Support (Only): 423-447-6815 - repair@bledsoe.net | Customer Service 423-447-2121 or 423-949-2121 - customerservice@bledsoe.net

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 trust, and that members and customers expect the Cooperative to act responsibly and in the best interest of our members and customers. Because such personal and financial data are the private information of our customers, the Cooperative holds itself, management and its employees to the highest standards in this data’s safe keeping and use. The Cooperative, therefore, adopts the following privacy policy, in keeping with the Cooperative’s commitment to be a trusted provider of telecommunications, entertainment, information, and data services.

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; and we destroy it when no longer needed. We will tell you in advance if there are ever any exceptions and give you the right to say no.

Personally Identifiable Information – In providing our services, we sometime ask for personal information. This information may include names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, premium services you select, demographics, user identifications, passwords, PINs, email addresses and communications records. We maintain information concerning subjects like credit, billing, payment, security deposits, maintenance, repair, equipment and services. We may also collect information about your video equipment computer hardware and software, modems, routers, settings and references to aid in customer support. Our policy is to collect only the personal information needed to provide the services we offer with the quality you deserve. We take reasonable steps to keep that information secure and retain it only as long as needed for business purposes or as the law requires. ‘We take reasonable precautions to identify you or your authorized representatives when we receive an inquiry on your account. We sometimes collect personal information for special reasons, such as for research. If so, we will tell you first how we will use it, and you may choose not to participate. When we offer new services to you, we will tell you what information we need and how we may use it.

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 and similar purposes. Some digital video recorder services collect usage information. If this applies, we will tell you.

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), band width use, connection performance, browsers used, and connection dates and times. We keep these records for approximately 3 months. We do not share these records with others, unless we receive a lawfully issued request. We keep messages you send or receive only in your Bledsoe Telephone email folders. We do not store information on websites you visit.

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 sale your CPNI information and your CPNI information will not be disclosed to third parties outside of the cooperative’s affiliates, agents, joint ventures, partners and independent contractors, except as otherwise required by law.

Use for Marketing to You – By law, we can use your CPNI to offer our communications related services to you, unless you request otherwise; You can withdraw the right for us to use your CPNI for these purposes at any time. Regardless, we do not share your CPNI with independent contractors, vendors or any joint venture partners for marketing purposes without your prior consent.

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 and certain other third parties.

Internet Services – We do not read any of your online communications, unless you send them to us. We do automatically scan incoming and outgoing email messages to filter out likely spam, harmful messages, viruses, spy-ware and related problems that could harm your equipment, the network or others.

 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 visit such as your type of browser, operating system and IP address. A cookie also helps to recognize you when you log in as a registered user or a repeat visitor. You can control the cookies your computer accepts through the settings on your web browser or by deleting them from your fires. Web beacons or clear GIFs are a type of computer code sometimes placed by advertisers on a web page. As with cookies, you can use your browser settings to control web beacons. We may share non-personal information obtained from cookies with vendors, advertisers and others.

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 an immediate danger of death or serious physical injury requires disclosure. Many criminal subpoenas require that we not disclose or notify you of the request. Due to this fact, we do not assume any duty to notify you of the receipt of any legal requests. Information concerning your internet access may be subpoenaed by the government or others. Files shared over peer to peer services often include your public IP address, and you could be identified in this way if we receive a lawful subpoena or court order. Law enforcement can obtain details about your internet access and the content of communications through a lawful subpoena or court order or similar authority. Law enforcement must also obtain a court order or subpoena or other similar authority to use a telephone wire tap or a device to capture dialing information. Voice over internet services are subject to similar surveillance standards. Law enforcement can also subpoena account and call record information. Records concerning video programming selections may generally be obtained only under court order, after notice is given to you and you have the opportunity to object in court.

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 secured environments that have restricted access on our most sensitive databases, and work to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent unauthorized access.

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 and sharing of your personally identifiable information. Among your remedies is the right to seek damages under47USC§551.

X. Other Terms and Changes in Policy

Other terms and conditions effect our service offerings, including the online privacy policies for our websites, service contracts or acceptable use policy for high-speed internet service, tariffs and the terms of use for our websites. Changes in our service offerings or the law may cause us to make changes to this and other policies from time to time.

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.