Privacy Policy

Privacy

Business.gov collects NO personal information, such as names and addresses, when you visit our website. If you choose to provide this information to us, it will be used only to fulfill your request for information.

Business.gov collects some technical information from you when you visit the site in order to give you the best possible experience. The section below explains how we handle and collect technical information when you visit our website.

Technical Information Collected and Stored Automatically

Business.gov automatically records website usage information that we analyze statistically to track operational problems, to prevent fraud and to improve the effectiveness, security and integrity of the site. This information does not identify you personally and we do not use this information to track or record information about individuals. For each page that you visit, we collect and store only the following technical information:

This information is only used to help us make the site more useful for you. With this data we learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We never track or record information about individuals and their visits.

Cookies

When you visit some websites, their web servers generate files of information known as cookies, which helps webmasters understand how users interact with their site's content and services. Websites use cookies to track one's activities on a website (e.g., pages visited, links clicked on, etc.), and to record information about the user so when the user returns the site, customized features can be provided.

There are three types of cookies. A session cookie is a line of text that is stored temporarily in your computer's random access memory (RAM) and is only available for the duration of an active browsing session. A session cookie is not placed on any hard drive, and it is destroyed as soon as you close your browser. A persistent cookie is saved to a file on your hard drive and is accessed whenever you re-visit the website that put it there. This lets that website remember what you were interested in the last time you visited. A third-party cookie is a persistent cookie that is set by or sent to a website different than the one you're currently viewing.

Business.gov does not use persistent cookies, but sometimes uses session cookies. Some of the interactive sections of our website may set session cookies in temporary memory in order to provide streamlined navigation. These session cookies are not stored on your computer's hard drive permanently and are automatically erased as soon as you close your browser. Information from these session cookies is not collected or saved.

Information That You Voluntarily Provide

We do not collect personal information for any purpose other than to respond to you. If you choose to provide us with personal information - like filling out a Contact Us form with an e-mail address and submitting it to us through the website - we use that information to respond to your message and to help us get you the information you have requested. We only share the information you give us with another government agency if your question relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. Business.gov never collects information or creates individual profiles for commercial marketing.

While you must provide an e-mail address and zip code for a localized response to any incoming questions or comments to Business.gov, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, such as social security numbers.

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.

Links to Other Sites

Business.gov contains links to websites of other government, public and private organizations that are outside of our control. When you follow a link to another site, you leave the Business.gov site and your website interactions are no longer protected by our privacy policy. Business.gov is not responsible for, and does not endorse the privacy or security practices and content of sites to which Business.gov links.

Your Rights Under the Privacy Act

The Federal Citizen Information Center provides a guide to Your Rights to Federal Records - Questions and Answers on the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act that explains your rights to personal information under these laws.