DISH Network Subscriber Privacy Notice
(For latest changes see dishnetwork.com)
As a subscriber to the DISH Network
satellite television service provided by EchoStar, you
are entitled under Section 338(i) of the Communications
Act of 1934 (the “Communications Act”) to know the
following:
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the limitations imposed by the
Communications Act upon satellite carriers in the
collection and disclosure of personally identifiable
information about subscribers;
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the nature of personally identifiable
information we collect and the nature of the use of
such information;
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the nature, frequency, and purpose of
any disclosure of personally identifiable information
which may be made and to whom;
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the period during which we maintain
personally identifiable information;
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the process for gaining access to your
personally identifiable information; and
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your rights under the Communications
Act concerning personally identifiable information and
its collection and disclosure.
In this notice, the terms “EchoStar,”
“DISH Network,” “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to the
operating company subsidiary of EchoStar Communications
Corporation that owns and/or operates the DISH Network
direct broadcast satellite television service. The term
“you” refers to you as a subscriber to our satellite
television service.
The kind of information that the Communications
Act and this notice apply to.
The Communications Act applies to personally
identifiable information that you have furnished to
EchoStar, or that we have collected using the satellite
system, in connection with the provision of our
satellite television service or other service.
Personally identifiable information is information that
identifies a particular person; it does not include
aggregate data that does not identify a particular
person or persons.
The kind of personally identifiable information
that EchoStar collects.
The Communications Act authorizes EchoStar as a
satellite carrier to use its satellite facilities to
collect personally identifiable information concerning
any subscriber for the following purposes:
The Communications Act prohibits EchoStar
from using its satellite facilities to collect
personally identifiable information concerning any
subscriber for any purposes other than those listed
above without the subscriber's prior written or
electronic consent. In order to provide reliable, high
quality service to you, we keep regular business records
containing information about you that may constitute
personally identifiable information. These records
generally include the following information: your name,
service address, billing address, e-mail address,
telephone number, social security number, bank account
number, credit card number, and other similar account
information. We may also collect and maintain other
information about your account, such as billing and
payment history, service information, customer
correspondence and communications records, records
indicating the number of television sets and devices
connected to our satellite facilities, and the
programming service options you have chosen.
Additionally, if you rent your residence, we may have a
record of whether landlord permission was required prior
to installing our satellite facilities as well as your
landlord's name and address. When you use our
interactive or other transactional television services,
the satellite system automatically collects certain
information on your use of these services. Most of this
information is used to carry out a particular request
you make using your remote control or set-top box and is
not personally identifiable information. This
information may include information required to change
your television channel, review listings in an
electronic program guide, and pause or fast forward
through certain programs, among other information. It
may also include other information such as the time you
actually use our services and the use of other features
of our services, and which menus and menu screens are
used most often and the time spent using them. If you
watch a pay-per-view program or purchase a product or
service, for example, the system may collect certain
personally identifiable information such as account and
billing-related information related to the pay-per-view
programs or other products or services ordered so that
you may be properly billed for them. We may also combine
your personally identifiable information, with
personally identifiable information obtained from third
parties for the purpose of creating enhanced databases
or business records and we may use these databases and
these business records in marketing and other activities
related to our satellite service and other services. We
also maintain records of research concerning subscriber
satisfaction and viewing habits, which are obtained from
subscriber interviews and questionnaires.
The ways that EchoStar uses personally
identifiable information.
We collect, maintain, and use personally identifiable
information as permitted by the Communications Act. We
use this information primarily to conduct business
activities related to providing you with our satellite
television service and other services, and to help us
detect theft of service. Generally speaking, we use
personally identifiable information in connection with
billing and collections, administration, surveys,
marketing, service delivery and customization,
maintenance and operations, and fraud prevention. We
also use personally identifiable information to:
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install, operate, provide, and maintain
our satellite television service and other services;
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confirm you are receiving the level(s)
of service requested and are properly billed;
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identify you when changes are made to
your account or services;
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inform you of new products or services
that may be of interest to you;
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understand the use of, and identify
improvements to, our services;
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detect unauthorized reception of our
services;
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determine whether applicable policies
and terms of service are being violated;
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configure satellite television
service-related devices;
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comply with law; and
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as otherwise necessary to provide the
service.
Disclosure of personally identifiable
information to others.
EchoStar considers the personally identifiable
information contained in our business records to be
confidential. The Communications Act authorizes EchoStar
to disclose personally identifiable information
concerning any subscriber for the following purposes if
the disclosure is:
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necessary to render, or conduct a
legitimate business activity related to, the satellite
service or other services provided to the subscriber;
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required by law or legal process (as
described below in this notice); or
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of the names and addresses of
subscribers for “mailing list” or other purposes
(subject to each subscriber's right to prohibit or
limit this disclosure as described below in this
notice).
The Communications Act prohibits us from
disclosing personally identifiable information
concerning any subscriber for any purposes other than
those listed above without the subscriber's prior
written or electronic consent. We may disclose
personally identifiable information as provided for in
the Communications Act when it is necessary to render,
or conduct a legitimate business activity related to the
satellite television service we provide to you.
Generally, these disclosures involve billing and
collections, administration, surveys, marketing, service
delivery and customization, maintenance and operations,
and fraud prevention. We may also collect, use, and
disclose information about you in non-personally
identifiable or aggregate formats, such as ratings
surveys and service usage and other statistical reports,
which do not personally identify you, your particular
viewing habits, or the nature of any transaction you
have made over the satellite television system. The
frequency of any disclosure of personally identifiable
information varies in accordance with our business needs
and activities. The Communications Act authorizes
EchoStar to disclose limited personally identifiable
information to others, such as charities, marketing
organizations, or other businesses, for satellite or
non-satellite “mailing list” or other purposes. From
time to time we may disclose your name and address for
these purposes. Any “mailing list” and related
disclosures that we may make are limited by the
Communications Act to disclosures of subscriber names
and addresses where the disclosures do not reveal,
directly or indirectly, (i) the extent of any viewing or
other use by the subscriber of a satellite service or
other service provided by us; or (ii) the nature of any
transaction made by the subscriber over any facilities
used by us. As provided for in the Communications Act,
we may disclose personally identifiable information
about you to our affiliates or to others who work for
us, such as outside auditors, professional advisors,
service providers and vendors, potential business
merger, acquisition, or sale partners, and regulators
when the disclosure is necessary to render, or conduct a
legitimate business activity related to the satellite
television service or other services we provide to you.
We also may be required by law or legal process to
disclose certain personally identifiable information
about you to lawyers and parties in connection with
litigation and to law enforcement personnel or to third
parties such as, charities, marketing organizations, or
other businesses, in connection with disclosures made
for “mailing list” or other purposes as described above
in this notice. If we (or our parent company) enter into
a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of
our assets, in most instances our subscribers'
personally identifiable information will be one of the
items transferred as part of the transaction.
Limiting EchoStar's use and disclosure of
personally identifiable information.
You have the right at any time to prohibit or limit
disclosure of your personally identifiable information
for “mailing list” purposes as described above in this
notice by contacting us by telephone at 1-888-367-1428
or 1-888-367-1429 (Spanish). You can visit us at
www.dishnetwork.com/myaccount. If you prefer to contact
us in writing, you may send a written request to DISH
Network, Attn: CSS/PRIVACY, PO Box 6633 Englewood, CO
80112. Be sure to include your name and address and your
DISH Network account number. The written request should
be signed by the person who is identified in our billing
records as the subscriber. If you have a joint account,
a request by one party will apply to the entire account.
If you have multiple accounts, your notice must
separately identify each account covered by the request.
When EchoStar is required to disclose personally
identifiable information by law.
We make every reasonable effort to protect your privacy
as described in this notice. Nevertheless, we may be
required by law to disclose personally identifiable
information about you without your consent and without
notice in order to comply with a valid legal process
such as a subpoena, court order, or search warrant. The
Communications Act requires EchoStar as a satellite
carrier to disclose personally identifiable information
to a third party or governmental entity in response to a
court order. If the court order is sought by a
governmental entity, the Communications Act requires
that the satellite subscriber be afforded the
opportunity to appear and contest in a court proceeding
relevant to the court order any claims made in support
of the court order. At such a proceeding, the
Communications 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, under the
authority of an administrative subpoena, state welfare
agencies may obtain the names, addresses, and certain
other information of individuals as they appear in the
subscriber records of the satellite company with respect
to those who owe, or are owed, welfare or child support,
for example. This 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. We may also use or disclose personally
identifiable information about you without your consent
to protect our customers, employees, or property, in
emergency situations, and to enforce our rights under
our terms of service and policies, in court or
elsewhere.
Protection of personally identifiable
information.
We follow industry-standard practices to take such
actions as are necessary to prevent unauthorized access
to personally identifiable information by a person other
than the subscriber or us. However, we cannot guarantee
that these practices will prevent every unauthorized
attempt to access, use, or disclose personally
identifiable information.
Maintaining personally identifiable information.
EchoStar maintains personally identifiable information
about you in our regular business records while you are
a subscriber to our satellite television service or
other services. We also maintain this information for a
period of time after you are no longer a subscriber if
the information is necessary for the purposes for which
it was collected or to satisfy legal requirements. These
purposes typically include business, legal, or tax
purposes. If there are no pending requests, orders, or
court orders for access to this personally identifiable
information, we will destroy the information after it is
no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was
collected.
Examining personally identifiable information.
You may examine your personally identifiable information
that we collect and maintain in our regular business
records. In most cases, the personally identifiable
information contained in these records is billing and
account information. If you wish to obtain a copy of the
information, please mail a written notarized request for
a copy of your personally identifiable information to
DISH Network, Attn: CSS/PRIVACY, PO Box 6633 Englewood,
CO 80112, giving us a reasonable period of time to
locate and prepare the information for your review. All
requests must include your DISH Network account number.
We will mail the information to you at your current
billing address. You will only be permitted to request
records that contain personally identifiable information
about you and no one else. In order to protect you and
ensure that the request is being made by the true person
to whom the information pertains, we will only process
notarized requests. You will be provided a reasonable
opportunity to correct errors if any of the personally
identifiable information is inaccurate.
Recourse for violation of your privacy rights.
If you believe that you have been aggrieved by any act
of ours in violation of the Communications Act, you may
enforce the limitations imposed on us by the
Communications Act with respect to your personally
identifiable information through a civil lawsuit brought
in a United States District Court seeking damages,
attorney's fees, and litigation costs reasonably
incurred. Other rights and remedies may be available to
you under federal or other applicable laws, as well.
Changes to this notice.
As required by the Communications Act, we will provide
you with a copy of our subscriber privacy notice
annually. We may modify this notice at any time. We will
notify you of any material changes through written,
electronic, or other means as permitted by law.
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