Privacy

Public comments provided to or prepared on behalf of the IACC become a part of the public record of the committee, so 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. 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 received 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. With regard to written public comments, unless a specific request is made in writing through our Contact Page to withhold the commenter's name, city, state, and affiliation, that information will remain in the comment. Other personally identifiable information, such as: street addresses; personal e-mail addresses; personal phone numbers; names of minors, dependent adults, and private third party individuals; photographs or videos of individuals or photographs or videos depicting sensitive personal information; medical and educational records; and other sensitive personal records, will be redacted. In addition, foul, obscene, threatening, violent, derogatory or hate language or photos will be redacted. Please refrain from including such material in submissions. Written statements prepared in conjunction with oral public comments will also be redacted according to the above guidelines. With regard to oral public comments made at public meetings of the IACC, any information that is shared by the commenter during the public comment session, including the commenter's name, city, state, and affiliation, will become a part of the public record. Due to the public nature of IACC public comments, including the posting of materials related to the IACC on a government website, and the need to protect the privacy of minors, only individuals age 18 and above will be permitted to provide public comments to the IACC.

In the future, IACC public comments redacted per the above guidelines will be made available to the public on the IACC website. In addition, public comments or information pertaining to public comments may also be included or referenced in other public records of the IACC, such as meeting minutes, transcripts and videos that are made available to the public on the IACC website.