Privacy Policy

  1. The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) is provided as a public service operated by Defense Media Activity (DMA) on behalf of the Department of the Defense in support of all branches of the U.S. military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard), combatant commands and government services serving worldwide.
  2. Information presented on or via DVIDS is considered public information and may be distributed or copied unless otherwise specified. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
  3. Third Army/ARCENT has a contract with Encompass Digital Media, in Atlanta, Georgia, to provide this service. Encompass Digital Media employs civilians to fulfill the contract as media representatives, video editors, web developers and satellite transmission technicians.
  4. Privacy Act Statement - If you choose to provide us with personal information (e.g., filling out a Contact Us form with e-mail and/or postal addresses), we only use that information to respond to your message or request. We will only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. We never create individual profiles or give your personal information to any private organizations. DVIDS never collects information for commercial marketing. While you must provide an e-mail address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatically in response to questions or comments that you may submit, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number.
  5. For site management, information is collected for statistical purposes. This government computer service uses software programs 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.
  6. For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
  7. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration guidelines.
  8. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
  9. If you have any questions or comments about the information presented here, please forward them to us using the Suggestion Box under the Members tab in the navigation menu of the DVIDS web site.
  10. Cookie Disclaimer - DVIDS does not use persistent cookies (persistent tokens that pass information back and forth from the client machine to the server). DVIDS may use session cookies (tokens that remain active only until you close your browser) in order to make the site easier to use. Neither DVIDS nor the Department of Defense keeps a database of information obtained from these cookies.