Sierra Experts | Privacy Policy
Your privacy is very important to us. We want to make your experience as one of our customers as enjoyable and rewarding as possible, and we want you to use the Internet’s vast array of information, tools, and opportunities with complete confidence.
We have created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy and security. This Privacy Policy describes how Sierra Internet Services collects information from all end users of Sierra’s services (the “Services”)–those who access some of our Services but do not have accounts (“Visitors”) as well as those who pay a monthly service fee to subscribe to the Service (“Members”)–what we do with the information we collect, and the choices Visitors and Members have concerning the collection and use of such information. Sierra requests that you read this Privacy Policy carefully.
Personal Information Sierra Experts’ Collects and How It Is Used
Introduction
Sierra collects information in different ways from Visitors and Members who access the various parts of our Services and the network of web sites accessible through our Service. We use this information primarily to provide a customized experience as you use our Services and, generally, do not share this information with third parties. However, we may disclose personal information collected if we have received your permission beforehand or in very special circumstances, such as when we believe that such disclosure is required by law or other special cases described below.
Registration
Members are asked to provide certain personal information when they sign up for our Services, including such information as name, address, telephone number, billing information (such as a credit card number), and/or the type of personal computer being used to access the Services. The personal information collected from Members during the registration process is used to manage each Member’s account (such as for billing purposes). This information is not shared with third parties, unless specifically stated otherwise or in special circumstances.
Sierra may also generate non-identifying and aggregate profiles from personal information Members provide during registration (such as the total number, but not the names, of Members). As explained in more detail below, we may use this aggregated and non-identifying information to sell advertisements that appear on the Services.
Sierra Partners and Sponsors
Some Sierra products and services are offered to Visitors and Members in conjunction with a non-affiliated partner. To provide Visitors and Members some of these products and services, the partner may need to collect and maintain personal information. In these instances, you will be notified before any such data is collected or transferred and may decide not to use that particular service or feature. Additionally, many Sierra Members have co-branded Personal Incident Management System (IMS) pages that are cosponsored by non-affiliated partners. Sierra will share non-identifying and aggregate information (except as described above), but not personal information, with such partners in order to administer the co-branded products or services offered.
Responses to Email Inquiries
When Visitors or Members send email inquiries to Sierra, the return email address is used to answer the email inquiry we receive. Sierra does not use the return email address for any other purpose and does not share the return email address with any third party.
Voluntary Customer Surveys
We may periodically conduct both business and individual customer surveys. We encourage our customers to participate in these surveys because they provide us with important information that helps us to improve the types of services we offer and how we provide them to you. Your personal information and responses will remain strictly confidential, even if a third party conducts the survey. Participation in our customer surveys is voluntary.
We take the information we receive from individuals responding to our Customer Surveys and combine (or aggregate) it with the responses of other Sierra customers to create broader, generic responses to the survey questions (such as gender, age, residence, hobbies, education, employment, industry sector, or other demographic information). We then use the aggregated information to improve the quality of our services to you, and to develop new services and products. This aggregated, non-personally identifying information may be shared with third parties.
Special Cases
It is Sierra’s policy not to use or share the personal information about Visitors or Members in ways unrelated to the ones described above without also providing you an opportunity to opt out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses. However, Sierra may disclose personal information about Visitors or Members, or information regarding your use of the Services or web sites accessible through our Services, for any reason if, in our sole discretion, we believe that it is reasonable to do so, including: to satisfy laws, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, regulations, or governmental or legal requests for such information; to disclose information that is necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our terms and conditions, service agreements, or other user policies; to operate the Services properly; or to protect Sierra and our Members.
“Cookies” and How Sierra Uses Them
Sierra Experts may use first-party and third-party cookies, pixel tags, plugins, and other tools to gather device, usage, and browsing information when users access our website. For instance, when you visit our website, our server may record your IP address and other information such as the type of your internet browser, your Media Access Control address, computer type, screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, and the pages you view and links you select, as well as date and time stamps associated with your usage of and activities on our website.
We use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to improve, analyze, and optimize our services and their functionality, to personalize and enhance your experience while using our website, to improve and measure our advertising campaigns, and to better reach users with relevant advertising both on our website and on third-party websites.
Cookies: Cookies are small text files that are used to store small pieces of information. They are stored on your device when the website is loaded on your browser. These cookies help us make the website function properly, make it more secure, provide better user experience, and understand how the website performs and to analyze what works and where it needs improvement.
Pixel tags and other similar technologies: these may be used in connection with some websites to, among other things, track the actions of users of the websites (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the website and response rates. We and our service providers may also use pixel tags in HTML emails to our customers to help us track email response rates, identify when our emails are viewed, track whether our emails are forwarded, and conduct analytics.
Third-party analytics tools: our website uses automated devices and applications operated by third parties, such as Google Analytics, which uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about the use of our website and report on activities and trends. This service may also collect information regarding the use of other websites, apps and online resources. You can learn about Google’s practices and opt-out of collection of your browsing data by Google Analytics at https://https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Managing your preferences.
Cookie preference manager: you can review or change your preferences for targeting cookies and tags on our website by clicking the Cookie Consent Preferences icon. These settings are browser and device-specific. So, if you come to our website from a different device or a different browser on the same device or if you delete cookies, you will need to reapply your preferences.
Browser settings: if you wish to prevent cookies from tracking your activity on our website or visits across multiple websites, you can set your browser to block certain cookies or notify you when a cookie is set; you can also delete cookies. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your device from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to delete cookies. Visitors to our website who disable cookies will be able to browse the site, but some features may not function.
Sierra’s Commitment to Children’s Privacy
Protecting children’s privacy is especially important to us. It is our policy to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and all other applicable laws.
Sierra recommends that children ask a parent for permission before sending personal information to Sierra, or to anyone else online.
Public Forums
Please remember that any information you may disclose in our Member Directory, or other public areas of our web sites or the Internet, becomes public information. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose personal information in these public areas.
Sierra’s Commitment to Data Security
Services and web sites we sponsor have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. While we make every effort to ensure the integrity and security of our network and systems, we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent third-party entities from illegally obtaining this information.
How to Access or Modify Your Information
Sierra offers Members the opportunity to access or modify information provided during registration. To access or modify such information, visit the home page at http://sierraexperts.com or contact Customer Support at (412) 722-0707.
Where to Direct Questions About Sierra’s Privacy Policy
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the practices described herein, you may contact:
Customer Service
Sierra Experts
2 Robinson Plaza, Suite 300
Pittsburgh, PA 15205
or sales@sierraexperts.com
Revisions to This Policy Sierra – reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this policy, our Co-Location Service Agreement and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with the Applicable Service Agreement.
Rev. 04/25/2024