Terms & Conditions

Intent

Through the County website Arlington County Government provides information needed to visit, live and work productively in Arlington, a “diverse and inclusive world-class urban community.”

Terms and Conditions

Any person is hereby authorized to browse the County website for informational purposes. In addition, any person, subject to the specifically stated guidelines and restrictions, may participate in the interactive and opt-in functions of the website.

Information may be printed or downloaded from the website for non commercial, personal use only, provided all copyrights, licenses and other proprietary notices contained on the material are retained. The County logo with accompanying wording is copyrighted. No person may, however, sell, distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, repost, use or create derivative works based on the content of the website in whole or part for any purpose without the written permission in each instance from Arlington County Government or the owner of such content. The policies on the Arlington County website are subject to change, without notice, upon public posting in a timely fashion by Arlington County Government.

Warranties & Disclaimers

Information on this website, including calendar information, is provided “as is” and to the extent permitted by relevant law without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Arlington County assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, missed delivery or failure to store any user communications or personalization settings.

In no event shall the Arlington County Government be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages of any kind (including but not limited to lost data or profits), or any other damages whatsoever whether or not advised of the possible damage, under any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this information.

Personal Information

Under the following conditions Arlington County is committed to ensuring the security of personal information voluntarily submitted to the website and the privacy of information collected through website logs.

Browsing
No personally identifiable information (any information by which you can be identified) is required to browse the County website.

Contact Us
Contact us” is the primary means of communication with staff for a website visitor. Questions, comments and suggestions voluntarily submitted to the County website through electronic mail may be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. Email communication is directed to appropriate staff. The information will only be maintained as an active file as long as needed to respond to the request. However, information may be archived for historical purposes, but will not be used beyond the stated purpose of the communication and will not be shared or distributed to third parties with any identifiable personal information.

Website Logs
Website logs are used to provide use data for analysis. The logs do not contain personally identifiable information and no attempt is made to link the logged information with the individuals who actually browse the site. By using the Arlington County website, browsers give Arlington County permission to collect such information about them as an anonymous user for the purpose of calculating aggregate site statistics.

Cookies
Cookies, a piece of text placed on the customer’s computer hard drive to help analyze web traffic or customer visits to a particular site, may be used in portions of the website. In addition, cookies allow a web application to respond to the customer as an individual by remembering information about preferences likes and dislikes.

Accepting a cookie in no way gives access to your computer or any personal information about you, other than the data you chose to share. This practice is strictly enforced. You may set your web browser to notify you of cookie placement requests or decline cookies completely. You can delete the files that contain cookies. The files are stored as part of your Web browser.

Interactive Services
Personal information required to use some online services such as those in the payment portal, email notification of all kinds, payment notification and reminders, bill presentment and payment, request for service, will be treated as confidential. Information that may be collected includes name, address, telephone number, license plate number, vehicle title number, email address, checking account information, and credit and debit card account numbers. Such interactive services are entirely voluntary. Once a customer provides personally identifiable information the data is secured through state of the art technology. The data will be kept for as long as either required by law, or is relevant for the purposes for which it was collected.

Security
County websites use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) for secure transmissions. SSL and TLS apply encryption between two communicating applications, such as the customer’s browser and the server. When data is transmitted over the Internet, it is encrypted at the sending end and then decrypted at the receiving end. Personal information and all credit card account numbers and other payment information will be protected by 256-bit encryption technology, provided your browser is properly configured and your computer is operating properly. Security technology requires that you have a browser that is capable of supporting 256-bit encryption. Such browsers 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 address bar. A locked padlock lock icon indicates that you are connected securely.

Privacy
Arlington County Government will not sell, rent or lease or otherwise disclose your personally identifiable information. Information may be shared with entities who are contractually acting on behalf of the County. Such entities are governed by this privacy policy with respect to the use of this data and are bound by the appropriate confidentiality agreements.

Legal Access to Personal Information
Federal law enforcement officials may under certain circumstances obtain access to subscriber databases and archived information under the federal Patriot Act (Public Law 107-56). Federal law prohibits Arlington County from informing you if federal law enforcement officials have obtained these records.

As a public entity Arlington County is required to respond to requests under the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, §2.2-3700, et seq., VA Code Ann.). Personal information such as name and email address submitted for opt-in electronic notification may not be withheld unless specifically requested at sign up.

Notwithstanding any other statements or representations here or elsewhere on the County site, Arlington County reserves its right to disclose any information in its possession if it is required to do so by law, or if it believes, in good faith, that such a disclosure is necessary to comply with the law, defend its rights or property, or to respond to an emergency situation.

Accessibility

Arlington County Government is committed to providing access to electronic information for the disability community in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) throughout the County website. The County’s accessibility webpage provides detailed information.

Copyright and Trademark Notice

The following are the protected Trademarks of Arlington County, Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

CountyLogo_Color_Vertical.png

Official logo of Arlington County

Links to Other Websites

Arlington County website links to resources outside Arlington County Government. Links are selected to complement and extend services and information provided on the website. Priority is given first to services in Arlington and then to those available in the region. The presence of these links does not imply, and should not be interpreted as endorsement, sanction, approval or authorization of these sites or their content. Arlington County Government makes no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied, concerning the content or accuracy of any material on any external website links.

Calendar of Events

The intent of the web calendars is to provide timely and accurate information on events of interest to County residents, visitors and businesses. The calendar is limited to community events occurring within Arlington County and regional events of governmental interest. Events hosted by businesses solely for commercial purposes are not eligible for inclusion. Errors brought to the attention of the web team will be corrected as feasible. By using the information contained herein, the viewer willingly assumes all risks in connections with such use. Arlington County reserves the right to add, modify, or delete any information on this calendar at any time.

Online Public Participation


The Online Public Participation Policy applies to all online platforms used by Arlington County Government. Arlington County uses online participation as a limited public forum for residents to conduct orderly and civil discourse – to move the conversation forward on a particular topic. To promote that objective, we try to monitor, but cannot take responsibility for, all postings and comments. We ask that your comments and/or postings to stay focused, clean, respectful and truthful.

When using our online platforms, we want people to feel safe in expressing diverse opinions and beliefs. Therefore, material that the County determines is in violation of this policy, including unlawfully disseminated materials or postings that constitute a possible crime in the Commonwealth, makes threats; abuses, harasses or seeks to intimidate others; uses fear or disseminates misinformation, may be removed and archived.

Covered Materials 

Materials covered by this policy include not just comments or postings, but also images and links to other sites. In all instances, users must also comply with the Online Public Participation policy – and also comply with the Terms of Use of any host platform (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.). All social media platforms are subject to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, including the Virginia Public Records Act and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Participant Registration

The County reserves the right to require registration, while not permitting multiple registrations or logins. Participation may be limited to Arlington County residents. Registration information is retained under the privacy provisions of the County website. You may use these platforms only in compliance with this policy.

Postings: You are responsible for your use of these tools and for any content you provide, including compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations and this policy. Noncompliant postings may be removed and archived. The County does not restrict viewpoints.

The County may, in its sole discretion, post or remove and archive postings on any of its social media platforms, websites, blogs, mobile apps or other services. By participating in these online opportunities, the County expects your postings, comments and materials to further the mission of these online participation tools. Accordingly, your postings should not:

  • Promote an unlawful purpose or scheme.
  • Contain personally identifiable information about others, impersonate someone else, defame or slander another or contain altered images.
  • Endorse or seek to boycott companies, brands, political platforms, specific groups or candidates.
  • Violate the expectations of civil discourse, civility and constructively informing government operations.
  • Contain profane or graphic content, such as content that is vulgar, incites violence or is sexually explicit.
  • Offer misleading or false information.
  • Contain spam or promote technical abuse, including computer viruses or code which may disrupt, damage or restrict the use of any computer software, hardware or telecommunications equipment.
  • Advocate or depict illegal activity.
  • Target, disparage or discriminate against any individual.
  • Target disparage or discriminate against any ethnic, racial, religious, gender or other protected class (Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy).
  • Objectively appear to be an attack or threat on an individual or public figure. Threats, as well as hate speech that the County determines are credible will be removed and may be referred to law enforcement.
  • Bully, harass or intimidate – including messages or content generally available to the public (such as text, links, images or photos) that appears to purposefully target individual.
  • Promote or endorse private business ventures, services or products.
  • Engage in fundraising or campaigns for public office or promote a political organization or candidate.
  • Infringe on copyrights or trademarks or intellectual property rights of others.
  • Access or search, or attempt to access or search, the County’s services (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available, public-facing website and related platforms.
  • Interfere or disrupt (or attempt to do so), the access of a user or network through a Denial of Service (e.g. sending a virus, flooding, spamming, mail-bombing the County’s services). Any act that degrades the quality of the County’s networked service may be subject further action by the County.
  • Post advertisements, solicitations, GOFUNDME links and “For Sale or Rent” postings are not permitted.

Privacy: Social media platforms are not confidential.  You should be careful about what personal information you post about yourself. We encourage you NOT to post birthdates, social security numbers, information about your children, etc. as any information you post is accessible by the general public and may be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Disclaimer: Comments, postings, and links that appear on County-sponsored social media or digital media sites (or links within those comments or postings) do not reflect views or act as an endorsement by the County of specific viewpoints, policies, practices, or products.

Additional information: Your comments are welcome at any time – we recognize the 24/7 medium – but typically comments and postings are monitored only during regular business hours. Specific questions submitted through our social or digital media platforms are not guaranteed a response. For questions or inquiries, you should also use our contact form. You make also contact the Office of Communications & Public Engagement.