Privacy & Security Policy

Jump to policies detailed on this page.

• Privacy Policy
• Security Notice 
• Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
• Visiting official federal Judiciary pages on third-party websites

Privacy Policy

Our privacy policy outlines the types of information we learn when you visit our site and how such information will be used.

Information Routinely Collected and Stored

If you visit our website to view or download information, we collect and store the following information via Google Analytics:

• The name of the domain from which you accessed the internet, such as a web search engine.    
• The IP address from which you accessed the Judiciary's website. An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are accessing the internet.    
• The date and time you accessed our site.    
• The type of browser and operating system used to access the uscourts.gov site.    
• The pages you visit.    
• If you linked to USCourts.gov from another website, the address of the originating site.    

This information is used solely for the purpose of evaluating and maintaining our site. From this information, we learn what users like and need; what kind of technology they are using; how often they visit; and other valuable information that helps us to offer our visitors the best site possible. This information is collected anonymously and, in the aggregate, and no information is traceable to a specific individual. 

We also participate in the Digital Analytics Program, which is a unified Google Analytics account of U.S. federal government agencies.

Learn more about how Google uses this data. You can also opt-out by changing the cookie settings in your browsers.

Information You Provide

If you choose to provide us with personal information to be added to an email list, submit information through our Contact Us page, or submit feedback on the website, it will be used only for the purpose(s) you state. We collect such information only to respond to your requests or improve the website. We do not share that information with others, and we do not collect information for commercial marketing.

Security Notice

This is a restricted government system for official judiciary business only. All activities on this system for any purpose, and all access attempts, may be recorded and monitored or reviewed by persons authorized by the federal judiciary for improper use, protection of system security, performance of maintenance, and appropriate management by the judiciary of its systems. By using this system or any connected system, users expressly consent to system monitoring and to official access to data reviewed and created by them on the system. Any evidence of unlawful activity, including unauthorized access attempts, may be reported to law enforcement officials.

Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on this server are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

The federal Judiciary is committed to ensuring the security of the American public by protecting their information. On behalf of the federal Judiciary, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) intends this policy to give security researchers clear guidelines for conducting vulnerability discovery activities and to convey our preferences in how to submit discovered vulnerabilities to us. Read the policy and learn how to report discovered vulnerabilities. 

Visiting Official Federal Judiciary Pages on Third-Party Websites

The AO maintains official social media accounts on behalf of the federal Judiciary on third-party websites, including YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to provide information about the federal Judiciary to a wider audience.

When you visit official federal Judiciary social media pages, the AO does not request, collect, or record personally identifiable information. Information collected by the AO will be used solely for the purpose of evaluating and maintaining those accounts. Please be aware that privacy policies of third-party websites may not be the same as the privacy policy governing uscourts.gov.

Retweets, likes, or follows of any person or organization on any social media page are not endorsements. Promoted Tweets on Twitter are not authorized or controlled by the AO.

Twitter and LinkedIn Comment Policy

The AO does not control, moderate, endorse, or respond to the comments, direct messages, or opinions provided by visitors to Twitter or LinkedIn.

YouTube Channel Comment Policy

On the Federal Judiciary YouTube channel all user comments are moderated, meaning all messages are reviewed before appearing. Comments must be civil and respectful of others.

Comments must not contain:

• Content that is unrelated to the topic   
• Potentially libelous statements    
• Personal attacks, harassment, insults or threats    
• Blatant misstatements of truth    
• "Spam" – Repeated posting of identical or very similar content in a counter-productive manner    
• Unintelligible or incoherent comments    
• Commercial product promotions    
• Links to material that is not directly related to the topic of the original content

AO moderators reserve the right to remove any comment that may be deemed inappropriate, violates these terms, or is not in line with the YouTube Community Guidelines.  Comments that contain threatening language will be forwarded to law enforcement.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.