The Atlanta Fed

Privacy Policy

The Bank monitors this Web site for unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, to defeat or circumvent security measures, or to utilize this site for other than its intended purposes. By using this Web site, you consent to such monitoring and are advised that if our monitoring reveals possible evidence of criminal activity, the Bank may provide such evidence to appropriate law enforcement officials.

Except as otherwise stated in this Policy, you may visit this Web site without providing any personal information about yourself unless you choose to provide such information. For example, you are not required, but you may choose, to provide us with personal information if you subscribe to our publications or mail lists, send us questions through e-mail, answer our user surveys, register for an event, apply for a job, or participate in our on-line activities. personal information provided voluntarily through this site may be used to help us tailor our Web site, publications and services to our users' needs.

This Web site makes limited and specific use of permanent cookies. First, we use cookies to track user traffic patterns on this Web site. The cookie contains an alphanumeric string to identify your computer as having visited www.atlantafed.org. When you return to the Web site, we will know that you have visited before, and that will give us information about what you found valuable on our site.

Next, we may make occasional use of the same kind of cookie for user research, such as to administer user surveys, so that as a visitor to the Web site, you will be invited to participate in the survey only once. In this example, the cookie's presence on your computer will indicate to the Web site, as above, that you are a returning user, and that you have already responded to the invitation.

Finally, we may make use of permanent cookies to enable users to customize the appearance or content of this Web site.

This cookie does not record any other information about you or your computer, nor can it be used to gather or correlate information about your activities elsewhere on the Web.

Your participation will help us meet our goal of providing you with easy-to-use, high-quality content. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the opportunity to decide whether to accept it or not. You can also set your browser to not accept cookies at all. If you do so, however, some areas of some sites (including ours) may not operate properly. Please read our instructions on disabling your browser's permanent cookies, if you wish to prohibit the placing of the cookie:

Modifying Your Browser's Cookies

Transient memory-resident cookies or temporary session cookies are used to maintain a user's state of navigation during a browser session and expire from memory once the session is ended. This Web site may from time to time use transient memory-resident cookies, for example, for on-line surveys. In addition, sometimes a third-party vendor will use cookies on one of the sites it operates, hosts or manages for us -- for example, for on-line registration of certain conferences and workshops. Since a third-party vendor's Web site is not operated by the Bank, this Privacy Policy does not apply to the collection of personal information or any other information by that site.

This Web site collects statistical information about users in aggregate by performing analyses on the Web server's log files. We use this statistical information to determine, among other things:

• Our site's most popular pages;
• The browsers and operating systems most often used by visitors;
• The sites and search engines that have referred visitors to our site; and
• The domains (e.g., America Online) from which our users visit us.

Such analyses do not involve personal information. We do not correlate this data with personal information about you. This statistical information, in aggregate form, and without personally identifying you, may be shared with other Federal Reserve Banks or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

Generally, any information collected via this Web site, whether individual or aggregate, is for Federal Reserve use only. We do not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except when we have your permission or under the following circumstances:

• When we retain the services of other Federal Reserve Banks, outside agents or third parties under contract with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Such personal information is only provided to, and is only used by, those parties in conjunction with the services they provide to the Bank.
• When we are required to disclose personal information about you to government officials or otherwise as required by subpoenas, court orders, legal process, or other legal obligations and to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against claims. We will share and/or use information to investigate, prevent or take action against illegal activities or suspected fraud.

If you participate in a user survey, your answers and personal information will only be analyzed in aggregate. The information will be used to help us tailor our Web site, publications, and services to our users' needs and to help us better understand our audience.

If you provide us with your postal or e-mail address, or telephone or fax number, this information will only be used for the purpose for which you provided it, such as to

• provide you with the publications or information you requested;
• register you for a tour, conference or other event;
• clarify your request or registration;
• correspond with you regarding your job application; or
• provide you with related information.

When you fill out our on-line forms, they may be delivered to a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta e-mail address or database. Your online communications are not encrypted. We cannot guarantee the security of any information sent electronically, whether submitted via online form or email. If your communication is sensitive, or includes personal information that you do not wish to send us electronically, such as your bank account number, credit card number, or social security number, you should send it by postal mail to:

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Attention: Manager, Web Services
1000 Peachtree Street NE
Public Affairs Department
Atlanta, GA 30309

If you register for an event on-line, we may hold onto your registration information for the purpose of contacting you in the future about similar events. If you do not want us to keep your registration information, you must tell us so.

The safeguarding of personal information is important to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. While we endeavor to maintain the security of personal information in our possession, we cannot guarantee such security. The Bank is not responsible for the security of personal information or any other information provided by you while it is being transmitted to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Web site, through e-mail or otherwise. Nor is the Bank responsible for what a third party does with any information provided by you.

If you have voluntarily submitted personal information to us and wish to review, update, correct or delete it, please e-mail your request to: Webmaster@frbatlanta.org.

This Web site is not directed to children under the age of 13, nor does the Bank knowingly collect, maintain or use personal information obtained via this Web site about children under the age of 13. Minor children should always obtain parental consent before releasing information to this or any Web site.

This Web site contains links to other Web sites. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites.

We may from time to time provide a discussion group or forum. Be aware that information you submit in connection with such a feature will be publicly viewable and not confidential. There is risk in such communication venues that information will be collected and used by others.

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time without notice. If any change to this Privacy Policy affects the way we use personal information, we will provide an avenue for you to opt out of such use. Otherwise, the Bank will not provide you with notice of changes to this Policy. You are responsible for reviewing this Policy from time to time for any such changes.

This Privacy Policy was last updated March 10, 2008.

Questions or comments about the Privacy Policy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Web site may be directed to our Web site administrator at Webmaster@frbatlanta.org.