Internet Privacy Policy

The privacy of our customers is of utmost importance to the Social Security Advisory Board. As a Federal agency, the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires us to protect the information we collect from you. The privacy policy outlined below applies to the data we collect from you over the Internet.

First, you are not required to provide us personal information to visit our website. Our site is informational only and does not solicit, collect, or otherwise obtain personal information about site visitors. The only information that may be gathered is non-personal and relates to Internet traffic load only, for purposes of ensuring the security, efficiency, and integrity of our own web site. (We do, however, offer visitors, on an entirely voluntary basis, the opportunity to provide us with basic contact information that we will use solely for purposes of notifying them about Board events and publications.)

If for some reason you do provide us any personal information (via email, etc.), we treat it very carefully. We will not sell any personal information we collect at this site.

Federal laws (e.g., Privacy Act, Social Security Act) do not allow us to share information. We must get your written authorization before we can discuss your information with anyone else.

The Internet was originally designed as an open system with no built in security; however, we are required to protect the information we collect and maintain about you and will not use the Internet to do business with you unless we can do so in a secure manner. We will take reasonable precautions to maintain the security, confidentiality and integrity of the information we collect at this site.

Sending personal information via email Electronic mail is not secure. Therefore, we suggest that you don’t send personal information to us via email. We will only send you general information via email.

Electronic mail messages that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) are covered under the same disposition schedule as all other Federal records. This means that emails you send us will be preserved and maintained for varying periods of time if those emails meet the definition of Federal records. Electronic messages that are not records are deleted when no longer needed.

Our website contains links to other federal agencies, international agencies, and private organizations. These websites are not within our control and may not follow the same privacy, security or accessibility policies. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of that site.