Privacy Policy

This Web site includes information about the Army National Guard and applications developed by the Army National Guard. The notices which follow apply equally to all areas of this Web site.  This Web site is provided as a public service by the Army National Guard, Strength Maintenance Division.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Information presented on this Web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, we request that the Army National Guard be cited as the source of the information and that any photo credits or bylines be similarly credited to the photographer or author or Army National Guard, as appropriate.  Photos and/or artwork that are credited on the Web site remain the property of the copyright owner and may not be reproduced, except by written permission.

SECURITY NOTICES

Unauthorized attempts to modify any information stored on this system, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution. For site security purposes and to ensure that this Web site remains available to all users, the Army National Guard monitors network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage to the site.  Anyone using this Web site expressly consents to such monitoring.

For site management, information is collected for statistical purposes. This computer system uses software programs to create summary statistics that are used for such purposes as assessing what information is of the most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, detecting broken links and identifying system performance or problem areas. Any and all information transferred between this Web site and Facebook through the Facebook Connect API will not be collected, archived or used in any way other than for the integration into the EPIC video content as provided by the permissions granted through Facebook Connect.

Our privacy policy explains how we intend to use any information you provide to us. You can access our public Web site home page and browse our site without disclosing your personal data. Providing information on this site is voluntary and will only be used for the benefit of users who want more information about the Army National Guard and will not be used in any way to solicit additional information from the provider. 

The information requested on this Web site is collected in accordance with Section 503 of Title 10, United States Code.  Declining to provide information may make certain other optional features unavailable, such as "Email this page to a friend" and "Share through Facebook." Any information provided is protected from unauthorized disclosure by the Privacy Act of 1974.

This site is not intended for individuals under 13 years of age and we do not encourage its use by young children. We realize children may not understand all the provisions of our policy. We urge all parents to teach their children about protecting their personal information while online.

You may request that any information collected about you be removed from our files by writing us at webmaster@nationalguard.com. However, you must supply your email address to help us locate the information to purge.

COOKIES

A cookie is a text file placed on the hard drive of a computer by some Web pages or Web servers. Cookies cannot run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. They are uniquely assigned to a visitor and can only be read by a Web server in the domain that issued the cookie. Visitors can accept cookies (generally their browser's default setting) or decline them through their browser settings. Persistent cookies remain on a computer's hard drive until the visitor deletes them. Session cookies are deleted automatically when the visitor closes his or her browser. Cookies can make the Web more useful by storing information about your preferences on a particular site. The use of cookies is an industry standard, and many major Web sites use them to provide useful features for their customers.

For site navigation purposes only, cookies are used in a limited manner.  Cookies are pieces of information that a Web site transfers to your computer's hard disk for record-keeping purposes. We only use cookies that are not kept after you exit your Web browser. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you disable this feature, you might not be able to navigate around this Web site.  This site makes chat rooms, forums, message boards and/or news groups available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal identifiable information.

LINK DISCLAIMER

The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience.  Neither the US government nor the Army National Guard controls or guarantees the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to Web sites other than the Army National Guard-managed Web site is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

IINFORMATION YOU PROVIDE TO FACEBOOK

Information About Yourself. When you sign up for Facebook you provide us with your name, email, gender, and birth date. During the registration process, we give you the opportunity to connect with your friends, schools, and employers. You will also be able to add a picture of yourself. In some cases we may ask for additional information for security reasons or to provide specific services to you. Once you register, you can provide other information about yourself by connecting with, for example, your current city, hometown, family, relationships, networks, activities, interests, and places.   You can also provide personal information about yourself, such as your political and religious views.

Content. One of the primary reasons people use Facebook is to share content with others. Examples include when you update your status, upload or take a photo, upload or record a video, share a link, create an event or a group, make a comment, write something on someone’s Wall, write a note, or send someone a message. If you do not want us to store metadata associated with content you share on Facebook (such as photos), please remove the metadata before uploading the content.

Transactional Information. We may retain the details of transactions or payments you make on Facebook. If you do not want us to store your payment source account number, you can remove it using your payments page.

Friend Information. We offer contact importer tools to help you upload your friends’ addresses so that you can find your friends on Facebook, and invite your contacts who do not have Facebook accounts to join. If you do not want us to store this information, visit this help page. If you give us your password to retrieve those contacts, we will not store your password after you have uploaded your contacts’ information.

INFORMATION FACEBOOK COLLECTS WHEN YOU INTERACT WITH FACEBOOK

Site activity information. We keep track of some of the actions you take on Facebook, such as adding connections (including joining a group or adding a friend), creating a photo album, sending a gift, poking another user, indicating you “like” a post, attending an event, or connecting with an application. In some cases, you are also taking an action when you provide information or content to us. For example, if you share a video, in addition to storing the actual content you uploaded, we might log the fact that you shared it.

Access Device and Browser Information. When you access Facebook from a computer, mobile phone, or other device, we may collect information from that device about your browser type, location, and IP address, as well as the pages you visit.

INFORMATION FACEBOOK RECEIVES FROM THIRD PARTIES

Facebook Platform. We do not own or operate the applications or websites that you use through Facebook Platform (such as games and utilities). Whenever you connect with a Platform application or website, we will receive information from them, including information about actions you take. In some cases, in order to personalize the process of connecting, we may receive a limited amount of information even before you connect with the application or website.

Information from other websites. We may institute programs with advertising partners and other websites in which they share information with us:

If, in any of these cases, we receive data that we do not already have, we will “anonymize” it within 180 days, meaning we will stop associating the information with any particular user. If we institute these programs, we will only use the information in the ways we explain in the “How We Use Your Information” section below.

Information from other users. We may collect information about you from other Facebook users, such as when a friend tags you in a photo, video, or place, provides friend details, or indicates a relationship with you.

Sharing information on Facebook. This section explains how your privacy settings work, and how your information is shared on Facebook.  You should always consider your privacy settings before sharing information on Facebook.

Name and Profile Picture.  Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to find and connect with others.  For this reason, your name and profile picture do not have privacy settings.  If you are uncomfortable with sharing your profile picture, you should delete it (or not add one).  You can also control who can find you when searching on Facebook or on public search engines using the Applications and Websites privacy setting.

Contact Information. Your contact information settings control (available when customizing your privacy settings) who can contact you on Facebook, and who can see your contact information such as your email and phone number(s).  Remember that none of this information is required except for your email address, and you do not have to share your email address with anyone.

Personal Information.  Your personal information settings control who can see your personal information, such as your religious and political views, if you choose to add them.  We recommend that you share this information using the friends of friends setting.

Gender and Birth Date.  In addition to name and email address, we require you to provide your gender and birth date during the registration process.  We ask for your date of birth to verify that you are 13 years of age or older, and so that we can better limit your access to content and advertisements that are not age appropriate.  Because your date of birth and gender are required, you cannot delete them.  You can, however, edit your profile to hide all (or part) of such fields from other users.

Other.  Here are some other things to remember:

“Everyone” Information. Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, just like your name, profile picture, and connections.  Such information may, for example, be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), be indexed by third party search engines, and be imported, exported, distributed, and redistributed by us and others without privacy limitations. Such information may also be associated with you, including your name and profile picture, even outside of Facebook, such as on public search engines and when you visit other sites on the internet.  The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings. If you delete “everyone” content that you posted on Facebook, we will remove it from your Facebook profile, but have no control over its use outside of Facebook.

Minors.  We reserve the right to add special protections for minors (such as to provide them with an age-appropriate experience) and place restrictions on the ability of adults to share and connect with minors, recognizing this may provide minors a more limited experience on Facebook.

INFORMATION YOU SHARE WITH THIRD PARTIES

Facebook Platform.  As mentioned above, we do not own or operate the applications or websites that use Facebook Platform. That means that when you use those applications and websites you are making your Facebook information available to someone other than Facebook. Prior to allowing them to access any information about you, we require them to agree to terms that limit their use of your information (which you can read about in Section 9 of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities) and we use technical measures to ensure that they only obtain authorized information.  To learn more about Platform, visit the About Platform page.

Connecting with an Application or Website.  When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you.  The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting.  We may also make information about the location of your computer or access device and your age available to applications and websites in order to help them implement appropriate security measures and control the distribution of age-appropriate content.  If the application or website wants to access any other data, it will have to ask for your permission.

We give you tools to control how your information is shared with applications and websites that use Platform.  For example, you can block all platform applications and websites completely or block specific applications from accessing your information by visiting your Applications and Websites privacy setting or the specific  application’s “About” page.  You can also use your privacy settings to limit which of your information is available to “everyone”.

You should always review the policies of third party applications and websites to make sure you are comfortable with the ways in which they use information you share with them. We do not guarantee that they will follow our rules. If you find an application or website that violates our rules, you should report the violation to us on this help page and we will take action as necessary.

When your friends use Platform.  If your friend connects with an application or website, it will be able to access your name, profile picture, gender, user ID, and information you have shared with “everyone.”  It will also be able to access your connections, except it will not be able to access your friend list.  If you have already connected with (or have a separate account with) that website or application, it may also be able to connect you with your friend on that application or website.  If the application or website wants to access any of your other content or information (including your friend list), it will have to obtain specific permission from your friend.  If your friend grants specific permission to the application or website, it will generally only be able to access content and information about you that your friend can access.  In addition, it will only be allowed to use that content and information in connection with that friend.  For example, if a friend gives an application access to a photo you only shared with your friends, that application could allow your friend to view or print the photo, but it cannot show that photo to anyone else.

We provide you with a number of tools to control how your information is shared when your friend connects with an application or website.  For example, you can use your Application and Websites privacy setting to limit some of the information your friends can make available to applications and websites.  You can block all platform applications and websites completely or block particular applications or websites from accessing your information.  You can use your privacy settings to limit which friends can access your information, or limit which of your information is available to “everyone.”  You can also disconnect from a friend if you are uncomfortable with how they are using your information.

Pre-Approved Third-Party Websites and Applications.  In order to provide you with useful social experiences off of Facebook, we occasionally need to provide General Information about you to pre-approved third party websites and applications that use Platform at the time you visit them (if you are still logged in to Facebook).   Similarly, when one of your friends visits a pre-approved website or application, it will receive General Information about you so you and your friend can be connected on that website as well (if you also have an account with that website).   In these cases we require these websites and applications to go through an approval process, and to enter into separate agreements designed to protect your privacy.  For example, these agreements include provisions relating to the access and deletion of your General Information, along with your ability to opt-out of the experience being offered.  You can disable instant personalization on all pre-approved websites and applications using your Applications and Websites privacy setting.  You can also block a particular pre-approved website or application by clicking "No Thanks" in the blue bar when you visit that application or website.  In addition, if you log out of Facebook before visiting a pre-approved application or website, it will not be able to access your information.

Exporting Information. You (and those you make your information available to) may use tools like RSS feeds, mobile phone address book applications, or copy and paste functions, to capture, export (and in some cases, import) information from Facebook, including your information and information about you.  For example, if you share your phone number with your friends, they may use third party applications to sync that information with the address book on their mobile phone.

Advertisements. Sometimes the advertisers who present ads on Facebook use technological methods to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. You may opt-out of the placement of cookies by many of these advertisers here. You may also use your browser cookie settings to limit or prevent the placement of cookies by advertising networks.  Facebook does not share personally identifiable information with advertisers unless we get your permission.

Links. When you click on links on Facebook you may leave our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy statements.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use the information we collect to try to provide a safe, efficient, and customized experience. Here are some of the details on how we do that:

To manage the service. We use the information we collect to provide our services and features to you, to measure and improve those services and features, and to provide you with customer support. We use the information to prevent potentially illegal activities, and to enforce Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. We also use a variety of technological systems to detect and address anomalous activity and screen content to prevent abuse such as spam. These efforts may on occasion result in a temporary or permanent suspension or termination of some functions for some users.

To serve personalized advertising to you. We don’t share your information with advertisers without your consent. (An example of consent would be if you asked us to provide your shipping address to an advertiser to receive a free sample.) We allow advertisers to choose the characteristics of users who will see their advertisements and we may use any of the non-personally identifiable attributes we have collected (including information you may have decided not to show to other users, such as your birth year or other sensitive personal information or preferences) to select the appropriate audience for those advertisements. For example, we might use your interest in soccer to show you ads for soccer equipment, but we do not tell the soccer equipment company who you are. You can see the criteria advertisers may select by visiting our advertising page. Even though we do not share your information with advertisers without your consent, when you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement there is a possibility that the advertiser may place a cookie in your browser and note that it meets the criteria they selected.

To supplement your profile. We may use information about you that we collect from other Facebook users to supplement your profile (such as when you are tagged in a photo or mentioned in a status update). In such cases we generally give you the ability to remove the content (such as allowing you to remove a photo tag of you) or limit its visibility on your profile.

Downloadable Software. Certain downloadable software applications and applets that we offer, such as our browser toolbars and photo uploaders, transmit data to us. We may not make a formal disclosure if we believe our collection of and use of the information is the obvious purpose of the application, such as the fact that we receive photos when you use our photo uploader. If we believe it is not obvious that we are collecting or using such information, we will make a disclosure to you the first time you provide the information to us so that you can decide whether you want to use that feature.

HOW FACEBOOK SHARES INFORMATION

Facebook is about sharing information with others — friends and people in your communities — while providing you with privacy settings that you can use to restrict other users from accessing some of your information. We share your information with third parties when we believe the sharing is permitted by you, reasonably necessary to offer our services, or when legally required to do so. For example:

When you choose to share your information with marketers. You may choose to share information with marketers or electronic commerce providers that are not associated with Facebook through on-site offers. This is entirely at your discretion and we will not provide your information to these marketers without your consent.

To give search engines access to publicly available information. We generally limit search engines’ access to our site. We may allow them to access information set to the “everyone” setting (along with your name and profile picture) and your profile information that is visible to everyone.  You can change the visibility of some of your profile information using the customize section of your privacy settings. You can also prevent search engines from indexing your profile using the Applications and Websites privacy setting.

To help improve or promote our service. Sometimes we share aggregated information with third parties to help improve or promote our service. But we only do so in such a way that no individual user can be identified or linked to any specific action or information.

To provide you with services. We may provide information to service providers that help us bring you the services we offer. For example, we may use third parties to help host our website, send out email updates about Facebook, remove repetitive information from our user lists, process payments, or provide search results or links (including sponsored links). These service providers may have access to your personal information for use for a limited time, but when this occurs we implement reasonable contractual and technical protections to limit their use of that information to helping us provide the service.

To advertise our services. We may ask advertisers outside of Facebook to display ads promoting our services. We may ask them to deliver those ads based on the presence of a cookie, but in doing so will not share any other information with the advertiser.

To offer joint services. We may provide services jointly with other companies, such as the classifieds service in the Facebook Marketplace. If you use these services, we may share your information to facilitate that service. However, we will identify the partner and present the joint service provider’s privacy policy to you before you use that service.

To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. We may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests (including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally accepted international standards. We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities.

HOW YOU CAN CHANGE OR REMOVE INFORMATION FROM FACEBOOK

Editing your profile. You may change or remove your profile information at any time by going to your profile page and clicking “Edit My Profile.” Information will be updated immediately.

Delete uploaded contacts. If you use our contact importer to upload addresses, you can later delete the list on this help page.  You can delete the email addresses of friends you have invited to join Facebook on your invite history page.

Limitations on removal. Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users. However, your name will no longer be associated with that information on Facebook. (For example, if you post something to another user’s profile and then you delete your account, that post may remain, but be attributed to an “Anonymous Facebook User.”)  Additionally, we may retain certain information to prevent identity theft and other misconduct even if deletion has been requested. If you have given third party applications or websites access to your information, they may retain your information to the extent permitted under their terms of service or privacy policies.  But they will no longer be able to access the information through our Platform after you disconnect from them.

Backup copies. Removed and deleted information may persist in backup copies for up to 90 days, but will not be available to others.

Non-user contact information. If a user provides your email address to us, and you are not a Facebook user but you want us to delete your address, you can do so on this help page. However, that request will only apply to addresses we have at the time of the request and not to any addresses that users provide to us later.

HOW FACEBOOK PROTECTS INFORMATION

We do our best to keep your information secure, but we need your help. For more detailed information about staying safe on Facebook, visit the Facebook Security Page.

Steps we take to keep your information secure. We keep your account information on a secured server behind a firewall. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers and passwords), we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). We also use automated and social measures to enhance security, such as analyzing account behavior for fraudulent or otherwise anomalous behavior, may limit use of site features in response to possible signs of abuse, may remove inappropriate content or links to illegal content, and may suspend or disable accounts for violations of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Risks inherent in sharing information. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your information, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available. We are not responsible for third party circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on Facebook. You can reduce these risks by using common sense security practices such as choosing a strong password, using different passwords for different services, and using up to date antivirus software.

Report Violations. You should report any security violations to us on this help page.

OTHER TERMS

Changes. We may change this Privacy Policy pursuant to the procedures outlined in Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Unless stated otherwise, our current privacy policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy we will notify you by publication here and on the Facebook Site Governance Page. If the changes are material, we will provide you additional, prominent notice as appropriate under the circumstances. You can make sure that you receive notice directly by liking the Facebook Site Governance Page.

Consent to Collection and Processing in the United States. By using Facebook, you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.

Defined Terms. "Us," "we," "our," "Platform" and "Facebook" mean the same as they do in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. “Information” and “content” are used more generally and interchangeably here than in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities unless otherwise limited by the context.

Note: Army National Guard programs and benefits are subject to change. For the latest information, please contact your local recruiter.