Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Privacy Policy

This is the web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The Bank respects your privacy.

The personal information that you choose to provide to us is voluntary. We do not use persistent cookies, and we do not require you to provide any information about yourself that you do not wish to share.

You may choose to provide us with personal information if, for example, you subscribe to our publications, send us questions through e-mail, answer our user surveys, register for an event, or participate in our on-line activities.

If you participate in a user survey, your answers and personal information will only be analyzed in aggregate. The information will be used to help us tailor our web site, publications, and services to our users' needs and to help us understand our audience.

If you provide us with your postal or e-mail address or telephone number, this information will only be used to

• provide you with the publications or information requested;
• clarify your order or request;
• provide you with related information; or
• send you a token of appreciation through postal mail if you participate in selected on-line activities.

When you fill out our on-line forms, they are returned to us via electronic mail. Your responses are not encrypted. We cannot guarantee the security of information sent via electronic mail. Minor children should always obtain parental consent before releasing personal information to any web site.

In addition to information voluntarily provided by you, we collect statistical information about our users in aggregate. We perform analyses on our web server's log files to identify, among other things

• our site's most popular pages;
• the browsers and operating systems most often used by our visitors;
• the sites and search engines that have referred visitors to our site; and
• the domains (for example, America Online) from which our users visit us.

This analysis does not involve personally identifiable information. It is used only for the purpose of helping us understand and better meet our audience's needs.

For a good explanation of how server log statistical analysis works, see the example at Social Security Online.

Any information collected through this web site, whether individual or aggregate, is for Federal Reserve use only. No information about visitors to this web site is released or sold to third parties, except that in some cases, the information is stored on a third party server operated by L-Soft, and information provided through the Jobs portion of this web site is maintained by VURV/Taleo. This privacy policy does not apply to the portion of this web site that is operated by VURV/Taleo.

To change the e-mail address and/or other contact information that you have provided to the Bank through this web site, you may go to the applicable area of the web site and follow the instructions provided (usually found in the e-notification form). Some areas of the Bank, such as Community Development, periodically send inquiries to the individuals on the applicable mailing lists asking if there are any changes to their e-mail addresses.

The Bank notifies visitors to this web site of changes to the web site privacy policy by posting the new privacy policy and its revised effective date.

Notice of the Bank's Information Practices with Regard to Children

The Bank does not request that children submit personal information online, enable children to make personal information publicly available through a chat room, message board, or other means, or passively track or use any identifying codes linked to children, such as persistent cookies. The Bank requests a screen name and password in connection with the FedVille portion of its web site, and accepts only the first word entered in the screen name field. The Bank collects the screen name and password to keep a record of the state of the participant's game, so that if the participant leaves the game, the participant can return to the game and continue where he or she last left the game. This information is not disclosed to third parties. Web site operators are prohibited from conditioning a child's participation in an activity on the child's disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity.

Questions or comments about the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's privacy policy may be directed to our web site administrators.

Revised effective May 18, 2010