Conditions of the FirstGov brand

FirstGov Certified Partners will be allowed to post the FirstGov Certification

on their Web sites proving they comply with the FirstGov brand conditions.

Following, according to the General Services Administration, is the draft set of conditions:

* Integrity: Partners must use the government information "as is," protecting

the integrity and authenticity of the source information.

* Free access: Partners must strive to provide uninterrupted, free access

to the public for government Web pages.

* Privacy protection: Partners must not track individual visitors' movements

to or through the government information.

* No advertising: Partners must not include any active banner advertising

on the screens where a FirstGov page is displayed. Only institutional ads

are permitted, such as a static logo with or without a description such

as "Supported in part by XYZ Corp."

* Positioning: Wherever the FirstGov government information is placed

on the certified organization's Web site, the information on the site must

not be positioned or otherwise associated on the screen with other content

that is pornographic or sexually explicit, child-threatening or contrary

to U.S. government laws, such as civil rights, gender discrimination, age

discrimination and privacy.

* Attribution: Partners must clearly and conspicuously attribute the

information to the U.S. government.

* Accessibility: The section of the Web site containing FirstGov information

must comply with all requirements of the federal Rehabilitation Act (Section

508), which ensures effective access to federal information on the Internet

by people with disabilities.

The draft FirstGov brand conditions will be posted in the Commerce Business

Daily to enable interested parties to comment and maximize the effectiveness

of the concept.