Privacy Information

Protecting the personal privacy of individuals who use the Internet is a priority for Tom Harkin.

Tom's basic Internet privacy policy is simple: this Web site collects no personal information about you during your visit unless you choose to provide it.

Information is gathered -- only at your choosing -- when you request to be contacted about an issue, service, or problem.

Senator Harkin and his staff make your privacy a priority.

INFORMATION COLLECTED AND STORED AUTOMATICALLY

The U.S. Senate collects aggregate data about visits to Senate Web sites such as statistics that show which parts of each site are visited most frequently.

The following information is also collected when you visit any U.S. Senate Web site: the domain from which you access the Senate Web site, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit, and the address of the Web site, if any, that provided the link from which you reached the Senate site. This information is gathered only for the purpose of enabling us to improve the online service we provide to visitors to Senate Web sites.

No individual identifying or personal information (such as your name) is automatically gathered when you visit any Senate web site. The Harkin web site does not use "cookies" or other means to track your visit. However, the Harkin web site operates on servers and uses applications provided by the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA). For more information on SAA privacy policies, please click here: SAA Privacy Policy.

IF YOU SEND TOM HARKIN PERSONAL INFORMATION

Tom Harkin's Web site is not configured to collect any personal information about you unless you choose to provide that information. This Web site uses online forms to facilitate your requests for various services and to send messages to Senator Harkin.

Some forms ask for your name, address, e-mail address, home or work telephone numbers, and other types of personal information. Senator Harkin and his staff use this information -- which you choose to provide -- to contact you at your request. This information is made available to members of Tom Harkin's staff so that they may help the Senator in responding to your message or request.

If you are requesting help with a casework matter, it also may be necessary for the Senator's office to share the information you provide with the government agency from which you are requesting assistance in order to respond to your request. Other than when needed to perform constituent casework at your request, or in the course of an authorized law enforcement investigation or emergency posing an imminent risk to public safety, Senator Harkin's office will share no personal information communicated through this Web site with any outside organization or individual.

Tom Harkin's staff tabulates comments received through this Web site concerning legislation and government policy issues so that the senator will be fully informed about the views of constituents.

From time to time, Tom Harkin comes across a comment made by a constituent or a situation described by a constituent in an e-mail message (as well as postal mail, phone calls, and faxes) that he feels makes a point of such general interest that he would like to refer to it in a speech, or include it in the Congressional Record, or make some other use of it, either in connection with debate in the Senate or by sharing it with the relevant government agency. Senator Harkin's staff makes every effort in such cases to contact the author first. If you intend your message to be confidential and would prefer that it not be used in such a way, please feel free to advise the senator of your preference in your message. Such requests will be respected and your message will be held entirely within Tom Harkin's office.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

This Web site has links to other useful sites on the Internet including sites of other government agencies and sites relating to Iowa. If you follow any link that takes you to a location that does not include "senate.gov" in the domain portion of the address, you will have left the Senate Web server and you will need to refer to that site's privacy policy.