prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the penalties specified in S.C. Code Ann. Section 30-2-50(D).

For general use or browsing of Treasurer.sc.gov, visitors are not asked for personally identifiable information, and none will be collected.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

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 us. This includes submitting personal information to the website as part of a user profile or personalization profile. If you are a child under the age of 13, you can use these services only if used together with your parents or guardians. Seek guidance from your parents or guardians if you are under the age of 13.

If we decide to begin collecting personal information from children under the age of 13, we will notify parents that it is being requested, disclose the reasons for collecting it, and disclose our intended use of it. We will seek verifiable parental consent before collecting any personally identifiable information. If we do collect such information, parents may request information on the type of data being collected, view their child's information, and, if they choose, prohibit us from making further use of their child's information. We will not provide personal information about children to third parties.

Cookies

Some of the services hosted on Treasurer.sc.gov use cookies. Cookies are short and simple text files that are stored on a user's computer hard drive by web sites. A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on a visitor's personal computer to track specific information about that visitor's interaction with the website. They are used to keep track of and store information so the user does not have to supply the information multiple times. The services hosted on Treasurer.sc.gov use session cookies.

A session cookie is temporary and only exists during a single session during which a visitor uses Treasurer.sc.gov. Treasurer.sc.gov session cookies are used to keep track of a particular online transaction and are destroyed after successful completion of a transaction, after a few minutes of inactivity, or when the browser is closed.

If an individual's web browser does not accept cookies, he or she may not be able to conduct online transactions on Treasurer.sc.gov. However, this will not hinder normal browsing of the website.

Metrics from Treasurer.sc.gov server logs are used for the following purposes:

  • Assessing the usability of Treasurer.sc.gov
  • Determining what information is of most interest to treasurer.sc.gov visitors
  • Measuring Treasurer.sc.gov system performance
  • Identifying potential issues associated with the interface or operation of Treasurer.sc.gov

 

Email Correspondence

Except as otherwise provided in this policy: (1) Treasurer.sc.gov will not disclose the email addresses of members of the public who have communicated electronically with a governmental body without the affirmative consent of the affected individual; and (2) Personally identifiable information contained in a question or comment sent to treasurer.sc.gov in an email message or submitted in an online form is only used by treasurer.sc.gov to respond to the question or comment.

E-mail messages will be treated the same as any other written communication. They may be subject to public inspection or legal disclosure. Please do not put confidential and personal information such as social security number, date of birth, bank account, and credit card information, mother's maiden name or medical information in your e-mail communications to the State. Your privacy cannot be protected or insured by the State or web hosting provider during email or unsecured web form transmission.

If you send an e-mail message or complete a web form which contains personal information, we collect and store the following information:

Any personally identifying information, which you choose to provide (for example your mailing address), in an electronic mail message or web form requesting information, any comments on policies or issues. Information collected in this manner is used solely for information and, in some cases, to respond to you. An email automatically includes your email address and certain routing information, including your internet server. Treasurer.sc.gov may redirect the message to a specific state agency or local government if SC.gov staff believes that the state agency or local government may be more qualified to respond.

Links to Other Web Sites

This web site has links to many other web sites. These include links to web sites operated by other governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. Many of these sites may not be subject to the South Carolina Code of Laws, or may operate under different privacy standards. Visitors to those web sites are advised to review the privacy statements of those sites. Neither the State nor web hosting provider is responsible for any content on a linked site.

Treasurer.sc.gov Privacy and Security Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about the treasurer.gov Privacy and Security Policy, please contact us at stoInfoSec@sto.sc.gov. If you have any questions or concerns about how state agencies and local governments handle personal information, please contact them directly.

What Else Should I Know About My Privacy?

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose information online, that information is accessible to other users and users. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online.

Revised May 28, 2013