National Finance Center

Privacy and Security Notice

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you browse through the NFC Web site, read pages, or download information, we may gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. We may use technologies to gauge your browsing habits or Web surfing history to improve the information presented to you.

The information we store does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

1. The Internet domain and IP address from which you access our Web site. For example, if you access our Web site from school, we see "schoolname.edu" and the school's IP address;
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; and
5. If you linked to the NFC Web site from another Web site, the address of that Web site.

We use this information to help us make our site more useful, to learn about the number of visitors to our site, the types of technology our visitors are using to visit our Web site, and to present relevant information to you based on your Web site browsing requests.

We do not track your Web activities beyond your browsing the NFC Web site. We do not cross reference your browsing habits with other entities, and we do not sell or give away your information to other entities.

Cookies

When you visit some Web sites, their Web servers generate pieces of information known as cookies. Some cookies collect personal information to recognize your computer in the future.

Cookies are small files that Web servers place on a user's hard drive that helps a Web site or service. There are two types of cookies:

1. Session cookies, also known as transient or per session cookies, serve technical purposes, like providing seamless navigation through nfc.usda.gov. They are stored in temporary memory and are only available during an active browser session. Once you close your browser, the cookie disappears.
2. Persistent cookies, also known as permanent or stored cookies, are used to collect identifying information about the user, such as user name, Web surfing behavior or user preference for a specific Web site. These cookies operate until they expire or a user deletes them.

USDA may use both types of cookies to improve our on-line services to you.

You can disable cookies by adjusting the setting on your Web browser. Learn more by viewing the document Web Measurement and Customization Opt-Out.

Additional Privacy Information

This Web site is provided as a public service by the United States Department of Agriculture - National Finance Center.

Information presented on this Web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.

For site management, information is collected for statistical purposes. This Government computer system uses software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

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.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration. "Session Cookies" are automatically generated by our servers when using some of the applications on this site. No personal information is stored in these cookies and they are destroyed when exiting the site.

Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.

If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to nfcpubs@usda.gov.