Privacy & Security Notice
The Basics
Welcome, and thank you for visiting the NSSL website. We are committed to the privacy of our visitors. We collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us.
Here is how we handle information about your visit. We use Google Analytics web analytics software and the DigitalGov.gov search engine (for searching for information within the NSSL website). When you browse through this website, read pages, or perform searches, these services will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. The only information that is automatically collected and stored is:
- the domain name of the network you use to access the Internet (for example, “internetcompanyname.com” if you use a private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from a university's domain),
- the IP address from which you access our website (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web),
- the type of browser and operating system used to access our site,
- the date and time you access our site,
- the pages you visit,
- if you arrived at our website after clicking a link on another website, the address of that website, and
- search terms that you enter into the nssl.noaa.gov search tool.
We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors—to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use.
Information Protection
For site security purposes and to ensure that 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. 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 email or by filling out a form and submitting it through our website, we use that information only to respond to your message and to help us provide you with the information and services that you request. We may forward your email to the government employee who can best respond to your 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 site 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 blog posts, weather observations submitted by the public via mobile applications). 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
The pages on nssl.noaa.gov may contain links to sites created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are indicated by an “offsite link” icon, or by the text of the link, or both.
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. NSSL does 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 she/he logs onto a website (persistent cookies). This website does not use persistent cookies or any other persistent tracking technology. 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.
This site does 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 nssl.noaa.gov in the future. See below for more information.
Interaction with Children
This website 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
NSSL maintains official accounts on several third-party social media platforms in order to better engage with the American public and promote awareness of NSSL activities, events, news, and information. At this time, we share content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and YouTube.
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.
Follow these links to learn more about a specific privacy policy: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and YouTube.
For more information about content that you voluntarily submit on NSSL third-party social media tools, please see our comment policy.
AddToAny
Some NSSL blogs may use AddToAny to enable easy content sharing. AddToAny is a social sharing service that allows site visitors to easily share content. Dozens of social sharing sites and services are available. Please note that you are subject to the AddToAny privacy policy when using this service.
Google Analytics
This site uses 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 nssl.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 nssl.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 nssl.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 offers information on privacy settings and opt-out options here.
Comment Policy
We encourage public interaction and communication about the content we post on our blogs and social media accounts. However, this does not imply that NSSL agrees with or accepts the content, opinions, or views expressed within any public comment. The person who posts a comment is solely responsible for the content of the comment.
While we do not discriminate against views or opinions posted to our blogs or social networking accounts, we reserve the right to remove any comment. A comment will not be edited or modified to remove unacceptable content; the entire comment will simply be deleted. Some of the reasons we may remove a comment are listed below:
- Abusive, vulgar, obscene, racist, threatening, or harassing comments
- Libel, slander, or personal attacks of any kind, including the use of offensive terms that target specific individuals or groups
- Clearly off topic
- Spam, including content that promotes products or services or contains gratuitous links (links or references to other NOAA webpages or federal government sites are acceptable)
- Political campaigning or lobbying
NSSL, part of the Department of Commerce and NOAA, uses various third-party social media services for outreach. Use of these social media services may require a membership that subjects users to policies, requirements, or rules beyond the control of the Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce does not endorse membership in a particular social media service and takes no responsibility for any content that may be posted by other users. Communications made through social media services will not, in any way, constitute a legal or official notice to the Department of Commerce or any of its entities, officials, or employees.
If you have questions about any of these policies, contact us.