Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc.
PRIVACY POLICY
Last Updated and Effective: June 13, 2024

Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. d/b/a Mid-Rivers Communications (“Mid-Rivers”) delivers telecommunications services that enhance education, health and quality of life. We respect your privacy and the protection of your personal information. This privacy policy describes what personal information we collect when you access and use our communications and other services, our website (www.midrivers.com) and our mobile applications (“My Mid-Rivers” and “CommandIQ”) (collectively, our “Services”) and how we use and share that information. This policy may change from time to time. When we revise this privacy policy, we will update the effective date listed above. Your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

Information We Collect
We collect information from you directly when you provide it to us directly, automatically as you navigate our Services, and from other sources, such as when a friend refers you to us.

The information we collect directly may include the following:

• Contact Data, such your name, address, email address and phone number.
• Identification Data, such as your social security number, date of birth, and gender.
• Demographic and Profile Data, such as your interactions with our member services, feedback, and survey responses.
• Credentials, such as usernames for your email account or SmartHub/My Mid-Rivers account.
• Payment Information, such as a credit card, debit card, or bank account number.
• Employment and Career Qualifications when you apply for a job with us.
• Academic Qualifications when you apply for one of our scholarship programs.

The information that we collect automatically may include:

• Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”) generated by your use of our communications services. Please see the CPNI section of this policy for more information.
• Usage, Service Performance and Diagnostic Information, including data use history, websites and URLs visited, data speeds, service performance, and other network analytics.
• Technical Data, including internet protocol (“IP”) address, cookies, web beacons, clear gifs, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types, operating system and platform, mobile network information and other technology on the devices you use to access our Services.
• Analytics Data, such as information about how you use our Services (for example time of day, duration of visit, pages visited, actions taken on pages, or other automatically collected meta-data), and/or our products and services.
• Geolocation data when you use our apps. You may be able to opt-out of sharing your location with us, however, certain features may not be accessible if location sharing is disabled.
• Social Media Information when you engage with us on social media platforms.

The information that we collect from other sources may include:

• Referral information, when a customer refers a friend.
• Financial institutions or credit agencies before or after initiating Services.
  
  

How We Use Information

We use the information that we collect from and about you to:

• Provide you our Services.
• Improve our Services, develop new offerings and perform analytics.
• Communicate with you about your account or Services.
• Personalize your experience when utilizing our Services.
• Respond to your questions, comments, and requests for information.
• Process any referrals you provide us.
• Advertise our Services.
• Process your job application.
• Act on your scholarship application.
• Notify you about changes to our Services.
• Protect the security and integrity of our Services and protect the users of our Services from fraudulent, malicious, deceptive or unlawful activities of others.
• Protect our rights and property.
• Cooperate with law enforcement and comply with and enforce applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including responding to government requests.
• Defend against or pursue legal claims, disputes or litigation.
  
  

How We Share Your Information
We may share your information for the purposes listed above with:

• Your consent, such as when you ask that we include your information in our print or Online Directory.
• The account holder or other authorized users of your account.
• Vendors or third-party service providers that support us in providing Services.
• Caller ID Providers and Directory Assistance.
• Where permitted by law, to credit bureaus, or collection agencies, to obtain payment for our products and services.
• Law enforcement or regulatory agencies, if required to do so by law or when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate, and
• Other entities in connection with the sale, merger, acquisition or other reorganization of our organization.

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

• SmartHub/My Mid-Rivers – You may access, correct, or delete certain information associated with your account by logging into your personal SmartHub/My Mid-Rivers account or our other applications.
• Mid-Rivers Wi-Fi – Information about deleting your Mid-Rivers Wi-Fi (MR Wi-Fi) app account and data is available by contacting us at customerservice@midrivers.coop.
  
  

CPNI
Information typically available from details about a customer’s monthly telephone usage 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-Rivers does not sell CPNI in any form, including billing records, types of service, and calling habits to third parties. Unless it first obtains a customer’s approval through FCC-approved methods, Mid-Rivers only uses CPNI for our own marketing purposes among categories of service to which the customer already subscribes. With customer approval, Mid-Rivers may share CPNI across product lines within the company and among company affiliates to better serve your communication needs.

We do not provide CPNI to any third party or affiliate, except as required by law or in the normal course 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-Rivers must disclose information to comply with court orders or subpoenas. We will also share information to protect our rights or property and to protect use of our services and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use of services.
• Mid-Rivers 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 or affiliate, Mid-Rivers requires that those parties sign an agreement that they will protect the confidentiality of our customers’ CPNI and will not use it for marketing purposes or sell to any other parties.

Internet Privacy
As stated in the Mid-Rivers Open Internet Policy, Mid-Rivers may occasionally collect information on network traffic specific to a particular incident when working with a customer to troubleshoot connection issues or other matters. This information is used ONLY for network troubleshooting purposes, and only information on packet source, destination, and port number is collected. Packet payload information (information other than the header information) is not examined in this process. This information is NOT stored by Mid-Rivers, is NOT provided to any third party, and is NOT utilized for any other purpose such as marketing. The Company may also identify BitTorrent usage as part of our normal billing processes and may from time to time contact users of that service to insure they are informed and aware of the Company’s Copyright Repeat Infringer Policy.

Mid-Rivers provides Internet Usage Detail information as a courtesy to our Internet customers. This information is printed on the customer’s bill and available online through our secure SmartHub and My Mid-Rivers account management tools. This information includes high-level details on the primary sources of the customer’s Internet data usage, such as “Netflix” or “Streaming Video,” but does not list specific Internet addresses or the specific content that was accessed. Only you, the authorized customer, or those individuals whom you have authorized to view your account information, may access this information.

Mid-Rivers does not collect, save, share, or sell ANY information regarding your Internet usage, the sites you visit (including our own website), searches you conduct, applications you use, or any other Internet-related data. However, other entities known as “edge providers” (Google, Amazon, and others), and any sites you may visit online, may collect data directly from your web browser or other online applications when you use the Internet. Other online parties with whom you do business may also collect and sell your information. Some web browsers may offer tools to help protect your privacy online, such as using the “Incognito mode” in Chrome.

Cookies
Our Services use “cookies” (a small, unique identifier text file) and tracking technology to help us gather information such as browser type and operating system; whether you accessed this website through a third-party link; and the number of visitors to this website and how visitors use this website. This information allows us to better understand how people use this website and improves its features.

If you prefer, you may opt out of the cookies by modifying your browser setting to decline cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block certain cookies you may not be able to access all or parts of our Services.

Children’s Information
Our Services, its products, and services are not directed toward children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly solicit or collect information from children under the age of 13.

Links to Other Websites
Our Services may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of these linked websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these sites before providing any personal information.

Security
We have taken appropriate security measures to safeguard your personal data by implementing reasonable technical and physical security measures based on the type of data we process. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website or your Mid-Rivers accounts or applications, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

Do Not Track
Our website does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at 904 C Avenue, Circle, MT 59215, 406-485-3301 or customerservice@midrivers.coop.