Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative
PRIVACY POLICY
The Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative recognizes that its members and customers have entrusted to the Cooperative’s care personal and financial data. The Cooperative recognizes that the relationship of its members and customers with the cooperative is based upon
I. Information We Collect
We keep only the personal information needed to provide our services; we treat it as private; we use it only for what we offer you; we do not sell it to others; we work to keep it secure
Personally Identifiable Information – In providing our services, we
Cable Television and Internet Protocol Television Services – We do not collect customer specific information concerning most video programmed viewing, except as needed to bill you, without your prior consent. In providing some television services, including pay-per-view, interactive and entertainment on demand, we do maintain usage information for billing programming and related purposes. We compile aggregate information that does not identify you for programming, advertising
Internet Services – Like most internet service providers, we automatically collect public internet protocol public (IP) addresses (an identifier given to your computer or router while online),
Telephone services – In providing telephone services, we receive usage information, including calls made and received and their duration. we treat this information as private and retain it for up to 3 months. If you change or terminate your service it will result in the loss of any voice messages and email messages stored in your account. We do not listen to or record your calls to third parties. At times, we may monitor certain calls to the Cooperative’s employees or agents for quality purposes. If we do this, you will be notified and if you object to this, tell us when you call. We keep records of these calls for up to 3 months and treat this information as private.
II. Use and Sharing
Use Policy – We consider your information confidential, and use it only in providing our telecommunications, television and internet services for such things as sales, installation, operations, administration, advertising, marketing, support, network management, maintenance, customer care, communications with you, and billing and collection. We may also use or share it in dealing with fraud and unauthorized use of our services. We use and share aggregate information about usage by groups of customers for a variety of purposes. Aggregate information does not identify individual customers. We may use aggregate and demographic information in association with yours to better offer our products and services to you.
Sharing Policy– It is our policy not to disclose your information to others outside of the Cooperative or our affiliates, vendors and business partners without your prior consent. You can ask us to note your account with a special flag as added assurance of this promise. You can also notify us if you prefer not to receive marketing contacts.
Special Exceptions – We reserve the right to disclose your information if we have a good faith belief it is necessary to (1) comply with the law, (2) protect our rights, property or proprietary rights or those of others, (3) respond to fraud, abuse or unauthorized reception, (4) enforce our standards and policies, or (5) act in an emergency or protect your safety or that of another. We may also transfer your information as a part of a sale or transfer of business operations.
Outside Parties – The Cooperative sometimes uses affiliates, vendors, or partners in providing our services and may provide your information for such purposes. We require that outside parties maintain at least the same level of confidentiality that we maintain. In addition, any use by the vendor may not exceed that needed to provide the service. We do not share your information with other third parties without your consent.
Retention Policy– We retain personal customer information as long as you are a customer or until no longer needed for business, tax or legal purposes.
Telephone Services – There are special protections for personal information we obtain in providing telephone services to you. That information, when matched to your name, address or telephone number, is known as customer proprietary network information or “CPNI”. Examples of CPNI include who, when and where you called, how much you spend on local and long distance phone calls, the phone services you received, pricing plans, billing information, and your PIN number/password and other security measures. The Cooperative does not
Use for Marketing to You – By law, we can use your CPNI to offer our
Listings – Our telephone customers can designate their listings as non-published for print or electronic directories or for directory assistance services. We do not publish these directories and we are not responsible for their content or accuracy. Because of the complexity of this process and the involvement of others, errors sometimes occur. Our telephone services are subject to tariffs of contractual terms that limit our liability in the event of such errors.
Television Services – We aggregate information concerning some video service viewing and provide it to programmers, advertisers
Internet Services – We do not read any of your online
III. Internet Security
Maintaining the security of your personal computer is an important way to protect your privacy and help us protect our network and customers. We may take proactive action related to your service or contact you directly from time to time to help with security. Always be sure whom you are dealing with before clicking on an internet link or giving personal information. We encourage you to visit the Federal Trade Commission at http://.fdc.gov for tips on protecting yourself. When communications enter the internet, it is possible for outside parties to access them. Since we cannot control websites or services operated by third parties, you should review the terms of services and privacy policies. We try to block incoming and outgoing spam using a variety of methods. You can help by preventing unauthorized access to your computer. Third parties that place ads on websites may use “cookies” to collect anonymous information about your visit to our website and to manage your preferences while there. A cookie does not give any other personal information about you. It can, however, be read by the website that placed it to note information about your
IV. Law Enforcement and Legal Requests
We regularly receive legal requests for customer information from government and law enforcement personnel. We also receive requests in civil cases including discovery requests. In all such cases, we cooperate by providing the information only as required by law or only in compliance with a lawfully issued court order or subpoena. We do not volunteer customer information or give access to customer communications to law enforcement or others except as detailed above or if we have a good faith belief that an emergency involving
V. Security Information
We are aware of many methods used to unlawfully obtain data and of data security breaches. We continue to work on new ways to protect your information. Although we use encrypted formats with controlled and
VI. Children’s Privacy
Children should always get permission from a parent or guardian before sending personal information over the internet. Some websites are not directed at nor intended to be used by children. We do not normally allow children to subscribe to a service that incurs a charge. If you believe your child may have provided us with personal information you can contact us and we will delete the information.
VII. Child Pornography
The law requires us to report any evidence concerning child pornography we learn of. We work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other groups to eliminate child pornography on the internet.
VIII. Customer Access Information
You may check the accuracy of personal information to your account by contacting the Cooperative’ office. You may also personally examine your information and advise of any errors you believe we should correct during regular business hours of the Cooperative.
IX. Your Enforcement Rights
You can enforce your legal privacy rights concerning our collection, use
X. Other Terms and Changes in Policy
Other terms and conditions
XI. Annual Do Not Call Registry Notice
To help reduce unwanted telemarketing calls, the State of Tennessee and the FCC offers telephone subscribers the opportunity to register their residential telephone numbers, including wireless numbers, in its respective Do Not Call Registries. You may register for the FCC list without charge by calling the FTC at l-888-382-1222.
XII. Customer Notices
We offer a variety of programming tiers and services. We have the rights to change our services and prices at any time, subject to applicable law. You will generally receive notice of changes in services or prices at least thirty (30) days in advance or in compliance with applicable laws. The notice may be provided on your monthly bill or as a bill insert or as a newspaper legal notice or information, or in a separate mailing, or through some other written form.