| This section of the site explains how the U.S. Agency for International Development will handle information we learn about you from your visit to our web site. The information we receive depends upon what you do when visiting our site.
- If you visit our site to read or download information, such as country information or information about one of our projects:
We collect and store only the following information about you: the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account, or iowa.edu if you are connecting from the University of Iowa's domain); the date and time you access our site, the Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site; and what information you view while you visit our web site.
We use the information we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, find out what information is the most viewed, and to help us make our web site more useful to visitors. This gathering and storing of information is separate from the activity described as monitoring in our Security Notice.
The information gathered is used for two purposes: site management and, in the case of suspected unauthorized activity, for law enforcement and possible criminal prosecution.
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- If you identify yourself by sending us a comment using our contact page or an E-mail:
You also may decide to send us personally-identifying information, for example, in an electronic mail message asking a question or providing us with a comment or suggestion. We use personally-identifying information to respond to your comment or suggestion, and to count the number of people sending us comments. In certain instances, your comment or suggestion may be forwarded to other U.S. government agencies or departments if they are in the best position to respond to your message.
We want to be very clear: We will not obtain personally-identifying information about you when you visit our site, unless you choose to provide such information to us. We maintain the information we collect in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, where applicable.
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Cookies and other information stored on your computer
In general, this site does NOT use the "cookies" that some Web sites use to gather and store information about your visits to their sites.
Cookies are essentially tokens of information, such as preferences and passwords, which some Web servers collect from you when you access them. That data is stored on your hard drive-not on the Web site's server. Whenever you visit a "cookie" site, the server looks for its cookie on your hard drive and, if found, then reads the information it stored there. Cookies generally are stored in your browser's directory or folder in a file named cookie.txt (MagicCookie on a Macintosh).
However, you should be aware that on a limited number of pages, the USAID web site uses persistent "cookies" only to authenticate the identity of the user. You will be made aware that you are accessing a page using a "cookie" because you will be asked to LOG IN using an AUTHORIZED ACCOUNT before the "cookie" is used or "set." USAID uses this technology in order to:
- maintain the integrity of the information presented; and
- authenticate the identity of the individual user.
USAID takes the safeguarding of any personally identifying information very seriously. Any information collected using the "cookies" associated with this section of the USAID web site will be used only in connection with the administration of the private sections of this website.
We collect this information only to authenticate your identity while you are accessing these limited sections of the USAID web site. The "cookie" has no other function, and USAID will not share any information associated with this "cookie" with individuals not connected with the administration of this section of the USAID web site, or with anyone outside USAID.
Further, some of the links on the USAID web site point to non-USAID sites which may place cookies on your computer. You can expect to be notified that you are leaving the USAID site when you select one of these links. However, you should know that the non-USAID site may still place a cookie on your computer while you are reading the warning message.
If you want to avoid such cookies, we encourage you to set your browser to notify you when cookies are being set and allow you to reject them. Your system's help files will explain how to do this.
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Disclaimer of Endorsement
The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. We do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to Web sites other than a USAID-managed Web site is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.
Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitor's, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or USAID.
The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Government or the USAID, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
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