Website Policy

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Thank you for visiting the Official Site of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This computer system, the City of Fort Lauderdale Internet site, (also known as www.fortlauderdale.gov), is provided as a service to the citizens of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and to the general public. By accessing or using the Site, or information, materials and data contained within the Site, the user hereby agrees to accept the following terms and conditions contained below.

Terms of Use

By visiting the Official Site of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, users agree that they will not use the Site for any unlawful activity or use it in any way that would violate any of the terms and conditions stated in this Terms of Use and Legal Information.

Linking to the City of Fort Lauderdale Website

The Official Site of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, provides links to many websites that are not controlled, maintained, or regulated by us. These links are provided for your reference and convenience only. The City of Fort Lauderdale does not control other websites and is not responsible for their content. Use of information from those websites by the user is voluntary. Users should rely on the information from non-City agency sites only after undertaking an independent review of its accuracy. References at those websites to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply endorsement, association, recommendation, or favoring by the Official Site of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When you link to a non-City agency site you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site and the information collected or used on those non-City agency sites.

The City of Fort Lauderdale provides links to the following types of organizations:

  • Links to Other Governmental Units and Educational Institutions -- The City of Fort Lauderdale provides links to other federal, state, and local governmental units that provide additional services and information that users of the City of Fort Lauderdale's Official Site may find of interest. Links are also provided to educational institutions that include Grades K through 12, school districts, intermediate school districts, community colleges, and universities.
  • Links to Private Organizations and Commercial Sites -- The City of Fort Lauderdale does not provide links to private organizations or commercial sites unless the sites offer services or educational information that compliments the information or services offered by the City of Fort Lauderdale. The City of Fort Lauderdale will not link to any site that contains any nudity, profane or obscene language. The determination of whether to establish a link to a private organization's website is made by the City of Fort Lauderdale's Strategic Communications office on a case-by-case basis.
  • Links to Non-Profit Organizations -- The City of Fort Lauderdale provides links to non-profit organizations that users of the City of Fort Lauderdale's Site may find of interest. The determination of whether to establish a link to a private organization's website is made by the City of Fort Lauderdale's Strategic Communications office on a case-by-case basis.

The City of Fort Lauderdale encourages and permits links to content of the City of Fort Lauderdale's Official Site. Under no circumstance should the linking (1) suggest that the City of Fort Lauderdale promotes or endorses any third party's causes, ideas, websites, products or services; (2) use the City of Fort Lauderdale's Site content for inappropriate and/or commercial purposes; (3) contain any hyperlink to any other sites without the prior written consent of such site(s); or (4) violate any patent or copyright rights of any third parties. In addition, links to the City of Fort Lauderdale Site should be executed in such a way so that the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking the linked page or prevents the acknowledgment of the City of Fort Lauderdale as the owner of the content. The City of Fort Lauderdale's Strategic Communications office reserves the right to withdraw permission for any link at any time with or without prior written notice.

Privacy Policy

It is the policy of the State of Florida that all records of the state or political subdivisions of the state are open for public inspection and copying, subject to certain exemptions. This policy is embodied in the Florida Constitution, together with the right of an individual to be free from unauthorized governmental intrusion into their private life, as provided in Article 1, Section 23, of the Florida Constitution. In recognition of these policies, the City has established this Internet Privacy Policy. When you use our Site, you are acknowledging that any personal information you provide is subject to Florida's Public Records Policy as stated in Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, and Article I, Section 24, of the Florida Constitution, subject to any applicable exemptions.

You do not have to give us personal information to visit our website, download our publications, or use our e-mail communications, or any other feature. We collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you you choose to provide this information to us or unless required by a specific City agency in order to transact business with that agency. We will use the information that you voluntarily provide to us to notify you of selected Site changes or new publications. We may also use it to conduct statistical analyses of user activities in order to measure user interest in the information we provide and how we provide it. However, we do collect and store some non-personal information as stated below.

E-mail Addresses

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

What We Collect and Store Automatically

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

  1. Name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, xcompany.com, if you use a private Internet access account, or yourschool.edu if you connect from an educational institution's domain);
  2. The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
  3. The date and time you access our site;
  4. The page from which you came and the pages that you access; and
  5. Your system's IP (Internet Protocol) address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web).

We use the information we collect in aggregate to count the number of, and types of, visitors to the different pages on our Site and to help us make our Site more useful to visitors like you.

How We Use Cookies

In order to process some updates (or in the future to customize content specific to your geographic area or interests), we use cookie technology. A cookie is a tiny piece of text that, with your permission, is placed on your computer's hard drive or is stored temporarily by our system. This data allows your browser to communicate with out Web servers. If your browser is set to notify you before accepting a cookie, you will receive a request for a cookie to be stored on your computer. When your transaction is completed, the cookie is saved on your PC. The only time we create a cookie is when you conduct a multi-part transaction.

This cookie, by itself, only tells us that a previous visitor has returned. It does not tell us private information about you, unless you want to give us the information; it's your choice. You may choose to reject all cookies by modifying your browser's preferences. However, if you do not accept cookies, you will not be able to use some of our functions that require their use.

We want to be sure you understand that accepting a cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any personal information about you. We know that some citizens have concerns about cookies, but the benefit we both gain from their proper use is worthwhile.

Disclaimer Regarding Accuracy of Information

Visitors to, and users of, the official website of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are advised that information contained within the pages of the Site is believed to be accurate. However, errors can occur even with computer-generated information. The City of Fort Lauderdale makes no representation regarding the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of such information and the data or that such information and data will be error-free. In the event that the information on the City's official printed documents differ from the information contained on this website, the information on the City's official printed documents will control and take precedence. Please be aware that in the event of an error or omission occurs, the City of Fort Lauderdale will use all of its resources to recover fees and taxes due to it. Visitors are encouraged to review the official version of all documents upon which they plan to rely. Any special notices related to how accurate or how current specific elements of data presented in our Site will be defined on those specific pages.

Although we try to ensure broken links do not exist; links to other Internet sites may have changed. If you encounter broken links, please report it to the website administrator, it will be assessed and corrected!

Accessibility

For information on accessibility issues and policies, please go to the City's accessibility page.

Online Payments and Related Transactions

Providing you with a secure online experience is a high priority of the City of Fort Lauderdale. We recognize that your information security is of the utmost importance, and we have devoted a great deal of effort to ensure that your personal information is safeguarded.

Your online payment transactions are supported by industry-standard data encryption in accordance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) vs. 3.2 available through your browser called TLS 1.2 encryption. These services are designed to ensure the privacy of your credit card information, name, address, e-mail and other information you provide to us.

Intrusion Detection

For security purposes and to help ensure this service remains available to you, we use special software programs for monitoring network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise to cause damage to this government computer system or Site. These programs collect no information that would directly identify individuals, but they do collect information that could help us identify someone attempting to tamper with this website.

If you use this system or Site, you should understand that all activities may be monitored and recorded. Anyone using this system or Site expressly consents to such monitoring. WARNING - If such monitoring reveals possible evidence or information of criminal or suspicious activity, monitoring records may be provided to law enforcement officials without any prior oral or written notice to you.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, we make no other attempts to identify individual users or their usage habits. We only use raw monitoring data for logs for determining trends in usage patterns and in diagnosing system or Site problems.

Indemnity

As a condition of use of the City of Fort Lauderdale's website, the user and/or anyone linking to this Site agrees to indemnify the City of Fort Lauderdale, its Mayor, Commissioners, officers, employees, and agents against any and all liability, expenses (including attorney's fees and court costs) and damages arising out of claims resulting from user's use of this website and/or anyone linking to this Site, including, without limitation, any claims alleging facts that if true would constitute a breach of these terms and conditions stated in this Term of Use and Legal Information.

Security

We have created a dedicated security contact email at abuse@fortlauderdale.gov to improve the resiliency of our digital services. Outside users can use it to report observed or suspected security issues at our domain. This could include notifications about compromised accounts, unsolicited email, routing problems, or reporting a potential vulnerability.

Jurisdiction

The Terms of Use and Legal Information are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States of America (USA). User and/or anyone linking to this Site consents to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts in Broward County, Florida, USA in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of this website. The users of the website and/or anyone linking to this Site in jurisdictions outside of Broward County, Florida, consent to the jurisdiction in Broward County, Florida.