What do gov websites mean

It directs you to the loan information that best meets your needs. And, by registering once on Grants. IT Dashboard The IT Dashboard is a website enabling federal agencies, industry, the general public and other stakeholders to view details of federal information technology investments.

Back to Top. Find State and Federal government benefit programs you may be eligible to receive. Disability Resources. Agencies must clearly identify external links from their websites, and to the extent practicable update or remove the links when the external information is no longer sufficiently accurate, relevant, timely, necessary or complete.

Organizations should review the FOIA and implementation guidance to ensure that their public websites meet the full range of requirements.

When you link to USA. All federal public websites must comply with existing laws and directives that address the need to protect the privacy of the American people when they interact with their government. Some of the key requirements for federal public websites include:. Privacy Policy Clarification. Effective Date. Agencies are expected to implement the following changes to their websites by December 15, Agency Privacy Policies must comply with guidance issued in OMB Memorandum and must now also include the following two new content areas:.

Consent to collection and sharing Agencies must now ensure that privacy policies:. Rights under the Privacy Act or other privacy laws Agencies must now also notify web-site visitors of their rights under the Privacy Act or other privacy-protecting laws that may primarily apply to specific agencies such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of , the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of , or the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act :.

Nature, purpose, use and sharing of information collected. Agencies should follow existing policies issued in OMB Memorandum concerning notice of the nature, purpose, use and sharing of information collected via the Internet, as modified below:. Privacy Act information. When agencies collect information subject to the Privacy Act, agencies are directed to explain what portion of the information is maintained and retrieved by name or personal identifier in a Privacy Act system of records and provide a Privacy Act Statement either:.

Privacy Act Statements must notify users of the authority for and purpose and use of the collection of information subject to the Privacy Act, whether providing the information is mandatory or voluntary, and the effects of not providing all or any part of the requested information.

Automatically Collected Information site management data. Agency Privacy Policies must specify what information the agency collects automatically i.

Tracking and customization activities. Agencies are directed to adhere to the following modifications to OMB Memorandum and the OMB follow-up guidance letter dated September 5, :. Law enforcement and homeland security sharing : Consistent with current practice, Internet privacy policies may reflect that collected information may be shared and protected as necessary for authorized law enforcement, homeland security and national security activities.

Security of the information Agencies should continue to comply with existing requirements for computer security in administering their websites 22 and post the following information in their Privacy Policy:. Placement of notices. Agencies should continue to follow the policy identified in OMB Memorandum regarding the posting of privacy policies on their websites. Specifically, agencies must post or link to privacy policies at:. Clarity of notices. Consistent with OMB Memorandum , privacy policies must be:.

A method for reporting evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse to the Inspector General, and linking to Inspector General audits and investigative reports. The departments, agencies, and commissions funded under this Act, shall establish and maintain on the homepages of their Internet websites —.

Agencies must have a way for the public to report potential security vulnerabilities, and explain how the agency will respond to such reports. Suggested link text: Vulnerability Disclosure Policy. These requirements apply to executive branch departments and agencies and their public websites. Check the specific law or policy to see if it also applies to the judicial or legislative agencies, or intranets.

The Federal Web Managers Council recommends that government agencies use consistent link labels for common content found on government websites. These recommendations are based on industry standard link labels and a usability study of common government terms usability study of common government terms MS PowerPoint, KB, 49 slides, July Have feedback or questions?

Send us an email ». Join 60, others in government and sign-up for our newsletter — a round-up of the best digital news in government and across our field. We help agencies make their services more accessible, efficient, and effective with modern applications, platforms, processes, personnel, and software solutions. While this information might not necessarily be false, you might be getting only part of the picture. Remember, there's a monetary incentive behind every commercial site in providing you with information, whether it is for good public relations or to sell you a product outright.

Sites using this domain name are schools ranging from kindergarten to higher education. If you take a look at your school's URL you'll notice that it ends with the domain. Information from sites within this domain must be examined very carefully. If it is from a department or research center at a educational institution, it can generally be taken as credible.

However, students' personal Web sites are not usually monitored by the school even though they are on the school's server and use the. If you come across a site with this domain, then you're viewing a federal government site.

All branches of the United States federal government use this domain. Information such as Census statistics, Congressional hearings, and Supreme Court rulings would be included in sites with this domain. The information is considered to be from a credible source. Generally, the information in these types of sites is credible and unbiased, but there are examples of organizations that strongly advocate specific points of view over others, such as the National Right to Life Committee and Planned Parenthood.

You probably want to give this domain a closer scrutiny these days. Some commercial interests might be the ultimate sponsors of a site with this suffix. This domain suffix is used by the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States. You might find any kind of site under this domain suffix.

It acts as a catch-all for sites that don't fit into any of the preceding domain suffixes. Information from these sites should be given careful scrutiny. Does the site you're evaluating give credit to an author?