Website Privacy Policy

The Ponderosa Telephone Company and its affiliates (collectively “Ponderosa”) is committed to respecting the privacy rights of our customers, visitors, and other users of this Website (the “Site”). This includes all privacy rights created under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 including the right to know, right to delete, right to opt-out, and the right to non-discrimination. We believe that when you use any of our products or services, you should understand when and how personal information is collected, used, disclosed and protected. We do not sell your personal information to third parties without your consent.

We created this Website Privacy Policy (“the Policy”) to give you confidence as you visit and use the Site, and to demonstrate our commitment to fair information practices and privacy protection. This Policy is only applicable to the Site, and not to other services offered by us nor any other websites that you may be able to access from the Site. By using the Site, and confirming you are over the age of 13, you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as permitted by law and described in this Policy.

California customers, pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act, have the following rights: (1) the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information that are being collected about them; (2) the right to delete personal information gathered about them that is not subject to one of the exceptions in the California Consumer Privacy Act; (3) the right to instruct a company not to sell their personal information and to request the company to instruct all third parties who received this information to stop selling the information; and (4) the right to not be discriminated against for exercising any of their privacy rights. As permitted by the federal law governing Customer Proprietary Network Information (“CPNI”), Ponderosa shares personal information between its affiliates for its own marketing purposes, but we do not disclose or sell customers’ personal information to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. We do sometimes disclose personal information to third parties when we use agents, contractors, or companies to perform services on our behalf, however, we advise them that they must protect your personal information, and that they may not disclose such information except in limited circumstances permitted under the California Consumer Privacy Act, such as cooperating with law enforcement. California customers may contact us and exercise any of their rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act by contacting us toll-free at 1.800.682.1878, emailing us at customercare@goponderosa.com, or sending any correspondence to Eric Vargas, Customer Operations Director, Ponderosa Telephone Company, P.O. Box 21, O’Neals, CA 93645.

We collect information about users of our products or services in the normal course of our business, and through our Site. When you visit or browse our Site, you may provide us with personal information that can be directly associated with a specific person or entity and website use information regarding a group or category of services or customers. We may also collect information from other sources and combine it with your account information.

Our web servers automatically receive certain types of information when you use our Site, for example, your domain name and IP address(es), date and time of visits, the type of browser you use, the website from which your visit originated, page visits, time spent on web pages, and other similar website “traffic data.” No personal information about you is revealed in this process. We do not set any personally identifiable information in cookies. We only use cookies to collect website usage information so that we can determine how to improve our Site, complete transactions you request, and track your selections in order to make appropriate recommendations about our products and services. You can generally choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings on your website browser. However, if you choose to disable this function, your experience at our Site may be diminished and some features may not work as they were intended.

We use your personal and website use information in order to provide optimal customer service, engage in our business activities, and inform you about other products or services.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties without your consent. We may use your personal information to verify your identity, check your qualifications for services, or to follow up with transactions initiated on the Site. We may also use your contact information to send you additional information about our company. If at any time you do not wish to receive these communications, please let us know by calling us toll-free at 1.800.682.1878, emailing us at customercare@goponderosa.com, or sending any correspondence to Customer Care, PO Box 21, O’Neals, CA 93645. When we use other agents, contractors, or companies to perform services on our behalf, we advise them that they are to protect your confidential information, and not disclose such information except in limited circumstances permitted under the California Consumer Privacy Act such as cooperating with law enforcement.

We use aggregate information to analyze our Site traffic, but we do not examine this information for individually identifying information. We may use anonymous IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our site, or display website content according to your preferences.

We will disclose personal information only if required to do so by law or in good-faith belief that we need to do so to: (1) conform or adhere to legal requirements; (2) comply with civil, criminal, or regulatory investigations; (3) protect and defend our rights or our property, or the users of the Site; (4) act in case of emergency to protect the safety of the public or users of the Site; and (5) provide information to consumer reporting agencies.

Under federal law, you have the right and we have the duty to ensure the confidentiality of information about your telephone usage, the types of services purchased, who you call, telephone usage, bill summary, and current charges. This information is sometimes referred to as (“Customer Proprietary Network Information,”) or (“CPNI.”} We do not disclose this information with outside affiliates other than our authorized agents. Before we share your CPNI information with any person or entity other than our authorized agents, we will first notify you of your rights under the law, describe how we intend to use the CPNI and give you the option to opt-out of such information usage.

Our Site is a general audience site, and we do not direct any of our content specifically at children under 16 years of age. We understand and are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children’s privacy online. We also recognize that many parents purchase products and services for family use, including use by children under the age of 16, without our knowledge. Any information collected from such accounts would appear to us as the personal information of the subscribing adult customer, and will be treated as such under this Policy. If we make available offers and products online where a child informs us that he or she is under the age of 13, or we otherwise learn or have reason to suspect that a Site user is under 13, we will ask a parent to confirm his/her consent in advance of further collection, use or disclosure of personal information from that child. At any time, parents may exercise all privacy rights on behalf of their minor children, including the right to know, the right to delete, the right to opt-out, and the right to non-discrimination.

We maintain a variety of physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to prevent the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information that we obtain from you, but we cannot guarantee our ability to prevent loss, misuse or alteration.

The Site may contain links to other websites. If you choose to visit other websites, our Policy is no longer in effect. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of other websites, and it is your responsibility to review the privacy policies of other websites to ensure that you agree to their policies.

We may revise, amend, or modify this Policy from time to time. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted on the Site, and/or on your start pages and/or by email and/or in mailings to your primary email account and will be effective on the date noted in the posting. This Policy may not be amended or modified by you except by means of a written document signed by both you and one of our authorized representatives. By continuing to use our services and products after the amendments are effective, you accept and agree to abide by them.

If you wish to exercise your privacy rights or have any questions, comments or complaints concerning this Policy, please contact us toll-free at 1.800.682.1878, emailing us at customercare@goponderosa.com, or sending any correspondence to Customer Care, PO Box 21, O’Neals, CA 93645.