Our Commitment to Privacy
The TEC family of companies ("TEC") is committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. As a provider of telecommunications and related services, we recognize that we must maintain the confidentiality of our customers’ personal information. To better protect your privacy, we provide this notice explaining our privacy and CPNI policy and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and at every point on our Web site where personally identifiable information may be requested.
Scope of Privacy Policy
This Notice describes the types of data and information we collect, how we use it, how you can control its use and the steps we take to protect it. As used in this Notice, "TEC" means the following companies:
Telephone Electronics Corporation
Bay Springs Communications, Inc.
Bay Springs Telephone Company, Inc.
TEC of Jackson, Inc.
ComNet, Inc.
Crockett Telephone Company, Inc.
LecNet, Inc.
Magnolia Cellular Corporation
National Telephone of Alabama, Inc.
Peoples Telephone Company
Peoples CATV, Inc.
Roanoke Telephone Company, Inc.
Roanoke Long Distance, Inc.
TEC Services, Inc.
TEC Services of Louisiana, Inc.
Video, Inc.
West Tennessee Telephone Company, Inc.
The Information We Collect and How We Use It
TEC obtains information about its customers that help us provide services and design new services and products. For example, we need to know your name, address, telephone number, social security number, billing and payment information and e-mail address. When you establish an account for services, and when you request any changes or updates to your services, we may collect information about the service options you have chosen. When you call us, a customer care representative may refer to your account records to assist you. On some of our web site pages you can request information on products and services we offer, view your monthly bill and payment history and make payments on your bill.
When you visit our web site, we collect certain technical information such as the name of your Internet service provider, your IP address, browser type, operating system and pages visited. None of this information is associated with you as an individual. We use this information to evaluate and improve the design and effectiveness of our web site to better serve our customers.
TEC may use cookies to customize its services. Cookies are small files stored on your computer to simplify and improve your on-line experience at our Web site. Cookies do not enable us to see information or files on your computer. Cookies only allow us to "remember" you while you use our web site. You can disable cookies through your web browser. If you disable cookies, you may not be able to use all of the features of our site. We use the information we collect to provide the products and services we offer and to operate our business. We use personal information we collect to respond to inquiries from our customers, to provide services and information to our customers about products and services we offer and to improve the products and services we provide. We may disclose personal information in connection with Caller ID, 911/E911 and directory services. We may contract with third parties to provide specific services. If these third parties provide service to you, they will collect, disclose and protect your personal information in accordance with TEC’s policies. If, however, you become a direct customer of these third parties, then you will be subject to their terms of service and privacy policies. In the event TEC enters into a merger, acquisition or sale of all or a portion of our assets, we may transfer information as part of the transaction. We also use personal information to comply with laws and regulations, to assert or establish our rights and to protect our legal interests. Except as stated above, we do not disclose or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties without providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.
Directories and Directory Assistance
Some TEC companies publish and distribute directories which contain limited personal information about our customers, such as the customer's name, address and telephone numbers. We also make that information available to directory assistance operators and through the Internet. For information on controlling the disclosure of this information, see below.
Non-Published and Non-Listed Numbers
When a customer subscribes to a TEC family company for local telephone service, we offer that customer the opportunity to request that the customer's name, number and address not be published in our directories or made available through directory assistance. The names, numbers and addresses of customers who choose to have a non-published number will not be available in our directories or through directory assistance, and will not be made available to others to include in directories or to provide directory assistance services. The names, numbers and addresses of customers who choose to have a non-listed number will not be available in TEC directories, but will be publicly available through directory assistance and will be provided to unaffiliated directory assistance providers over whom TEC exercises no control. There is a fee for customers who elect to have non-published or non-listed numbers.
Our Commitment to Children's Privacy
Protecting the privacy of children is very important to us. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information from those we actually know are under 13 years of age, and no part of our web site is designed to attract anyone under 13.
Third Party Links
Our web site may contain links to web sites operated by unaffiliated third parties. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those sites. For this reason, we encourage you to review the privacy practices of those sites before providing them personal information.
CPNI
Customer Proprietary Network Information, or "CPNI", is information that TEC obtains when we provide telecommunications services to you. This information includes financial information, health information, Social Security numbers, precise geo-location information, information pertaining to children, content of communications, web browsing history, application usage history, the functional equivalents of web browsing history or application usage history, the type, technical arrangement, quantity, destination and amount of use of these telecommunications services and the related billing information for these services. As a customer of our services, you have the right, and TEC has a duty under federal law, to protect the confidentiality of your CPNI.
We use CPNI to provide telecommunications and information services to you, including billing and collections for those services, and to offer you services of the type you already purchase from us. With your permission, we use your CPNI to offer you the full range of products and services offered by the TEC family of companies. Services offered by the TEC family of companies include local telephone service, long distance, dial up and high speed Internet services, VoIP, broadband and network services, cable TV and security systems. TEC abides by federal and state CPNI regulations that apply to telecommunications carriers. As a general rule, TEC does not disclose CPNI to unaffiliated third parties without your permission. However, we do release CPNI if TEC is required to disclose such information by law or to protect the safety of our customers, employees or property. If you wish, you may direct TEC to refrain from using your CPNI for marketing purposes. To do so, you may contact a customer care representative at the division in which your service is registered. Restricting our use of your CPNI will not affect the provision of any TEC services or products which you have purchased.
Changes to Policy
If we change our privacy policy or CPNI policy, we will post those changes on our web site so that you can be aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If you decide to continue receiving our services after we make any changes to our privacy policy or CPNI policy, you shall be deemed to have given express consent to the changes in the revised policy.