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Privacy

The Office of the Ohio Secretary of State recognizes the importance of privacy to our Web site visitors. Therefore, visitors should be aware of the following information. This policy is subject to change in the future.

PUBLIC RECORDS

Visitors should be aware that, subject to certain statutory exceptions, most documents and records maintained by the Office of the Ohio Secretary of State, including but not limited to electronic data, are public records under Ohio law. Therefore, information submitted through this Web site may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request. This is true regardless of whether information is provided to the State by personal visit, mail, or Web site, as it becomes public record and is open to public inspection unless protected by State or Federal law.

PLUG-INS

The Ohio Secretary of State's Web site does use files that will require a third party plug-in. Those files are limited to the following:

The Secretary of State Web site may also use audio files in an MP3 format. These files will play on any Web audio player, no specific plug-in is required.

WEB COOKIES

“Cookies” are short and simple text files that are stored on a user’s computer hard drive by Web sites. They are used to keep track of and store information so the user does not have to supply the information multiple times. Visitors who submit information via this Web site should be aware that by data linking your computer to this Web site, a cookie might be created. Temporary cookies may be used when necessary to complete a transaction, to process data submitted to us online or to facilitate ongoing Internet interaction. Information collected on our Web sites, including cookies, may also be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request. Any Web page or application at this site that uses cookies will identify itself as such. The information that is collected through cookies at this site is handled in the same manner as other information collected here. Thus, information collected on our Web site, including cookies, may also be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request.

USAGE STATISTICS

In order to generate usage statistics to help us improve our Web site, we automatically collect certain information on every visitor to the Web site. However, this information does not disclose “personal identifiers” (such as name, address, telephone number, email address, etc.). Each time a request is made to view a page within this Web site, our Web site creates a log file capturing generic user information. Examples of this type of information includes the type of Internet browser or computer operating system you are using, date and time you accessed this site, the Internet protocol address of the individual computer (or proxy server) making the request, and the Internet address of the site from which you may have linked to this site. All information collected by way of server log files is used in aggregate form only, and may be analyzed for trends and statistics.

ONLINE FORMS AND E-MAIL

This Web site will not collect personally identifiable information (such as name, address, telephone number, etc.) unless you provide such information voluntarily. We may ask for such information so that we can tailor interactive features of this Web site to your specific interests and needs (including periodically forwarding information that matches your selected interests). You are free to provide or not to provide the requested information. If you choose not to provide this type of information, you can still visit most of the Web site, but you may be unable to participate in certain online forums. Any personal information voluntarily provided by visitors, including personal information submitted through online forms and e-mail, will be used for the purposes stated on the Web page and may also be shared with other agencies as required by law or pursuant to agency authority. Information submitted through this Web site also may be subject to disclosure pursuant to a public records request.

SECURITY MEASURES

We take very seriously the integrity of the information and systems we maintain. Therefore, we have instituted security measures designed to identify attempts to tamper with this Web site, including, but not limited to, authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption. Information collected through these security measures may be used in connection with a criminal prosecution or other legal proceedings.