Privacy and Customer Security Policy

Alliance is committed to providing privacy protection in today’s ever evolving world. The goal of this Policy is to assure customers that Alliance is serious about privacy. If you have any questions about our policy, contact us here or call (605) 594–3411.

This Policy applies to the use of “individual customer information,” meaning, information about specific customers. Generally, information that does not reveal a customer’s identity is not considered to be individual customer information. As a specific example, “aggregated information,” such as the number of individuals that access a website on a particular day, does not raise a privacy concern and is not covered under this policy.

Information Collection and Use: Alliance obtains and uses individual customer information for business purposes only. We obtain information about our customers that helps to provide them with Alliance services. This information may also be used to protect customers, employees and property against fraud, theft or abuse; to conduct industry or consumer surveys; and to maintain good customer relations.

Customers have many opportunities to control how we use their individual information to introduce them to new products and services. For example, Alliance will not call customers who have expressed to us a preference not to be called for marketing purposes. Customers can also have their names removed from direct mail lists that we use. The same will be true for email if Alliance decides to use email to send new product information to its customers.

However, we do use individual customer information internally for our own general marketing and planning purposes. Unless we have your consent, such information is combined into aggregations that do not include individual customer identities. Under certain circumstances, we are required by law to disclose the aggregated information to other companies, but in such cases customer identities are not included.

Disclosure of Individual Customer Information: Alliance allows customers to control how and if Alliance discloses individual information about them to other persons or entities, except as required by law or to protect the safety of customers, employees or property. For example, if Alliance is served with valid legal process for customer identification, we may be required to release this information. In addition, under certain circumstances, we share customer information with other carriers and with law enforcement to prevent and investigate fraud and other unlawful use of communications services.

Subject to legal and safety exceptions, Alliance will share individual customer information collected by it only with persons or entities outside the company when the customer has consented to such action, or when we have advised the customer of the opportunity to “opt–out” (to choose not to have the information disclosed). We are required to provide directory publishers with listings information – name, address and phone number – for purposes of publishing and delivering directories. Persons can ask to not be published in directories and/or directory assistance. However, if Alliance enters into a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, a customer’s personally identifiable information will, in most instances, be transferred as a part of the transaction. In addition, we may, where permitted by law, provide information to credit bureaus, or provide information and/or sell receivables to collection agencies, to obtain payment for Alliance billed products and services.

Information Management and Security: All Alliance employees are responsible for safeguarding individual customer communications and information. Alliance requires Alliance personnel to be aware of and protect the privacy of all forms of customer communications – whether they are voice, data or image transmissions – as well as individual customer records.

Alliance makes clear that employees who fail to follow this Privacy and Customer Security Policy will face disciplinary action, which can include dismissal. All employees are trained regarding their responsibilities to safeguard customer privacy.

Alliance strives to ensure that information we have about our customers is accurate, secure and confidential, and to ensure that our employees comply with our privacy policy. We will not 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 customer information is limited to employees who need it as part of their job performance – and such employees follow strict guidelines when handling such information. Alliance uses safeguards to increase data accuracy and to identify and authenticate the sources of customer information. We use locks and physical security measures, sign–on and password control procedures, internal auditing techniques and other types of security as appropriate for the information stored to protect against unauthorized use of terminals and entry into our data systems.

Alliance requires that records be safeguarded from loss, theft, unauthorized disclosure, and accidental destruction. In addition, sensitive, confidential, or proprietary records must be 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 must be 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, employees must report missing records and suspicious incidents involving records.

We encourage our employees to be proactive in implementing and enforcing the Alliance Privacy and Customer Security Policy. If employees become aware of practices that raise privacy concerns, they are encouraged to report them to their supervisors as soon as reasonably possible.

Compliance with Laws and Public Policy Participation: Alliance complies with all applicable privacy laws and regulations. Customer 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 will regularly examine – and update, if necessary – the Alliance Privacy and Customer Security Policy.

Managing your Personal Information: You may have a right to correct, update, delete, or request access to the Personal Information that you have provided to us. You may submit the following Request Form. These rights are limited and may not be available to you depending on where you are located.

For your protection, we will only implement requests with respect to Personal Information about you (not anyone else), and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes, as required under applicable legal obligations. And even if you have a right to deletion, some of your information may remain within our systems and other records or archives, in compliance with applicable law.

THIRD–PARTY VENDORS PROVIDING SERVICES THROUGH ALLIANCE NETWORK

Certain services and applications available from Alliance require the use of proprietary applications and software developed and licensed through third–party vendors. In some cases these vendors are able to obtain individual customer information through the customer’s use of the third–party applications and software.

If a third–party service or application available from Alliance collects such individual customer information, Alliance will attempt to notify its customer of the potential for the third–party to collect individual information at the time the customer requests access to the service or application in question. Additionally, Alliance will utilize its best efforts to enter into an agreement with such third–party obligating the third–party to maintain such customer information only on an aggregate basis and in a manner in which individual customer identities are not ascertainable.

The provisions of this section regarding third–party vendors applies only to services or applications obtained from Alliance. The provisions do not apply to applications, equipment, or services available on the Internet generally or from vendors and service providers other than Alliance.

Network Transparency Statement, Customer Agreements, Policies & Service Disclosures

Alliance strives to provide consumers with accessible, easy–to–understand information about the services we provide, so they can make informed decisions about which services best meet their needs. Consistent with that goal, we have designed this page to act as a place where consumers and others can come to access and review the relevant policies, agreements, and other information about these services.

Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) requires that Alliance and other providers of broadband Internet access services disclose certain information regarding those Internet services. We believe that all of the information required for disclosure under the FCC’s rules is found in the various policies and documents listed and linked on this page. To assist you in finding the information you’re looking for, we highlighted a few pieces of information that the FCC specifically calls for in the Overview section below.

Overview of Network Practices

The bullets below provide a general overview of Alliance’s network practices.

Congestion Management