 |
 |
| Privacy Policy |
This is how we handle information we learn about you from your visit to our website.
The information we receive depends on what you do when you visit our site.
If you visit our site to browse, or to read or download information like consumer
brochures or press releases:
- We collect and store: the name of the domain and host from which you access the Internet
(for example, aol.com or princeton.edu); the Internet protocol (IP) address of the
computer you are using; the browser software you use and your operating system; the date
and time you access our site; and the Internet address of the website from which you
linked directly to our site.
-
- We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of
our site, and to help us make our site more useful. Generally, we delete this information
after one year.
-
- We do not use "cookies" on
this site.
If you choose to identify yourself by sending us an email or when using our secure
online forms (e.g., Bureau of Consumer Protection, Project Know Fraud, or Identity Theft
complaint forms, or our FOIA Request Form):
- We use personally-identifying information from consumers in various ways to further our
consumer protection and competition activities. We collect this information under the
authority of the Federal Trade Commission Act and other laws we enforce or administer. We
may enter the information you send into our database to make it available to our attorneys
and investigators involved in law enforcement. We also may share it with a wide variety of
other government agencies enforcing consumer protection, competition, and other laws. If
you contact us because you have been the victim of Identity Theft,
we also may share some information you provide with certain private entities, such as
credit bureaus and any companies you may have complained about, if we believe that doing
so might help resolve identify theft-related problems. In addition, when you submit a
complaint, you may be contacted by the FTC or any of the agencies or private entities to
whom your complaint has been referred.
- If you contact us to order publications, we will
use your information only to fulfill your order or to contact you about your order.
-
- In other limited circumstances, including requests from Congress, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from
private individuals, or in accordance with
our public
record rules, we may be required by law to disclose the information you
submit. If you use one of our online forms, the information you provide is
up to you. If you don't provide your name or other information, it may be
impossible for us to refer, respond to, or investigate your complaint or request.
If you want to get information about you that may be in our records:
- The Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 provide you certain rights to
get information about you that is in our records. To learn more about the circumstances
under which you can get and correct this information, visit our Freedom of Information Act page.
Here's what you should know about the security of the information you provide to
us:
- We use secure socket layer (SSL) encryption to protect the transmission of information
you submit to us when you use our secure online forms. All the information you provide us
through these forms is stored securely offline.
-
- If you send us an email, you should know that email is not necessarily secure against
interception. So, if your communication includes sensitive information like your bank
account, charge card, or social security number, and you prefer not to use one of our
secure online complaint forms, contact us by postal mail
or telephone rather than email.
Here's how to contact us about:
- You also may contact us by postal mail or telephone. If you do so, we may use the
information you provide in the ways we have described in this privacy policy.
-
- If you experience technical problems with the operation of this website, contact our Webmaster.
-
- This website links to documents located on websites maintained by various federal
agencies or other organizations. Once you access an individual document that links you to
another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of the website containing that
document
-
- Cookie
- A "cookie"is a small text file that a website can place on your
computer's hard drive in order, for example, to collect information about your activities
on the site or to make it possible for you to use an online "shopping cart" to
keep track of items you wish to purchase. The cookie transmits this information back to
the Web site's computer which, generally speaking, is the only computer that can read it.
Most consumers do not know that "cookies" are being placed on their computers
when they visit websites. If you want to know when this happens, or to prevent it from
happening, you can set your browser to warn you when a website attempts to place a
"cookie" on your computer. [Back to Privacy Policy]
Last
Updated: Monday, December 30, 2002 |
