Website Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

Statement of Privacy 

The Town of Mendon, Massachusetts is committed to protecting your privacy, although some of the information recieved through the Town's website may be subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10. This Statement of Privacy applies to the the Town's site and governs data collection and usage. By using the The Town's website, you consent to the data practices described in this Statement of Privacy.

This Statement of Privacy is intended to allow you to make informed choices about whether and to what extent you may choose to share personally identifiable information with the Town through the Town’s website, and to inform you of the information that the Town collects from you from this website, what the Town does with it, to whom it may be disseminated, and how you can access it.  You can maximize the benefits of your privacy partnership with the Town by making informed choices about whether to share personally identifiable information with the Town through this website.

Collection of your Personal Information

The Town may collect personally identifiable information, such as your e-mail address, name, home or work address or telephone number. The Town  also collects anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites (depending on what you submit).

There is also information about your computer hardware and software that is automatically collected by the town, based upon your use of the Town's website. This information can include: your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, domain names, access times, and referring Web site addresses. This information is used by the town for the operation of the Town's website to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Town's website.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through the Town's website public message boards, this information may be collected and used by others. By directly disclosing such information, you agree to waive any claim against the Town arising out of the dissemination and use of such information by third parties and its dissemination shall be governed by applicable laws and regulations.  Note: The Town does not read any of your private online communications.

Some pages on the Town’s website may provide external website links.  These links are provided as a courtesy for the convenience of users.  The Town does not necessarily endorse the organizations or entities sponsoring or operating these external websites, nor does the Town control the content of the linked websites, including the privacy statements of those external websites.  The Town reserves the right to deny any and all requests for links to external websites, and to sever existing links at any time.  The Town encourages you to review the privacy statements of web sites you choose to link to from the Town's websites, so that you can understand how those web sites collect, use and share your information. The Town is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on web sites outside of the town's web sites.

Use of your Personal Information

The Town collects and uses your personal information to operate the Town's web site and to deliver the services you have requested. The Town also uses your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from the Town and its affiliates. The Town may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.

The Town does not sell, rent or lease information collected from its website to third parties, although the dissemination of such information may be governed by applicable laws and regulations. The Town may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases, your unique personally identifiable information (e-mail, name, address, telephone number) is not transferred to the third party. In addition, the Town may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to the Town, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

The Town does not use or disclose sensitive personal information, such as race, religion, or political affiliations, without your explicit consent.

The Town keeps track of the Web sites and pages our customers visit within the Town , in order to determine what the Town services are the most popular. This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within the Town to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.

The Town will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on the Town or the operator of the Town's website; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of the Town ; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Town , or the public.

Use of Cookies

The Town's website uses "cookies" to help you personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize the Town pages, or register with the Town site or services, a cookie helps the Town to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you return to the same the Town website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the the Town features that you customized.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the the Town services or Web sites you visit.

Security of your Personal Information

The Town secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. The Town secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other web sites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Changes to this Statement

The Town will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy. The Town encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how The Town is protecting and using your information.

Contact Information

The Town welcomes your comments regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that The Town has not adhered to this Statement, or if you have any questions, please contact the Town at webmaster@mendonma.gov. The town will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and remedy the problem.