Privacy Policy

Protecting Your Information

As a customer of Rice Belt Telephone Company, Inc., the FCC has determined that you have a legal right to control certain proprietary information contained in your account. This information is called Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). Under the law, we have a duty to protect this information and communicate its collection methods, utilization, and the disclosure possibilities to you. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us, even if you are not a current Rice Belt customer.

Summary of this privacy notice

This privacy notice applies to Rice Belt’s high-speed internet, phone service and communications. It describes the limitations imposed on Rice Belt Telephone Company, Inc. according to the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, which regulates how we collect and disclose personal information, the personal information we are allowed to collect, how we utilize this information, when and how we may disclose that information, how you can change your preferences including opting out of communications, and your rights under law.

How We Collect Your Information

In order for Rice Belt to provide exceptional telecommunication service(s) to you, we keep pertinent business records containing information about you which includes personal information. These account records could include the following information:

• name;
• service address and/or location;
• billing address;
• driver’s license number;
• social security number;
• telephone number;
• e-mail address;
• billing and payment history;
• bank account number;
• credit card number
• communications records;
• maintenance information;
• the device identifiers and/or network addresses for equipment in use; and
• service contracts.

How We Use Your Information

We collect, maintain, and use personal information and CPNI as permitted by the Cable Act and the Communications Act and other applicable laws. (CPNI is information contained within your account records that may reveal who, when, where or how a customer uses their phone, internet, or cable. It also includes any information on the customer’s bill revealing what services or toll service the customer currently uses.) We use this information to best serve you through Rice Belt, including:

• Providing and connecting services;
• Submitting bills and invoices;
• Answering your questions and offering technical support;
• Communicating service changes, outages, and updates to services;
• Providing pertinent targeted offers through marketing, which may be of interest to you; and
• Assisting in the investigation and prosecuting of illegal activities and fraud.

Information Sharing

We may share your information, including:

• With other Rice Belt entities to best serve your needs;
• When you become a customer, we may share information about you and your transaction with other companies necessary to process your transaction and authorize service;
• With our third-party service providers, including 911;
• To comply with court orders and the legal process; and
• To obtain payment including through third party collection firms.

Disclosure of Your Information

Rice Belt considers the personal information contained in our business records to be confidential. However, we may disclose personal information that you provide to the following third parties:

• Our subsidiaries and affiliates under the Rice Belt brand(s); including operations, marketing, and administration;
• Billing and collection agencies;
• Maintenance and installation service; and
• Fraud detection services.

Rice Belt maintains personal information about you while you are a customer of our cable service, telephone, internet, security, or other services. We keep this information until it is no longer needed for business, tax or legal purposes.

We do not sell our customer data to any third party for the purpose of marketing products.

Data Security

We have implemented industry-standard practices to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. However, we cannot guarantee these practices will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, or disclose personal information.

Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984

According to section 631 of the federal Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, (the “Cable Act”), Rice Belt is bound by the Cable Act concerning the collection and dissemination of information collected on each customer. This includes:

• the limitations upon cable operators concerning the assembly and use of subscriber’s personal information;
• the personal information we collect and use;
• to whom and why we might disclose personal information;
• the length of time we hold personal information; and
• how customers might access this information.

Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI)

In addition, Section 222 of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 provides additional privacy protections for certain information related to our phone and internet services:

• Information which relates to the quantity, technical configuration, type, destination, and amount of use of a telecommunications service subscribed to by any customer,
• Information contained in the bills pertaining to telephone exchange service or telephone toll service received by a customer of a carrier.

That information is known as customer proprietary network information or CPNI for short. This notice, which includes our CPNI Policy, describes what CPNI information we obtain, how we protect it, and how it may be used. If you are a customer of our phone and internet services, you have the right, and Rice Belt has a duty, under the Communications Act and applicable state law, to protect the confidentiality of CPNI. In addition, the FCC’s rules provide additional privacy protections specific to our phone services.

In plain language, CPNI is information contained within your account records that may reveal who, when, where or how a customer uses their phone, internet, or cable. It also includes any information on the customer’s bill revealing what services or toll service the customer currently uses.

The Cable Act prohibits us from using the cable system to collect personal information concerning any subscriber for any purposes other than those listed above without the subscriber’s prior written or electronic consent.

The Communications Act prohibits us from using CPNI for any purposes except as permitted or required by law or with your approval.
More detailed information is available at www.fcc.gov.

Customer Proprietary Network Information Notice / Opt-Out Form

Contact Preferences and Opt-Out Choices

E-mail

Rice Belt utilizes email as an effective way to communicate with our customers, in an ecologically sound way. We may send welcome messages as well as service-related messages, including price changes, service appointments, product updates, and/or change in features. These message are important for continued service so you may not opt-out of these service-related emails.

We reserve the right to send you promotional e-mails as permitted by applicable law. To opt-out of receiving promotional or marketing e-mails from Rice Belt, you may:

• Easily use the unsubscribe link in the footer of any e-mail sent by Rice Belt.
• Unsubscribe by signing into your account on ricebelt.net and indicating your opt-out preference within your account preferences.

Direct Mail or Telemarketing

To opt-out of receiving direct mail or telemarketing calls from Rice Belt, contact us at:

If you choose to write to us, please include your name, address, and phone number and select one of the following options:

• “NO PHONE OFFERS” (if you don’t want to receive offers by phone)
• “NO MAIL OFFERS” (if you don’t want to receive offers by mail); or
• “NO PHONE OR MAIL OFFERS” (if you don’t want to receive either)

Note: Because mailings often are prepared well in advance (12-16 weeks, in many cases) you may continue to receive some offers after you send us your request.

Privacy Policy for Children Under 13

We don’t knowingly collect personally identifying information from anyone under the age of 13 (for example: name, address, social security number, email address) unless we first obtain permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian. Any online contests, sweepstakes, or mobile access is therefore restricted to entrants who are 13 years or older.

California Privacy Rights

Under California Civil Code sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to ask us for a notice describing what categories of personal information we share with third parties or corporate affiliates for those third parties for direct marketing purposes. That notice will identify the categories of personal information shared with third parties and used for direct marketing purposes and the name and address of the third parties that received such personal information.

If you are a California resident and want a copy of this notice, please submit a written request to the following address:

In your request, please specify that you want a “Your Rice Belt Telephone Company, Inc. California Privacy Rights Notice.” Please allow 30 days for a response.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page and/or at the time we enter into a service agreement with current or new customers. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page.

Contacting Rice Belt

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact us at:

Phone

(870) 684-2288

Website

http://www.ricebelt.net/contact

Mail