Our secure servers use Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS) to ensure the encrypted transmission of data between your browser and the U.S. Census Bureau. This means that instead of sending readable text over the Internet, both your browser and our servers encode (scramble) all text using a security key. That way, personal data sent to your browser and data you send back are extremely difficult to decode in the unlikely event of interception by an unauthorized party. As a result of this, your browser must be capable of using the required encryption protocol and strength in order to connect to our servers. If you cannot connect to our secure servers, please upgrade to a newer browser.
Our secure servers use a digital certificate (digital ID) issued by a trusted, third party Certificate Authority (CA) as proof of identity. The only way to be sure of a website's authenticity is to view their digital ID. In this way, you can be assured that you are not being "spoofed" or tricked by an imposter. The digital ID will contain information such as the name of the organization that owns the website, the site's registered internet name/address, and the name of the Certification Authority under which the digital ID was issued. The method for viewing a website's Digital Certificate/ID varies depending on the web browser. Please see your browser's "Help" information for instructions on how to verify a web site's identity.
The Census Bureau is committed to making online forms and other public documents on its Internet server accessible to all. Currently, we are reviewing our websites and making modifications to those pages which are not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. We use Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to create pages that are generally accessible to persons using screen-reading devices, and we are careful in our construction of HTML documents to ensure maximum accessibility. We include alternate text describing graphics.
Many Census Bureau Internet documents are in ASCII or HTML formats. These documents are accessible to persons using screen-reading software. We also have a large number of documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files. Currently, many people using screen-reading devices cannot read documents in PDF format, specifically those that were created from a scanned hard copy.
Adobe Systems, Inc. is producing various products designed to make Adobe Acrobat documents accessible to persons using screen-reading software. Adobe's accessibility web pages describe their efforts.
To allow us to better serve those with visual disabilities who are having difficulty accessing PDF documents: you may contact us directly for further assistance at 301-763-INFO (4636), 800-923-8282, or by submitting a request at ask.census.gov.