Privacy

Guidelines for IACC public comment are designed to encourage respectful and constructive dialogue, to protect the privacy of individuals, and to ensure that public comments are maximally beneficial to the work of the committee. Guidelines are as follows:

• Individuals must be 18 years of age or older to register for and provide public comment to the IACC.
• Comments should be addressed to the IACC as a whole and not to specific IACC members nor to guest speakers or other individuals who are not members of the IACC.
• Comments should include the name of the submitter, affiliation if applicable, and full contact information including address, e-mail, and phone number. The contact information will be used by OARC to contact the submitter but will be redacted from the record.
• By voluntarily providing comments to the IACC, the commenter is consenting to the use and consideration of these comments by the committee and relevant federal agencies.
• Public comments provided to or prepared on behalf of the IACC become a part of the public record and written comments or videos of the meeting may be posted on the IACC website for public access.
• Information that is private, confidential, copyrighted or proprietary should not be included, other than contact information to enable OARC or the IACC to contact a commenter if necessary.
• Public comments received in writing are prepared by OARC for the committee in accordance with the FACA, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Privacy Act, and other applicable laws, regulations and policies, including any necessary redaction.
• Submissions may include web links to publicly accessible websites and documents.
• Brief comments of 1000 words or less are best and most effective. If overly lengthy, comments may be truncated, with the rest available to the Committee upon request.
• Attachments are discouraged and will not be provided to the Committee except upon request.
• Duplicate submissions are discouraged; if received, only one example will be provided to the Committee.

The following are prohibited in public comments and will either be redacted from public comments or the entire comment will not be accepted if containing the following:

• Vulgar, offensive, obscene, inflammatory, profane, threatening, or abusive language.
• Unlawful or otherwise objectionable statements, personal attacks, accusations against individuals or organizations.
• Discriminatory language (including hate speech) based on race, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
• Content that infringes on copyrights.
• Personal photos or videos.
• Sensitive personal information such as personal medical or educational records or information pertaining to legal proceedings.
• Detailed personally identifiable information about minors.
• Solicitation of funds.