Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) Summary for www.nasa.gov
Date of this Submission: (12/15/2005)
NASA Center: Headquarters, NASA Office of Public Affairs
Application Name: www.nasa.gov (the NASA Portal)
Is this application or information collection new or is an existing one being modified? No
Does this application collect, maintain, and/or disseminate information in identifiable form (IIF)? Yes
Mission Program/Project Supported: All,through the NASA Office of Public Affairs
Identifying Numbers (Use N/A, where appropriate)
Privacy Act System of Records Number:N/A
OMB Information Collection Approval Number and Expiration Date: N/A
Other Identifying Number(s): N/A
Description
1. Provide an overview of the application or collection and indicate the legislation authorizing this activity.
www.nasa.gov is NASA’s primary public web site. It hosts the static content for the NASA Portal, a secure system provided to allow web publication of NASA’s public content to a broad public audience. www.nasa.gov interacts with other NASA Portal applications including mynasa.nasa.gov and mediaservices.nasa.gov, each of which is designed to securely accomplish the requests of web users who voluntarily provide information.
2. Describe the information the agency will collect, maintain, or disseminate and how the agency will use the information. In this description, indicate whether the information contains IIF and whether submission is voluntary or mandatory.
www.nasa.gov does not store web user IIF directly, however, through a “contact us” page provided for each NASA Center, Mission Support Office, and Mission Directorate that is hosted within www.nasa.gov, and through a special event registration system for Goddard Space Flight Center called SpaceChat, first name, last name, email address, and in the case of SpaceChat, certain demographic information is collected and posted through to mynasa.nasa.gov. All information is submitted voluntarily by the web user.
3. Explain how the IIF collected, maintained, and/or disseminated is the minimum necessary to accomplish the purpose for this effort.
The information collected by www.nasa.gov will be used only for its intended purpose as described below. Information collected is the minimum required to accomplish the user’s voluntary request.
4. Explain why the IIF is being collected, maintained, or disseminated.
Information is voluntarily provided by the user who requests to contact a NASA Center, Mission Support Office, and Mission Directorate that is hosted within www.nasa.gov, and through SpaceChat, a special event registration system for Goddard Space Flight Center. The information is collected to respond to a user’s request or register them for a NASA special event. The information enables a response to be sent back to the user for his/her query or request. The information is maintained in a secure system.
5. Identify with whom the agency will share the IIF.
The agency does not share this information with anyone other than NASA, its agents, or as otherwise required by law. Information is accessible only by the system administrators as required for them to perform their day-to-day jobs, and to specific individuals who are designated by NASA management to respond to user’s requests for information.
6. Describe how the IIF will be obtained, from whom it will be collected, what the suppliers of information and the subjects will be told about the information collection, and how this message will be conveyed to them (e.g., written notice, electronic notice if a Web-based collection, etc.). Describe any opportunities for consent provided to individuals regarding what information is collected and how the information will be shared.
Information is provided by the user voluntarily on the “Contact [CENTER]” web page. In every case where a response is required by NASA to the user it is by email. Users are not required to submit this information to browse www.nasa.gov and cannot retrieve the information directly from www.nasa.gov. Links to the privacy policy are provided in a statement on the web page where the information is collected.
7. State whether personal information will be collected from children under age 13 on the Internet and, if so, how parental or guardian approval will be obtained. (Reference: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998).
N/A
8. Describe how the IIF will be secured.
All IIF is stored in systems protected by security as described in a security plan that requires annual certification, frequent auditing and constant monitoring. Any IIF information collected by www.nasa.gov is transferred to mynasa.nasa.gov for storage where access is limited to mynasa.nasa.gov system administrators. Information is accessible only by the system administrators as required for them to perform their day to day jobs. IIF protection is consistent with the principles of the E-Government Act of 2002, and as applicable, the Freedom of Information Act.
9. Describe plans for retention and destruction of IIF.
Where information is collected for a request or question through email, NASA stores the user’s email address for sufficient time to allow research to be completed and to properly respond to the user. In any case, the email address is retained for no longer than ninety days. Other information is retained for a period of time to carry out the request of the user and in no case longer than the time allowed by the General Records Schedule. Where information is maintained for backup purposes on magnetic tapes, these tapes are overwritten, erased, or destroyed within 120 days.
10. Identify whether a system of records is being created under section 552a of Title 5, United States Code (the Privacy Act), or identify the existing Privacy Act system of records notice under which the records will be maintained.
N/A
Identify a point of contact to whom a member of the public can address questions concerning this information system and the privacy concerns associated with it:
Nitin Naik
NASA Associate CTO
NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546-0001
202/358-1519
public-inquiries@hq.nasa.gov
Submitted by: (Signature on Record)
Nitin Naik
NASA Deputy CTO
NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546-0001
202/358-1519
Date 12/15/2005
Concur: Concur:
__________________________ __________________________
Patti F. Stockman Scott Santiago
NASA Privacy Act Officer Deputy CIO for IT Security
Date: _________________ Date: _________________
Approved for Publication:
__________________________
Patricia L. Dunnington
Chief Information Officer
Date: _________________