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Conditions of Use
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Thank you for visiting the California LifeLine website and reviewing our
Use Policy. California LifeLine adheres to the the Conditions of Use and
Privacy Policies set out by the State of California.
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You should also be aware that the State has a privacy policy, also
available on this web site. The State wants you know about the collection,
use, security, and access to information that may be obtained through use
of the State's web portal. By visiting this web site, you are accepting
the policies and practices described in this Notice. This notice covers
the following topics:
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Personal Information and Choice
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A Special Note about Children
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Information Collected and How it is Used
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What Happens to Information You Submit to Us
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Use of Internet Request for Assistance Form Information
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Surveys
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If you send us E-Mail
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Order Forms
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Public Disclosure
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Personal Information
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Automatic Collection of Information/Cookies
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Security
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Links to Other Sites
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Limitation of Liability
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Ownership
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Personal Information and Choice
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"Personal information" is information about a natural person that
identifies or describes an individual, including, but not limited to,
his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address,
home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment
history, readily identifiable to that specific individual. A domain name or
Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information, however, it is
considered "electronically collected personal information".
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According to Government Code § 11015.5, "Electronically collected personal
information" means any information that is maintained by an agency that
identifies or describes an individual user, including, but not limited to,
his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address,
home telephone number, education, financial matters, medical or employment
history, password, electronic mail address, and information that reveals any
network location or identity, but excludes any information manually submitted to
a state agency by a user, whether electronically or in written form, and
information on or relating to individuals who are users, serving in a business
capacity, including, but not limited to, business owners, officers, or principals
of that business.
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"Electronically collected personal information" we automatically collect
includes your domain name or Internet Protocol address, and statistical
information about which web pages you visit. If you voluntarily participate
in an activity that asks for specific information (i.e. completing a request for
assistance, personalizing the content of the web site, sending an e-mail or
participating in a survey) more detailed data will be collected. If you choose
not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way affect your
ability to use any other feature of the web site.
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If any type of personal information is requested on the web site or
volunteered by the user, state law, including Information Practices Act of
1977, Government Code Section 11015.5, and the federal Privacy Act of 1974
may protect it. However, this information may be a public record once you
provide it, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not
otherwise protected by federal or state law.
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Additionally, departments and agencies of the State of California are
required to adhere to the Privacy Policy which is also accessible on this
web site. Please see Department of General Services Management Memo 00-14, effective January 1, 2001.
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A Special Note About Children
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Children are not eligible to use services that require submission of
personal information and we require that minors (under the age of 18) do
not submit any personal information to us. This includes submitting
personal information to the State as part of a user profile or
personalization profile. If you are a minor, you can use these services
only if used together with your parents or guardians. If you are a minor
you should seek guidance from your parents.
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If the state decides to begin collecting personal information from children,
it will notify parents that it is being requested, disclose the reasons for
collecting it, and disclose our intended use for it. The state will seek
parental consent before collecting any personally identifiable information.
If it does collect it, parents may request information on the type of data
being collected, view their child's information and, if they choose,
prohibit the state from making further use of their child's information.
The state will not provide personal information about children to third parties.
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Information Collected and How It Is Used
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We do collect personal information directly from individuals who volunteer
to use some of our services. Collection of this information is required to
deliver the specific services, but use of these services is voluntary.
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If you do nothing during your visit to the web site, but browse or download
information, we automatically collect and store the following information about
your visit:
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The Internet Protocol Address and domain name used but not the e-mail address.
The Internet Protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your
Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet
Protocol Address to direct Internet traffic to you and generate statistics used
in the management of this site;
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The type of browser and operating system you used;
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The date and time you visited this site;
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The web pages or services you accessed at this site;
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The web site you visited prior to coming to this web site;
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The web site you visit as you leave this web site;
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If you downloaded a form, the form that was downloaded.
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The information we automatically collect or store is used to improve
the content of our web services and to help us understand how people
are using our services. This information does not identify you
personally and is used for gathering web site statistics. The
information we automatically collect and store in our logs about your
visit helps us to analyze our web site to continually improve the value
of the materials available. Our web site logs do not identify a visitor by
personal information, and we make no attempt to link other web sites
with the individuals that browse the State's web site.
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Government Code § 11015.5 (6) prohibits all state agencies from
distributing or selling any electronically collected personal
information as defined above, about users to any third party without
the permission of the user. The State does not sell any
"electronically collected personal information". Any distribution of
"electronically collected personal information" will be solely for the
purposes for which it was provided to us.
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The State may provide or distribute certain lists and statistical
reports of regulatory information as provided by law, but no personal
information is sold or distributed and all relevant legal protections
still apply to the State's web sites.
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What Happens To Information You Submit To Us?
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If you choose to submit information to us the information will be
transmitted through secure lines to our departmental database. Any
private information will only be used for the purposes for which it
was provided and will not be shared with another entity except as
prescribed by law. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional
information.
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Use of Internet Request for Assistance From Information
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Any information you provide to us will only be shared with entities
involved in your case as necessary. Information you provide may be
included with other consumers' information to be used for statistical
reporting, trending data, and/or investigative actions. For example,
we may need to retain information that becomes part of an enforcement
action or consumer complaint case for a period of time after the
closing date of the case.
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If you provide us with information regarding an issue that does not
fall within our regulatory jurisdiction, we may refer your information
to the appropriate local, state, or federal agency on your behalf.
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Surveys
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If during your visit to the State's web site you participate in a
survey or send an e-mail, the following additional information will be collected:
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The e-mail address and contents of the e-mail; and
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Information volunteered in response to the survey.
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The information collected is not limited to text characters and may
include audio, video, and graphic information formats you send us.
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The information is retained in accordance with Government Code § 11015.5.
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If you send us E-Mail
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You may choose to provide us with personal information, as in e-mail
with a comment or question. We use the information to improve our
service to you or to respond to your request. Sometimes we forward your
e-mail to other State employees who may be better able to help you, and this
staff may be employed by a different agency within the State. Except for
authorized law enforcement investigations or as required by law, we do not
share our e-mail with any other organizations.
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We use your e-mail to respond appropriately. This may be to respond to
you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our web site,
or to forward the e-mail to another agency for appropriate action.
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Order Forms
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If you place an order with us, we request information from the user on
our order form. A user must provide contact information (like name and
shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number,
expiration date]. This information is used for billing purposes and to
fill your order/request. If we have trouble processing an order, this
contact information is used to get in touch with you.
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Public Disclosure
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In the State of California, laws exist to ensure that government is open
and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information
possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the
public's right to access public records. These exceptions serve various needs
including maintaining the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws
provide exceptions.
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All information collected at this site becomes public record that may
be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless an exemption
in law exists. In the event of a conflict between this Use Policy and the Public
Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure
of records, the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other
applicable law will control.
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Personal Information
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Under Government Code § 11015.5, if you choose you may have any personal
information collected about you discarded without reuse or distribution,
provided we are contacted in a timely fashion.
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Automatic Collection of Information / Cookies
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Cookies are simple text files stored on your computer by your web
browser. The main State portal does not use cookies to maintain
personalization, however some departmental applications may.
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The State makes every attempt to avoid the use of cookies. When needed
to maintain the functionality of an application, unlike the common
usage of cookies, the State only uses cookies during the session in
which you access our interactive applications.
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Cookies created on your computer by using this web site do not contain
"personal information" and do not compromise your privacy or security.
We use the cookie feature only to store a randomly generated identifying
temporary tag on your computer. You can refuse the cookie or delete the
cookie file from your computer by using any of the widely available methods.
However, if you turn your cookie option off you may not be able to access
some of the features in our interactive applications.
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Security
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The State, as developer and manager of this web site, has taken several
steps to safeguard the integrity of its telecommunications and computing
infrastructure, including but not limited to authentication, monitoring,
auditing, and encryption. Security measures have been integrated into the
design, implementation and day-to-day practices of the entire State operating
environment as part of its continuing commitment to risk management. 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's supported web site. The technical standards governing security
are enforced by the Department of Information Technology.
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Links to Other Sites
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Our web site has links to sites we felt might be useful to you and
which may provide services. When you link to another site, you are
no longer on our site and are subject to the privacy policy of the
new site.
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This web site and the information it contains are provided as a public
service by the State of California. This system is monitored to ensure
proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security
features, and for comparable purposes. Anyone using this system
expressly consents to such monitoring. Unauthorized attempts to modify
any information stored on this system, to defeat or circumvent security
features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes
are prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution.
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Limitation of Liability
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The State attempts to maintain the highest accuracy of content on its
web site. Any errors, or omissions should be reported for investigation.
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The State makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the absolute
accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this web site
and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the
contents of this web site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed
or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of
non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness
for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus, is given with
respect to the contents of this web site or its hyperlinks to other
Internet resources. Reference in this web site to any specific commercial
products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation
name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not
constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the State of California,
or their employees or agents.
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This Use Policy is subject to change without notice.
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Ownership
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In general, information presented on this web site, unless otherwise
indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or
copied as permitted by law. However, the State does make use of copyrighted
data (e.g., photographs) which may require additional permissions prior to
your use. Furthermore, the unique branding of the site and various official
seals and marks may not be used without permission of the State. In order to use
any information on this web site not owned or created by the State you must seek
permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources. The State shall have
the unlimited right to use for any purpose, free of any charge, all information
submitted via this site except those submissions made under separate legal
contract. The State shall be free to use, for any purpose, any ideas, concepts,
or techniques contained in information provided through this site.
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Site Contact
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Site Administration
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Email:
webmaster@cpuc.ca.gov |