Your privacy is very important to us. Our website complies with requirements for privacy established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This page describes our privacy policy as it applies to the NIDCR site as well as third party sites and applications that NIDCR uses (for example, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube).
Your visit to the NIDCR website is private and secure. When you visit the site, we do not collect any personal information about you (such as your name or email address) unless you choose to provide it to us. We do, however, automatically collect some data about your visit to help us better understand how visitors use the website and how to improve the site and related resources.
Details about the information that is automatically collected and stored are provided below:
Types of Information Collected
- Domain from which you access the Internet (Examples: xcompany.com or yourschool.edu)
- IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you go on the Internet)
- Name and version of your computer’s operating system and browser (Examples: Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer )
- Address of the website you came from (such as google.com)
- Words or phrases you searched for
- Pages you visited
- How long you spend on our site
How NIDCR Collects Information
The NIDCR website uses Google Analytics measurement software to collect the information in the bulleted list in the Types of Information Collected section above. Google Analytics collects information automatically and continuously. No personal information is collected. NIDCR staff conduct analyses and reports on the aggregated data from Google Analytics. The reports are only available to NIDCR managers, members of the communications and web teams and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.
NIDCR uses the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) online survey to collect opinions and feedback from a random sample of visitors. Information gathered from the survey is completely anonymous and is used to improve our site. Participation in the customer satisfaction survey is completely voluntary, and failure to respond will not affect your ability to access information on
www.nidcr.nih.gov. The survey reports are only available to NIDCR managers, members of the communications and web teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.
NIDCR retains the data from Google Analytics and ACSI survey results as long as needed to support the mission of the NIDCR.
GovDelivery Subscription Management
NIDCR uses GovDelivery to send e-newsletters, notices and text messages to subscribers. To subscribe to NIDCR products by email, you must provide an email address and indicate your subscription preferences, including the items you want to receive. To subscribe to NIDCR text messages, you must provide your name and a mobile phone number and indicate your subscription preferences. The email and text message subscriber lists are password protected by GovDelivery. Only the NIDCR managers who send newsletters, notices, or texts via GovDelivery and the staff members who monitor the results of email and text initiatives have access to the subscriber lists. GovDelivery never allows access to the subscriber lists to anyone outside of NIDCR for any purpose. The subscriber information is password-protected and only available to NIDCR Managers, System Owners, Communications Staff, Web Teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.
The GovDelivery Privacy Policy is available at
http://www.govdelivery.com/privacy.
How NIDCR Uses Cookies
The Office of Management and Budget Memo M-10-22,
Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies, allows Federal agencies to use session and persistent cookies.
What is a Session Cookie?
A session “cookie” is a small piece of text generated by a web server and temporarily placed on your computer when you visit a website. A session cookie improves your experience on the site by letting the server know that you are connected and continuing your visit to the site. Session cookies do not collect any personal information about you. When you close your browser, the session cookies are deleted from your computer. This means the next time you visit the website, it will not “recognize” your computer or have information about any of your past visits to the NIDCR site.
The OMB Memo 10-22 Guidance defines our use of session cookies as "Usage Tier 1 - Single Session." The policy says, “This tier encompasses any use of single session web measurement and customization technologies.”
What is a Persistent Cookie?
A persistent cookie is also a small piece of text generated by a web server and placed on your computer when you visit a website. Unlike session cookies, persistent cookies are stored on your computer for longer periods.
NIDCR uses persistent cookies to enable Google Analytics to differentiate between new and returning visitors. Persistent cookies remain on your computer between visits to the NIDCR website until they expire or are deleted by the computer owner.
We also use persistent cookies to ensure you do not receive repeated invitations to take the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey. Unless you delete them, the persistent cookies will reside on your computer for 30 days. Persistent cookies will not collect or retain any personal information about you or reveal whether you responded to the survey.
The OMB Memo 10-22 Guidance defines our use of persistent cookies as “Usage Tier 2—Multi-session without Personally Identifiable Information (PII).” The policy says, “This tier encompasses any use of multi-session Web measurement and customization technologies when no PII is collected.”
How to Opt Out or Disable Cookies
If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. If you opt out of cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources at
www.nidcr.nih.gov.
Instructions for disabling or opting out of cookies in the most popular browsers are located at:
http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml. Please note that by following the instructions to opt-out of cookies, you will disable cookies from all sources, not just those from
www.nidcr.nih.gov.
How Personal Information is Protected
WWhen inquiries are e-mailed to us, we temporarily store questions and e-mail addresses so we can respond electronically. Unless otherwise required by statute, we do not publicly identify anyone who sends questions or comments to our website.
You may also sign up to receive our e-newsletter, text messages and notices via our website or request free oral health publications using the online publication order form. The information you provide (name and e-mail address for the e-newsletter and notices; name and mobile phone number for text messages; name, address, and telephone number for ordering publications) is used solely for the purpose of sending you our newsletter or the publications you request.
If you order publications from us, we will share your name, address, other contact information and the titles of the publications you requested with our clearinghouse, which stores and distributes publications for us. Only designated staff members or contractors requiring access to requests or forms to fulfill orders will have access to them.
The personal information you provide to us via subscription form, e-mail or through the online publication order form is retained for one year. If you receive the e-newsletter, notices or text messages, we retain your e-mail address or mobilephone number (for texts) as long as you are subscribed.
If we store your personal information in a record system designed to retrieve information about you by personal identifier (name, personal e-mail address, home mailing address, personal or mobile phone number, etc.) so that we may contact you, we will safeguard the information you provide to us in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. Section 552a).
The Privacy Act says NIDCR operates a record system designed to retrieve information about you in order to accomplish its mission. A Privacy Act Notification Statement should be prominently and conspicuously displayed on the public-facing website or form that asks you to provide personal information. The notice must address the following criteria:
- NIDCR legal authorization to collect information about you
- Purpose of the information collection
- Routine uses for disclosure of information outside of NIDCR
- Whether the request made of you is voluntary or mandatory under law
- Effects of non-disclosure if you choose to not provide the requested information
Privacy Policy Part 2: Use of Third-Party Web Sites and Applications
Questions about Privacy?
Questions about NIDCR privacy policies should be sent to the:
NIDCR Privacy Act Coordinator
Kid's Privacy
Thank you for visiting the NIDCR website. We hope you have done so with the help of a parent or teacher because that is one of the best ways to explore the Internet and make sure that the sites you visit are educational and fun.
We are very interested in what you have to say. If you write to us or ask us a question, we use the e-mail address from your message to respond to you. It is up to you whether or not you tell us who you are. But please make sure it is okay with a parent or guardian before you do—and any other time you provide information online. If you are not sure it is okay with your parent or guardian, you can always come back and visit the site later, when you have their permission. While we cannot respond to your message without your e-mail address, you can still write to us and visit the website without providing any information about yourself.
Note to Parents: Please see our official Privacy Policy Statement for the information we collect and maintain.