A. Data Collected Automatically
When you visit our web sites to read pages or download information, Tier 1 technology is used. We automatically collect and store the following non-personally identifying information:
- The Internet protocol (IP) address from which you access our web site. An IP address is a unique number that is automatically assigned to the computer you are using whenever you are surfing the web. This is used for our own Internet security protocols to help protect the security of the Census Bureau’s IT systems and your data.
- The type of browser, such as Safari, Internet Explorer, or Firefox and operating system, such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX, or Linux, used to access our site, to optimize your web page experience.
- The date and time our web site is accessed, for the purpose of monitoring demand.
- The pages visited, for the purpose of improving the usefulness of our web site by providing helpful links and removing pages that are not read.
- The last web site you visit, if that web site contains a link to a Census Bureau web page, indicates how you found this web site.
The information we retain does not include personally identifying information. The above information is maintained in our system logs for analytical purposes to improve our web pages. The logs may be kept indefinitely and used at any time and in any way necessary to prevent a security breach and to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers.
B. American FactFinder
When you make use of American FactFinder, Tier 1 technology is used. Transient cookies are used to keep track of user selections so that new requests for specific data or maps can be created more efficiently. No personally identifiable information is permanently retained on either the users’ or the Census Bureau's computers. These transient cookies go away completely when you exit the browser. When you order products, we enable transient cookies to track your order through the process.
C. Electronic Census Bureau Surveys or Censuses
Under federal law, we protect the confidentiality of the data we collect. When you respond to a survey or census via the Internet, you may have to provide us personally identifiable information (PII) or business identifiable information (BII). For each survey and census, we provide an explanation to respondents about the confidentiality of the data and the laws that protect the data (e.g., Title 13, United States Code Section 9 (a)) protect against unauthorized disclosure under penalty of $250,000 and up to 5 years in prison, or both.
When you respond to surveys or censuses over the Internet that collect identifiable information, Tier 2 technology is used. Personally identifiable information or business identifiable information collected in the course of a survey or census is not used to customize your online experience.
Once you access an online survey or census, we automatically collect information about how long it took you to complete the survey or census, which questions you answered, and how many times you logged into the survey or census. In addition, we collect data on navigation of the survey or census, which includes mouse clicks and any data entered onto the survey or census, whether or not the survey or census is completed and submitted. These data are used in aggregate to assess the usability of the survey or census, or for other authorized statistical purposes. They are protected under the same confidentiality procedures as response data.
All web data submissions are encrypted to strengthen further the protection of the information we collect online. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through screening of the systems that transmit your data.
Questions concerning this policy may be addressed to: ask.census.gov, attn: Policy Coordination Office.
D. Blocking the use of Cookies (Opt Out)
The technologies we describe in this policy are the default settings. However, you can remove or block the use of web cookies by changing the setting of your browser as described at www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml.
Should you choose to remove or block the use of web cookies, we will provide you with alternatives for acquiring comparable information or services.