Privacy Policy
Guadalupe Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., including its subsidiary Guadalupe Valley Communications Systems, L.P. and other subsidiaries (collectively “GVTC”) is committed to protecting its customers' privacy and the privacy of those that visit this website. Users should review this privacy policy to better understand GVTC's views and practices, and how they pertain to them as customers of GVTC’s various Online and Internet Access services (collectively “Online Services”) or visitors or users of this website.
What types of information does GVTC collect?
GVTC may collect two types of information: personal information and non-personal information. "Personal Information" refers to information that is particular to you, such as, your name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. "Non-personal information" refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. This information may include GVTC's website IP Address or Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") that you just came from, what browser you are using and your Internet Protocol ("IP") address.
GVTC may collect information you voluntarily provide when you personalize your user profile and utilize the features of our Online Services. GVTC may request optional information from you to support your use of our Online Services such as your year of birth, gender and other demographic information. We collect information from the content that you choose to submit during your use of our Online Services, such as photos, comments, and ratings. Information you provide online may also be used to provide you with a more personalized experience, including through social networks.
Please also review the GVTC Network Management and Open Internet Policy for additional information regarding the interaction of the GVTC Network and your use of the Online Services.
How do we collect information from you?
In general, GVTC does not collect Personal Information on our website or other Online services without your knowledge and active participation, as discussed herein. You may visit our site without divulging any Personal Information; however, there are areas of this site that may require you to provide Personal Information in order to contact GVTC directly, including but not limited to, when registering e-mails, obtaining remote access, and contacting online technical support.
Information is collected on this site in the following ways:
- Referring Information
When you browse GVTC’s website or use our Online Services, GVTC may collect IP addresses for the purposes of system administration, to gather broad demographic information, and to monitor the level of activity on our site. GVTC may collect information from visitors to our site regarding the referring URL, your IP address, 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 while visiting our website or using our Online Services. - Cookies
"Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer hard drive. Our cookies do not contain any personally identifying information. Your web browser may allow you to be notified when you are receiving a cookie, giving you the choice to accept it or not. While you can still navigate through our site if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to register for e-mails or obtain remote access from GVTC. To use certain GVTC Online Services, your web browser must accept Cookies. If you choose to disable Cookies, some aspects of our Online Services may not work properly. - E-mail, Text messages, and other Correspondence
If you send e-mail, text messages, and other forms of electronic correspondence through GVTC’s website or other Online Services, GVTC may retain your name, e-mail address, address, telephone number, etc., contained in such correspondence. GVTC may periodically send you e-mails or other company information. GVTC will not send you marketing or promotional e-mails if you have previously requested us not to do so. GVTC reserves the right to send you account-related e-mail notifications. GVTC will not send you text messages unless you have agreed to receive them. - Network Traffic
GVTC may access broadband traffic through deep packet inspection or similar means for the purposes of general maintenance and management of the network, as well as access broadband traffic upon request as required by law enforcement officials or court order.
How is your Personal Information used?
GVTC uses your information to tailor the features, performance, and support of Online Services, in connection with delivering its products and services to you. GVTC strives to deliver a compelling online experience that will ensure customers continuing to use the service. GVTC uses the information to personalize portions of the service. Some personalized services are available directly from GVTC, while others may be offered by its content partners. In addition, GVTC analyzes and evaluates customer input of its offerings to improve its services.
GVTC also uses Personal Information to provide you with information or samples you have requested and we use the non-personal information we collect to provide you with an enhanced experience.
GVTC does not rent, sell or trade your private information to any non-affiliated third party.
Who else is collecting your information?
GVTC is not responsible for third party websites you access through links on GVTC’s website or through use of our Online Services. GVTC does not control, nor is it responsible for, the privacy policies of third parties or their websites which may be collecting your information.
With whom do we share your information?
GVTC collects and reciprocally shares limited Personal Information between its GVTC.com website and Synacor, which hosts GVTC’s MyGVTC.com news & information portal to provide a more personalized experience. Such collection and sharing in this instance is limited to those accessing the MyGVTC.com service.
GVTC shares your content preferences and other information with (i) the social network from which you have connected to through GVTC’s website or online services; and (ii) with those companies and persons you share your information with through use of GVTC’s website or Online Services.
When you use GVTC’s website or certain of our Online Services, certain information you post or provide, such as name, profile, comments, posts and ratings, are shared with other users and posted on publicly available portions of GVTC’s web presence, including without limitation, chatrooms and bulletin and message boards. Please keep in mind, if you choose to disclose personal information when posting comments or other information or content through public GVTC Online Services, this information may become publicly available and may be collected and used by others, including people outside the GVTC online community.
GVTC will never willfully disclose individually identifiable information about its customers to a third party without first receiving that customer's permission unless GVTC believes in good faith that the law requires it or if necessary to protect the rights or property of GVTC.
How does GVTC protect your Personal Information?
GVTC takes precautions to protect your Personal Information against unauthorized access by retaining the information on a secure server, which is only accessible by authorized personnel.
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. While we diligently pursue efforts to protect your Personal Information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you provide such information at your own risk.
GVTC takes special care in attempting to protect the safety and privacy of young people using its services. The GVTC site does not knowingly collect information about children and most of its site is not specifically directed to children.
How do you provide consent?
By using GVTC's website and accessing or using our online services, you agree with our Privacy Statement and our policies and procedures contained herein regarding the collection and sharing of your information.
Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to use our MyGVTC.com online services and we do not intentionally collect or maintain Personal Information from those who are under 13 years old. Protecting the privacy of children is very important to us. Thus, if we obtain actual knowledge that a user is under 13, we will take steps to remove that user’s Personal Information from our databases. We recommend that children between the ages of 13 and 18 obtain their parents’ permission before submitting information over the Internet. By using GVTC’s Online Services, you are representing that you are at least 18 years old, or that you are at least 13 years old and have your parents’ permission to use GVTC’s Online Services.
Your Choices Regarding Your Personal Information
We offer you choices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Information. When you receive promotional communications from us via e-mail, you will have the opportunity to “opt-out” by following the “unsubscribe” instructions provided in the promotional e-mail you receive or by contacting us directly at [email protected]. Despite your indicated e-mail preferences, we may send you administrative e-mails regarding GVTC services, including, for example, administrative confirmations, and notices of updates to our Privacy Policy.
You may change any of your profile information by editing it in the profile settings page. You may request deletion of your Personal Information by contacting us at [email protected], but please note that we may be required (by law or otherwise) to keep this information and not delete it (or to keep this information for a certain time, in which case we will comply with your deletion request, only after we have fulfilled such requirements). When we delete Personal Information, it will be deleted from the active database, but may remain in our archives.
Feedback
If you provide feedback to us, we may use and disclose such feedback for any purpose, provided we do not associate such feedback with your Personal Information. We will collect any information contained in such feedback and will treat any Personal Information in it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You agree that any such comments and any e-mail we receive becomes our property. We may use feedback for marketing purposes or to add to or modify our services, without paying any royalties or other compensation to you.
How often are changes made to the Privacy Statement and how will you learn of the changes?
GVTC reserves the right to change, modify or update this Privacy Statement at any time without notice. In the event of any modification, we will post the changes in this Privacy Statement 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 Statement to which you are bound.