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1. Home
2. National Ocean Service Privacy Policies

**Privacy Policies**  When you visit the National Ocean Service (this website) or the NOAA Ocean Today website and/or associated social media channels, you are subject to the privacy policies below. The Big Picture We are committed to the privacy of our visitors. We collect no personal information about you when you visit the National Ocean Service or Ocean Today websites unless you choose to provide that information to us. Here is how we handle information about your visit. When you browse through our websites, read pages, or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store information such as the following concerning your visit: The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain);
          Your IP address (an IP address is a      number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are      surfing the Web) from which you access our sites;
          The type of browser and operating      system used to access our sites;
          The date and time you access our sites;
          The pages you visit; and
          If you linked to our websites from      another website, the address of that website.
 We use this information to help us make our sites more useful to visitors — to learn about the number of visitors to our sites and the types of technology our visitors use. Rights Under the Privacy Act The Privacy Act of 1974 provides safeguards against invasion of personal privacy through the misuse of records by Federal Agencies. The Privacy Act was passed in 1974 to establish controls over what personal information is collected, maintained, used and disseminated by agencies in the executive branch of the Federal government. The Privacy Act guarantees three primary rights: The right to see records about oneself, subject to Privacy Act exemptions;
        The right to request the amendment of records that are not accurate, relevant, timely or complete; and
        The right of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasion of their privacy resulting from the collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal information.
 If you are a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, you may make a request for personal information on yourself under the Privacy Act. Go to the Request page for more information. Requests made under the Privacy Act will be processed under both the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ensure the greatest access to your personal records. Information Protection For site security purposes and to ensure that these services remain available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. 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 on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act or other law.  Information That You Voluntarily Provide We do not collect personally-identifiable information unless you choose to provide it to us. If you provide us with personally identifiable information, for example by sending an e-mail or by filling out a form and submitting it through our websites, we use that information only to respond to your message and to help us provide you with the information and services that you request. Submitting voluntary information constitutes your consent to the use of the information for the stated purpose. When a user clicks the "Submit" button on any of the web forms found on our sites, they are indicating voluntary consent to use of the information they submit for the stated purpose. We do not collect or use information for commercial marketing. How Information is Used The information we collect is used for a variety of purposes (e.g., comments on proposed rules, license applications, to respond to requests for information about our regulations and policies and to fill orders). We make every effort to disclose clearly how information is used at the point where it is collected so that our users can determine for themselves whether they wish to provide the information. Sharing of Information We may share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency. In other limited circumstances, such as responses to requests from Congress and private individuals, we may be required by law to disclose information you submit. Before you submit personally identifiable information, such as on an online form, you will be advised as to the purpose and how the information will be used. We may also share information collected during your visit with non-federal entities, but only if your inquiry requires accessing data from that external entity. All of our sites that require such external access will be clearly identified to help you make an informed choice. Retention of Information We destroy the information we collect when the purpose for which it was provided has been fulfilled unless we are required to keep it longer by statute or official policy. Electronically submitted information is maintained and destroyed according to the principles of the Federal Records Act and the regulations and records schedules approved by the National Archives and Records Administration, and in some cases information submitted to us may become an agency record and therefore might be subject to a Freedom of Information Act request. Links to Other Sites These sites may have links to the websites of other federal agencies. There may be links to private organizations, with their permission. Once you go to another site, you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the new site. It is always a good idea to read the Privacy Policy of any website that you visit. Oceanservice.noaa.gov and oceantoday.noaa.gov do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information contained in a linked site. We also do not endorse the organizations or individuals maintaining sites that we link to, any views they express, or any products/services they offer. Cookies "Cookies" are small bits of text that are either used for the duration of a session ("session cookies"), or saved on a user's hard drive in order to identify that user, or information about that user, the next time the user logs on to a website ("persistent cookies"). These websites do not use persistent cookies or any other persistent tracking technology. However, these sites do use Google Analytics, a tool that provides basic information about website visitors. Please note that this third party service will place a file on your computer so that it can recognize if you visit oceanservice.noaa.gov or oceantoday.noaa.gov in the future. (See below for more information.) Lastly, one or more of our component sites may use session cookies to provide streamlined navigation. These session cookies are deleted from the component's server after your session ends and information from them is not collected or saved. Interaction with Children These websites may offer educational content to children under 13. No personally identifiable information is collected from them unless voluntarily submitted as a request for information or services. The information collected is used to respond to user inquiries or to provide services requested by our users. Third-party Social Media Tools The National Ocean Service and Ocean Today maintain official pages or accounts on several third-party websites in order to better engage with the American public and promote awareness of National Ocean Service activities, events, news, and information (a list of these tools is highlighted below). Your activity on those third-party sites is governed by the security and privacy policies of the third party sites. Users of third-party sites are often sharing information with the general public, user community, and/or the third-party operating the third-party site.  You should review the privacy policies of third-party sites before using them and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. You should also adjust privacy settings on your account on any third-party site to match your preferences. For more information on content that you voluntarily submit on NOS third-party social media tools, please see our comment policy. Facebook Facebook is a social networking website where users can connect and interact with other people. The National Ocean Service and Ocean Today Facebook pages feature new content regularly to keep you up-to-date with tha latest news and information. Please note that you are subject to Facebook's privacy policy when visiting our Facebook page. In addition, users may post comments on the NOS Facebook page. Please see our comment policy for more information. Instagram Instagram is a mobile photo-sharing service. The images that shared on the National Ocean Service Instagram account are copies of those that appear in the galleries of both the National Ocean Service and Ocean Today sites. Please note that you are subject to Instagram's privacy policy when visiting our Instagram page. In addition, users may post comments on images on the NOS Instagram page. Please see our comment policy for more information. YouTube YouTube is a video-sharing service. The videos we share on the National Ocean Service YouTube Channel are copies of those that appear in the galleries of both the National Ocean Service and Ocean Today sites. Please note that you are subject to YouTube's privacy policy when visiting our YouTube page. In addition, users may post comments on videos on the NOS YouTube Channel. Please see our comment policy for more information. Flickr Flickr is a photo-sharing service. The images that we share on the National Ocean Service Flickr page are copies of those that appear in the that appear in the galleries of both the National Ocean Service and Ocean Today sites. Please note that you are subject to Flickr's privacy policy when visiting our Flickr page. In addition, users may post comments on images on the NOS Flickr page. Please see our comment policy for more information. Twitter Twitter is a microblogging service to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short, frequent posts. We frequently post on the National Ocean Service and Ocean Today Twitter pages to keep you abreast of what's new on these sites. Please note that you are subject to Twitter's privacy policy when visiting the National Ocean Service and Ocean Today Twitter pages. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a business-focused social media platform where users can connect for the purpose of professional networking and career development. We regularly post articles on the National Ocean Service LinkedIn page highlighting news and events from the various line offices throughout the agency. We also provide links and information for those interested in pursuing a career with us. Please note that you are subject to LinkedIn's privacy policy when visiting the National Ocean Service LinkedIn page. Google Analytics These sites use Google Analytics, a third-party web measurement and customization technology as defined and organized by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), "Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies" (OMB M-10-22). Google Analytics places a small file on your computer, commonly called a "cookie," so that it can recognize your computer if you visit oceanservice.noaa.gov or oceantoday.noaa.gov in the future. This cookie does not collect personal identifying information. This is considered a Tier 2 service in the OMB guidance. Google Analytics does not collect personally identifiable information through their cookie and does not combine, match, or cross-reference oceanservice.noaa.gov information with any other information. Please review Google's  privacy policy for additional information. Visitors who choose to disable this web measurement will still have full access to oceanservice.noaa.gov. While the details vary from browser to browsers, most modern browsers can be set up to accept, reject, or request user intervention when a site asks to set a cookie. Google Analytics uses a cookie that begins with: _utm Google Earth/Google Maps Google Maps and Google Earth map information and photographic imagery are used under license by Google. National Ocean Service data presented using Google Maps/Google Earth are in the public domain and made available in open standard KML/KMZ format. The map information and photographic imagery contain trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features. This does not imply an endorsement of Google, Google Maps, or Google Earth products or services by the National Ocean Service. Under the terms of the license, you are permitted to copy or use the Google Maps/Google Earth images on your site so long as Google Maps/Google Earth trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features are not deleted or in any manner altered. Please note that you are subject to Google's privacy policy when using this service. Google Forms This site uses Google Forms, a third-party web-based tool that specializes in collecting and organizing information. This tool is used only for our website customer satisfaction survey. Our survey is encrypted and usage complies with the Office of Management and Budget's Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital Services (OMB-M-17-06). GovDelivery This site uses the GovDelivery Communications Cloud service to deliver email bulletin messages to self-subscribed users. GovDelivery is a web-based email subscription management system that allows a member of the public (user) to subscribe to news and information on NOS websites. A user's subscription profile consists of their email address and the topics they wish to receive email updates for.  The user may customize and manage their subscription profile in order to receive exactly the types of information they desire, and they may cancel their subscriptions at any time. We only use the email addresses provided by subscribers to send email messages related to the topics selected by the user in the GovDelivery system. We do not use the GovDelivery service to send email messages unrelated to the topics selected by the subscriber or to seek personally identifiable information (PII) about subscribers.  Neither NOS nor GovDelivery will share a user's subscription profile, including email address.
 More **Information** NOS Social Media: descriptions of services NOS Social Media Comment Policy NOAA Privacy Policy Requesting Records About Yourself Under the Privacy Act   Get **Social** Social
  **Last updated:** 08/04/23 Contact Us


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