COUNTY WEBSITE ADVERTISING AND HOTLINK POLICY
The County of Los Angeles is a chartered county and a subdivision of the State of California whose mission is to provide governmental and other public services to and for the benefit of the residents of the County. In accordance with this mission, the general policy of the Board of Supervisors is to exclude from the County Internet website and the website of each County department all commercial advertising and promotional material, including links which provide exclusive private or financial benefit to commercial, non-public enterprises and which do not promote or enhance a public benefit to the County, its departments or the residents served by the County .As a governmental agency, the County neither endorses nor supports individual private commercial enterprises through display of their advertising on the County's website or through providing links to the sites of such commercial enterprises.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board of Supervisors recognizes that, in
consideration of the nature and function of the Internet, display of commercial
or promotional material or links to commercial sites may, under certain
circumstances, be appropriate for inclusion in the County's website or in
departmental websites where a public purpose is served. The following guidelines
are hereby adopted for the guidance of County department directors in
determining when such materials are appropriate for inclusion in County
websites.
A.
Public Benefit
Facilities And Venues. The County has established and maintains certain facilities and venues
which promote the arts, science, cultural studies and other public purposes.
Advertising and promotion of events, programs and exhibits at such facilities
and venues may be placed on the County Internet website and on departmental
websites. This includes links to commercial enterprises who market tickets or
other means of access to these facilities and venues or foster participation in
their programs.
(Examples:
Ford Theater link to online ticket agency. Programs/Exhibits at Music Center,
Hollywood Bowl, Art Museum, Natural History Museum.)
B.
Commercial
Enterprises In Which The County Has A Financial Interest.The County possesses leasehold and other financial interests
in certain commercial enterprises, and derives a financial benefit from their
activities. This financial benefit to the County serves a public purpose.
Accordingly, commercial advertising and other promotional materials concerning
these enterprises may appear on County websites. Links to the websites of these
enterprises may also be included on the County Internet website and on
departmental websites at the discretion of department directors. Appropriate
notice should be provided of the County's financial interest in these
enterprises.
(Examples:
Gladstone's Restaurant, Marina Del Rey).
Where a
link is provided in the County's website and the user exits the County website
and enters a commercial website, notice and a disclaimer must be displayed in
accordance with Section 8 below.
Certain
commercial and public agencies maintain information about private persons,
enterprises and organizations which provide services to the public.
B.
Private Agency. Where information is maintained by private commercial
agencies but the persons or organizations
listed provide services directly related to the mission of a County department
or to the services it provides to the public, a department may display such
information on its website or provide a link to the information or the
commercial agency which maintains such information whether or not the site
linked to also contains commercial advertising. In such cases, the department
director must make a good faith determination that:
i. The
department's clients, service recipients or interested County residents would
benefit from the information;
ii. It
would be duplicative for the department to independently create or maintain such
information; and.
iii. The
commercial agency which maintains the information has represented that it
includes all legitimate or licensed service providers within the County or
within the geographical area served by the department.
No link
may be provided directly on a County departmental website to any enterprise or
organization included in that information.
Where a
link is provided in the County website to the agency which maintains the
information or to the information, and the user exits the County website and
enters a commercial site which may contain advertising or other promotional
material, notice and a disclaimer must be displayed in accordance with Section 8
below.
(Examples:
A list maintained by a California state agency of licensed child care centers
located in the County could be displayed on the website of a department that
serves the needs of children and families. A link to the state agency or to the
list could be included even if the list maintained by the state agency contained
centers both in the County and throughout the state.
A
commercially maintained list of newspapers in a particular category or
geographic area could be displayed or linked to the Public Information Office
website since its mission is directly related to fostering media relations. If
displayed, however, no link to an individual newspaper is permitted. If a link
is provided to a commercial agency maintaining the list or to the list, the site
linked to may contain advertising, but a disclaimer must be displayed on the
County's website as the user exits in accordance with Section 8 below.
The
Department of Health Services could display a list of public health ratings of
all restaurants in the County since public dissemination of such information is
directly related to its mission. However, display or linking to a commercial
list of popular ratings of restaurants or to an individual restaurant would not
be permitted under these guidelines.
Public
Works could display a list of names and locations of licensed recyclers since
its mission includes fostering recycling of waste, but could not link to those
businesses).
Certain
private commercial sites maintain and display information which provides a
public or community service or other ancillary static or interactive information
to aid the public which is not generally available through a governmental agency
due to the cost of compiling, maintaining and/or displaying such information. In
order to support the cost of compilation and maintenance of this information,
these private commercial sites may include advertising or promotional material
in the information display.
Although
the County neither supports nor endorses entities advertised or promoted on such
sites, it recognizes that a public benefit is served by providing the underlying
information to assist County residents. Accordingly, links to such sites which
contain this information but also display commercial advertising or promotional
material may be included on departmental websites when the department director
has made a good faith determination that:
A. The
department's independent replication of the information targeted for linkage is
infeasible due to financial or other considerations; and,
B. No
non-commercial site provides the information targeted to linkage; and,
C. The
information targeted for linkage is critical to a service provided by the
department, or
D. The
information targeted for linkage is a vital enhancement to the department's
mission.
(Examples:
The Chief Administrative Office and Board offices could link to a private
website that provides information about community activities in unincorporated
areas.
The
Department of Parks and Recreation could link to a site that provides sports
league management services.)
A
disclaimer must be displayed on the County's website as the user exits in
accordance with Section 8 below.
County
program sponsors and cash or services donors may be acknowledged through a
display of their names, logos or other information, but no link is permitted to
their websites. The listing of such sponsors or donors is limited to secondary
pages of websites, but may be accessed from the primary page. Departments are
responsible for informing the Board of such donations through the current
established process for donations.
(Examples:
Public Works could list sponsors of environmental programs, but could not
link to their sites.
Beaches
and Harbors and Parks and Recreation could name their official sponsors.
Private
designers of websites who have donated their services may be acknowledged,
but no link is permitted to their websites).
Links to
such institutions are permitted on department websites when the site contains
information that enhances services provided by the department.
Links to
search engines are permitted where a department's core mission would be advanced
by presenting information from a variety of sources external to the department.
Links to
sites containing inappropriate material are expressly prohibited.
When
providing links to non-County sites, departments must include a disclaimer on
their home page disavowing endorsement or responsibility for the material on
sites being linked. Departments must also use a standardized alert or redirect
script page that warns users they are leaving the County site and allows them to
proceed or cancel. This alert would read: "You are now leaving the County of Los
Angeles website and linking to a website that may contain commercial
advertising. The County of Los Angeles does not endorse or support any of the
advertising that may be contained on this site. For more information on the
County's use of websites that may contain commercial advertising, please click
on "About this site." Do you wish to continue? Yes or No."
Departments shall provide website contractors with a copy of this policy and
website design guidelines, which contractors shall observe in creating webpages
for departments. The requirement to follow these guidelines shall be set forth
in the contract for website design. The Internal Services Department, in
creating webpages for departments. shall enforce the adopted guidelines.
The CAO is
authorized to order removal of material from department websites which is
noncompliant with these adopted guidelines.
Departments shall routinely check links on their websites to ensure they are
functional and contain no material which violates this policy.
FEB 13
2001
1. Advertising/Promotional Materials Where County Has Public/Financial lnterest
2.Web-Based All-lnclusive Information About Private Enterprises Which Provide A
Service Or Benefit To The Public Where The Service Or Benefit Is Directly
Related To A County Department's Mission Or Services
3.
Links to Commercial Sites With Information Critical To Or Vitally Enhancing A
County Department's Mission Or Services Where Replication Of Information By
Department Not Feasible
4.
County Program Sponsors And Donors
5.
Government Agencies; Academic Institutions; Public-Private Partnerships;
Professional, Cultural, Community-Based And Non-Profit Organizations
6.
Links to Search Engines
7. No
Links To Sites Containing Inappropriate Material
8.
Notice of Leaving County Website And A Disclaimer
9.
Contractors That Create Websites For County Departments
10.
Authority of Chief Administrative Officer
11.
Link Maintenance