Privacy Policy

Data Policy

Accessibility

Privacy Policy

Data.gov is committed to protecting the privacy and security of visitors to this website. Data.gov does not collect personal information when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information.  Outlined below is the Data.gov online privacy policy. If you have questions about this policy, please let us know.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you visit Data.gov, we may store some or all of the following: the Internet address from which you access Data.gov, date and time, the Internet address of the website from which you linked to Data.gov, the name of the file or words you searched, items clicked on a page, and the browser and operating system used.

This information is used to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of our site and identify system performance or problem areas. We also use this information to help us develop the site, analyze patterns of usage, and to make the site more useful. This information is not used for associating search terms or patterns of site navigation with individual users. Data.gov periodically deletes its Web logs. On occasion, Data.gov may provide this information to third party entities it contracts with for the purposes of research analysis.
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Cookies

When you visit some websites, their web servers generate pieces of information known as cookies. Cookies are commonly used to recognize your computer in the future.

Data.gov uses per-session cookies to serve technical purposes, like providing seamless navigation through Data.gov. These cookies do not permanently record data and they are not stored on your computer’s hard drive. Data.gov’s session cookies are available only during an active browser session. When you close your browser, the session cookie disappears.

Data.gov also uses persistent cookies to be able to track the number of unique visitors to the site.

Users can choose to disable cookies using their web browsers.  It will not affect their ability to search for, review and retrieve data on the site.
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Personal Information

Users are NOT required to provide any information to search, retrieve, download, filter and otherwise use the data available on Data.gov.  If you choose to provide us with personal information—like filling out a form on Data.gov to ask questions, request a dataset, etc. with an email address—we use that information to respond to your message, and to help get you the information you requested. Providing your email address is optional, except for submitting comments to blog posts, and your email address will not be published. We only share the information you give us with another government agency to assist in answering your questions and to better understand user needs for Data.gov, or as otherwise required by law. Any email address provided in connection with your question or suggestion will not be publicly viewable on the website. Data.gov never collects information or creates individual profiles for commercial marketing.

In contacting Data.gov with your questions and comments, you should NOT include additional personal information, especially Social Security numbers.

For certain Data.gov users who need access to administrative privileges in order to carry out Data.gov functions in their roles as official representatives of federal, state, local or tribal governments or certain non-governmental organizations, Data.gov collects additional information such as name, organization, job title, and business address, business telephone number and business email address.

Data.gov is NOT a Privacy Act System of Record. Submission of any information is voluntary, and the collection of email addresses for user accounts with administrative privileges is being done purely for the purpose of authentication.
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Online Comments

Any comments you provide are categorized as public information. Compilations of your comments may be provided to national leaders (without email address) and other individuals participating in Data.gov efforts. Comments may also be made available online to the public with the name of the commenter but without the use of any email addresses.
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Moderation of Comments and Posts

Data.gov enables you to post your opinion on discussion topics. We encourage you to share your thoughts as they relate to the topic being discussed. Your posts will be publicly visible; therefore, the site utilizes a moderation policy to ensure that your posts are appropriate and not harmful to others. We review and moderate posts according to the policy below. The views expressed in posts reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views.

We want to publish your posts, but we expect posts generally to be courteous and on the subject matter of this site. To that end, we have established the following policy.

We reserve the discretion not to display posts that:

  • contain obscene, indecent, or profane language;
  • contain threats, or defamatory statements;
  • contain hate speech directed at race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, or disability;
  • reveal your own or others’ sensitive/personal information (e.g., Social Security numbers)
  • contain information posted in violation of law, including libel, condoning or encouraging illegal activity, and revealing classified information, or posts that might affect the outcome of ongoing legal proceedings or
  • promote or endorse services or products, including links to external commercial sites. (Note that non-commercial links that are relevant to the topic or another post are acceptable.)
  • contain content that is off-topic, spam, or intended primarily to promote a link.

Do not submit copyrighted, trademarked or other proprietary material in any form unless you clearly indicate that you have permission to do so. By submitting your posts or other work, you grant the government and anyone viewing the discussion forum web site irrevocable permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the poster’s work publicly and free-of-charge.

To protect your privacy, please do not include information (e.g., an e-mail address or phone number) in the text of your comment that identifies you.

We recognize that the Internet is a 24/7 medium and your posts are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, we intend to review and moderate posts from 9 am – 5 pm Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. We intend to review and moderate posts submitted at other times as soon as possible on the next business day.
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Browser Information Collected on the Website

Ratings of datasets may be collected to track the usefulness of certain datasets and improve the value of Data.gov. Data.gov does not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users’ personal information through these processes.
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Site Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs commercial software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.

Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

A variety of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards are maintained to protect information. For example, commercially reasonable tools and techniques are used to protect against unauthorized access to Data.gov systems. Data.gov has been Certified and Accredited (C&A) by the General Services Administration (GSA). Also, access to email received is restricted to those who need such access in the course of their duties for Data.gov.
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External Links

Data.gov may contain links to websites created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. Data.gov provides these links as a service to our users. When users link to an outside website, they are leaving the Data.gov site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website(s). You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with these policies. The Data.gov linking policy is the same as the USA.gov Linking Policy.
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Children’s Privacy

Data.gov complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) that helps to protect the safety and privacy of children online. COPPA and its accompanying FTC regulation constitute United States Federal law that protects the privacy of children using the Internet. Personal information from children under 13 is not knowingly collected, nor are children under 13 knowingly contacted by Data.gov. Data.gov does not intend to solicit information of any kind from children under 13. It is possible that Data.gov may receive emails pertaining to children under 13. If Data.gov is notified of this, as soon as the information is verified, parental consent will be immediately obtained or the email will be deleted from the email box servicing Data.gov.
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Prohibitions

Data.gov will not link to any website that exhibits hate, bias, or discrimination. Data.gov reserves the right to deny or remove any link that contains misleading information or unsubstantiated claims, or is determined to be in conflict with Data.gov’s policies.
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Changes to this Policy

The Data.gov privacy policy will be revised or updated if practices change, or if better ways to keep you informed are developed. You should refer to this page often for the latest information and the effective date of any changes. If changes are made to this policy, a new policy will be posted on our site and the date at the bottom of the page will be updated. Changes to the policy will not apply retroactively.

The full Privacy Impact Assessment for Data.gov is available on GSA.gov.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
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Data Policy

Linking to Data.gov

Data.gov is the official site for open data from the U.S. Government. You may link to Data.gov at no cost.  When you link to Data.gov, please do it in an appropriate context as a service to people when they need to find official U.S. government data.
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Licensing

  • U.S. Federal data available through Data.gov is offered free and without restriction. Data and content created by government employees within the scope of their employment are not subject to domestic copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. § 105.
  • Non-federal data available through Data.gov may have different licensing. Non-federal data can be identified by name of the publisher and the diagonal banner that shows up on the search results and data set pages. Federal data will have a banner noting “Federal” and non-federal banners will note “University”, “Multiple Sources”, “State”, etc. Check the “Access and Use” section on each dataset page to find the terms applicable to that particular dataset.

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  • The image below is the official Data.gov logo.

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  • Placement of the Data.gov logo is to be used only as a marker to the home page and not as a form of endorsement or approval from Data.gov, the Technology Transformation Service, the U.S. General Services Administration, or the U.S. Government.

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Public Information

All datasets accessed through Data.gov are confined to public information and must not contain National Security information as defined by statute and/or Executive Order, or other information/data that is protected by other statute, practice, or legal precedent. The supplying Department/Agency is required to maintain currency with public disclosure requirements.
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Security

All information accessed through Data.gov is in compliance with the required confidentiality, integrity, and availability controls mandated by Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 199 as promulgated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the associated NIST publications supporting the Certification and Accreditation (C&A) process. Submitting Agencies are required to follow NIST guidelines and OMB guidance (including C&A requirements).
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Privacy

All information accessed through Data.gov must be in compliance with current privacy requirements including OMB guidance. In particular, Agencies are responsible for ensuring that the datasets accessed through Data.gov have any required Privacy Impact Assessments or System of Records Notices (SORN) easily available on their websites.
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Data Quality and Retention

All information accessed through Data.gov is subject to the Information Quality Act (P.L. 106-554). For all data accessed through Data.gov, each agency has confirmed that the data being provided through this site meets the agency’s Information Quality Guidelines.
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As the authoritative source of the information, submitting Departments and Agencies are responsible for ensuring that the datasets accessed through Data.gov are current and correct, in compliance with record retention requirements outlined by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Secondary Use

Federal data accessed through Data.gov do not, and should not, include controls over its end use. Once the data have been downloaded from the agency’s site, the government cannot vouch for their quality and timeliness. Furthermore, the U.S. Government cannot vouch for any analyses conducted with data retrieved from Data.gov.
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Attribution

While not required, when using content, data, documentation, code, and related materials from Data.gov in your own work, we ask that proper credit be given. An example citation is provided below:

Data retrieved from Data.gov (https://www.data.gov/) 
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Disclaimer and Endorsement

The Data.gov website includes hypertext links, or pointers, to information created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. Data.gov only provides these links and pointers for your information and convenience. When you select a link to an outside website, you are leaving the Data.gov site and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website.

  • The General Services Administration (GSA) and Data.gov do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained on a linked website.
  • GSA and Data.gov do not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites and we do not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
  • GSA and Data.gov cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked websites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked website.
  • GSA and Data.gov are not responsible for transmissions users receive from linked websites.

GSA and Data.gov do not guarantee that outside websites comply with Section 508 (accessibility requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act.
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Applicability of this Data Policy

Nothing in this Data Policy alters, or impedes the ability to carry out, the authorities of the Federal Departments and Agencies to perform their responsibilities under law and consistent with applicable legal authorities, appropriations, and presidential guidance, nor does this Data Policy limit the protection afforded any information by other provisions of law. This Data Policy is intended only to improve the internal management of information controlled by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and it is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by a party against the United States, its Departments, Agencies, or other entities, its officers, employees, or agents.
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Accessibility

The commitment to accessibility for all is reflected on this site in our efforts to ensure all functionality and all content are accessible to all Data.gov users.

The Data.gov site is routinely tested for compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act using a technical standards checklist, in-depth testing with screen readers, policy experts, and people with disabilities. For more information on Section 508 technical standards, please visit www.Section508.gov.

In addition, the Data.gov site is also routinely reviewed for alignment with the latest Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines for W3C. The Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines from the W3C define how browsers, media players, and other “user agents” support people with disabilities and work assistive technologies.

Images on the site contain “alt tags”, which aid users who listen to the content of the site by using a screen reader, rather than reading the site. Likewise, a “skip to” link provides these users with a method for bypassing the header and going directly to the main content each time a page is accessed. Text transcripts accompany audio clips, and closed captioning is available on videos.

Users can get information regarding the accessibility of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files from the Access Adobe website.

The Data.gov website is being updated frequently to make it as accessible as possible. If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader, eye tracking device, or voice recognition software) and have difficulty accessing information on Data.gov, please contact us and provide the URL (web address) of the material you tried to access, the problem you experienced, and your contact information. A Data.gov team member will contact you and attempt to provide the information you are seeking.

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