State of South Dakota Business Portal Privacy Notice

 

Thank you for visiting and choosing to sign up for the South Dakota Business Portal and reviewing our privacy notice. Because the State of South Dakota values the privacy of all users of the Business Portal, we only collect the minimum amount of information necessary to serve you and to improve Business Portal services. The State will collect no personal information about you when you use the Business Portal unless you voluntarily provide that information by entering it in an online form, during a phone call, chatting with a live support agent, sending an e-mail, participating in a promotion within the Business Portal, or performing an online service transaction using your assigned user ID and password.

This privacy notice applies to your visit and usage of the Business Portal and its services. The State’s privacy stance as it relates to your usage of other state websites, applications, and services will be described in separate privacy notices.

 

Data Collection

By visiting the Business Portal, the State will automatically gather and store certain information about your visit. Your Web browser software transmits most of this information to us; however, this information does not identify you personally.

We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit and usage of the Business Portal services:

• The numeric IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access the Business Portal. The State can then map these IP addresses into Internet domain names, for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain;
• The type of browser and operating system you are using to access the Business Portal;
• The date and time you access the Business Portal;
• The pages you visit, including graphics loaded from each page and other documents you download, such as PDF (Portable Document Format) files and word processing documents.

When logged in and using the Business Portal services, the State uses additional user information to make the Business Portal more useful to you and to learn about the types of Business Portal services being used. In addition, the State uses this information for security purposes to ensure the safety of the Business Portal and users’ data.

• Knowledge Searches: Tracks terms searched, includes user ID and related search terms.
• View Log: Tracks knowledge articles viewed, includes user ID and article.
• Business Portal Log Entries: Tracks Portal page and records viewed along with terms searched, includes user ID and related page, record, or search term.
• Search Events: Tracks terms searched and if results were returned for the searched term, includes user ID and related search term.

 

Use of Cookies

A "cookie" is a small text file that a website can place on your computer to collect information about your activities on the website or to make it possible for you to use an online "shopping cart" to keep track of items you wish to purchase. The cookie transmits this information back to the State's third-party Business Portal platform, which is normally the only computer that can read the file. For more detailed information, please refer to the ServiceNow® Cookies Policy. If you want to know when a cookie is placed on your computer or to prevent it from happening, you can set your browser to warn you when a website attempts to place a cookie on your computer.

 

Voluntary Personal Information Submission

If you choose to sign up for the Business Portal, log in to the Portal, or voluntarily provide the State personal information through Business Portal services, applications, or forms, that data will only be used for limited purposes.

The State and its agencies may ask you to voluntarily provide personal information under the following circumstances:

• The Business Portal and its services may ask for, without limitation, items such as your business name, first name, last name, e-mail address, phone number, or address to process various applications, login credentials for authentication processes, Business Portal forms, requests for site feedback, surveys, and contests, or other promotions.
• As the Business Portal grows, it may offer services such as a business or consumer portals or customization features and will likely ask for your e-mail and other information.

All of these activities are purely voluntary. You will always have the option of whether to perform the transaction and provide this information. However, please understand that to open a Business Portal account, you will be required to provide some business and personal information.

If you choose to provide the State with personal information, the requestor will use that information to respond to your message. The State treats e-mails the same way we treat letters.

• We only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law.
• Registered users of the Business Portal can edit their profile information on the Business Portal. Accounts that have not been logged into in the last two years will be deleted. An e-mail warning of account deletion will be sent to the user’s registered e-mail address one month prior to deletion.

The State does not collect information for commercial marketing. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to anyone.

 

Restrictions on Use and Disclosure of Personal Data

The State will only send personally identifiable information about you to other companies, agencies, or people when:

• We have your consent to share the information;
• We need to share your information to provide the product or service you have requested. As an example, if you submit a request through the Business Portal, your information will be shared with the appropriate agency;
• We need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of the State to provide a product or service to you. (Unless we tell you differently, these companies do not have any right to use the personally identifiable information we provide to them beyond what is necessary to assist us);
• We are required to do so by law, subpoena, court order or legal process; or
• We find that your actions on state websites violate the State’s Terms of Use Agreement or any of our usage guidelines for specific products or services.

 

Child Protection

• The Business Portal is not directed to children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from children. The Business Portal does not request a date of birth from a user; so, the State will have no way of knowing if it collects personal information of a user who is under the age of 13.
• The State of South Dakota encourages parents, guardians, or teachers to be involved in children's Internet explorations. It is important for parents to guide their children when children are asked to provide personal information online.

 

Public Disclosure and Open Records Law

• The agencies within the State of South Dakota are required to maintain many documents under the State’s public record laws for public access and for archival and historical purposes. However, the State does not collect personal information for any purpose other than to respond to you or for other purposes required by law.
• When you provide personally identifiable information to state agencies through the Business Portal to receive requested services, such information is handled as it would be on an in-person visit to a government office, and subject to the laws, regulations, practices, and procedures of the respective agency.

 

Security

• The State of South Dakota is committed to ensuring the integrity of the information and systems it maintains. As such, the State has instituted security measures for all information systems under our control in a best effort to ensure that information will not be lost, misused, or altered. One of the security measures used by the State is to the host the Business Portal in a FEDRamp certified environment, which undergoes a rigorous security examination to maintain its certification.  Information about FEDRamp certification can be found here.
• For site security purposes, and to ensure that our internet services remain available to all users, the State uses software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.
• Your Business Portal account information is password-protected for your privacy and security. The State uses industry-standard secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect data transmissions.

 

Links to Other Sites

The Business Portal contains links to many state agencies and other public sector resources. In a few cases, we link to private organizations. Once you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new website.

 

Changes to This Policy

The State of South Dakota, through its Bureau of Information and Telecommunications, may revise this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes, we will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on our pages. This is a notice of policy and should not be interpreted as a contract of any kind.

 

Contact Information

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns about the Business Portal’s privacy notice, please use the Contact Us form.