Tuesday March 2nd, 2004

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Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting an Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) web site. MBDA's mission is to achieve entrepreneurial parity for MBEs by actively promoting their ability to grow and compete in the global economy. In support of its activities, MBDA is occasionally required to collect business or personal information from our customers. We do not collect this type of information without the voluntary consent of the site visitor.

The main purpose of this policy is to inform our visitors that you have rights under the Privacy Act, that all business or personal information provided to MBDA is on a voluntary basis, and that information provided will be protected to the extent permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974 (http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/privstat.htm) and the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/foiastat.htm). At each location where information is collected, we make every effort to explain explicitly how the information you provide will be used, and we allow you to determine if you consent to provide such information. Voluntarily submitting information constitutes your consent for MBDA to use the information for the purpose stated and indicates to us you are aware of MBDA's Privacy Policy provisions. For more information on the Freedom of Information Act and your rights under the Privacy Act please visit the Federal Citizen Information Center site at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/foia.htm.

Our sites do not use "persistent cookies" or any persistent tracking technologies that can identify a specific visitor, or information about that visitor, over multiple visits. However, some MBDA websites do use "session cookies" that identify the visitor for the duration of a browsing session. Session cookies are deleted from our Web servers when your session ends.

MBDA does collect certain non-personal information to help us better service our site visitors. Information collected includes for example: the IP (Internet Protocol) address from which you accessed our site; the IP address of the website from which you linked to us; the name of your domain; the type of browser and operating system you are using; the date and time our site is accessed; and the pages visited. This information does not identify you personally.

Information Collected from E-Mail, Forms and through Site Registration:

Information you submit may be viewed by various people within the MBDA, its funded projects and other Federal agencies actively involved in supporting minority entrepreneurs.. If you register on one of our web sites to obtain a benefit, or use any of our services, you may submit personally identifiable information, such as name, title, name/size of company, or address. Certain MBDA services are reserved for U.S. firms and we may use the registration information to contact you for verification purposes before allowing access to the requested service. Information collected from the public on our websites has been authorized by The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/index.html) as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/pra_memo111401.pdf).

Security, Intrusion, and Detection:

Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to our websites, are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under applicable Federal law. Data traffic is monitored in order to identify unauthorized activities and to help ensure that MBDA Web services remain available to our users.

Links to Other Web Sites:

Our websites contain links to other federal agencies and private organizations. Websites of those organizations may contain links to outside organizations. This linking does not constitute an endorsement by MBDA. These links are provided for user convenience only.

For more information, please review the Department of Commerce Privacy Policy Statement at http://www.commerce.gov/privacystatement.html.