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We at your local Time
Warner Cable-affiliated cable operator ("Operator," "we" or "us") are
providing this Notice to inform you of our practices regarding personally
identifiable information that may be collected in the course of providing
services to you over our cable system, including video programming services
and ISP Services ("cable-based services"). This notice is also being provided
on behalf of Time Warner Cable's affiliated ISPs whose services are being
provided over our cable systems (America Online and Road Runner and any
other affiliated ISP Service which we may offer in the future (collectively,
"Affiliated ISPs")). This Notice is being provided in accordance with
the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (the "Cable Act"). In addition
to the Cable Act, this Notice also makes reference to the Electronic Communications
Policy Act of 1986, as amended ("ECPA"), and the Online Copyright Infringement
Liability Limitation Act of 1998 ("Copyright Act"), which are also applicable
if you are a subscriber to an ISP service provided by Operator over its
cable system (an "ISP Service").
This Notice pertains
to personally identifiable information about you that you have furnished
to Operator, or that Operator has collected, in connection with the provision
of cable-based services to you. The provisions of this Notice also apply
as indicated herein to personally identifiable information that you have
furnished to Affiliated ISPs or that they have collected in connection
with their provision of ISP Service. Personally identifiable information
does not include aggregate data that does not identify you.
The Cable Act's subscriber
privacy provisions apply to cable operators, as defined in the privacy
provisions of the Cable Act ("Cable Operators"), providing cable and other
services over their systems. Our Affiliated ISPs intend to conduct their
privacy practices as set forth in this Notice, which provides subscribers
to their ISP Services (i.e., their ISP services as provided by Operator
over its cable system) with information required by the privacy provisions
of the Cable Act, whether or not these Affiliated ISPs qualify as Cable
Operators. Our Affiliated ISPs may provide subscribers with other information
concerning their general privacy practices through additional policies
and notices, which will continue to apply unless inconsistent with this
Notice. When using our Affiliated ISPs, you may wish to review these additional
policies and notices.
The provisions of
this Notice do not apply to non-affiliated, third party ISPs (e.g., EarthLink)
whose ISP Services are provided on Operator's cable systems. These non-affiliated
ISPs may have their own privacy policies, which you may want to review.
You should also be aware that most of the content and applications provided
through your ISP Service are provided by third parties, and that by accessing
the online content of these third parties you may cause or enable the
transmission by the system to them of personally identifiable information.
The policies described in this Notice do not apply to such third parties.
These third parties may have their own privacy policies, which you may
also want to review.
Seven areas are covered
by this Notice:
1. The nature of
personally identifiable information collected about you and the way
such information is used;
2. The nature, frequency,
and purpose of any disclosure that may be made of such information;
3. Disclosure of
information to governmental entities and through legal process;
4. The period of
time such information will be maintained;
5. Your online communications
on your ISP Service;
6. The times and
place you may have access to the information collected; and
7. Your rights under
the Cable Act.
1. Collection and
Use of Personally Identifiable Information
In order that Operator
can provide service to you and operate efficiently, Operator collects
the following types of information about you that may constitute personally
identifiable information: your name, home, email and work address, telephone
numbers, social security number, and credit and credit card information.
Depending on the services Operator provides to you, our records also may
include information on billing, payment, damage and security deposits,
maintenance and repairs, how many television sets you have connected to
cable or that are cable ready, the location of these television sets in
your home, the number and location of PCs in your home and your PC configuration,
the service options you have chosen, and the number of converters, cable
modems or other cable equipment installed in your home. We may remotely
check your PC to the extent necessary to determine whether it is susceptible
to unauthorized access or the dissemination of computer viruses. We may
also keep records of research concerning subscriber satisfaction with
our services, which are obtained from subscriber interviews and questionnaires.
Additionally, Operator may have a record of whether you rent or own your
home in the event that landlord permission is required prior to installing
our cable facilities. We also maintain subscriber correspondence (via
e-mail or otherwise) and, if you are an ISP Service subscriber, we may
keep records of violations and alleged violations of your ISP Service
Subscription Agreement with Operator (your "Subscription Agreement") and
other rules governing your use of the ISP Service. Finally, Operator may
sometimes obtain from third parties publicly available information about
our subscribers.
The information described
in the preceding paragraph is used for purposes such as the following:
to make sure you are being billed properly for the services you receive;
to send you pertinent information about Operator's services; to maintain
or improve the quality of Operator's services; to answer questions from
subscribers (i.e., for troubleshooting); to ensure compliance with relevant
law and contractual provisions; to market cable or other services or products
that you may be interested in; and for tax and accounting purposes.
Operator's system,
in delivering and routing the ISP Services, and the systems of Operator's
Affiliated ISPs, may automatically log information concerning Internet
addresses you contact, and the duration of your visits to such addresses.
Operator does not use or disclose any personally identifiable information
that may be derived from these logs for marketing, advertising or similar
purposes. Operator, as described above, as well as your ISP, in providing
the ISP Service to you, also has access to personally identifiable information
about you or your ISP account, including the name and address associated
with a given IP address or, possibly, one or more e-mail accounts. You
have consented, in your Subscription Agreement, to the collection of personally
identifiable information as described in this paragraph.
Under the Cable Act,
a Cable Operator may also collect personally identifiable information
over a cable system without subscribers' consent if it is necessary to
provide services to subscribers, or to prevent unauthorized access to
services or subscriber data.
Our Affiliated ISPs
also may collect the following types of information that may constitute
personally identifiable information:
--registration
and account information, including your name, address, telephone number,
screen names and email address(es), means of subscription, billing and
payment (including credit card) information, and complaint and service
history;
--account usage
information, including information about how often and how long you
use the relevant ISP Service, areas of the ISP Service visited and features
of the ISP Service selected or used, and purchases that you have made
through the ISP Service;
--technical information,
including information about your computer system, its software and modem,
and your geographical location;
--other subscriber
information, including preference and other information you provide
when you use or personalize your use of your ISP Service, information
provided by our Affiliated ISPs' business partners, information you publish
on the ISP Service, and information from other sources (for example, publicly
available supplementary data).
The information collected
by our Affiliated ISPs in connection with your use of their ISP Services
may be used in connection with the provision and maintenance of the relevant
ISP Service and to fulfill transactions that you request, to personalize
or improve your online experience, or as otherwise necessary in the course
of their businesses (for example, in audits, billing matters, or research).
Our Affiliated ISPs may also use this information to provide advertising
and other offers for goods and services to you, subject to the marketing
preferences you may select when using their ISP Services. If you are a
subscriber to one or more of our Affiliated ISPs, you have consented in
your Subscription Agreement(s) to the collection of such information for
the uses described above.
2. Disclosure of
Personally Identifiable Information
Personally identifiable
information that Operator maintains related to its subscribers will be
disclosed by Operator without the prior written or electronic consent
of subscribers only if: (1) it is necessary to render, or conduct a legitimate
business related to, the services that are provided to you; (2) such disclosure
is required by law or legal process as described below; or (3) for mailing
lists as described below.
The types of persons
to whom information about you may be disclosed by Operator in the course
of providing cable service to you include the employees of Operator and
its related legal entities, agents, repair and installation subcontractors,
sales representatives, accountants, billing and collection services and
credit reporting agencies, consumer and market research firms, and authorized
representatives of governmental bodies. Also upon reasonable request,
personally identifiable information is disclosed to persons or entities
with an equity interest in legal entities related to Operator when they
have a legal right to inspect our books and records.
In addition, if you
are an ISP Service subscriber, information, including personally identifiable
information, may be shared between Operator and your ISP in providing
the ISP Service. The types of persons to whom information about you may
be disclosed in the course of providing an ISP Service to you may include,
in addition to those persons listed above, your ISP and its employees
or other entities who provide content and/or services to the ISP Service
or to you via the ISP Service.
Information for billing
purposes is generally provided by Operator on a monthly basis. Information
for other purposes is provided by Operator as it is needed.
Unless you object,
the Cable Act also permits Cable Operators to disclose personally identifiable
information to others, such as advertisers and direct mail or telemarketers,
for non-cable related purposes. Under the Cable Act, any disclosures for
purposes other than as described in the first three paragraphs of this
Section 2 and in Section 3 of this Notice is limited to the following
"mailing list information": your name, address and the particular services
to which you subscribe (e.g., HBO or other premium channels or tiers of
service). In addition, Operator may add to its mailing list publicly available
information about subscribers that is obtained from third parties. Mailing
list information cannot include the extent of your viewing or use of a
particular service, including the extent of your use of any ISP Service,
or the nature of any transaction you make over the cable system. Operator
may disclose such mailing list information from time to time. If you wish
to have us remove you from our mailing list, please notify us in writing
at the main office of your local Operator.
In addition to any
disclosures permitted in the first paragraph of this Section 2, our Affiliated
ISPs may also disclose, pursuant to the consent you granted in your Subscription
Agreement, the personally identifiable information described in Section
1 in connection with the provision of services to you, in order to fulfill
transactions that you request, to personalize your online experience,
to comply with criminal or civil legal process (including as described
in Section 3 of this Notice), and as otherwise necessary in the ordinary
course of their businesses. For example, our Affiliated ISPs may disclose
your personally identifiable information routinely to their employees,
agents and contractors to maintain, market, provide, and audit your ISP
Service; to outside auditors to check their records; to attorneys and
accountants as necessary to render services to such ISPs; and to merchants
from whom you make purchases. The frequency of such disclosures varies
according to business needs. The names and addresses of subscribers to
our Affiliated ISPs may also be disclosed to selected companies in order
to provide you direct mail product and service offers, subject to the
marketing preferences you may select when using your ISP Service. In disclosing
name and address information for such purposes, our Affiliated ISPs may
combine these lists with publicly available information (such as census
and household information), or segment them (i.e., create separate sub-lists)
based on such publicly available information or on other information (such
as when the subscriber began using the ISP service, or the subscriber's
computer type).
3. Disclosure of
Information to Government Entities and Other Legal Process
Federal law requires
Operator to disclose personally identifiable information to a governmental
entity or other third party pursuant to a court order. If the court order
is sought by a governmental entity, the Cable Act requires that you be
afforded the opportunity to contest in court any claims made in support
of the court order sought. At such a proceeding, the Cable Act requires
the governmental entity to offer clear and convincing evidence that the
subject of the information is reasonably suspected of engaging in criminal
activity and that the information sought would be material evidence in
the case. In addition, pursuant to an administrative subpoena, state welfare
agencies may obtain the names and addresses of individuals as they appear
in the subscriber records of cable companies with respect to those who
owe, or are owed, welfare support. Such information may be obtained without
a court order and does not require that a subscriber be given notice of
and the opportunity to contest the disclosure.
If you are a subscriber
to an ISP Service, ECPA requires your ISP and us to reveal information
to the government in certain additional circumstances. ECPA addresses
both the content of communications on the ISP Service, as well as subscriber
record information. ECPA requires your ISP and us to disclose to governmental
authorities the content of communications in response to a criminal warrant
or court order without any notice to you and without your consent.
In addition, under
ECPA the government may require Operator or your ISP to disclose subscriber
record information (but not the content of communications) pursuant to
a warrant, court order or subpoena without any notice to you and without
your consent.
If you subscribe to
an ISP Service, a private party may use a subpoena under the Copyright
Act to obtain information about you to maintain a copyright infringement
suit against the poster of online material, without any notice to you.
Additionally, our Affiliated ISPs may release information about you to
comply with valid legal process such as a subpoena or court order, or
as required by law.
In your Subscription
Agreement, you have agreed that Operator and our Affiliated ISPs may also
disclose any information in its possession to protect its rights, property
and/or operations, or where circumstances suggest that individual or public
safety is in peril.
4. Time Period
That We Retain Personally Identifiable Information
Operator and its
Affiliated ISPs maintain personally identifiable information about subscribers
for as long as it is necessary for business purposes. This period of time
lasts as long as you are a subscriber and up to fifteen additional years
so that we and our Affiliated ISPs can comply with tax and accounting
requirements. When information is no longer necessary for these purposes,
we destroy the information unless there is a legitimate outstanding request
or order to inspect the information.
5. Your Online
Communications on an ISP Service
In addition to the
situations described in Section 3, ECPA provides for other exceptional
circumstances under which Operator and/or your ISP may be compelled to
disclose information about you or your communications, or are permitted
to disclose such information. For example, such information may be disclosed
to law enforcement if it appears to be evidence of child pornography,
or was inadvertently obtained and appears to pertain to a crime. Such
disclosure is also permitted to an addressee or intended recipient (or
his or her agent), or to a person involved in forwarding such information
to its destination; when it is necessarily incident to providing service
or to protect our rights or property; to others with your consent or the
consent of an addressee or intended recipient (or his or her agent) of
communications sent by you; or as otherwise provided for by law. In your
Subscription Agreement, you have agreed that Operator and our Affiliated
ISPs may disclose any information in their possession to protect their
rights, property and/or operations, or where circumstances suggest that
individual or public safety is in peril.
6. Access to Records
Under the Cable Act,
you have the right to inspect the records of a Cable Operator that contain
personally identifiable information about you and correct any errors in
such information. If you wish to inspect these records, please notify
Operator in writing and an appointment at our local business office will
be arranged during our regular business hours.
7. Your Rights
Under the Cable Act
The Cable Act provides
you with a cause of action for damages, attorneys' fees and costs in Federal
District Court should you believe that any of the Cable Act's limitations
on the collection, disclosure, and retention of personally identifiable
information have been violated by a Cable Operator. Your Subscription
Agreement contains your agreement that, to the extent permitted by law,
any claims that you have under the Cable Act will be decided in arbitration
and attorneys' fees and punitive damages will not be available.
NOTE: This Time Warner Cable Privacy Notice is specifically for all states with the exception of California. Click here to view the Time Warner Cable and Affiliated ISPs Subscriber Privacy Notice (for California only).
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