privacy policy

Mid Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc. dba Mid-Plains Communications (here in after “Mid-Plains,” “Company,” “our,” “us,” or “we”) is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of our customers and business partners. Protecting your private information or Personally Identifiable Information is our priority. Accordingly, we deploy a standard of least privilege and least access through role-based access to minimize risk. We utilize policies, controls, and evidence review to ensure our standards are understood and effective. We train our workforce and partners about their obligation to safeguard customer information and communications, and we hold them accountable for their actions. 

This Privacy Policy applies to Mid-Plains-managed assets, systems, and data, including https://midplains.coop/ (the “Website”), but it is not exclusive to it. By using any managed asset or system or by using the Website, you consent to the data practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this Privacy Policy.

Definitions

• Personal Identifiable Information or “personal information” refers to any information that can be used to identify a specific individual. This includes information that is directly linked to a person, such as their name, date of birth, social security number, or email address, as well as information that can be used to identify them indirectly, such as their physical characteristics, biometric data, or online identifiers like IP addresses or device identifiers.

• Allowable Tracked Information refers to the specific types of data that a website or application is permitted to collect, use, and share with third parties. Examples of allowable tracked information that a website or application may collect and use could include: User behavior data, such as website usage patterns, search history, or clickstream data; location data, such as GPS data or IP address; demographic information, such as age, gender, or occupation; contact information, such as email address or phone number; or financial information, such as credit card numbers or payment information.

• Third Party refers to any entity that is not directly affiliated with Mid-Plains or Mid-Plains’ Website that is collecting or processing user data. This can include companies that provide services or products to the Company, analytics providers, or other third-party service providers. Examples of third parties that may be involved in the collection and processing of user data include: Analytics providers that collect data on user behavior and provide insights to the organization, or payment processors or financial institutions that process transactions and collect payment information, etc.

• Cookies refer to text files placed on a computer, mobile phone, or other device used to navigate the internet. Cookies transmit information back to the website’s server about the browsing activities of the user and may also be used to collect and store information about your preferences after you visit a website.

Collection of Your Personal Information

Mid-Plains limits the collection, use, retention, and disclosure of personal information to what is reasonably necessary and proportionate to achieve the purposes for which the personal information was collected or processed. Mid-Plains also limits secondary use to that which is compatible with the original purpose of the personal information collection.

When you visit our Website, you may provide us with two types of information: personal information that you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individualized basis, and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our Website.

You may also be required to provide certain personal information to us when you elect to use certain products or services by (a) registering for an account, (b) entering a sweepstake or contest sponsored by us or one of our partners, (c) signing up for special offers from selected third parties, (d) sending us an email message, and (e) submitting your credit card or other payment information when ordering and purchasing products and services.

We will use your information for, but not limited to, communicating with you in relation to services and/or products you have requested from us. Mid-Plains uses information about customers in defined and responsible ways in order to manage, provide, and improve its products, services, and operations for its customers. This information will be used for internal purposes only and will not be shared with any third party. It shall not be used for any improper or unlawful purpose.

Mid-Plains retains customer information for such periods of time as required by law or regulation or as reasonably necessary to provide services.

Sharing Information with Third Parties

Mid-Plains does not share customer information with third parties, except at the customer’s request, with the customer’s consent, or as described below. Mid-Plains does not sell, rent, or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Mid-Plains may share allowable tracked information with trusted partners to help perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. This information will not include personal information. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to the Company, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

Representative third parties include:

• Vendors: Mid-Plains may provide information to our vendors who help us do things like provide services features, monitor Website activity, maintain databases, and assist us in hosting; and where they may observe information about you in the same way as described herein. We also use third-party vendors to provide services related to hosting the Website, providing technical support, updating records in our database, and sending or coordinating marketing communications on our behalf.
• Marketing: The information you provide on the Website may also be used by Mid-Plains for marketing purposes, such as when you subscribe to receive marketing communications or newsletters. Your information will not be provided to third parties for any third-party marketing purposes. You may choose to stop receiving our marketing communications at any time by opting out by following the unsubscribed instructions included in those communications, or you can contact us at midplains@midplains.coop.
• Third-Party Support: While not routine, Mid-Plains may provide your information to persons or entities in connection with our own business operations, such as to our auditors or counsel, or in connection with a major change in our business (such as an acquisition). In these instances, the Company will ensure that such persons or entities are subject to obligations to keep the information confidential and use the information only for the purpose we provided it to them.

Mid-Plains may disclose your personal information, without notice, if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on the Company or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of the Company; and/or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users or the public.

Tracking User Behavior

Mid-Plains may keep track of the websites and pages our users visit within Mid-Plains to identify trends among Mid-Plains services. Mid-Plains may use this data to deliver customized content and advertising to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.

Automatically Collected Information

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect allowable tracked information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

• Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data, and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
• Information about your device and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, domain names, access times, and browser type.

Mid-Plains uses this allowable tracked information to operate the Website, maintain the quality of the Website, and assess Website usage.

Use of Cookies

The Website may use “cookies” to personalize your online experience. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user’s web browser on the user’s hard drive. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you personalize website pages or register with our Website or services, a cookie helps Mid-Plains to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, etc. When you return to the same website, you can easily retrieve the information you previously provided.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Mid-Plains services or our Website.

Links

This Website may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that Mid-Plains is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects Personally Identifiable Information.

E-mail Communications

From time to time, Mid-Plains may contact you via email for the purpose of providing announcements, promotional offers, alerts, confirmations, surveys, and/or other general communication. To improve our services, we may receive a notification when you open an email from Mid-Plains or click on a link therein.

If you would like to stop receiving marketing or promotional communications via email from Mid-Plains, you may opt out of such communications by clicking the “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the email.

If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages along with your email address and our responses. We also may send automated messages to you pertaining to your account, such as billing invoices and other notices. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail or telephone. We ask that you not provide us with confidential information such as social security or account numbers through unsecured email. You may also contact us by phone, U.S. mail, or by visiting our location.

Children Under Thirteen

Mid-Plains does not provide services to children. Our website is not targeted or marketed to children under the age of thirteen. We respect the privacy of your children, and we comply with the practices established under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. We do not knowingly collect or retain personally identifiable information from consumers under the age of thirteen.

Security of Your Personal Information

All Mid-Plains employees are responsible for safeguarding individual customer communications and information.

• Mid-Plains takes reasonable precautions to protect personal information against unauthorized access. Mid-Plains requires all personnel to protect the privacy of all forms of customer communications as well as individual customer records.
• Mid-Plains secures all customer personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure with Secure Sockets Layers protocol (SSL). This technology encrypts, or scrambles, your information so it’s virtually impossible to read by anyone other than employees at our company. SSL technology secretly encodes information that is being sent over the Internet between your computer and our website, helping to ensure that the information remains confidential.
• Mid-Plains uses SSL protocol to protect your personal information when you interact with a third-party website (such as when making a payment). Once the data is transmitted, the third party’s policies will govern the protection of your personal information.

We strive to take appropriate, commercially acceptable security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or alteration of your personal information. While we strive to protect your personal information, you acknowledge that: (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet that are beyond Mid-Plains’ control; and (b) security, integrity, and privacy of information and data exchanged between you and us through this Website cannot be guaranteed; and (c) no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is one hundred percent secure. Any transmission of information over the internet is at your own risk. Mid-Plains is not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website by any person or entity.

Services to Enhance Your Privacy

You may choose to have a non-published number that will eliminate your telephone number from Mid-Plains’ printed directory or directory assistance. The non-published number will not be provided to other directory publishers or directory assistance providers.

You may choose to have a non-listed number. Non-listed numbers are not available in the Mid-Plains printed directory, but are publicly available through directory assistance. These numbers may be provided to other directory assistance providers.



You may also choose to exclude partial or all address information from your listings. Privacy management services, such as Caller ID and Caller ID blocking, are available to customers. 

CPNI Notice

Information typically available from details on a customer’s monthly telephone bill that has been obtained in the normal course of providing telephone service is known as Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). CPNI might include the type of line, technical characteristics, class of service, current telephone charges, local and long-distance billing records, directory assistance charges, usage data, and calling patterns. 

Mid-Plains does not sell CPNI in any form, including billing records, types of service, and calling habits to third-party providers. We do not use CPNI for marketing purposes, nor do we provide CPNI to any third party, except as required by law or in certain normal courses of business, as explained below. 

• When you dial 911, information about your location may be automatically transmitted to a public safety agency.
• Certain information about your long-distance calls is transmitted to your billing company for billing purposes. 
• As necessary, Mid-Plains must disclose information to comply with court orders or subpoenas. We will also share information to protect our rights or property and to protect the use of our services and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of services.
• Mid-Plains may also use third parties or contractors to do work for the Company, such as billing services. These third-party contractors have the same obligations as our regular employees concerning the confidentiality of our customer information. In cases where it is necessary to provide CPNI to a third party, we require that those parties sign an agreement that they will protect the confidentiality of our customers’ CPNI.
• We may, where permitted by law, provide personal information to credit bureaus or provide information and/or sell receivables to collection agencies to obtain payment for our products and services. We will enter into appropriate confidentiality agreements with Mid-Plains or companies with whom we deal in this regard.

Under Federal Law, you have the right to, and we have the duty to protect the confidentiality of your telecommunications service information. Although it is our policy not to use or provide CPNI to others for marketing purposes, under Federal Communication Commission rules, without further authorization from you, we can use CPNI to offer you services of the type you already purchase from us, or we may share CPNI with our other Mid-Plains deregulated companies that offer different categories of service, if they already have an existing service relationship with you. Mid-Plains has other deregulated companies that offer long-distance and Internet services. Mid-Plains has notified our customers regarding our use of CPNI. However, if you decide you do not want us to use CPNI to offer you new services, please notify the business office, and your records will be marked accordingly.