Privacy Policy
This notice provides the
privacy policy regarding the nature, purpose, use, and sharing of any
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected via this website. Our
privacy policy explains our information practices when you provide PII to us,
whether collected online or offline, or when you visit us online to browse,
obtain information, or conduct a transaction. PII may include: your name,
email, mailing and/or home address, phone numbers, or other information that
identifies you personally. We do not require you to register or provide
personal information to visit our website.
Personally Identifiable
Information
As a general rule, the Software Merchant
does not collect PII about you when you visit our website, unless you choose to
provide such information to us. Submitting PII through our website is
voluntary. By doing so, you are giving the Software Merchant your permission to
use the information for the stated purpose. However, not providing certain
information may result in the Software Merchant’s inability to provide you with
the service you desire.
If you choose to provide
us with PII on a Software Merchant website, through such methods as completing
a web form or sending us an email, we will use that information to help us
provide you the information or service you have requested or to respond to your
message. The information we may receive from you varies based on what you do
when visiting our site.
Generally, the
information requested by the Software Merchant will be used to respond to your
inquiry or to provide you with the service you request. When this information
is requested, the reasons for collecting it, a description of the Software
Merchant’s intended use of the information, how to grant consent to use
mandatorily provided information, and how to grant consent for other than
statutorily mandated uses will be fully described in a separate customized
“Privacy Notice.” This customized Privacy Notice will either appear on the web
page collecting the information or be accessible through a hyperlink (link)
prominently displayed immediately above or below the information request.
Email
Many of our programs and
websites allow you to send us an email. We will use the information you provide
to respond to your inquiry. We will only send you general information via
email. You should be reminded that email may not necessarily be secure against
interception. Therefore, we suggest that you do not send sensitive personal
data (such as your Social Security number) to us via email. If your intended
email communication is very sensitive, or includes information such as your
bank account, credit card, or Social Security number, you should instead send
it by U.S. mail. Another alternative may be submission of data through a secure
web page, if available.
Electronic
mail messages that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. 3101 et
seq.) are covered under the same disposition schedule as all other Federal records.
This means that emails you send us will be preserved and maintained for varying
periods of time if those emails meet the definition of Federal records.
Electronic messages that are not records are deleted when no longer needed.
Categories of information
the Software Merchant collects on its websites are further described below.
Automatically Collected
Information
We collect and
temporarily store certain information about your visit for use in site
management and security purposes only. We collect and analyze this information
because it helps us to better design our website to suit your needs. We may
also automatically collect information about the web content you view in the
event of a known security or virus threat. This information includes:
1. The Internet domain
from which you access our website (for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a
private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from an
educational domain);
2. The Internet Protocol
(IP) address (a unique number for each computer connected to the Internet) from
which you access our website;
3. The type of browser
(e.g., Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome) used to access our site;
4. The operating system
(e.g., Windows, Mac OS, Unix) used to access our site;
5. The date and time you
access our site;
6. The Universal Resource
Locators (URLs), or addresses, of the pages you visit;
7. Your username, if it
was used to log in to the website; and
8. If you visited this
website from another website, the URL of the forwarding site.
We
may share the above information with our employees or representatives with a
“need-to-know” in the performance of their official duties, other Federal
agencies, or other named representatives as needed to quickly process your
request or transaction. This information is only used to help us make our site
more useful for you. Raw data logs are retained temporarily as required for
security and site management purposes only. More information about how we share
information can be found in our Privacy Act Systems of Records
Notices.
Third-Party Websites and
Applications
The Software Merchant
uses social media websites and other kinds of third-party websites. The Software
Merchant uses social media websites to interact with foreign constituencies and
engage in public diplomacy worldwide. Social media websites are used to
publicize embassy and Software Merchant events, and
engage with members of the public in foreign countries. The Software Merchant
also uses web measurement and customization technologies to measure the number
of visitors to our websites and their various sections and to help make our
websites more useful to visitors. In such cases, the third-party application
may request an email address, username, password, and geographic location
(e.g., State, region, or ZIP code) for account registration purposes. The Software
Merchant of State does not use third-party websites to solicit and collect PII
from individuals. Any PII passively collected (i.e., not solicited) by the
third-party website will not be transmitted or stored by the Software Merchant;
no PII will be disclosed, sold or transferred to any
other entity outside the Software Merchant, unless required for law enforcement
purposes or by statute.
The Software Merchant
uses various types of online surveys to collect opinions and feedback from a
random sample of visitors. Primarily, state.gov uses the ForeSee
Results’ American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) online survey on an
ongoing basis to obtain feedback and data on visitors’ satisfaction with the
state.gov website. This survey does not collect PII. Although the survey
invitation pops up for a random sample of visitors, it is optional. If you
decline the survey, you will still have access to the identical information and
resources at the state.gov site as those who do take the survey. The survey
reports are available only to state.gov managers and other designated staff who
require this information to perform their duties. The Software Merchant may use
other limited-time surveys for specific purposes, which are explained at the
time they are posted.
The Software Merchant
retains the data from the ACSI survey results as long as
needed to support the mission of the state.gov website.
Information Collected for
Tracking and Customization (Cookies)
A cookie is a small file
that a website transfers to your computer to allow it to remember specific
information about your session while you are connected. Your computer will only
share the information in the cookie with the website that provided it, and no
other website can request it. There are two types of cookies:
If
you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies stored on your machine,
you can turn
cookies off in
your browser. You will still have access to all information and resources at Software
Merchant websites. However, turning off cookies may affect the functioning of
some Software Merchant websites. Be aware that disabling cookies in your
browser will affect cookie usage at all other websites you visit as well.
Security
The Software Merchant
takes the security of all PII very seriously. We take precautions to maintain
the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the information we collect at
this site. Such measures include access controls designed to limit access to
the information to the extent necessary to accomplish our mission. We also
employ various security technologies to protect the information stored on our
systems. We routinely test our security measures to ensure that they remain
operational and effective.
We take the following
steps to secure the information we collect:
o
Secure
Socket Layer (SSL)
o
Encryption
o
Firewalls
o
Password
protections
We hold our contractors
and other third-party providers to the same high standards that we use to
ensure the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information
they may have access to in the course of their work completed on behalf of the Software
Merchant.
Interaction With Children
Online
The Software Merchant is
committed to the protection of children’s online privacy. The Children’s Online
Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathered online from or
about children under the age of 13. Verifiable consent from a child’s parent or
guardian is required before collecting, using, or disclosing personal
information from a child under age 13. If a Software Merchant website intends
to collect information about children under 13 years old, COPPA-required
information and instructions will be provided by the specific web page that
collects information about the child. The web page will specify exactly what
the information will be used for, who will see it, and how long it will be
kept.
Visiting Other Websites
Our
website contains links to international agencies, private organizations, and
some commercial entities. These websites are not within our control and may not
follow the same privacy, security, or accessibility policies. Once you link to
another site, you are subject to the policies of that site. All Federal
websites, however, are subject to the same Federal policy, security, and
accessibility mandates. Additional information is available in the Software
Merchant’s External Link Policy and Disclaimers.
Privacy Policy Contact
Information
We
welcome feedback if you have any questions regarding our privacy policy or the
use of your information. For additional information about our Privacy Policy,
please contact us at privacy@softwaremerchant.com or mail us at: