California Department of Transportation Privacy Policy 

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The California Department of Transportation is committed to promoting and protecting the privacy rights of individuals, as enumerated in Article 1 of the California Constitution, the Information Practices Act of 1977, and other state and federal laws.

It is the policy of the Department of Transportation to limit the collection of, and to safeguard the privacy of, personal information collected or maintained by the Department. The Department of Transportation’s information management practices seek to conform to the requirements of the Information Practices Act (Civil Code Section 1798 et seq.), the Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et seq.), Government Code Sections 11015.5 and 11019.9, and other applicable laws pertaining to information privacy. This Privacy Policy only applies to the Department of Transportation.

According to Government Code 11019.9, each state department and state agency shall enact and maintain a permanent privacy policy, in adherence with the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Title 1.8 (commencing with Section 1798) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code). Each state department and state agency shall conspicuously post its privacy policy on its Internet Web site

“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 to be Caltrans electronically collected personal information.

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.

“Caltrans electronically collected personal information” means any electronically collected personal information that we collect, including 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 website, sending an email, or participating in a survey) more detailed data will be collected. If you choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will probably not affect your ability to use any other feature of the website.

If any type of personal information is requested on the website or volunteered by the users, it is governed by state law, including California Civil Code section 1798 et seq., Government Code 11015.5, the California Public Records Act, and the Federal Privacy Act. This information may become a public record once it is provided and except for Caltrans electronically collected information, it may be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected by federal or state law. However, some information we collect is confidential, which may include but is not limited to social security numbers, medical information, and financial or employment data. Confidential information is protected, and it will only be disclosed pursuant to a legal process or as otherwise required by law. Personal information will not be disclosed, made available, or otherwise used for purposes other than those specified, except with the consent of the subject of the data, or as authorized by law or regulation

The Department of Transportation adheres to the following principles in connection with the collection and management of personal information:

1. The Department of Transportation collects personal information on individuals only as allowed by law. The Department limits the collection of personal information to what is relevant and necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose. For example, the Department may need to know an individual’s home address, email address, or telephone number, in order to answer the individual’s questions or in order to provide requested assistance.
2. The Department of Transportation does not collect home, business or email addresses, or account information from persons who simply browse the Department’s Internet website. Personal information about individuals is collected through the Department’s website only if an individual provides such information to the Department voluntarily through email, registration forms, surveys, or other method. This information will be used to facilitate in responding to the person or to improve the content or navigation of the website. The information collected in this manner is not subject to requests made pursuant to the Public Records Act, and site visitors may request to have their information discarded without reuse or distribution.
3. The Department of Transportation uses Google Analytics to help improve the website.  Automatic Collection of Information/Cookies. Cookies are simple text files stored on your computer by your web browser. Google tracking cookies may be used to provide information to Google Analytics. Our website may use Google Analytics to track website statistics. Google tracking code used by every website or application that employs Google Analytics, stores information that identifies device IP addresses, but our website is anonymizing that information and only part of device IP addresses are being used. Consequently, no information identifying you or your device is being stored at Google via our utilization of Google Analytics implementation. You can find out more about Google Analytics anonymized IP addresses by clicking here. In addition,  the following are a list of third-party cookies being used:
   • Twitter
   • YouTube
   • Facebook
   • Siteimprove

   We aggregate statistics from users who have these cookies. The cookies will remain on their computer unless specifically deleted. You can manage your cookies by accessing your browser’s settings/preferences menu to prevent them from being placed on your computer or to delete them from your computer. Additionally, information on how to delete cookies from your computer may be found at https://www.aboutcookies.org. You should, however, be aware that some websites may not work properly if you block cookie placement

   The information being collected is restricted to IP address, domain name, type of browser, and operating system and the date and time of site visit, and Caltrans electronically collected personal information is exempt from requests made under the Public Records Act. The Department endeavors to tell the purpose for which information is collected To those people who provide personal information. The Department strives to tell persons about the Department’s potential uses of that information. With each request for personal information, the Department describes the Department’s principal uses of the information, and other information required to be disclosed by applicable policy or law
4. The Department of Transportation’s use of your email. You may choose to provide us with personal information (as in email) with a comment or question. We may use the information to improve our service to you or to respond to your request. We may forward your email 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 email with any other organizations. We use your email to respond to respond to you, to address the issues that you identify, to further improve our website, and to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action. Submission of an email to the Department or Department staff, and/or communication through the website, does not create any attorney-client or other privileged or confidential relationship. Accordingly, you should not disclose any information to the Department that you wish to remain private or confidential.
5. The Department of Transportation may provide people who provide personal information with an opportunity to review that information. Individuals, who provide personal information, have the right to access information about themselves and may request a correction of any inaccuracies in such records. Please use the privacy contact information provided on Contact Page. 
6. The Department of Transportation will seek to use personal information as described in this Policy, and some information may be disclosable under the Public Records Act. The Public Records Act exists to ensure that California government is open and transparent.  At the same time, there are exceptions that recognize the public’s right to access records. These exceptions serve various needs, including maintaining the privacy of individuals. In the event of a conflict between this Policy and the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure of records, will control.
7. How the Department of Transportation collects and uses your information. We collect personal information directly from individuals who volunteer to use some of our services. Collection of this information may be required to deliver the specific services.  Use of these services by individuals is voluntary.
8. How the Department of Transportation protects your information. The Department has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its telecommunications and computing infrastructure, including but not limited to authentication, monitoring, auditing. Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day practices of the 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 as stating that the State operating environment and its security are guaranteed, warranted, or fail proof. The technical standards governing security are enforced by the Department of Information Technology.
9. We tell individuals who provide personal information to The Department the purpose(s) for which the information is collected. At the time of collection, we tell individuals who provide personal information about the specific uses for which we will use that information. We also provide a privacy notice on or with the form used to collect personal information.

If you do nothing during your visit to the website but browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

1. A partial Internet Protocol address and domain name is collected, but not the email address. The partial Internet Protocol address is used to direct Internet traffic to you without identifying you individually and generate statistics used in the management of this website.
2. The type of browser and operating system you used.
3. The date and time you visited this website.
4. The web pages or services you accessed at this website.
5. The website you visited prior to coming to this website.
6. The website you visit as you leave this website, and
7. If you downloaded a form, the form that was downloaded.

We aggregate statistics from users who have these cookies. The cookies will remain on their computer unless specifically deleted. You can manage your cookies by accessing your browser’s settings/preferences menu to prevent them from being placed on your computer or to delete them from your computer. Additionally, information on how to delete cookies from your computer may be found at https://www.aboutcookies.org. You should, however, be aware that some websites may not work properly if you block cookie placement 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 website statistics. The information we automatically collect and store in our logs about your visit helps us to analyze our website to continually improve the value of the materials available. Our website logs do not identify a visitor by personal information, and we make no attempt to link other websites with the individuals that browse the Department’s website. Individuals have the right to have any Caltrans electronically collected personal information deleted by the Department, without reuse or distribution. Individuals may request to have their Caltrans electronically collected personal information deleted via the Contact Page.

Caltrans electronically collected personal information is exempt from requests made under the Public Records Act.

Government Code § 11015.5 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 Department does not sell any Caltrans electronically collected personal information. Any distribution of  Caltrans electronically collected personal information will be solely for the purposes for which it was provided to us.

The Department 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 Department’s website.

The Department of Transportation will provide additional explanations of this privacy policy, if requested. If any individuals have any further questions about the Department’s privacy policy, they are encouraged to contact the Department using our Contact Page.