I. Introduction

Your privacy on the Internet is of utmost importance to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This privacy statement describes FAO’s policy concerning the gathering and sharing of visitors’ information through the FAO Web site. It applies to all “FAO sites” – that is, all sites within the “fao.org” domain name and sites hosted by FAO.

II. What Information Does the FAO Collect?

Non personal information

In general, you can browse the FAO site without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. The only information we gather during general browsing is from standard server logs. These include your IP (Internet Protocol) address, domain name, browser type, operating system, and information such as the web site that referred you to us, the files you download, the pages you visit, and the dates/times of those visits. These will not specifically identify you. The information will be used internally only for Web site traffic analysis.

Personal information

If you register for a newsletter, log on to certain FAO sites, order a book, request information, provide feedback, apply for a job, join a discussion group or join an electronic mailing list, you will be asked to provide personal information such as your name, postal address and e-mail address. This information is collected only with your knowledge and permission, and is kept in the FAO databases and mailing lists related to the services provided.

FAO sites with specific requirements to collect personal information may publish a privacy policy specific for that site, complementary to this general FAO Privacy policy.

For certain FAO sites, registering or supplying personal information sets a cookie. By setting this cookie, FAO will remember your details the next time you visit, so you don’t have to re-enter the information. This helps us to provide you with a better service.

Joining electronic discussion groups may mean that other participants of the discussion group (including non-FAO employees) will see personal information that you have volunteered. For open discussion groups, this information will be public.

III. What If I Don't Want to Share My Information?

Registering on our site is optional. If you choose not to register or provide personal information, you can still use the FAO Web site, but you will not be able to carry out certain actions such as purchase publications or register for a newsletter. FAO views the customer information that it collects as a trusted asset for which we take great care in not misusing.

IV. Security

If you register for a newsletter, forum, consultation, or conference FAO will not share, sell, distribute or rent your personal information to any other organization or entities.

Any information provided to FAO by users of the FAO site is held with the utmost care and security, and will not be used in ways other than as set forth in this Privacy policy, or in any site-specific policies, or in ways to which you have explicitly consented. FAO employs a range of technologies and security measures to protect the information maintained on our systems from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

All our employees who have access to, and are associated with the processing of personal data, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of official business matters, including personal data.

The FAO site contains links to sites not hosted by FAO. FAO is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites.

V. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this FAO Privacy policy, please contact us at ask-fao@fao.org  

VI. Notification of Changes

FAO reserves the right to amend the present policy at its own discretion. If there are any changes to this Privacy policy, we will post them on our home page at www.fao.org.

Glossary

Cookie: A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier, that is sent to your browser from a web site's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive. Each web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Once the user has closed the browser the cookie will no longer be accessed during that session.

IP Address: When your web browser or email application requests a web page or email from another computer on the Internet, it automatically gives that computer the address where it should send the information. This is called your computer's "IP address." (IP stands for "Internet protocol.") For many users accessing the Internet from a dial-up Internet service provider (ISP), the IP address will be different every time you log on.