General Policies and Guidelines

Reviewed: 12/12/2006

Accessibility Policy

We are committed to making our Internet documents accessible to people with disabilities. To ensure that we meet or exceed the requirements of Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, we continually review our site and modify pages to remove accessibility problems for people with disabilities.

Linking Policy

Generally, we link to other Government websites (their names usually end in “.gov”). If non-Government websites (names ending in “.edu,” “.com,” etc.) provide information that's pertinent but not available on a Government website, we'll link to them. Examples include:

Directories of vital records sources in U.S. counties, States, and territories
The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Guide, for determining SSI countable resources
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, for statistics about immigrant populations, used in our information and outreach efforts.

Disclaimer

The Social Security Administration (SSA) website contains links to certain websites that are not affiliated with the United States government. These may include State and Local governmental agencies, international agencies, and private entities.

SSA cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by such websites. If we provide a link to such a website, this does not constitute an endorsement by SSA or any of its employees of the information or products presented on the non-SSA website.

Also, such websites are not within our control and may not follow the same privacy, security or accessibility policies. Once you visit such a website you are subject to the policies of that site.

We welcome links to our website. Although we prefer that you link to our homepage, you may create links to specific pages within our website. For your convenience, we have icons and instructions for their use. By using these icons, you agree to the conditions of our Linking Policy.

Security Protocols to Protect Information

Our website uses computer systems, software programs, and other methods to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload, add, modify or otherwise damage its information or systems.

Any unauthorized attempts to upload, add, modify or otherwise damage any information or systems are strictly prohibited and are punishable by Federal laws and regulations. Persons using this website expressly consent to this monitoring. Should this monitoring reveal evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, such evidence may be provided to law enforcement officials for prosecution.

Information Quality Guidelines

In compliance with the Office of Management and Budget's government-wide information quality guidelines under section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, we have developed procedures to ensure the quality of our information products.

Schedule for Publishing Information to This Website

We provide publication targets as part of our Web Content Inventory.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was created to make the federal government accountable to the public for its actions and prevent agencies from having secret policies. To that end, it allows members of the public to request records from Federal agencies.

Our Guide to FOIA Requests explains how to request information and records from us, describes information we can't disclose, and lists our fees for filling a FOIA request. We also provide FOIA regulations, manuals and instructions, annual reports, impact assessments, and information about frequently requested documents.

Digital Rights, Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents Policy

We will not post copyrighted material on our website unless we have the express permission of the author. If we post copyrighted material, we describe the specific permission granted for its use.

As a public agency, we generally don't own rights to material on our website. (Almost all of the material consists of new or republished government documents and as such, it is considered public domain.) So, we may not be able to give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute it.

It is your obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found on our website.

Policy for Oral Histories

Several oral history interviews that we conducted are available on our History Page. Copyright law grants copyright of oral histories to the interviewees. Use of the material in an oral history is therefore governed by copyright restrictions. We will only post transcripts of interviews for which we have been given a grant of deed to the interview, or which have been released into the public domain.

The fact that we posted the transcript of an interview on this site does not necessarily mean that it has been released as a public domain document—it depends on the specific wording of the grant of deed. Therefore, you should not use (beyond limited quotation) the transcripts of any oral history interviews without the express permission of our Historian's Office.

No Fear Act

In compliance with Section 301 of the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (the No Fear Act), we post summary statistical data pertaining to complaints of employment discrimination by employees, former employees and applicants for employment.

Our posting is intended to assist Congress, Federal agencies and the public in assessing whether, and to what extent, we are living up to our equal employment opportunity responsibilities.

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	Privacy Policy \| Website Policies & Other Important Information \| Site Map Last reviewed or modified Monday Jan 14, 2008	Need Larger Text?