Thank you for visiting my website. Protecting your privacy is important to me, and I want you to understand the policies I have put in place to safeguard the privacy of individuals who visit my website. If you have questions or concerns about my Internet privacy policy, or any other issues involving the Internet, please feel free to contact my office.

My basic Internet privacy policy is simple: my website will not obtain personally-identifying information about you when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information so my office can help you with an issue or problem. Here is some more specific information about the type of information that may be gathered when you visit my website and how that information is used.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

No individual identifying or personal information (such as your name) is automatically gathered when you visit my Senate website. My website does not use cookies or other means to track your visit to my site in any way.

The U.S. Senate collects information about visits to Senate websites, such as statistics about which parts of each website are visited the most. The following information is also collected when you visit any U.S. Senate website: the domain from which you access the Senate website, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit, and the address of the website, if any, that provided the link from which you reached the Senate site. This information is gathered solely for the purpose of enabling us to improve the online service we provide to visitors to Senate websites.

If You Send Us Personal Information

My website does not collect any personal information about you when you visit the site unless you choose to provide that information. The site has an online web form that you can use to contact me by sending me an electronic mail message expressing your views or concerns or asking for assistance with a particular problem involving a federal agency. To send me e-mail, the online web form asks for your name, address, e-mail address, and, if you wish, your telephone number. In addition, you can sign up to receive a weekly update email from me. I use the information you provide so I can follow up with you about your issues and concerns. This information will be available to members of my staff so they can help me in responding to your message or request.

If you are requesting help with a casework matter, it may also be necessary for my office to share the information you have provided with relevant government agencies to help process your request. My office will share no personal information communicated through my website with any outside organization or individual, except 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.

My office tabulates comments received through my website concerning legislation and government policy issues so that I will be fully informed about the views of constituents. From time to time, I come across a comment made by a constituent in an e-mail message (as well as postal mail, phone calls, and faxes) that offers a real-life example of the impact legislation has on my constituents. In that case, someone from my staff will make every effort to contact the constituent before I share the comment publicly -- on the Senate floor or in a speech, for example. If you feel strongly that your comments not be shared, please feel free to advise me of your preference in your email message, so I can be sure to respect your wishes and see that your views are held entirely within my office.

Links to Other Sites

My website has links to other useful sites on the Internet, including sites of other government agencies and sites relating to Washington state. If you follow any link that takes you to a location that does not include "senate.gov" in the address, you will have left the Senate web server and you will need to refer to that site's own privacy policy. Neither I, nor the U.S. Senate, can take responsibility for the content of these third-party websites.

U.S. Senate Privacy and Security Policy

The U.S. Senate has published a privacy and security notice covering all U.S. Senate websites.