Foresee Results software measure user satisfaction and assesses website effectiveness through optional surveys presented to website visitors. The information gathered from these surveys is used to identify and prioritize improvements to functional website elements and content for visitors. Survey users provide ratings and feedback related to a series of questions about website performance, aesthetics, usability, user experience, and so forth; however, users are not required to provide any personal information. Tier 2 cookies are used to remember if the user has already been offered the survey and to ensure that users are prompted only once every 60 days. Urchin software collects aggregate statistics of website visitor characteristics, traffic, and activity. This information is used to assess what content is of most and least interest, determine technical design specifications, and identify system performance or problem areas. The software records a variety of data, including IP addresses (the locations of computers or networks on the Internet), unique visits, page views, hits, referring websites, and which hyperlinks have been clicked . Tier 2 cookies are used to distinguish between summary statistics for users who have been to the site before and those that are visiting the site the for the first time. The Department of Defense does not gather, request, record, require, collect or track any Internet users' PII through these processes. Defense.gov uses Tier 2 cookies to remember whether a website visitor prefers to view the default homepage geared toward the general public or the alternative homepage geared toward Defense Department civilians, servicemembers, veterans, and their families.
Client side opt-out mechanisms allow the user to opt out of web measurement and customization technologies by changing the settings of a specific application or program on the user's local computer. For example, users may be able to disable persistent cookies by changing the settings on commonly used web browsers. For general instructions on how to opt out of some of the most commonly used web measurements and customization technologies, go to http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml. Use of Third-party Websites and Applications Third-party websites and applications that are not owned, operated, or controlled by the Department of Defense are integral to Internet-based operations across the Department of Defense and used to augment official communication. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, networking services, media sharing services, wikis and data mashups. A list of the Defense Department's authorized pages and uses of these services is listed at www.defense.gov/Sites/DOD-Websites. These sites may collect PII and may make it available to the Department of Defense and other users; however, the PII is not collected on behalf of, nor is it provided specifically for, the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense does not harvest and additionally collect, maintain, share or otherwise use such PII for any purpose other than that for which it is made available to all users.