This policy describes the Austin County Appraisal District privacy practices regarding
information collected from visitors to the site. It contains information
about what data is collected and how that information is used. The
Austin County Appraisal District privacy policy applies only to this Web site. When
you follow a link to another site, even the sites of state agencies
and local governments, this policy will not apply. You should check
the privacy policy of each of these sites if you have concerns about
how they handle personally identifiable information. This policy may
be updated periodically, so please check back from time to time.
Collection and Use of Information
Austin County Appraisal District does not sell or rent personally identifiable information.
Please be aware that when you provide information to any government
entity, however, that information may be subject to the Texas Public
Information Act and applicable federal legislation. Information about
the Texas Public Information Act is available from the Office of the
Attorney General at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/index.shtml.
Each governmental body must be contacted directly about the records
they keep and their use of personally identifiable information.
The Austin County Appraisal District departmental Web sites utilize server logs and
log analysis tools to create summary statistics about the use of
the Web site. The summary statistics are used for purposes such
as assessing what information is of most interest to users, determining
technical design specifications, and identifying system performance
or problem areas. The following information is collected for this
analysis:
User Client hostname - The hostname (or IP address if DNS
is disabled) of the user/client requesting access.
HTTP header, "user-agent" - The user-agent information
includes the type of browser, its version, and the operating system
it's running on.
HTTP header, "referer" - The referer specifies
the page from which the client accessed the current page.
System date - The date and time of the user/client request.
Full request - The exact request the user/client made.
Status - The status code the server returned to the user/client.
Content length - The content length, in bytes, of the document
sent to the user/client.
Method - The request method used.
Universal Resource Identifier (URI) - The location of a resource
on the server.
Query string of the URI - Anything after the question mark
in a URI.
Protocol - The transport protocol and version used.
For online government transactions conducted on the Austin County Appraisal District
Web sites, you will be asked to enter certain information about
yourself and/or the organization with which you are affiliated.
The specifics of this information will vary as required by the type
of transaction and the County department involved. In each case,
the information requested will include the same information that
would be requested if you performed the identical transaction in
person rather than online. Whenever personal information is requested
from you on this site, there will be an indication of whether your
disclosure of such information is mandatory or optional. Information
collected in the course of the transaction is used for the following
purposes:
• To conduct online transactions with the county.
(e.g., Auto Registration renewal or Property Tax payments).
• To conduct online interchange of certain data information.
• To send you an e-mail confirming your transaction.
• To forward service announcements or content features
to you, only if you have chosen to request this service.
Austin County Appraisal District may be required by law enforcement or judicial authorities
to provide personally identifiable information to the appropriate
governmental authorities. Austin County Appraisal District fully cooperates with law
enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our services for
illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement
agencies any activities that we in good faith believe to be unlawful.
Security
This site uses a secure server for conducting online transactions.
All credit card and other payment information that you transmit to
us will be protected by 128-bit encryption technology, provided your
browser is properly configured and your computer is operating properly.
Security technology requires that you have a reasonably current browser
that is capable of supporting 128-bit encryption. Current browsers
such as these will activate the appropriate security features when
you enter an online transaction through this site. In general, you
can determine whether you are on a secure site by looking at the symbol
at the bottom of your browser screen. You can be sure you are using
a secure server if the key is unbroken or the lock is locked.
We limit employee access to personally identifiable information
to only those employees who need access to perform a specific job.
All employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices.
Intrusion
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains
available to all public users, this government computer system employees
certain software programs to monitor network traffic to identify
unauthorized attempts to upload, download or change information,
or otherwise cause damage.
Any attempts to damage or misuse the information contained on county
computer systems are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under
laws of the State of Texas.
Email and Web Forms
If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment
that contains personally identifying information, or fill out a web
form that e-mails us this information, we will only use the personally-identifiable
information to respond to your request and analyze trends. We may
redirect your message to another county department or person who is
in a better position to answer your question.
Contact Information
If at any time you are concerned that your information is incorrect
and you are unsure how to correct or update it, please contact us
at or contact our office by phone at
979-865-9124
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Austin County Appraisal District Privacy Policy