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Privacy policy

• Information automatically collected and stored
• How womenshealth.gov collects information
• How are persistent cookies used?
• How do I disable cookies?
• Personally provided information
• Disclosure
• Intrusion detection
• Systems of records
• How womenshealth.gov uses Third-party websites and applications

Thank you for reviewing our privacy policy. Our policy is clear:

We collect no information about you, other than information automatically collected and stored (see below), when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us.

Information automatically collected and stored

When you browse through any website, certain personal information about you can be collected. We automatically collect and temporarily store the following information about your visit:

• The name of the domain you use to access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are using an America Online account, or stanford.edu, if you are connecting from Stanford University's domain);
• The date and time of your visit;
• The pages you visited; and
• The address of the website you came from when you came to visit.

We use this information for statistical purposes and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected about you.

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How womenshealth.gov collects information

Womenshealth.gov uses Google Analytics measurement software to collect the information listed under, Information automatically collected and stored, above. Google Analytics collects information automatically and continuously. No personally identifiable information is collected. The womenshealth.gov staff conducts analyses and reports on the aggregated data from Google Analytics. The reports are only available to womenshealth.gov web staff, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

Womenshealth.gov retains this data as long as needed to support the mission of the womenshealth.gov and the Office on Women's Health.

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How are persistent cookies used?

The Office of Management and Budget Memo M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies allows federal agencies to use session and persistent cookies and defines our use of persistent cookies as "Usage Tier 2 – Multi-session without Personally Identifiable Information (PII)." The policy says, "This tier encompasses any use of multi-session web measurement and customization technologies when no PII is collected."

We use persistent cookies to help us recognize new and returning visitors to womenshealth.gov. Persistent cookies remain on your computer between visits to womenshealth.gov until they expire. We do not use this technology to identify you or any other individual site visitor. Womenshealth.gov is running the American Customer Satisfaction Survey (ACSI), which uses persistent cookies to block repeated invitations to take the ACSI survey.

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How do I disable cookies?

If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them using your web browser. If you opt out of cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources womenshealth.gov provides. Instructions for disabling or opting out of cookies in the most popular browsers are located at http://www.usa.gov/optout_instructions.shtml. Please note that by following the instructions to opt-out of cookies, you will disable cookies from all sources, not just those from womenshealth.gov.

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Personally provided information

You do not have to give us personal information to use this website.

If you choose to provide us with information about yourself through an email message, form, survey, etc., we will only maintain the information as long as needed to respond to your question or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication.

If you use our contact form, we will send an automated confirmation email to the address you provide.

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Disclosure

Womenshealth.gov does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about our visitors, unless required for law enforcement or statute.

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Intrusion detection

This site is maintained by the U.S. government. It is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we employ software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations, and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.

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Systems of records

Information originally collected in traditional paper systems can be submitted electronically, i.e., electronic commerce transactions and information updates about eligibility benefits. Electronically submitted information is maintained and destroyed pursuant to the Federal Records Act and in some cases may be subject to the Privacy Act. If information that you submit is to be used in a Privacy Act system of records, there will be a Privacy Act Notice provided.

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How womenshealth.gov uses third-party websites and applications

Third-Party Websites and Applications (TPWA) are web-based technologies that are not exclusively operated or controlled by The Office on Women's Health (OWH), such as non-.gov hosted applications and those embedded on an OWH Web page that could cause personally identifiable information (PII) to become available or accessible to OWH, regardless of whether OWH solicits or collects it.

As part of the Open Government Directive, OWH uses a variety of new technologies and social media options to communicate and interact with citizens. These sites and applications include popular social networking and media sites, open source software communities and more. The following list includes the websites and applications we use and their purposes. For any sites or applications that collect PII, this list also includes details on information collected and how OWH protects your private information.

Third-party websites and applications

• AddThis – The Office on Women's Health (OWH) uses the AddThis service to allow visitors to bookmark and share website content on a variety of social media sites. Visitors who use the AddThis service to share content do not need to register or provide any personal information. The AddThis service providers collect non-personal data, including the aggregate and summary statistics on browsers and usage patterns. AddThis also uses non-personal data to manage the service efficiently and diagnose server problems. Although AddThis offers some analytics and usage data to OWH, these reports do not include any personally identifiable information. The reports are password protected and only available to members of OWH and other designated staff requiring this information to perform their duties. View the AddThis privacy policy.
• Google URL Shortener – The Office on Women's Health (OWH) uses Google URL Shortener to shorten long URLs for use in email and text messages, Twitter feeds, and on Facebook pages. Google URL Shortener collects and provides data on how often email and text message recipients and Facebook and Twitter-users click on the shortened URLs distributed by OWH staff. Google URL Shortener analytics show how many people clicked on the URLs posted by girlshealth.gov compared to the total number of clicks on the shortened URLs. Google URL Shortener analytics do not provide any personally identifiable information about the visitors who opened the shortened links. View the Google privacy policy.
• Facebook – The Office on Women's Health (OWH) has three Facebook pages: Office on Women's Health, Girlshealth.gov, and Best Bones Forever!. OWH staff post news and other items of interest to citizens on the Facebook pages. If you have a Facebook account or "like" the OWH Facebook pages, you can post comments or click on the "like" option for individual entries. If you comment or click on the "like" button, personally identifying information will be visible to womenshealth.gov staff and other Facebook site visitors. The amount of visible personal information will depend on your own Facebook privacy settings. You can completely avoid displaying any personally identifiable information by not creating an account, not posting comments, and not clicking on the "like" options in Facebook. OWH staff does not collect, use, or disclose any information about visitors who comment or "like" the womenshealth.gov Facebook pages. Facebook collects and reports on non-personally identifiable information about activities on Facebook pages. This information is password protected and only available to members of OWH and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. View the Facebook privacy policy.
• Twitter – The Office on Women's Health (OWH) has four Twitter accounts: @womenshealth, @girlshealth, @bestbones4ever, and @SaludDLaMujer. OWH uses Twitter to send short messages (up to 140 characters) or "Tweets" to share information about OWH with visitors and respond to comments and inquiries sent via Twitter to OWH. While visitors may read the OWH Twitter feeds without subscribing to them, visitors who want to subscribe to (or follow) OWH Twitter feeds must create a Twitter account. To create an account, you must provide some personal information, such as name, user name, password, and email address. Visitors have the option to provide additional personal information including a short biography, location, or a picture. Most information you provide for a Twitter account is available to the public, but you can modify how much of your information is visible by changing your privacy settings at the Twitter.com website. OWH staff members monitor the number of subscribers and respond to comments and queries via Twitter, but the staff never takes possession of the personal information belonging to Twitter followers. OWH does not collect, maintain, disclose, or share any information about people who follow OWH on Twitter. View the Twitter privacy policy.
• YouTube – OWH embeds videos from YouTube on Web pages. You do not need to register with either YouTube or Google (YouTube owner) to watch embedded videos. When visitors watch videos, YouTube may record non-personally identifiable information about its site usage, such as channels used, videos watched, and data transfer details to improve its services. If you log on to the YouTube site before watching a video, YouTube may associate information about your site use with your YouTube account. If you log on to YouTube and comment on an embedded video, any personal information you included when registering for your account will be visible to visitors who click on the comment. If you do not log in before watching an embedded video, your site use will not be associated with you or a YouTube account. View the YouTube privacy policy.

Content last updated September 6, 2011.

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