Beware of fraudulent emails. SBC customers are encouraged to consult the SBC Internet Safety web site, which is designed to arm you with information about some of the most common issues surrounding safety, privacy and security on the Internet.

Effective Date: September 14, 2004

SBC Internet Services ("SBCIS") takes your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Introduction

Conducting business ethically and ensuring privacy is critical to maintaining the public's trust and achieving success in a dynamic and competitive business climate. Privacy responsibility extends not only to protection of the privacy of conversations, but also to the flow of information in data form. As electronic commerce over the Internet increases and the volume of data transmission over the telecommunications network steadily rises, the trust of our customers and members necessitates vigilant, responsible privacy protections. We realize that privacy is an important issue for our customers and members.

This SBCIS Privacy Policy applies to information collected on SBC Yahoo! Sites (SBC Yahoo! Dial, SBC Yahoo! DSL, SBC Yahoo! Small Business, and SBC Yahoo! GeoCities). This Privacy Policy includes the SBC Children's Privacy Policy, which applies to children's personal information collected on SBC Yahoo! Sites. This Privacy Policy identifies the type of personal information SBCIS collects, how we use this information, and the steps we take to protect privacy. The SBC family of companies has other privacy policies that apply to other SBC sites and non-Internet related information.

Please note that SBC Yahoo! Sites are provided jointly by the SBC Internet company that provides your Internet access services (Ameritech Interactive Media Services, Inc., Pacific Bell Internet Services, SNET Diversified Group, Inc., Southwestern Bell Internet Services, Inc., or Prodigy Communications Corp.) and Yahoo!. The use of information collected on SBC Yahoo! Sites is subject to both this SBCIS Privacy Policy and the Yahoo! Privacy Policy.  

1. Privacy Statement

1.1 Use of Personal Information

Personal information is any information about you that is personally identifiable like your name, address, email address, or phone number, and that is not otherwise publicly available. It includes information provided at registration, information about how you use the site, and information regarding your purchases of products or services. SBCIS respects your privacy. We share your information within the SBC family of companies and only use your personal information collected on SBC Yahoo! Sites in the following ways:

a.       To fulfill your order or request for service. We may share information with SBC affiliated companies or third parties as necessary to fulfill your order or request for service, and as necessary to obtain payment for products and services offered by the SBC family of companies, including the sale of receivables to third party collection agencies and/or reporting of information to credit bureaus. (Third parties with whom the SBC family of companies share information to assist in completing orders do not have the right to use personal information provided to them beyond what is necessary to complete the order.)

b.       To inform you about products and services of potential interest offered by the SBC family of companies.

c.       To personalize the SBC Yahoo! Sites based on members' interests.

d.       To register you for contests or sweepstakes or to administer or make related offers for the same.

e.       To service your questions or problems.

f.         To perform normal business operations including billing, collection, and accounting.

g.       To investigate complaints and protect SBC companies, Yahoo! and SBC Yahoo! Members, in compliance with the law, SBC Yahoo! Terms of Service, and SBCIS Internet policies.

h.       To respond to subpoenas, court orders or other legal process, to the extent required and/or permitted by law, to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, and as required by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.

The Yahoo! privacy policy is separate and apart from the SBCIS privacy policy and may treat your personal information in ways which are different than the SBCIS policy. Please consult the Yahoo! privacy policy if you wish to limit use of your personal information by Yahoo!.

 

1.2 Access by Children and Children's Privacy Policy

Your SBC Yahoo! Terms of Service ("TOS") explain the terms and conditions under which you may establish sub-accounts. While the TOS require that members be 18 years or older, a member may establish a sub-account for a child under the age of 13 – provided that the member is the parent or legal guardian ("parent') of the child.

SBCIS uses the SBC Yahoo! Family Account process to verify that a parent consents to our collection and use of personal information from their children and to their child's use of SBC Yahoo! products and services.

 

1.2.1 Information Collection and Use

 

a.       When someone under the age of 13 attempts to create an SBC Yahoo! account, we ask that he or she have a parent establish a SBC Yahoo! Family Account in order to obtain parental consent.

b.       When any user, including a child under the age of 13, creates an SBC Yahoo! sub-account, we require name, email address, birth date, gender, zip code, occupation, industry, and personal interests.

c.       SBCIS uses this information collected on sub-accounts to create and maintain accounts, for research, and to customize the advertising and content seen on our pages. SBCIS does not otherwise use or share information collected on sub-accounts, including those for children. SBCIS will not contact children under the age of 13 about special offers or for marketing purposes without parental consent.

d.       Parents have the option of allowing SBCIS and Yahoo! to jointly collect and use their child's information without consenting to SBCIS sharing that information with people or companies who may use this information for their own purposes.

e.       Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, no web site operator can require, as a condition of participation in an activity, that a child under the age of 13 disclose more information than is reasonably necessary. SBCIS abides by this requirement.

 

1.2.2 Ability to Update or Delete Information

 

a.       Parents are allowed to review, edit, update, and delete information relating to their child's SBC Yahoo! sub-account, at any time, through the Account Information screen(s). In addition, children may be permitted to review, edit, update, and delete information relating to their SBC Yahoo! sub-accounts.

b.       If a parent chooses not to allow us to further collect or use a child's information, parents enrolled in SBC Yahoo! Family Accounts can delete their child's account by signing into that child's account and then visiting our Account Deletion page.

c.       Please note that information about a child may remain in back-up storage for some period of time after a request for deletion of that child's account. This may be the case even though no information about that account remains in our active user databases.

 

SBCIS will happily address any concerns about our Children's Privacy Policy or inaccuracies regarding your or your child's personal information.

For information regarding the collection and use of personal information by Yahoo!, including children's information, see the Yahoo! Privacy Policy.

 

2. Additional Online Privacy Information

 

2.1 Use of Cookies

When you visit SBC Yahoo! Sites on the SBCIS domain, we log general data, including your domain name, the name of the Web page from which you entered our sites, and how much time you spend on each page. We use this information to continually monitor and improve our sites. SBCIS may collect IP addresses and Web site usage information from you when you visit our sites.

Cookies are pieces of information generated by Web servers and stored as text files in the user's computer, ready for future access. We use cookies to deliver 'user specific' web content and keep track of your online order activity. Cookies cannot pass on viruses, harm your computer or pass on private information such as an e-mail address without the user's intervention. Cookies contain session identification numbers, which allow our systems to recall previous sessions for authentication efforts and order information from our servers. Your browser can be configured to alert you when a site is attempting to send you a cookie and allow you to accept or refuse the cookie. On some Web sites, SBCIS may use small bits of code called "one-pixel gifs," "clear gifs," or "web beacons" embedded in Web pages.

SBCIS allows other companies that are presenting advertisements on some SBC Yahoo! pages to set and access their cookies on your computer. Other companies' use of their cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, not this one. Advertisers or other companies do not have access to SBCIS cookies. Please visit the Network Advertising Initiative Web site to opt-out of network advertisers' cookies.

 

2.2 Use of Data

SBCIS respects the privacy of personal files in members' computers. SBCIS does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the member's authorization. Once a member gives us that authorization, SBCIS may from time to time record information about your computer, communications equipment, browser type and version number, mail application, and operating system software (but no other non-SBCIS software). SBCIS will use this information on an individually identifiable basis only to analyze how current or future SBC Yahoo! Site features may operate on your equipment; or monitor or improve the performance of SBC Yahoo! software on your equipment. Your authorization also allows SBCIS to provide you with consistently fast and reliable network access by sending diagnostic data about your computer and your connections with SBC Yahoo! Site. Such data includes call failure data, communications bit rate, local access number used, version numbers, and modem type. SBCIS will use this information to evaluate and improve the quality of your connections.

 

2.3 Data Security

To secure the information collected online, prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure only appropriate use of information, SBCIS has established appropriate physical, electronic and managerial safeguards. This includes our requirement for user names and Member IDs to access sensitive data and our use of industry-standard SSL encryption to protect data transmissions.

 

2.4 Linking to Other Web Sites

SBC Yahoo! Sites may contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content or privacy policies of other sites.

 

3. Privacy Policy Updates

SBCIS may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information we will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on our pages. Please also check periodically for any changes to our Privacy Policy.  

 

4. Questions, Comments, Concerns

 

SBCIS will happily address any concerns about our Privacy Policy or inaccuracies regarding your personal information. Contact us at: privacypolicy@sbc.com.