Privacy Policy

This is the online Privacy Policy for FedCommunities.org (the “Website”), and is managed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on behalf of the Federal Reserve Banks. This Privacy Policy provides information about the Federal Reserve Banks’ collection and use of your personal information (sometimes referred to as “user” “you” or “your”) obtained via this website. You understand and agree that your continued use of this website constitutes your acceptance of any changes to this Privacy Policy.

Information on the General Reserve Bank Data Privacy can be found here. This privacy notice provides a high-level overview of Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) activities that rely at least in part on use of personal information. We seek to provide transparency into relevant Reserve Bank functions, the personal information involved, and general uses of such information.

Online Privacy Notice

This notice covers the personal information that we automatically collect on individuals that visit FedCommunities.org, such as cookies, and also information that visitors affirmatively provide to a Reserve Bank, for example, when signing up for a newsletter.

This Online Privacy Notice applies to information collected on this website or through email you send to contacts for this website. Your use of this website is subject to the website Terms of Use.

Consent to Monitoring

The Cleveland Fed monitors and audits the Website, including the firewall, for security purposes, including unauthorized access and use of the Website for other than its intended purposes. By using the Website, you consent to such monitoring and are advised that any evidence of criminal activity may be provided to law enforcement officials.

Personal Information

The Reserve Banks do not collect your personal information when accessing the Website. You may choose to provide the Reserve Banks with personal information if, for example, you subscribe to Email Alerts or publications, send questions through email, answer surveys, register for an event or participate in online activities. If you provide personal information, such as your mailing or email address, telephone or fax numbers, or other demographic and customer information, the Reserve Banks may retain your contact information and use it for the following.

  • Provide you with the publications or information requested.
  • Clarify your order or request.
  • Provide you with notice of upcoming events, publications or other related information.

The Reserve Banks may use and retain and comments you submit via email.

Personal information you provide to third parties through your use of the Services is subject to separate privacy policies of such third parties.

The Reserve Banks will not rent, sell, or share personal information with nonaffiliated third parties except

  • with your permission;
  • in connection with providing evidence of criminal activity detected through website monitoring or to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities or suspected fraud;
  • with our service providers in connection with mailing list administration services; or
  • to comply with legal process or legal obligations or to exercise or establish our legal rights or defend against legal claims.

Cookies

This analysis does not involve personally identifiable information. It is used only for the purpose of understanding and better meeting the needs of the website’s audience. Some aggregate website analysis is performed for by Google Analytics . (See Information Collected Automatically, below.)

Sometimes the third-party services on the site will set cookies. For example, if you sign up for Email Alerts, a cookie may be set during the registration process. Other examples include embedded YouTube videos that are visible on the website. If you click to play the video, a persistent cookie is set by YouTube/Google.

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 the website may not operate properly.

Information Collected Automatically

The website uses Google Analytics to improve the user experience by collecting statistical information about visitors to the website in the aggregate for the purposes of determining what pages and information are of interest to visitors, which browsers and operating systems our visitors use, what search engines or websites are referring visitors, and whether there are performance or other problems on areas of the website. Google Analytics depends on the use of cookies set by Google. For more information about Google’s privacy policy, please see Google’s website for more information.

Children

The website is not directed toward children under 13. Nonetheless, the Reserve Banks are committed to complying with applicable laws and requirements, such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The Reserve Banks do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13. Minor children should always obtain parental consent before releasing personal information to any website.

Last updated: October 26, 2020