NOAA Fisheries Website Privacy Policy
Thank you for visiting the NOAA Fisheries Web site and reviewing
our privacy policy. Here is how we handle information about your
visit to our Web site:
If You Send Us Personally Identifiable Information
Submitting voluntary information constitutes your consent to the
use of the information for the stated purpose. When a user clicks
the “Submit” button on any of the web forms found on
our sites they are indicating voluntary consent to the conditions
outlined in this policy. If you choose to provide us with personally
identifiable information by sending an e-mail or by filling out a
form and submitting it through our Web site, we use that information
to respond to your message and to help us provide you with the information
and services that you request. NOAA Fisheries does not collect or
use information for commercial marketing.
Sharing of Information
We may share the information you give us with another government
agency if your inquiry relates to that agency. In other limited
circumstances, such as responses to requests from Congress and
private individuals, we may be required by law to disclose information
you submit. Before you submit personally identifiable information,
such as on an online form, you may be given more specific guidance
as to how this information may be used.
How Long Information is Retained
We destroy the information we collect when the purpose for which
it was provided has been fulfilled unless we are required to
keep it longer by statute, policy or both. Electronically submitted
information is maintained and destroyed according to the principles
of the Federal Records Act and the regulations and records schedules
of the National Archives and Records Administration, and in some
cases may be covered by the Privacy Act and subject to the Freedom
of Information Act.
How Information is Used
The information NOAA Fisheries collects is used for a variety
of purposes (e.g., comments on proposed rules, license applications,
to respond to requests for information and services). We make
every effort to disclose clearly how information is used at the
point where it is collected and allow our Web site visitor to
determine whether they wish to provide the information.
Links to Other Sites
Our Web site has links to the Web sites of many other federal
agencies. In a few cases, we link to private organizations, with
their permission. Once you go to another site, you are subject
to the privacy policy of the new site.
Cookies
"
Cookies" are small bits of text that are either used for
the duration of a session ("session cookies"), or saved
on a user's hard drive in order to identify that user, or information
about that user, the next time the user logs on to a Web site
("persistent cookies"). NOAA Fisheries’ Web site
and its component sites do not use persistent cookies or any
other tracking technology. One or more of NOAA Fisheries’ component
sites may use session cookies to provide streamlined navigation
throughout their sites. These session cookies are deleted from
the component's server after your session ends and are not collected
or saved.
Information Protection
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains
available to all users, the computer system hosting this site employs
software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized
attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
If such monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal
activity, such evidence may be provided to appropriate law enforcement
officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information
on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by
law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the
National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web
site, read pages, or download information, we will gather and
store certain information about your visit automatically. This
information does not identify you personally. We automatically
collect and store information like the following concerning your
visit:
- The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if
you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if
you connect from a university's domain) and 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
our Web site;
- The type of browser and operating system used to access our
site;
- The date and time you access our site;
- The pages you visit; and
- If you linked to our Web site from another Web site, the
address of that Web site.
We use this information to help us make our site more useful
to visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to our site
and the types of technology our visitors use.
Interaction with Children
The NOAA Fisheries Web site offers educational content to children
under 13. No personally identifiable information is collected from
these visitors unless voluntarily submitted as a request for information
or services. The information collected is used to respond to user
inquiries or to provide services requested by our users.
Your Rights Under the Privacy Act
More information about the Privacy Act can be found on the following
site: http://www.cftc.gov/foia/foiprivacyact.htm
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