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S&T Privacy Policy

We collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide this information to us. However, we collect and store certain information automatically. Here is how we handle information about your visit to our website.

What We Collect and Store Automatically

If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the website, 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 only the following information about your visit:

  1. 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) and 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 website;
  2. The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
  3. The date and time you access our site;
  4. The pages you visit;
  5. If you linked to our website from another website, the address of that website.

We use the information we collect to count the number and type of visitors to the different pages on our site, and to help us make our site more useful to visitors like you.

Cookies

There are two types of cookies; single session (temporary) and multisession (persistent).  Session cookies last only as long as your web browser is open and are used to temporarily store information about your visit and to track transactions while you are online to permit better navigation. 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.

Persistent cookies are stored on your computer for longer periods.  We use persistent cookies that are categorized by OMB in M-10-22 as “Tier 2 multi-session without Personally Identifiable Information”  to help us gather feedback using aggregated data, such as number of unique visitors to a page and the navigation the visitor took to get to a specific piece of content. We will use this data to make modifications to the site to improve the user experience and to monitor the traffic on our site.  The cookie monitors your navigation through the website and records:

  • What content was viewed
  • How you arrived at the specific content,
  • Your ISP provider including the ISP provider’s country of origin,
  • The time spent viewing a specific piece of content,
  • The time spent on the entire website,
  • The path taken to access the website
  • The connection speed of the session.

 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 at http://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/. 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 http://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/.

S&T currently uses Google Analytics to perform web measurement and analytics. Google Analytics sets a single session cookie, and three persistent cookies that expire up to two years after they are set.

If You Send Us E-mail

You may choose to provide us with personal information, as in e-mail with a comment or question. We use the information to improve our service to you or to respond to your request. Sometimes we forward your e-mail to other government employees who may be better able to help you.

Links to Other Sites

Our website has links to third-party sites, including other federal agencies, and private organizations or commercial sites. When you visit a link to another site, you are no longer on our site and are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.  S&T uses third-party commercial sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to interact with the public on issues related to S&T functions.

S&T does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity that may be reached through links on our website.

S&T Social Media Comment Policy

We encourage the public to share thoughts as they relate to the topics being discussed on all official S&T social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and, YouTube.

It is not feasible for the S&T to respond to all comments posted on official S&T social media accounts due to volume. The decision to respond will be determined by engagement objectives and available resources while keeping what is in the public’s best interest in mind. Comments or questions can be sent directly to the S&T Social Media team at stsocialmedia@hq.dhs.gov.

Comments and responses posted to any official S&T social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram are subject to the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube usage policies.

The views expressed in visitor comments reflect those of the comment’s author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of S&T or the federal government.

S&T does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. S&T may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted by any other person. S&T does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained that may be reached through links posted by others in comments.

S&T does not moderate comments prior to posting, but reserves the right to delete comments that contain:

  • Obscene or threatening language or discrimination targeting individuals or groups;
  • Threats or defamatory statements;
  • Promotion of services or products (not including non-commercial links that are relevant to the topic);
  • Suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity; or
  • Personal or sensitive information (phone numbers, email or postal addresses).

Complaints about abusive comments and removal requests should be sent to stsocialmedia.hq.dhs.gov.

Do not use S&T’s social media accounts to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact your local police agency.

S&T’s social media accounts may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.
Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.

If you are a reporter, please contact the press office at (202) 254-2385 or stsocialmedia@hq.dhs.gov.

S&T reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

Last Updated: 03/04/2021
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