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Privacy Policy

 

Protection and Uses of Personally Identifying Information:

You are not required to provide personally identifying information in order to visit or use the Amtrak OIG web site. Certain electronic data that is gathered automatically for statistical purposes is described below. If you choose to provide personally identifying information to Amtrak OIG in connection with filing a Tip Hotline complaint or communicating with Amtrak OIG through the Contact Us feature, Amtrak OIG will maintain the privacy of the information you provide. Amtrak OIG will not sell, give or transfer to any third party, including Amtrak, any personal information provided by you in connection with a Tip Hotline submission, unless required to do so in connection with a law enforcement matter.

 

Data collected electronically:

For web site security purposes, we employ software programs that analyze and monitor network traffic to identify and prevent unauthorized attempts to (1) upload or change information in the system, (2) access or cause damage to any information you provide to us, or (3) access or cause damage to the system we use to store and maintain that information, including attempts to deny service to authorized users.

Certain electronic information about your visit, even if you simply browse through the web site, read pages, or download documents, will be automatically gathered and stored, including:

  • The date and time you accessed our web site.
  • The resource (page, image, etc.) on our server accessed as a result of the request.
  • The name and version of your Web browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0).
  • Other status codes and values resulting from the Web server responding to the request received: HTTP status code, Windows NT code, number of bytes sent, number of bytes received, duration (in seconds) to fulfill the request, server port number addressed, and protocol version.
  • The referring Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that was accessed before the user made a request for Amtrak OIG's Web server

The web server automatically recognizes your browser’s domain name and IP address, but it does not automatically recognize your e-mail address. The information gathered electronically does not identify you personally, unless you choose to send personal identifying information through the Tip Hotline or Contact Us features.

Information in the form of server log files is collected to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

We do not actively attempt to identify individuals who submit information anonymously through the Tip Hotline. We do not track or record personal data about individuals or their visits to the web site. No information is collected or stored about individual users or their usage habits in "cookie" format. We collect no personal information about you unless you choose to provide it to us. If you send us electronic mail, you are providing personal information which must be recorded so that we can direct your communication to the people who will respond to you or look into the information you have provided.

We may monitor and audit usage of our web site, and may capture and transfer personal information to law enforcement authorities, if we suspect that your use of our web site is in violation of laws. As an authorized law enforcement investigation entity, Amtrak OIG may use information collected electronically for law enforcement purposes. Except in connection with law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

 

Privacy of the Tip Hotline:

The Tip Hotline feature provided on this web site may be used by Amtrak employees, contractors, or members of the public to contact Amtrak OIG regarding suspected or potential fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement in Amtrak’s programs and operations.

As described in this web site, you may contact the Tip Hotline by e-mail, regular mail, or telephone. If you contact the Tip Hotline by e-mail using an Amtrak company computer, be advised that this method of communication may be neither anonymous nor secure.