Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you visit www.bsee.gov to read or download information about BSEE and the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) (such as consumer brochures or press releases) we will automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

• The name of the Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you are connecting from a university's domain)
• The IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet) from which you access our site
• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site
• The date and time you access our site
• The Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site
• The country and state from which you access our site
• The pages you visit and the information you request
• Search terms used to get to our web site from an external search engine and terms used on our site using our search engine

Like most web service providers, the information collected is part of a computer log file, and is only used internally for site management purposes. This information helps us continually evaluate what information the public is looking for and helps us provide it more efficiently and to help us make our site more useful to visitors.

This information does not identify you personally. We do not store any personal identifiers. This information is primarily collected to create summary statistics. We use the information we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site.

If You Send Us Personal Information

You do not have to provide personal information to visit our website. If you choose to provide personal information, such as by sending an e-mail, submitting a form, or filling out a questionnaire or guestbook, we will use the information you provide to respond to you.

Please do not send us sensitive information, such as your credit card or social security numbers, via e-mail. It is possible that during transmission of your e-mail this information may be intercepted by a third party. We cannot guarantee its safety while in transit.

We use personally identifiable information to provide better service. This may be to correct broken links that you have identified or to provide additional information if you request it.

Any information that we collect via a questionnaire or a guestbook may be subject to disclosure, but will be handled in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act to ensure the greatest protection of personal privacy. This website, www.bsee.gov, does not collect payments or financial transaction information, but does link to government sites set up to protect personal information and financial transactions.

• We may transfer personal information to a third party only in the following cases:
• To a bank or United States Department of the Treasury account, which must receive payment for a transaction that you initiated
• To a company that is contracted to assist us with specific services, including electronic commerce or donations, and which agrees not to sell or use personal information for other purposes
• To legal authorities if we suspect that you are attempting to change or otherwise damage this web site, or you are using it in violation of Federal or local laws or to Congress or a court in response to a subpoena.

BSEE does not collect information for commercial marketing purposes.

Information Collected for Tracking (Cookies)

A “cookie’ is a small text file that a web site transfers to your computer to allow it to remember specific information about your session while you are connected to the web site. Your computer will only share the information in the “cookie” with the web site that provided it; no other website can request it.

There are two types of “cookies,” session and persistent. Session “cookies” last only as long as your Internet browser is open. Once you close your browser, the “cookie” disappears. “Persistent cookies” store information on your computer for longer periods of time. “Persistent cookies,” for instance, “remember” your account information so your computer can “log in” to your account like e-mail or businesses.

BSEE.gov may use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through the site, or to allow you to customize your preferences for interacting with the site. BSEE.gov may also make use of persistent cookies to remember you between visits so, for example, you can save your customized preference settings for future visits.

If the site uses persistent cookies we will indicate that. If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies stored on your machine, you can turn them off in your browser. However, this may affect the functioning of some websites.

USA.gov provides instructions for "opting-out" of web measurement and customization technologies, through disabling cookies on your web browser.

Copyright

Generally, materials produced by federal agencies belong to the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. However, not all materials appearing on this web site are in the public domain. Some materials have been donated or obtained from individuals or organizations and may be subject to restrictions on use.

You may consult our staff for details on specific items. We are aware of use restrictions applicable to some items or collections, but we cannot confirm copyright status for any item. We recommend that you contact the United States Copyright Office at The Library of Congress to search currently copyrighted materials.

Please note that because we cannot guarantee the status of specific items, you use materials found in our holdings at your own risk.

Images on our web site (or a third party site where we share images, such as Flickr) which are in the public domain may be used without permission. However, you should investigate whether this image is, in fact, in the public domain because we cannot warrant or guarantee the legal status of these images. If you use images from our site or collections, we ask that you credit us as the source. Please note that some images on our site have been obtained from other organizations. Permission to use these images should be obtained directly from those organizations. Such images will be identified.

Child Privacy

Protecting the privacy of children visiting www.bsee.gov is paramount. We adhere to the privacy policies stated below in dealing with children 13 years and younger and for all visitors to BSEE websites. (for more information see "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.”)

Web Server Activity

Like most web servers on the Internet, BSEE servers collect and store within web access logs all of the information that your web browser sends when it requests a web page, including:

• The name, domain, and numeric internet address (IP) of the host computer (typically a computer belonging to your Internet Service Provider and not your personal computer) from which you access the Internet;
• the date and time you accessed our site;
• the Internet address of the web page that you came from;
• the page you requested from our site and the number of characters sent to your computer; and
• the information your web browser software sends as its so-called “User Agent,” which identifies the browser software , probably indicates your computer’s operating system, , and if you are using a laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

It is impossible to determine the actual identity of an individual user from this information. The logs are periodically summarized and analyzed to study site usage over time and to perform other studies to help us improve our site's organization, performance, and usefulness. Monthly extracts of the log files are archived and stored offline at our discretion for an indefinite period of time. Some statistical summaries derived from these data may be retained online or offline at our discretion for an indefinite period of time.

Website Security

For site security and to ensure this service remains 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. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. We use virus protection measures on our computer systems and regularly update the software. These are computer security measures that, in addition to maintaining our computer systems, also ensure that all files that we develop and/or post on our web servers are virus-free. When you request a file for download from our site, it is possible, though unlikely, that the data may contract a virus and become corrupted before it reaches your computer. BSEE is not responsible for files that may become corrupted as the data travels the Internet.

For further information:
Children's Privacy Policy
Copyright, Restrictions and Permissions Notice
Departmental Privacy Program
Departmental Linking Policy

Contact:
If you have any questions or comments, please forward them to:
BSEE Privacy Office
Mail Stop VAE-MSD
45600 Woodland Road
Sterling, VA 20164

Social Media

BSEE participates in open forums offered by third-party commercial social media sites in order to increase government transparency and promote public participation and collaboration with BSEE. Please note that while we encourage candid conversation and frank exchanges of ideas, BSEE does not control or endorse the comments or opinions provided by visitors to these social media sites, and cannot attest to the accuracy of the information provided by these sites.

The essential information shared on these third party sites is available on BSEE.gov. BSEE.gov is the official source of information from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. If you use a site outside the BSEE or the Department of the Interior (DOI.gov), you are subject to the privacy and security policies of that site.