Privacy Policy
Legal Information
This is the web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. We respect your privacy. The web site and firewall are subject to monitoring by Federal Reserve System personnel. Any and all users expressly consent to such monitoring and are advised that any evidence of criminal activity may be provided to law enforcement officials.
Personal Information
You may access and browse our site without disclosing your personal data. The personal information you choose to provide us is voluntary. 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 or mail lists, send us questions through e-mail, answer our user surveys, register for an event,, or participate in our online 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 and better serve our audience.
If you provide us with your postal or e-mail address or telephone number, this information will only be used for the purpose for which you provided it, such as to:
Provide you with the publications or information requested;
Clarify your order or request;
Register you for a conference or other event;
Respond to you regarding your job application;
Provide you with related information; or
Send you a token of appreciation through postal mail if you participate in selected online activities.
When you fill out our online 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.
Cookies
A cookie is a text file that a web site can send to your browser and which may then be placed on your computer. We generally do not use cookies; however, our Timeline uses a session cookie to facilitate navigation, and no personal information is collected. Sometimes a third-party vendor will use cookies on one of the sites they create and manage for us. For example, if you use the ADD THIS button on our site, ADD THIS may deploy a cookie on their behalf or on behalf of one of their data partners, to record information about how you are using the website. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the opportunity to decide whether to accept it or not. You can also set your browser to not accept cookies at all. If you do so, however, some areas of some sites (including ours) may not operate properly.
Information Collected Automatically
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 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.
We also subscribe to the WebTrends Live tracking service, which provides us with generic statistics regarding the manner in which our web site is visited. You should refer to the WebTrends Live privacy policy to learn how they collect and use information at http://www.webtrendslive.com/AboutWebtrends/PrivacyPolicy.aspx. As indicated above, ADD THIS may also collect information about how their services are used on our sites for such purposes as using the information to target advertising toward the End User or authorize others to do the same. For additional information on ADD THIS’s privacy policy please go to http://www.addthis.com/privacy.
Disclosure of Information
Any information collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on this web site, whether individual or aggregate, is for Federal Reserve use only. We do not rent, sell or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide information you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:
We retain the services of outside contractors to provide services, including the mailing list administration page. We require that these contractors keep personal information obtained through our web site secure and confidential. We also require that these contractors use personal information obtained through our web site only on behalf of the Federal Reserve.
We may be required to disclose your personal information to government officials or otherwise as required by subpoenas, court orders, legal process or other legal obligations and to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims. We will share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or as otherwise required by law.
Children
To help achieve our goal of providing economic education to the community, we have posted educational materials and online learning opportunities on our web site. Some of these tools are intended for use by children of middle school age and above. We recognize the need to create a safe online environment for children and, therefore, are committed to comply with applicable laws and requirements, such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
We invite parents to read our Children's Privacy Policy and contact us with any questions.
Information Security and Quality
We have implemented security measures consistent with our internal information security practices to help us keep your information secure. These measures include technical and procedural steps to protect your data from misuse, access or disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction. If you have voluntarily submitted personal information to us and wish to review, update, correct or delete it, please e-mail your request to Bos.Webmaster@bos.frb.org
Links
Our site contains links to other web sites and the ADD THIS buttons. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites/buttons.
Other Considerations
We may, from time to time, provide a discussion group or forum. Please remember that information you submit in connection with such a feature will be publicly viewable and not confidential. There is a risk in such communication venues that information will be collected and used by others.
Children's Privacy Policy
Personal Information
Children may access our site without disclosing any personal information. Some online activities require users to enter a name to participate, but they may use a first name only or a made-up name. If a child chooses to send us his/her full name or e-mail address, we will use that information for its intended purpose (to send an e-mail response) and then delete it from our records.
Cookies
We do not use cookies to store children's personal information. We are not responsible for the practices of other web sites and/or the ADD THIS buttons, therefore, such sites/buttons to which we provide links may use cookies. You can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the opportunity to decide whether to accept it or not. You can also set your browser to not accept cookies at all, however, please be aware that doing so may interfere with the operation of some web sites.
Information Collected Automatically
We do not automatically collect children's personal information. We subscribe to the WebTrends Live tracking service, which provides us with generic statistics regarding the manner in which our web site is visited. WebTrends recognizes users' domain names, but it does not recognize e-mail addresses. For information about WebTrends Live's privacy policy, please go to http://www.webtrendslive.com/privacy_policy.htm. As mentioned above, use of the ADD This buttons may also track information.
Use of Information
Any children's personal information disclosed to us is solely for our one-time use. We do not provide or sell children's personal information to third parties. Upon completion of an online activity or generation of a response e-mail, children's personal information is deleted from our records.
Policy Changes
We reserve the right to change this policy at any time without notice. If any change to our policy affects the way we use children's personal information, we will provide an avenue for you to opt out of such use.
Contacts
Questions or comments about the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s privacy policy may be directed to our web site administrators at Bos.Webmaster@bos.frb.org or by writing to:
Public Information Office
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210