Thank you for visiting the Office of Government Ethics Web site and reviewing our privacy policy. Our privacy policy is clear: We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our Web site unless you choose to provide that information to us.

HOW WE HANDLE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR VISIT TO OUR WEB SITE

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

1.   The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and Internet Protocol (IP) address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our Web site;

2.   The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;

3.   The date and time you access our site;

4.   The pages you visit; and

5.   If you linked to the Office of Government Ethics Web site from another Web site, the address of that Web site.

We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits.

If you choose to provide us with personal information, such as by sending an e-mail or by filling out a form and submitting it through our Web site, we will use that information to respond to your message or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication. Remember that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication is sensitive or includes personal information you may prefer to send it by postal mail instead.

We may share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency. In other limited circumstances, such as responses to requests from Congress and private individuals, we may be required by law to disclose information you submit. Before you submit personal information, such as on an online form, you may be given more specific guidance as to how your personal information may be used.

Electronically submitted information is maintained and destroyed according to the principles of the Federal Records Act and the regulations and records schedules of the National Archives and Records Administration, and in some cases may be covered by the Privacy Act and subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

"Cookies" are small bits of text that are either used for the duration of a session ("session cookies"), or saved on a user's hard drive in order to identify that user, or information about that user, the next time the user logs on to a Web site ("persistent cookies"). OGE's Web site does not use persistent cookies. However, OGE may use session cookies to provide streamlined navigation throughout the site. These session cookies are deleted from the web server soon after your session ends and are not collected or saved.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this Government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring and is advised that if such monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, such evidence may be provided to appropriate law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Our Web site has links to sites of various other Federal agencies. In a few cases, we may also link to sites of private organizations. If you follow a link from our Web site to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.