OMB has issued a memo as part of its open government initiative on what agencies can and can’t do in regard to tracking website users with cookies and the use of certain other user information.
The memo establishes new procedures and provides updated guidance and requirements for the use of “web measurement and customization technologies” in an effort to safeguard personally identifiable information while increasing the flexibility agencies have to modernize online activity.
The memo, M-10-22, defines the technologies as those used to remember a user’s online interactions with a website or online application in order to conduct measurement and analysis of usage or to customize the user’s experience.
It said agencies may use them to improve federal services online through conducting measurement and analysis of usage or through customization of the user’s experience, but agencies also must publicize their privacy policies – as spelled out in the guidance – and allow users to opt out of information collection.
