Privacy and Security

PRIVACY NOTICE

Your privacy and security are our highest priority - ensuring electronic access to state government information and services while maintaining privacy is a guiding principle of our program. Personal data in our possession is maintained and used in ways that respect individual privacy. The Office educates its employees about the importance of protecting personal information and privacy, and only authorized employees have access to personal information.

INFORMATION SHARING

We do:

Request information from you for regulatory purposes in accordance with various statutes that we are responsible for.
Use contact information, such as e-mail addresses, to communicate with you and keep you apprised of regulatory matters that may interest you. We may also conduct surveys to determine how we can improve our level of service to the industries we regulate.
Use security techniques designed to protect your information from unauthorized access (see Security Notice below).

We do not:

Release personal information to third parties except where required by law pursuant to Chapter 119, F.S., Public Records law.
Sell or rent information to third parties for marketing programs or for any other purpose.
Use Internet “cookies”. (This is a file placed on your hard drive by a website server that allows for monitoring your use of that website).

Please note that all non-exempt information collected by the Office is subject to public disclosure under Chapter 119, F.S., Public Records law. However, certain records are deemed confidential or protected from disclosure pursuant to Chapter 119.07, F.S., including records of a personal or financial nature where prescribed.

SECURITY NOTICE

The Office uses the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to safeguard your sensitive personal information during on-line transactions. Using this widely accepted form of encryption, your transaction is secured from your personal computer to the State's computers processing your request, and the processing computers are located behind a secure firewall. This method protects your personal information such as Social Security Number, residential address and phone number, and business information including financial statements and reports.

Most importantly, this also protects your financial payment information including credit card and checking account numbers. For added security, financial payment information is stored in a separate database with additional security, and only a few authorized employees have access to this information for fee processing purposes.

This notice should not be construed in any way as guaranteeing, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information exchanged via Office web sites.

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.

Updated: 02/27/02