Privacy & Policy
This notice provides the
Department of State’s (the Department) privacy policy regarding the nature,
purpose, use, and sharing of any Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
collected via this website. Our privacy policy explains our information practices
when you provide PII to us, whether collected online or offline, or when you
visit us online to browse, obtain information, or conduct a transaction. PII
may include: your name, email, mailing and/or home address, phone numbers, or
other information that identifies you personally. We do not require you to
register or provide personal information to visit our website.
The PII you provide on a
Department website will be used only for its intended purpose. We will protect
your information consistent with the principles of the Privacy Act of
1974, the E-Government Act of 2002, and the Federal Records Act.
Personally Identifiable
Information
As a general rule, the
Department does not collect PII about you when you visit our website, unless
you choose to provide such information to us. Submitting PII through our
website is voluntary. By doing so, you are giving the Department your
permission to use the information for the stated purpose. However, not
providing certain information may result in the Department’s inability to
provide you with the service you desire.
If you choose to provide us
with PII on a Department website, through such methods as completing a web form
or sending us an email, we will use that information to help us provide you the
information or service you have requested or to respond to your message. The
information we may receive from you varies based on what you do when visiting
our site.
Generally, the information
requested by the Department will be used to respond to your inquiry or to
provide you with the service you request. When this information is requested,
the reasons for collecting it, a description of the Department’s intended use
of the information, how to grant consent to use mandatorily provided
information, and how to grant consent for other than statutorily mandated uses
will be fully described in a separate customized “Privacy Notice.” This
customized Privacy Notice will either appear on the web page collecting the
information or be accessible through a hyperlink (link) prominently displayed
immediately above or below the information request.
Email
Many of our programs and
websites allow you to send us an email. We will use the information you provide
to respond to your inquiry. We will only send you general information via
email. You should be reminded that email may not necessarily be secure against
interception. Therefore, we suggest that you do not send sensitive personal
data (such as your Social Security number) to us via email. If your intended
email communication is very sensitive, or includes information such as your
bank account, credit card, or Social Security number, you should instead send
it by U.S. mail. Another alternative may be submission of data through a secure
web page, if available.
Electronic mail messages
that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act (44
U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) are covered under the same disposition schedule as all
other Federal records. This means that emails you send us will be preserved and
maintained for varying periods of time if those emails meet the definition of
Federal records. Electronic messages that are not records are deleted when no
longer needed.
Categories of information
the Department collects on its websites are further described below.
Automatically Collected
Information
We collect and temporarily
store certain information about your visit for use in site management and
security purposes only. We collect and analyze this information because it
helps us to better design our website to suit your needs. We may also
automatically collect information about the web content you view in the event
of a known security or virus threat. This information includes:
1. The Internet domain from
which you access our website (for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a private Internet
access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from an educational domain);
2. The Internet Protocol
(IP) address (a unique number for each computer connected to the Internet) from
which you access our website;
3. The type of browser
(e.g., Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome) used to access our site;
4. The operating system
(e.g., Windows, Mac OS, Unix) used to access our site;
5. The date and time you
access our site;
6. The Universal Resource
Locators (URLs), or addresses, of the pages you visit;
7. Your username, if it was
used to log in to the website; and
8. If you visited this
website from another website, the URL of the forwarding site.
We may share the above
information with our employees or representatives with a “need-to-know” in the
performance of their official duties, other Federal agencies, or other named
representatives as needed to quickly process your request or transaction. This
information is only used to help us make our site more useful for you. Raw data
logs are retained temporarily as required for security and site management
purposes only. More information about how we share information can be found in
our Privacy Act Systems of Records Notices.
Third-Party Websites and
Applications
The Department uses social
media websites and other kinds of third-party websites. The Department uses
social media websites to interact with foreign constituencies and engage in
public diplomacy worldwide. Social media websites are used to publicize embassy
and Department events, and engage with members of the public in foreign
countries. The Department also uses web measurement and customization
technologies to measure the number of visitors to our websites and their
various sections and to help make our websites more useful to visitors. In such
cases, the third-party application may request an email address, username,
password, and geographic location (e.g., State, region, or ZIP code) for
account registration purposes. The Department of State does not use third-party
websites to solicit and collect PII from individuals. Any PII passively
collected (i.e., not solicited) by the third-party website will not be
transmitted or stored by the Department; no PII will be disclosed, sold or
transferred to any other entity outside the Department, unless required for law
enforcement purposes or by statute.
The Department uses various
types of online surveys to collect opinions and feedback from a random sample
of visitors. Primarily, state.gov uses the ForeSee Results’ American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI) online survey on an ongoing basis to obtain feedback
and data on visitors’ satisfaction with the state.gov website. This survey does
not collect PII. Although the survey invitation pops up for a random sample of
visitors, it is optional. If you decline the survey, you will still have access
to the identical information and resources at the state.gov site as those who
do take the survey. The survey reports are available only to state.gov managers
and other designated staff who require this information to perform their
duties. The Department may use other limited-time surveys for specific
purposes, which are explained at the time they are posted.
The Department retains the
data from the ACSI survey results as long as needed to support the mission of
the state.gov website.
Information Collected for
Tracking and Customization (Cookies)
A cookie is a small file
that a website transfers to your computer to allow it to remember specific
information about your session while you are connected. Your computer will only
share the information in the cookie with the website that provided it, and no
other website can request it. There are two types of cookies:
- Session: Session cookies last only as long as your web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the cookie is deleted. Websites may use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through the site, or to allow you to customize your preferences for interacting with the site.
- Persistent: Persistent cookies are saved on a user’s hard drive in order to determine which users are new to the site or are returning, and for repeat visitors, to block recurring invitations to take the ForeSee satisfaction survey.
If you do not wish to have
session or persistent cookies stored on your machine, you can turn cookies
off in your browser. You will still have access to all information and
resources at Department websites. However, turning off cookies may affect the
functioning of some Department websites. Be aware that disabling cookies in
your browser will affect cookie usage at all other websites you visit as well.
Security
The Department takes the
security of all PII very seriously. We take precautions to maintain the
security, confidentiality, and integrity of the information we collect at this site.
Such measures include access controls designed to limit access to the
information to the extent necessary to accomplish our mission. We also employ
various security technologies to protect the information stored on our systems.
We routinely test our security measures to ensure that they remain operational
and effective.
We take the following steps
to secure the information we collect:
- Employ internal access controls to ensure that only personnel who have access to your information are those with a need to do so to perform their official duties.
- Train appropriate personnel on our privacy and security policies and compliance requirements.
- Secure the areas where we retain paper copies of the information we collect online.
- Perform regular backups of the information we collect online to ensure against loss.
- Use technical controls to secure the information we collect online including, but not limited to:
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
- Encryption
- Firewalls
- Password protections
- Periodically test our security procedures to ensure personnel and technical compliance.
- Employ external access safeguards to identify and prevent unauthorized access by outsiders that attempt to “hack” into, or cause harm to, the information contained in our systems.
We hold our contractors and
other third-party providers to the same high standards that we use to ensure
the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information they may
have access to in the course of their work completed on behalf of the
Department.
Interaction With Children
Online
The Department is committed
to the protection of children’s online privacy. The Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or about
children under the age of 13. Verifiable consent from a child’s parent or
guardian is required before collecting, using, or disclosing personal
information from a child under age 13. If a Department website intends to
collect information about children under 13 years old, COPPA-required
information and instructions will be provided by the specific web page that
collects information about the child. The web page will specify exactly what
the information will be used for, who will see it, and how long it will be
kept.
Visiting Other Websites
Our website contains links
to international agencies, private organizations, and some commercial entities.
These websites are not within our control and may not follow the same privacy,
security, or accessibility polices. Once you link to another site, you are
subject to the policies of that site. All Federal websites, however, are
subject to the same Federal policy, security, and accessibility mandates.
Privacy Policy Contact
Information
We welcome feedback if you
have any questions regarding our privacy policy or the use of your information.
The Department’s privacy compliance materials are available at Privacy
Impact Assessments (PIA) and Systems of Records Notices (SORN).
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