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Privacy and Customer Security Policies |
| Telephone Company Customer Privacy |
This tells you about our privacy policy for our telephone company customers. Please use the
following links for additional information:
• Internet Privacy Policy
• General Privacy Principles.
For more than a century, customers have counted on Verizon's telephone companies to respect and
protect the privacy of information we obtain in the normal course of providing service. While we
are working hard to serve you in new and exciting ways, our commitment to protecting your privacy
remains as strong as ever.
Your Privacy is Our Priority
Verizon has strict policies governing employee access to customer records. We access customer
accounts, records or reports for authorized business purposes only. We educate our employees
about their obligation to safeguard customer information and telephone calls, and we hold them
accountable for their actions.
Privacy is a priority for Verizon when we develop new products and services. Verizon conducts a
privacy review, which includes consumer input, as part of its product development process. We
inform customers about any privacy implications of new products and services we introduce.
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The Information We Obtain, and How We Use It
Verizon obtains information about customers that helps us to provide service, and we use that
information for business purposes only.
For example: We need to know your name, address and the services you buy from us. When you call us,
a service representative refers to your customer record to serve you better. It also may be useful
for us to know about your telephone bill, your calling patterns, and whether you have special needs.
We may use that kind of information to offer you the most effective services for your particular needs.
If Verizon 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.
Or we may use information in our records to protect customers, employees or property, for instance,
to investigate fraud or harassment.
We want to make sure the information we obtain and use is accurate. Much of this information is
reflected in your monthly telephone bill. If you see an inaccuracy on your Verizon bill, and you
let us know, then we can correct it.
Verizon regularly provides useful information about new products and services to our residential
customers, including our customers with non-published telephone numbers. However, consumers who
do not wish to receive such information can "opt out" or have their names removed from direct mail
and telemarketing lists that we use internally. For example, if you receive an unwanted
telemarketing call from us, simply tell a Verizon representative that you do not wish to receive
future calls and ask to be placed on our "Do Not Call" list.
Please understand that making this type of request may mean that you will be unaware of services or
discounts that you might find useful.
You should know that when you speak with us at Verizon, a supervisor might listen in on that call.
Supervisors listen in only to help train employees and ensure that we provide you with accurate
information and high-quality customer service.
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Disclosure of Information Outside Verizon
As a rule, Verizon will notify you and give you the opportunity to "opt out" when we disclose
telephone customer information outside of Verizon. In fact, we generally keep our records of the
services you buy and the calls you make private, and will not ordinarily disclose this information
to outside parties without your permission. However, we do release customer information without
involving you if disclosure is required by law or to protect the safety of customers, employees
or property. This is further explained below.
Examples of your control over the disclosure of information:
• You tell us the telephone listings you want to
include in our directories and in directory assistance.
You
also may choose to have a non-published number, or a non-listed number, or to exclude
your
address from your listing.
• We may compile lists of names, addresses, and
telephone numbers from our published White
Pages directories
and provide the lists to qualified companies that are conducting product
promotions.
Non-published and non-listed numbers will not be included in these lists, and we
will
remove other customers from these
lists by request.
• All customers in areas where Caller ID
services are available have the ability to block the display of
their
phone numbers and names. (Note that Caller ID blocking does not prevent the transmission
of
your phone number when you dial certain business numbers,
including 911, or 800, 888, 877, and
900 numbers.)
Examples where disclosure is required by law or to protect the safety of customers, employees or property:
• When you dial 911, information about your
location may be transmitted automatically to a public
safety
agency. Certain information about your long distance calls is transmitted to your long
distance
company for billing purposes. Verizon also is
required by law to give competitive local exchange
carriers
access to its customer databases for purposes of serving their customers, to
exchange
credit information with other carriers, and
to provide listings (other than certain non-published and
non-listed
information) to directory publishers.
• Verizon must disclose information, as necessary,
to comply with court orders or subpoenas. Verizon
also will share
information to protect its rights or property and to protect users of its services
and
other carriers from fraudulent, abusive or unlawful use
of services.
• 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 Verizon billed products
and services.
• Verizon also occasionally uses contractors to
do work for the company. These contractors have the
same
obligations as our regular employees concerning customer information.
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Your Telephone Account Information Rights
The FCC refers to your telephone account information as Customer Proprietary Network Information
or CPNI. Under Federal Law, you have the right to, and we have the duty to protect, the
confidentiality of your telecommunications service information. This information includes the
type, technical arrangement, quantity, destination, and amount of use of telecommunications
services and related billing for these services.
We may use this information, without further authorization by you, to offer you: (i) services of
the type you already purchase from us, and (ii) the full range of products and services available
from Verizon and other Verizon companies that may be different from the type of services you
currently buy from us. In addition to local telephone services, Verizon and other Verizon company
services include long distance (where authorized), wireless, and Internet services. A more complete
description of our companies and service offerings is available on this Web site. Use of your
information will permit us to offer you a package of services tailored to your specific needs.
Without further authorization by you, we may also share your information with other Verizon
companies with whom you already have an existing service relationship.
No action by you is necessary to permit us to use your information to offer you services that may
be different from the type of services you currently buy from us. However, prior to using your
information for the first time, we will notify you by mail or through your account executive,
and you will have 30 days to tell us, using the toll free number mentioned in our notice, if you
do not want us to use your information to offer services different from the type of services
you currently buy from us. After the 30 days has expired, Verizon may begin using your information
to offer services different from those you currently purchase from us unless you have notified us
that we may not use it for this purpose. At any time after the 30 days, however, you can change
your decision by using the toll free number. Your decision will remain effective until you change it.
If you have any questions regarding the notice or would like to know how to restrict the use of
your information, please call the Verizon Customer Sales & Solutions Center telephone number
located on your telephone bill or visit the Customer Sales & Solutions Center
to locate the telephone number for your area.
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Providing Services to Enhance Your Privacy
Verizon considers privacy implications as new services are planned and introduced and informs
customers of the privacy implications of these services.
Non-published numbers, Caller ID and Caller ID blocking services, and Anonymous Call Rejection
are among the privacy-management services Verizon offers our telephone customers. We also work to
develop other services that help customers to control access to information about them. We
seek customer input in developing new products and conduct comprehensive customer outreach and
education efforts before and after introducing privacy-sensitive products.
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Protecting your Privacy in Cyberspace and in Other Areas of Our Business
At Verizon, we are committed to expanding the world of communications and multimedia for customers,
a world of wireline and wireless solutions: voice, video, and data services, as well as
information and entertainment. We will investigate the privacy implications these new services
may have and build safeguards into services before they are introduced. We will inform and educate
you about the effect on customer privacy any new services may have.
For example, Verizon's commitment to maintaining high standards for the protection of customer
privacy extends beyond telephone service to include our Web sites. Recognizing concern over
privacy on the Internet, Verizon has developed an on-line privacy policy that clearly defines
the corporation's data collection processes and the use of that data at all times. Visitors to
Verizon's Web sites -- for example, www.verizon.com, www.SuperPages.com, www.verizon.net -- are
apprised of the types of information obtained, how it is obtained, how it is used, and how they
can restrict the use or disclosure of that data.
Verizon is committed to maintaining high standards for the protection of customer privacy. At
Verizon, your privacy is our priority. For more information on how Verizon strives to protect
your privacy, customers can access our World Wide Web site at www.verizon.com.
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Updated November 2005
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Telephone Company Customer Privacy
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