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Privacy and Security Policy
Your Visit to the NCI Web Site is Private and Secure
When you visit the NCI Cancer.gov Web site, we do not collect any personally identifiable information about you, unless you choose to explicitly provide it to us. We do, however, collect some data about your visit to our Web site to help us better understand public use of the site and to make it more useful to visitors. This page describes the information that is automatically collected and stored.
What Information Is Automatically Collected and Stored?
When you browse through any Web site, certain information about your visit can be collected. We automatically collect and temporarily store the following information about your visit:
- Domain name you use to access the Internet (such as www.verizon.net, www.harvard.edu, www.TRICARE.mil, or www.fda.gov)
- Date and time of your visit
- Pages you visited
- Address of the Web site that connected you to the NCI Cancer.gov site (such as google.com or bing.com)
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected about you.
What about Temporary "Session Cookies?"
When you visit any Web site, its server generates a piece of information known as a "cookie" and places it 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 Web pages. Requests to send cookies from NCI Cancer.gov Web pages are designed to collect information about your browser "session" only; they do not collect personal information about you.
The "session" cookie is not permanently stored on your computer. The cookie and the information about your visit are automatically destroyed shortly after you close your browser to end the session.
How Are "Persistent Cookies" Used?
NCI is running the American Customer Satisfaction Survey (ACSI) on Cancer.gov, which uses "persistent" or "blocking" cookies. Participation in the survey is voluntary. Not participating in the survey does not affect your ability to access information.
The ACSI survey is delivered randomly to visitors as a pop-up questionnaire. Answers to the survey helps NCI improve Cancer.gov to make it easier to use and more responsive to the needs of our visitors.
Persistent cookies will:
- Block the repeated delivery of the survey either in the current visit or in any subsequent visit
- Record only that the visitor had the opportunity to answer the survey questions
- Expire 30-90 days after being set
- Reduce the burden on visitors to the site by avoiding repeated delivery of the pop-up survey
Persistent cookies will not:
- Collect any information about the visitors
- Track the Web surfing activities of visitors
- Indicate whether a visitor answered any questions
- Link a particular visitor to any response or set of responses.
If you are concerned about the potential use of information gathered from your computer by cookies, you can set your browser to prompt you before it accepts a cookie. Most Internet browsers have settings that let you identify and/or reject cookies. To protect your privacy, be sure to close your browser completely after you have finished conducting business with any Web site that uses cookies.
How Is Personal Information Protected?
You do not have to give us personal information to visit the NCI Cancer.gov Web site.
If you choose to provide us with additional information about yourself through an e-mail message, form, survey, etc., we maintain the information only as long as needed to respond to your question or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication.
Disclosure
NCI does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about our visitors, unless required for law enforcement or by statute.
Site Security
Cancer.gov is maintained by the U.S. Government. It is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we use software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations, and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.
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