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Website Policies, Important Notices & Links


Access for People with Disabilities

The FCC is committed to making the electronic technologies we deploy accessible to individuals with disabilities. In this effort, we work with the Access Board, an independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. The Access Board established Federal standards for electronic and information technology under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. We incorporate Section 508 compliance testing in the design, development and maintenance of our website. The Commission's work on accessible design is continuous, and we welcome feedback on improving the accessibility features of our site. To learn more about actions the FCC is taking to ensure that new technologies are accessible, visit our Disability Rights Office web page. For other disability-related information available from the Federal Government, visit the interagency Web portal for people with disabilities at Disability.gov


Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) Breach Reporting Facility

Pursuant to section 64.2011(b) of the Commission's rules (64 C.F.R. § 64.2011(b)), a telecommunications carrier or interconnected VOIP provider is required to notify the United States Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of any breach of its customers' CPNI through a central reporting facility. The CPNI Breach Reporting Facility is on the web at https://www.cpnireporting.gov.


Customer Service Standards

You will always be treated with courtesy and can expect these Standards of Customer Service when interacting with us.


Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act, commonly known as the FOIA, (5 U.S.C. § 552), was enacted by Congress in 1966 to give the American public greater access to the Federal Government's records. Congress has since expanded the scope of the FOIA to encompass electronic records. However, you do not have to file a FOIA request to obtain information which is routinely available for public inspection, including records from docketed cases, broadcast applications and related files, petitions for rulemakings, various legal and technical publications, legislative history compilations, etc. See 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.453 and 0.455. Much of this information is available on our website. Visit the FCC FOIA Home Page for an informal explanation of the FOIA process at the FCC.


Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12)

HSPD-12 guidance requires that agencies complete background checks on all current employees and contractors and issue Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials. Agencies are required to post to their federal agency public website quarterly reports on the number of PIV credentials issued. The report template used distinguishes between credentials issued to employees, contractors, and others (e.g., visiting scientists). Visit our HSPD-12 Web Page to view the quarterly status reports that the FCC posts pursuant to HSPD-12 requirements.


Information Quality Guidelines & Notice

The FCC is dedicated to ensuring that all data it disseminates reflect a level of quality commensurate with the nature and timeliness of the information. Futher, the FCC seeks to disseminate all its data as broadly and promptly as possible so that the public can benefit from the FCC's work of ensuring vital and innovative communication services are available to all Americans at reasonable prices. In keeping with this commitment, and in accordance with OMB requirements, the FCC has developed Information Quality Guidelines and provides the public the opportunity to comment if those guidelines are not followed."

The FCC makes every effort to insure that the information on this website is accurate. There may, however, be recent rule changes that have not yet been posted to the website or inadvertent errors in the content. The FCC will promptly modify the website information to ensure that the information posted is current, or to correct errors in content brought to the Commission's attention. In the event there is any conflict between information posted on this website and the Commission's rules, the rules shall prevail.


Linking Policy & Disclaimer of Endorsement

This Internet site contains hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for your convenience. The Federal Communications Commission does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of links to particular items in hypertext are not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or service offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.


No Fear Act

On May 15, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No Fear) Act, which increases federal agency accountability for acts of discrimination or reprisal against employees. Visit our No Fear Act Web Page to view the Equal Employment Opportunity Data that the FCC posts pursuant to the No Fear Act.


Paperwork Reduction Act & FCC Information Collections

The FCC collects many different kinds of information from the public. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Part 35) requires the Commission, as well as other federal agencies, to get Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval before collecting most kinds of information. The FCC currently has over 500 approved information collections. Once OMB approves a collection the FCC must ask OMB to renew its approval at least once every three years for as long as the collection is needed. These renewals are known as extensions. The Commission must also request OMB approval whenever it makes a significant change to a collection. Read more about FCC Information Collections and the Paperwork Reduction Act.


Plug-ins, Players & Readers

The FCC provides information on its web site in a variety of file formats that best match the transmittal and display requirements of the information, while taking into account the level of resources typically available to its visitors. Most of these file formats are easily read and displayed by standard web browsers or word processing programs, but some files whose formats have been specifically developed for transmitting and displaying special content, such as multimedia or very precisely defined documents, may require the use of additional software to be presented correctly. Visit our Plug-ins, Players and Readers Web Page for more information and links for downloading the required software.


Privacy Policy

We respect your right to privacy and will protect it when you visit our website. The FCC collects no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you specifically and knowingly choose to provide such information to us. If you choose to provide information to us, we use it only to fulfill your request for information or services. Visit our Privacy Policy Web Page for more information.


FCC.gov Moderation Policy

Blogs operated on FCC.gov and its associated domains (Beta.FCC.gov; Reboot.FCC.gov) seek to provide insight into the Federal Communications Commission by highlighting agency news, initiatives, and personnel. The public should react to the topics being discussed at these outlets with respectful and civil discourse. Relevant discussion and debate are encouraged. FCC.gov provides a moderated blog as well as a forum for discussion topics at http://fccdotgov.uservoice.com/forums/105541-fcc-gov-feedback. Comments on the FCC.gov blogs will be reviewed before posting and Uservoice ideas or comments that have been flagged by the public will be reviewed. Inappropriate comments will not be posted or removed and include threats; slurs; abusive or obscene language; personal attacks; promotion of commercial services or products; and spam. To protect your privacy and that of others, please do not include personal phone, email, or mailing information in the body of your comments. Comments that are not directly related to the blog post or Uservoice discussion topic will be posted on the Blog and Uservoice Off Topic Comments pages, respectively. Comments will be monitored during normal business hours and will be reviewed as speedily as possible.

If you wish to communicate with the Federal Communications Commission, see How to Contact the FCC for more information. Please note that commenting on these platforms is not a substitute for submitting a formal comment in the record of a specific Commission proceeding.

This comment policy may be amended or modified in the future.


Security Notice

The FCC website is an official United States Government System, which may be used only for authorized purposes. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on FCC servers 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. The Government may monitor or audit the usage of this system, and all persons are hereby notified that use of this system constitutes consent to such monitoring and auditing.

E-Authentication. Confidence in the security of information exchanged over the Internet plays a vital role in E-Government. E-Authentication supports E-Government by helping to enable trust in online exchanges between entities and government. E-Authentication at FCC focuses on confirming a person’s identity, based on the reliability of his or her credential when using an FCC web-based system. The FCC conducted an E-Authentication assessment of its web-based systems. The results of the 2005 and 2004 E-Authentication assessments are summarized and may be obtained by request via email: E-Authentication@fcc.gov. This notice is presented in compliance with Office of Management and Budget's "E-Authentication Guidance for Federal Agencies".


Website Inventory, Priorities & Schedules

The FCC maintains an inventory of FCC website content and associated on-line publication schedules and priorities, as required by Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002. See our complete Website Inventory, Priorities & Schedules page for more information.


Web Site Maintenance Policy & Schedule

We strive to make the FCC’s network and on-line systems highly reliable and available. Toward this end, we must periodically bring down systems for service, software updates, repairs, routine maintenance and performance tuning. Accordingly, we have established a weekly network maintenance window - Saturday 10 p.m. to Sunday 6 a.m (Eastern Time) – when some or all FCC systems might be brought down for maintenance work. During this period the public may not have access to our online documents, electronic filing/licensing applications or to the entire FCC web site. While you may attempt to access systems during the maintenance window, you do so at your own risk.

While this work is essential, we also recognize that it presents an inconvenience for those of you who use our online systems. If at any given time maintenance is not required for that week, the maintenance window will be cancelled and a notification will be posted on the FCC Website Availability webpage. On those occasions when it is necessary to bring down all systems, the appropriate notification will be posted as well.




last reviewed/updated on September 15, 2011  


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