Office of Thrift Supervision

Security and Privacy Notice

Web Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the OTS website and reviewing our privacy policy. We remind you that if you link to a site outside of the OTS, you are subject to the policies of the new site.
 
Privacy
 
The OTS respects your privacy. We do not collect or store information about members of the public who call or write the agency or visit our website, unless you identify yourself so that we can respond to an inquiry or request from you.
 
We do, however, collect and store information about your Internet connection when you visit our website to read or download information, such as our bulletins, alerts, or press releases.  We use this information to help us stay abreast of technical upgrades that can make our site more accessible to visitors and to record the date and time of your visit to our site.  If you identify yourself when you contact us, various people may see your information.  We adhere to the following principles in handling information you provide, in accordance with 12 U.S.C. 1 et seq.:

• We use your personally identifiable information only for the purpose for which it is originally collected.

• We maintain your personally identifiable information in secure computer systems and we limit employee access to those with a business need to view it.

• We do not disclose your information to anyone outside of OTS, except where compelled by law or in connection with a criminal investigation (as explained below).

To understand in greater detail how we handle your Internet connection and personal identification information, read the sections below.

For privacy matters not related to the OTS website, see how the OTS protects your privacy.  
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Visiting the OTS website

If you visit our site to read or download information, we do not collect information about you, but we do collect and store information about your Internet connection and the date and time of your visit.  Specifically, we record:

• The name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account, or princeton.edu, if you are connecting from Princeton University's domain).

• The IP (Internet Protocol) address from which you access our site.  An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are connected to the World Wide Web.

• The Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, if any (for example, www.fdic.gov, if you are following a link from the FDIC website, or www.yahoo.com, if you find us using the Yahoo search engine).

• The type of Web browsing software you are using to view our site.

• The date and time you access our site.

• The pages you visit.

• The action that you tried to perform or the item you requested from the OTS website (for example, download a document) and whether or not you were successful.  When we examine this data it is presented in an aggregate form.

Cookies

"Persistent cookies" collect personal information to recognize your computer in the future.  OTS does not use "persistent cookies" or other technology to collect personally identifiable information about visitors to our website. 

"Temporary" or "session" cookies are used on the OTS.gov Web pages to support voluntary customer surveys and to help us accurately analyze how visitors navigate through our website at an aggregated level.  These cookies are stored in memory and are available only during an active browser session.  These cookies do not collect personal information on visitors and they are erased as soon as you close your Web browser.  No personally identifiable information about you is maintained as a result of a temporary or session cookie.
 
We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors. We learn what users like and need; what kind of technology they are using; how often they visit; and other valuable information that helps us offer our visitors the best site possible. 
 
Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we employ 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, or otherwise cause damage, 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.