We are committed to the privacy of our visitors. We collect no personal information about you when you visit our Web site unless you choose to provide that information to us.
Here is how we handle information about your visit to our Web site:
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site, read pages, Fishnews articles, 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);
- Your 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.
Information Protection
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system 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 under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act or other law.
Information That You Voluntarily Provide
We do not collect personally-identifiable information unless you choose to provide it to us. 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 site they are indicating voluntary consent to use of the information they submit for the stated purpose. We do not collect or use information for commercial marketing.
How Information is Used
The information we collect is used for a variety of purposes (e.g., comments on proposed rules, license applications, to respond to requests for information about our regulations and policies and to fill orders). We make every effort to disclose clearly how information is used at the point where it is collected so that our users can determine for themselves whether they wish to provide the information.
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 will be advised as to the purpose and how the information will be used.
Retention of Information
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 or official policy. Electronically submitted information is maintained and destroyed according to the principles of the Federal Records Act and the regulations and records schedules approved by the National Archives and Records Administration, and in some cases information submitted to us may become an agency record and therefore might be subject to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Links to Other Sites
This site may have links to the Web sites of other federal agencies. There may be links to private organizations, with their permission. Once you go to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. It is always a good idea to read the Privacy Policy of any Web site that you visit.
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”). One or more of our component sites may use session cookies to provide streamlined navigation. These session cookies are deleted from the component’s server after your session ends and information from them is not collected or saved. Additionally, social media and third party services such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Google Analytics may install cookies depending on their configuration. You are not required to accept any cookies to use this site.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to collect information about the use of this site. Google Analytics collects information such as how often users visit this site, what pages they visit when they do so, and what other sites they used prior to coming to this site. We use the information we get from Google Analytics only to improve this site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with personally identifiable information. Google Analytics uses cookies to track visitor interactions. These cookies are used to store information, such as what time the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before, and what site referred the visitor to the web page You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.
Interaction with Children
This Web site may offer educational content to children under 13. No personally identifiable information is collected from them 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 at the following off-site link: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/fed_prog/foia/foia.htm