Privacy Statement
Coastal Electric Cooperative is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of our members. As discussed below, we have strict policies governing access by employees and others to member communications and information. We access member accounts, records, or reports for authorized business purposes only. We educate our employees about their obligation to safeguard member information and communications, and we hold them accountable for their actions. In short, privacy is a priority for Coastal Electric Cooperative in all aspects of our business.
This Member Privacy Policy is divided into four sections: Section I: general principles that express Coastal Electric Cooperative’s commitment to assuring strong and meaningful member privacy protection; Section II: Coastal Electric Cooperative’s protection of the confidentiality of Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI); Section III: Coastal Electric Cooperative’s “Do Not Call” practices, which are designed to protect our members from unwanted telemarketing; and Section IV: Coastal Electric Cooperative’s contact information should you have any questions about this policy or Coastal Electric Cooperative’s privacy practices more generally.
General Privacy Principles
The following principles express Coastal Electric Cooperative’s commitment to assuring strong and meaningful member privacy protection, and are intended to guide Coastal Electric Cooperative’s efforts to balance member privacy with member interest in receiving quality services. These principles apply to our use of "individual" member information – that is, information about specific members. “Individual” member information includes “personal information” – information particular to you, including your address, phone number, fax number and email address – and “non-personal information” that may include information such as your network traffic data, services and features used or call record details. These policies are fully consistent with applicable laws and regulations governing privacy, including the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”). Individual member information is distinct from “aggregated” member information, which does not reveal a member's identity. Further, the examples provided below are intended to be illustrative, not all-inclusive.
1. Coastal Electric Cooperative Obtains and Uses Individual Member Information for Business Purposes Only.
Coastal Electric Cooperative obtains and uses member information that helps us to provide our members with quality telecommunications services. In addition to supporting the direct provision of service, this information may be used to protect members, employees, and property against fraud, theft or abuse; to conduct industry or consumer surveys; and to maintain good member relations. Access to databases containing member information is limited to employees who need that information to perform their jobs. These employees are required to follow strict rules when handling member information, and are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to do so.
In order to better serve our members, we may ask them questions to elicit additional information about their special needs and interests. For example, we may ask whether members work at home, whether any members of the household have special needs, or whether teenagers reside in the household in order to determine whether members may be interested in or might benefit from additional lines or services. In all cases, the information we gather is used to facilitate the provision of quality member service. We do not share this information with third parties to market non-Coastal Electric Cooperative services to our members.
2. Coastal Electric Cooperative Collects Information from Members in a Number of Different Ways.
Coastal Electric Cooperative may collect information from you through communications such as via the web, or by phone, email or mail delivery, or through the services provided to you as the member.
You may visit our site without divulging any personal information; however, there are areas of the website that might require personal information in order to contact Coastal Electric Cooperative directly, specifically, when registering email, obtaining remote access, and contacting online technical support.
Information may also be collected in the following ways:
Browsing Our Site
IP addresses may be collected for the purposes of system administration, to gather broad demographic information, and to monitor the level of activity on our site.
Information may be collected regarding the referring URL, which browser you used to come to our site, and the pages of our site that you viewed during your visit and any search terms entered on our site.
Email may be sent by the member to Coastal Electric Cooperative on this website. Coastal Electric Cooperative may retain the information in any email that you send to us, such as your name, email, address, or telephone number.
Provision of Information by Third Parties
Coastal Electric Cooperative may obtain credit information about you from third parties when you purchase products or services from Coastal Electric Cooperative.
Information Collected on Our Websites
We collect data about visitors to our subscriber website, using some automated means such as Google Analytics, and reserve the right to use other methods such as cookies, clear GIFs, and passive automatic electronic collection. We may work with third-party companies to engage in such collection.
Log Files
Our log tracking collects visitors’ IP addresses to analyze trends, administer our website, track visitor movement, and gather broad demographic information to help determine the type of information visitors are interested in seeing on our website. This tracking only collects IP addresses and not personally identifiable information. Visitors are not personally identifiable within our log files. Coastal Electric Cooperative only uses this information for internal purposes and does not share this information with non-affiliated companies or institutions.
Cookies
A “Cookie” is a piece of information that is sent from a Coastal Electric Cooperative web server to a visitor’s browser and stored on the visitor’s hard drive. Coastal Electric Cooperative uses Cookies when a member or visitor orders a product or registers for a specific program. The Cookie stores information that allows Coastal Electric Cooperative’s website to remember a member or visitor the next time he or she visits it. Cookies also allow us to tailor our website to better match members’ or other visitors’ interests and preferences. The applicable party may choose to disable Cookies by changing his or her browser settings; however, such party may not be able to access some of the information or features on our website after doing so.
3. Coastal Electric Cooperative Informs Members Regarding How Information Is Used.
Coastal Electric Cooperative uses member information in a transparent fashion, and discloses to members the types of information Coastal Electric Cooperative obtains about them how and when that information is used, when that information might be disclosed, the stringent measures we employ to protect that information, and ways that members can restrict the use or disclosure of that information. This Privacy Policy is available here on our website and from Coastal Electric Cooperative service representatives.
4. Coastal Electric Cooperative Gives Members Opportunities To Control Access to Information.
Coastal Electric Cooperative is committed to providing members with opportunities to control how Coastal Electric Cooperative uses member information about them. Members may opt out of our direct mailings and other service marketing programs. A member may indicate a change in such preferences at any time by contacting Coastal Electric Cooperative member service.
We do use individual member information internally for planning purposes – so that we can, for example, develop, test and market new products and services that meet the needs of our members. Ordinarily, such information is combined into aggregations that do not include individual member identities. Under certain circumstances, we are required by law to disclose the aggregated information to other companies, but in such cases member identities are not included.
5. Coastal Electric Cooperative Enables Members To Control How Coastal Electric Cooperative Discloses Individual Information.
Ordinarily, Coastal Electric Cooperative will only share individual member information with persons or entities outside the cooperative to assist us in the provision of services to which the member subscribes, or as required by law or to protect the safety of members, employees, or property. We do not use third-party marketers, nor do we share access to individual member information derived from the provision of Coastal Electric Cooperative telecommunications services with other companies interested in marketing other services to our members – and we would not do so without the consent of the member. Coastal Electric Cooperative is committed to ensuring that member information is not used without the knowledge and permission of our members.
However, there are exceptions to our general practice. For example, unless you request otherwise, we may share certain non-sensitive information with our affiliated companies with whom we have established business relationships.6. All Coastal Electric Cooperative Employees Are Responsible For Safeguarding Member Communications and Information.
Coastal Electric Cooperative takes reasonable precautions to protect your personal information against unauthorized access. Coastal Electric Cooperative requires Coastal Electric Cooperative personnel to be aware of and protect the privacy of all forms of member communications as well as individual member records. Coastal Electric Cooperative makes clear that employees who fail to comply with its privacy policies will face disciplinary action, which can include dismissal. All employees are trained regarding their responsibilities to safeguard member privacy. We strive to ensure that information we have about our members is accurate, secure, and confidential, and to ensure that our employees comply with our privacy policy.
We never tamper with, intrude upon or disclose the existence or contents of any communication or transmission, except as required by law or the proper management of our network. Access to databases containing member information is limited to employees who need it to perform their jobs – and they follow strict guidelines when handling that information. We use safeguards to increase data accuracy and to identify and authenticate the sources of member information. We use locks and physical security measures, sign-on and password control procedures, and internal auditing techniques to protect against unauthorized use of terminals and entry into our data systems. Coastal Electric Cooperative requires that records be safeguarded from loss, theft, unauthorized disclosure, and accidental destruction.
In addition, sensitive, confidential, or proprietary records are protected and maintained in a secure environment. It is our policy to destroy records containing sensitive, confidential, or proprietary information in a secure manner. Hard copy confidential, proprietary, or sensitive documents are made unreadable before disposition or recycling, and electronic media must be destroyed using methods that prevent access to information stored in that type of media. Just as employees would report stolen property, missing records and suspicious incidents involving records are referred to Coastal Electric Cooperative Management. We encourage our employees to be proactive in implementing and enforcing Coastal Electric Cooperative’s privacy policies. If employees become aware of practices that raise privacy or security concerns, they are required to report them to their supervisors.
Coastal Electric Cooperative’s regulatory department is responsible for ensuring that all Coastal Electric Cooperative business units and their employees comply with privacy laws and regulations. Coastal Electric Cooperative also requires any consultants, suppliers, and contractors that may come into contact with member proprietary information to observe these privacy rules with respect to any of our members’ individual member information. They must abide by these principles when conducting work for us, and they will be held accountable for their actions.
7. Coastal Electric Cooperative Takes Special Care to Protect the Safety and Privacy of Young People Using Its Services.
Coastal Electric Cooperative does not knowingly collect information about children. Coastal Electric Cooperative believes that children should get their parents’ consent before giving out any personal information. Coastal Electric Cooperative encourages parents and legal guardians to participate in their child’s experience using Coastal Electric Cooperative’s services. Children should always ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to Coastal Electric Cooperative.
8. Coastal Electric Cooperative Complies with All Applicable Privacy Laws and Regulations Wherever Coastal Electric Cooperative Does Business.
Member and policymaker perceptions of privacy have changed over time and will continue to do so. Changes in technology can also alter what is appropriate in protecting privacy. Laws may change accordingly. We regularly examine – and update as necessary –Coastal Electric Cooperative’s privacy policies and internal procedures to ensure compliance with applicable law and evolving technology. Coastal Electric Cooperative also will monitor member needs and expectations. Coastal Electric Cooperative will work with policymakers and consumers to ensure that we continue to safeguard privacy, giving customers choices, flexibility and control. Coastal Electric Cooperative considers privacy laws and regulations to be the minimum standards to which we will adhere in protecting privacy. In addition to complying with the law, Coastal Electric Cooperative will adhere to its internal privacy policies and procedures wherever we do business.
9. Coastal Electric Cooperative Gives an Authorized Government Agency Access to Member Information Only Upon Valid Request.
Coastal Electric Cooperative may release member information in response to requests from governmental agencies, including law enforcement and national security agencies, in accordance with federal statutory requirements or pursuant to court order. Before releasing any member information, Coastal Electric Cooperative will ensure that the underlying governmental request satisfies all procedural and substantive legal requirements and is otherwise proper. For example, Coastal Electric Cooperative will ensure that any court orders are valid, properly issued, and legally enforceable. Except as required by law or with the approval of the member, Coastal Electric Cooperative will not release any member information in response to subpoenas or similar requests issued by private parties. Further, Coastal Electric Cooperative will be diligent in authenticating the validity of any “governmental” request to ensure that the request actually originates from an authorized government agency.
Further Information
While we have made significant efforts to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure and we will not be held liable should a third party illegally obtain your personal information via Internet transmission.
Coastal Electric Cooperative reserves the right to change, modify or update this Privacy Policy at any time without notice. In the event of any modification, we will post the changes in this Privacy Policy so that you will always know what information we are gathering and how we might use that information. However, if such changes are material, we will either announce the change on the home page of the site or take such other action as we deem appropriate under the circumstances. Accordingly, you should periodically visit this page to determine the current Privacy Policy to which you are bound.
If you have any questions or comments concerning this Member Privacy Policy, or if you believe that the Cooperative has not adhered to its privacy policy, please contact us, call Coastal Electric Cooperative’s member service department at (912) 884-3311. You may also contact Coastal Electric Cooperative via regular mail at Coastal Electric Cooperative, 1265 South Coastal Highway, Midway, GA 31320-0109.