Protecting your privacy is very important to us. Our website links to other National Institutes of Health (NIH) sites, federal agency sites, and, occasionally, to non-government sites. Once you leave NICHD's primary website, you are subject to the privacy policy for the site(s) you are visiting. We do not collect any personally identifiable information about you during your visit to NICHD websites, unless you choose to provide it to us. We do, however, collect some data about your visit—see details below—to help us better understand how people use the site. NICHD never collects information for commercial marketing or any purpose unrelated to the NICHD mission and goals.
When visitors send email containing personal information to nichdwebmaster@mail.nih.gov, NICHD staff responds to the letters and files them for response-tracking purposes. Only those staff members approved to respond to such emails may view or answer them.
When you browse, read, and/or download information on any website, that site can collect certain information about your visit. NICHD automatically collects and stores the following types of information:
- Domain from which you access the Internet
- Internet Protocol (IP) address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to a computer when surfing the Web)
- Operating system and information about the browser used when visiting the site
- Date and time of your visit
- Pages you visited
- Address of the website that connected you to an NICHD website (such as google.com or bing.com)
- Domain or search term that referred you to our site
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections and to help inform changes that make our site more useful to visitors.
NICHD websites use a variety of different web measurement software tools.
They use Google Analytics software to collect the information listed in the section above. It does not collect personal information about you. NICHD staff conducts analyses and reports on the aggregated data from Google Analytics. The reports are only available to website managers, members of the NICHD Communications and Web Teams, and other designated staff and personnel who need this information to perform their duties.
NICHD sometimes uses online surveys to collect opinions and feedback from a random sample of visitors. NICHD uses the ForeSee Results' American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) online survey to obtain feedback and data on visitors' satisfaction with the website. This survey does not collect personal information about you.
Though the survey invitation pops up for a random sample of visitors, it is optional. If you decline the survey, you still have access to the same site information and resources as those who take the survey. The survey reports are available only to website managers, members of the NICHD Communications and Web Teams, and other designated staff who need this information to perform their duties.
NICHD retains the data from Google Analytics and ACSI survey results as long as needed to support the mission of the website.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memo M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies (PDF 103 KB) allows federal agencies to use temporary and persistent cookies.
When you visit any website, its server may generate a piece of text known as a "cookie" to place on your computer. The cookie allows the server to "remember" specific information about your visit while you are connected.
The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of webpages. Cookies from NICHD webpages only collect information about your browser's visit to the site; they do not collect personal information about you.
There are two types of cookies: single session (temporary) and multi-session (persistent).
- Temporary Cookies: Session cookies are temporary, lasting only as long as your web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the session cookie disappears. NICHD uses session cookies for technical purposes, such as to enable better navigation through our site. These cookies let our server know that you are continuing your visit to our site. The OMB Memo 10-22 Guidance defines our use of session cookies as "Usage Tier 1—Single Session." The policy says, "This tier encompasses any use of single session web measurement and customization technologies."
- Persistent Cookies: Persistent cookies are multi-session cookies that are stored on your computer for longer periods, including after you close your web browser. The NICHD website only uses persistent cookies to identify whether you have participated in the Foresee user survey (we do this so that you do not continue to get prompted after you have participated).
How to Opt Out or Disable Session (Temporary) Cookies
If you do not wish to have session cookies placed on your computer, you can disable them in your web browser. If you opt out of session cookies, you will still have access to all information and resources at the NICHD website.
Instructions for disabling or opting out of cookies in the most popular browsers are located at https://www.usa.gov/optout-instructions. Note that by following the instructions to opt-out of cookies, you will disable session cookies for all websites, not just the NICHD website.
You do not have to give us personal information to visit NICHD websites. However, if you subscribe to our mailing lists, order publications and materials, or register for events, we may collect your email address and other information about you to complete the process.
If you choose to provide us with personal information through an email message, request for information, paper or electronic form, questionnaire, customer satisfaction survey, etc., we will maintain the information only for as long as needed to respond to your question or fulfill the request.
If NICHD operates a record management system designed to retrieve information about you, a Privacy Act Notification Statement should be prominently and conspicuously displayed on the public-facing website or form that asks for such information. The notice must address the following five criteria:
- Legal authorization to collect information about you
- Purpose of the information collection
- Routine uses for disclosure of information outside of NICHD
- Whether the request made of you is voluntary or mandatory under law
- Effects of non-disclosure if you choose to not provide the requested information
Publication Ordering
If you order publications from our website, we request that you provide certain information about yourself. Collection of this information is authorized under Title 5 USC Section 301 and Title 44 USC Section 3101.
If you place an order, we collect your shipping and contact information only to process your order. We use your email address and phone number only to contact you about your order. We may also collect a shipping number. This information is collected from you only so that we can fulfill the order.
The online publications ordering process also includes a few optional questions (such as "How did you hear about the NICHD?") to help us evaluate our communications efforts. Answering these questions is completely voluntary; opting not to answer the questions does not affect your ability to order materials or to access information or resources on the NICHD website.
If you order materials from one of the NICHD campaigns or programs, your email address is automatically added to the emailing list for that specific campaign or program. You will receive about one email per month with information related to that specific campaign or program. You can opt out of the emailing list at any time by selecting the "UNSUBSCRIBE" link in the footer of the emails.
Other than as stated above, we do not disclose information submitted in ordering publications. We never share information for commercial marketing purposes.
Any information provided by you in connection with the publications-ordering process is provided voluntarily and is not mandatory under any law. Please note that if you choose not to provide the information necessary for shipping, we will not be able to ship the requested publications to you. If you order publications from our website, we retain data from you and your order for two years, after which time, we remove all identifying data from your order. The data generated from these activities falls under the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) General Records Schedule (GRS) 20-item IC 'Electronic Records,' and are handled per the requirements of that schedule (https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs.html).
Event Registration
If you register for an event, NICHD collects your contact information, as authorized under Title 5 USC Section 301 and Title 44 USC Section 3101.
We use your email address and/or phone number only to contact you about the event or your registration. We may also collect information about whether you need any special accommodations to participate fully in the event.
We sometimes share registration information with a third-party vendor who is helping to manage the event. We never share information for commercial marketing purposes.
Any information provided by you in connection with the event-registration process is provided voluntarily and is not mandatory under any law. However, if you choose not to provide the requested information, we may not be able to register you for the event.
As part of the OMB Memo M-10-06, Open Government Directive (PDF 81 KB), NICHD uses a variety of new technologies and social media options to communicate and interact with citizens. These third-party websites and applications (TPWAs) include popular social networking and media sites, open source software communities, and more. TPWAs are web-based technologies that are not exclusively operated or controlled by NICHD, such as applications not hosted on a .gov domain, or those that are embedded on NICHD webpages. Users of TPWAs often share information with the general public, user community, and/or the third-party operating the website. These actors may use this information in a variety of ways. TPWAs could cause personal information to become available or accessible to NICHD and the public, regardless of whether the information is explicitly solicited or collected by NICHD.
The following list includes the TPWAs we use and their purpose. Your activity on the TPWAs that NICHD uses is governed by the security and privacy policy of those sites, which we have linked to below. You should review the privacy policies before using the sites and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. If you have an account with a third-party website, and choose to follow, like, friend, or comment, certain personal information associated with your account may be made available to NICHD based on the privacy policy of the website and your privacy settings within that website. Therefore, you should also adjust privacy settings on your account to match your preferences.
For any TPWA that collects personal information, the list below also includes details on the information NICHD collects and how we will protect this information.
Third-Party Websites and Applications
Facebook: NICHD has a Facebook page managed by NICHD staff members who post news and other items that may be of interest to the public. If you have a Facebook account, you can log in to your account to post comments, and 'like' NICHD Facebook pages and individual entries. If you click on the NICHD Facebook page and then comment on or 'like' something, your personal information will be visible to NICHD staff and other Facebook site visitors. The amount of personal information displayed will depend on your Facebook privacy settings. You can completely avoid displaying personal information by not creating a Facebook account, not posting comments, not clicking on the 'like' options, or not interacting with NICHD Facebook accounts in any way (i.e., private messaging, sharing NICHD posts, etc.). NICHD staff do not collect, use, or disclose any personal information about visitors who comment on or 'like' NICHD Facebook sites. However, our comment moderation policy requires the removal from NICHD Facebook pages any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, off-topic, or offensive. Repeat offenders may be subject to blocking. The information is then saved on a password-protected shared drive accessible to NICHD managers, system owners, communications staff, web staff, and other designated staff who need this information to perform their duties. The Facebook Privacy Policy is available at http://www.facebook.com/policy.php 
.
Twitter: NICHD uses Twitter to send short messages or 'Tweets' that share information about NICHD research and to respond to comments and inquiries. While you may read NICHD Twitter feeds without subscribing to them, if you want to subscribe to (or follow) NICHD Twitter feeds, you must create a Twitter account. To create an account, you must provide some personal information, such as your name, user name, password, and email address. You have the option to provide additional information, including a short biography, location, and/or 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 Twitter.com. NICHD staff members monitor the number of subscribers and respond to comments and queries via Twitter, but the staff does not take possession of the personal information belonging to you as a Twitter follower. However our comment moderation policy requires the removal from NICHD Twitter pages any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, or offensive. The information is then saved on a password-protected shared drive accessible to NICHD managers, system owners, communications staff, web staff, and other designated staff who need this information to perform their duties. The Twitter Privacy Policy is available at http://twitter.com/privacy .
YouTube: NICHD posts videos on YouTube to make them available to the public. You do not need to register with YouTube to watch these videos. YouTube may record non- personal information about 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 NICHD videos, YouTube may associate information about your site usage with your YouTube account. If you log on to YouTube and comment on an NICHD video, any personal information you included on your YouTube profile page will be visible to visitors who click on the comment field. If you do not log in before watching NICHD videos posted on YouTube, you cannot comment on NICHD videos and your site usage will not be associated with you or a YouTube account. The YouTube Privacy Policy is available at http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy .
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