WMA Technical Support Forum

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Note that it is impossible for the staff or the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum, its staff, its subsidiaries, or this forum's owner. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately. The staff and the owner of this forum reserve the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if they determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, please realize that they may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, its staff, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum.

You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. We advise that you keep the name appropriate. With this user account you are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to another person except an administrator, for your protection and for validity reasons. You also agree to NEVER use another person's account for any reason.  We also HIGHLY recommend you use a complex and unique password for your account, to prevent account theft.

After you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information the forum owner or staff determines to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice. Appropriate sanctions may be applicable.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.

Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of information (such as your username and password), in your browser's cache. This is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send any other form of information to your computer.

The information on these pages is provided to assist you in finding information that will help you understand the Privacy Act (Public Law 5 U.S.C. ? 552a, as amended), as it relates to privacy policies of the U.S. Geological Survey, a bureau of the Department of the Interior. See DOI Privacy Policy.

How We Handle the Information We Gather When You Visit Our Website

The type of information that we receive from your visit to our websites depends upon what you do when visiting our sites. We use this information to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our sites and to help us make our sites more useful to visitors.

Child Privacy - The USGS values the privacy and protection of children in the use of its websites. We adhere to the privacy policies stated below in dealing with children 13 years and younger and for all visitors to USGS websites. (for more information see "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998."

It is the policy of the USGS that we will not obtain personal identifying information about you when you visit our websites, unless you choose to provide the information to us (for example, through a questionnaire in which you willingly provide such information, or in which you are requesting a publication or other information to be transmitted to you by the USGS).

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

If you visit our site to read or download information, such as consumer brochures or press releases, we will automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

The name of the Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you are connecting from a university's domain);
The IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you are using the Internet) from which you access our site;
The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
The date and time you access our site;
The Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site;
The country and state from which you access our site;
The pages you visit and the information you request; and
Search terms used to get to our web site from an external search engine and terms used on our site using our search engine
This information does not identify you personally. We do not store any personal identifiers. The information collected is part of a systems log file, and is only used internally for site management purposes.

This information is primarily collected 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. We use the information we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, and to help us make our site more useful to visitors.

If You Send Us Personal Information

You do not have to provide personal information to visit our website. If you choose to provide personal information, such as by sending an e-mail, submitting a form, or filling out a questionnaire or guestbook, we will use the information you provide to respond to you.

Please do not send us sensitive information, such as your credit card or social security numbers, via e-mail. It is possible that during transmission of your e-mail this information may be intercepted by a third party. We cannot guarantee its safety while in transit.

We use personally identifiable information to further our customer's protection and to provide better service. This may be to correct broken links that you have identified or provide additional information that you have requested.

Any information that we collect via a questionnaire or a guestbook may be subject to disclosure, but will be handled in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act to ensure the greatest protection of personal privacy.

We may transfer personal information to a third party only in the following cases:

To a bank or United States Department of the Treasury account, which must receive payment for a transaction that you initiated;
To a company that is contracted to assist us with specific services, including electronic commerce or donations, and which agrees not to sell or use personal information for other purposes;
To legal authorities if we suspect that you are attempting to change or otherwise damage this web site, or you are using it in violation of Federal or local laws;
Or, to Congress or a court in response to a subpoena.
The Department of the Interior does not collect information for commercial marketing purposes.

Cookies - Some applications may save a ?cookie? on your computer's hard disk to provide a temporary history of actions taken. Cookies are small text files that a web site transfers to your computer to allow the site to remember specific information. If you do not want cookies to be transferred to your computer, you may choose to opt out by modifying your browser options. Opting out of cookies in no way diminishes your access to information or services.

Session cookies do not contain Personally Identifiable Information. Once a browser is closed, the cookies disappear. An example of a session cookie used on some USGS Web sites is the ForeSee Results' American Customer Satisfaction Index survey.

Persistent cookies store information on your computer for longer periods of time. USGS may use persistent cookies on some web sites to improve online services. These persistent cookies do not contain personally identifiable information. USGS does not use persistent cookies that contain Personally Identifiable Information unless specifically stated on the Web page and the visitor has provided explicit consent.

Email or Web Forms - When you send us personal identifying information by contacting us via e-mail (that is, in a message containing a question or comment) or by filling out a form that e-mails us this information, we use it to respond to your requests. We may forward your e-mail or information to other Government employees or contract personnel who are better able to answer your questions.

We do not retain or distribute lists of e-mail addresses to any parties outside the USGS, except as necessary to conduct official U.S. Government business, and we do not distribute lists of e-mail addresses to non-Government entities. Information collected via e-mail or Web form will be retained at our discretion in a readable form for as long as necessary to complete our response. The e-mail or information may be retained in an archival form as required by Federal laws and regulations governing the retention of historical records of Government agencies. For more information, please refer to the National Archives and Records Administration's Records Management Program.