Agreement to Terms and Conditions of Use
Thank you for your interest in creating an account through the MyAlabama.gov web
site (MyAlabama) of the State of Alabama (“State”). This Agreement describes the
terms and conditions that you agree to when you create and use a MyAlabama account.
The purpose of a MyAlabama account is to enable you, the citizen, to more easily
do business with or apply for services (“Services”) from various state departments
and agencies (“Agencies”) of the State of Alabama. The MyAlabama account allows
you to enter certain personal information one time and use that information for
applications for multiple services. Then, as you link to other State of Alabama
websites from your MyAlabama account, your MyAlabama account will retrieve and store
for future use any additional information you enter on those sites. A MyAlabama
account also allows you to have a single set of access credentials (Username and
Password) for multiple state online facilities. And finally, a MyAlabama account
provides a single place for you to track the business transactions that you initiate
with multiple state agencies.
From your MyAlabama account you will be able to link to other state Services. The
act of linking to a particular Service will establish a permanent connection between
your MyAlabama account and the Service.
You are not required to create a MyAlabama account to do any business with or apply
for any Services with Agencies of the State of Alabama. Creation and use of a MyAlabama
account is completely voluntary. If you do not create and use a MyAlabama account,
you will still be able to access the various Services directly, by visiting Agency
offices or by directly accessing a Services website.
If you create a MyAlabama account for yourself or for another person, you represent
that the information you submit into the account is accurate. Persons creating or
using a MyAlabama account who submit false information will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.
You should also be aware that the State has a
Privacy Policy
(see below). The State wants you to know about the collection,
use, security, and access to information that may be obtained through use of the
MyAlabama web site. By creating an account at this web site, you are accepting the
policies and practices described in this Agreement.
Please note that this Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement is subject to change
without notice, and that it reflects the State's current business practices. The
current version of this Agreement is dated September 29, 2011. You may be required
to reconfirm your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement should
it change.
Also note that each Agency within the State may have additional privacy and use
policies specific to the mission and needs of their work. Be sure to review those
policies as you access additional sites within the State.
This Agreement covers the following topics:
Personal Information
"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, e-mail address, Alabama Driver’s License number, date of birth,
home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, employment history,
and medical history, readily identifiable to that specific individual. The State
may use the Personal Information in your account in a variety of ways, including
to verify that you are who you say you are, to contact you, and to investigate fraudulent
activity. For purposes of verifying your identity, the State may compare your personal
information to similar information in other State, federal and commercial data bases.
E-mail Address
While currently you are not required to have a private e-mail address in order to
create a MyAlabama account, MyAlabama.gov strongly recommends that you do submit
an e-mail address. If you do have an e-mail address and enter it into your MyAlabama
account, MyAlabama.gov reserves the right to contact you via the e-mail address
you provide for purposes of initial account creation, password resetting, and account
alerts, or to communicate with you regarding important system or account information,
major changes planned for MyAlabama.gov or for other system related needs. MyAlabama
will not transmit personal information via e-mail, unless you initiate the e-mail
correspondence.
If you do not have an e-mail address, you may create an e-mail at many online web
services. Many of these are free services. The State recommends that you use an
e-mail account that is not likely to be discontinued while your MyAlabama account
is active.
You may use the same e-mail address on multiple MyAlabama accounts, for example,
where you create accounts for dependents who do not have their own e-mail addresses.
To protect your privacy and personal information, the State recommends that you
take measures to protect your email account and account password by not sharing
your e-mail account password with others (including employees of the State of Alabama),
by logging completely off public computers from which you access your e-mail account,
and by taking other routine preventive measures.
Information Collected and How It Is Used
MyAlabama.gov does 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.
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 state Services,
either individually or in conjunction with each other. This information does not
identify you personally and is used for gathering web site and service level 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 who browse the
State's web sites.
State policy 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.
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.
What Happens To Information You Submit To Us?
If you choose to submit information to us, the information will be transmitted through
secure lines to our 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.
Links To Other Sites
The MyAlabama web site has links to sites that might be useful to you or that may
provide Services to you. All sites that you may link to are operated by the Agencies
of the State. When you link to another site, you are no longer on the MyAlabama
site and are subject to the privacy policy of the linked site.
Information Sharing Between Agencies
If you create a MyAlabama account, you will be required to enter certain personal
information in order to complete the account creation process. If you then link
to other Agency Services through your MyAlabama account, your MyAlabama account
may supply those Services with the personal information stored in your MyAlabama
account, including personal information that you entered directly into your MyAlabama
account and information that you entered into a Service application or Agency business
account. By linking to additional Services and other Agency websites from your MyAlabama
account, you are authorizing your personal information to be shared between multiple
State Agencies and Services.
Automatic Collection Of Information
When you visit another State of Alabama website for the MyAlabama web site, you
should be aware that data linking your MyAlabama account to a particular website
(a token) may be created. Although tokes are temporary, they facilitate the creation
of permanent links between your MyAlabama account the Service you link to. Tokens
do not compromise your privacy or security.
Use Of Information On Request for Assistance Submission
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.
If You Send Us E-mail
MyAlabama.gov reserves the right to contact you via the email address you provide
regarding important system or account information, major changes planned for MyAlabama.gov
or for other system-related needs.
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.
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.
Security
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 Alabama Department of Finance.
Password Use, Maintenance, and Resetting
When you create a MyAlabama account, you are required to create a password, which
should remain secret to you. The State will create no situations that require you
to give your password to a State employee or other individual. If you forget your
Username of Password, you may be able to have them sent to by email by selecting
the “Forgot Username/Password” feature in the Login area of the main screen, and
by answering certain security questions, the answers to which you entered when you
created your account.
Authorized Representatives
Once you have created a MyAlabama account, you may designate one or more representatives
to apply for state services on your behalf. You can cancel this designation at any
time, but a cancellation is effective from only that point forward, meaning that
activity that was performed by an authorized representative on your behalf during
the period when they were authorized by you will be binding, unless you take further
steps directly with the agencies and services in question.
Restrictions On Use
The MyAlabama web site and the information it contains are provided as a public
service by the State. The MyAlabama 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 use this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited
and may result in criminal prosecution.
Logging Out
Each time you finish using your MyAlabama account, you should log out of the session
by clicking on the Logout logo at the top right of the screen and closing your browser.
This is particularly important if you use a computer in a public place. There is
no limit to how many times you can log on to your Account. If you do not have keyboard
or mouse activity during a MyAlabama session for a period of 30 minutes, the MyAlabama
system may log you out automatically. If this occurs, simply log back on if you
wish to continue work in your MyAlabama account.
Termination
The State reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to
the MyAlabama.gov web site and or your MyAlabama account, including the related
links to other State web sites at any time and without notice. To the maximum extent
permitted by law, this Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Alabama
and you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts of Alabama.
Use of the MyAlabama.gov web site is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does
not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without
limitation this paragraph.
Limitation of Liability
The State attempts to maintain the highest accuracy of content on its web sites.
Any errors or omissions should be reported for investigation.
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. References
or links in this web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services,
or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name are for the information and convenience
of the public, and do not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by
the State of Alabama, or its employees or agents.
Privacy Policy
MyAlabama.gov knows that privacy and security of your information matter to you.
We respect your privacy and have taken measures to provide appropriate levels of
security to protect your personal information. Certain information about your account
may be shared with authorized personnel in order to administer the MyAlabama.gov
program. We deploy industry standard computer security technology to protect information
you provide to us.
MyAlabama.gov is a web portal provided by the State of Alabama. Except for user-entered
data, information presented on this site (such as news articles) is considered public
information and may be freely distributed or copied unless otherwise indicated.
Changes cannot be made to documents without expressed permission of the Agency that
authored the document.
MyAlabama.gov web portal intended for use by the public to allow for the creation
of accounts viewing, retrieving, and storing information only, except as otherwise
explicitly authorized. All site information resides on and transmits through protected
Agency computer systems and networks funded by the Information Services Division
of the Alabama Department of Finance and State Agencies.
Your use of MyAlabama.gov means you understand, accept and grant your unconditional
consent for the State of Alabama to review and take action including (but not limited
to) monitoring, recording, copying, auditing, inspecting, investigating, restricting
access, blocking, tracking, sharing with authorized personnel, or any other authorized
actions by authorized and law enforcement personnel.
Threats, attempts, or actions to modify this system, deny access to the system,
gain unauthorized access to data, breach system security or otherwise damage the
system or data contained within is strictly prohibited.
Child Online Privacy Protection Act
Children under the age of 13 are not eligible to use services that require submission
of personal information and should not submit any personal information to us. This
includes submitting personal information to the website as part of a user profile
or personalization profile. If you are a child under the age of 13, you can use
these services only if used together with your parents or guardians. Seek guidance
from your parents or guardians if you are under the age of 13.
If we decide to begin collecting personal information from children under the age
of 13, we will notify parents that it is being requested, disclose the reasons for
collecting it, and disclose our intended use of it. We will seek verifiable parental
consent before collecting any personally identifiable information. If we do collect
such information, parents may request information on the type of data being collected,
view their child's information, and, if they choose, prohibit us from making further
use of their child's information. We will not provide personal information about
children to third parties.
Revised 09/29/2011