A franchisee shall not deny service, deny access, or otherwise discriminate against subscribers, programmers, or residents of the County on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or age. A franchisee shall not discriminate among persons or take any retaliatory action against a person because of that person's exercise of any right it may have under Federal, State, or local law, nor may the franchisee require a person to waive such rights as a condition of taking service. A franchisee shall not deny access or levy different rates and charges on any group of potential residential cable subscribers because of the income of the residents of the local area in which such group resides. Subject to applicable law and except to the extent the County may waive such a requirement, a franchisee is prohibited from discriminating in its rates or charges or from granting undue preferences to any subscriber, potential subscriber, or group of subscribers or potential subscribers; provided, however, that a franchisee may offer temporary, bona fide promotional discounts in order to attract or maintain subscribers, so long as such discounts are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis to similar classes of subscribers throughout the County, and a franchisee may offer discounts for the elderly, the handicapped, non-for-profit persons or organizations, or the economically disadvantaged, and other discounts in conformance with federal law, if such discounts are applied in a consistent and nondiscriminatory manner, and provided that a franchisee may provide such other bulk discounts as are permitted by the cable uniform rate structure provisions of federal law as they may exist from time to time. A franchisee shall comply at all times with all applicable Federal, State, and County laws, and all Executive and administrative orders relating to nondiscrimination. Each document required to be maintained, filed, or submitted under the provisions of this Subtitle or a franchise agreement, except those specifically designated as confidential by a franchisee, subject to the County's review, pursuant to applicable law, is a public document, available for public inspection and copying at the requester's expense, at the office of the franchisee or the County during normal business hours. A franchisee shall not refuse to employ, discharge from employment, or discriminate against any person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or age. A franchisee shall comply with all Federal, State, and local laws and regulations governing equal employment opportunities, as the same may be from time to time amended. It is the policy of the County that Minority Business Enterprises (MBE), as defined in Section 10A-101(a)(27) of this Code, shall have the maximum opportunity to participate in the performance of subcontracts. Each franchisee shall employ its best efforts to meet the County's stated goals for minority business participation in a fair share of the franchisee's subcontracting in the County. Each franchisee must submit, on a semiannual basis, a report including the franchisee's Minority Business Plan and a summary of the activities undertaken thereunder. A franchisee's report of such activities shall include, without limitation: Whether the franchisee advertised in general circulation, trade association, and minority focus media concerning subcontracting opportunities; The names and addresses of each potential MBE subcontractor contacted and referred, the actions taken with respect to such subcontractor, and the results of such contacts; Any actions taken by the franchisee to subdivide work in order to enhance the potential to subcontract with certified MBE; and Efforts by the franchisee to provide adequate information about its plans, specifications, and requirements to certified MBE contacted. A franchisee shall not discriminate against local businesses, including local minority-owned businesses, in contracting for, or otherwise procuring, goods or services. A franchisee shall use its best efforts to purchase goods and services from local businesses, including local minority-owned businesses. A franchisee shall at all times protect the privacy rights of all subscribers, including, but not limited to, those rights secured by the provisions of Section 631 of the Cable Act, 47 U.S.C. Section 551. The franchisee shall not permit the transmission of any signal, aural, visual, or digital, including "polling" the channel selection, from any subscriber's premises without first obtaining such subscriber's valid authorization. Neither the franchisee nor any other person shall initiate in any form the discovery of any information on or about an individual subscriber's premises without prior valid authorization from the subscriber potentially affected. This provision is not intended to prohibit the transmission of signals useful only for the control or measurement of system performance or for detection of theft of service. The franchisee shall not permit the installation of any special terminal equipment in any subscriber's premises that will permit transmission from such subscriber's premises of two-way services utilizing aural, visual, or digital signals without such subscriber's prior valid authorization. The franchisee shall strictly observe and protect the rights of privacy and property rights of subscribers and users at all times. Individual subscriber preferences of any kind, viewing habits, political, social or economic philosophies, beliefs, creeds, religions, or names, addresses, or telephone numbers shall not be revealed to any person, governmental unit, police department, or investigating agency unless upon the authority of a court of law, a valid search warrant or subpoena, or upon prior voluntary valid authorization of the subscriber or as may be permitted by operation of law. The franchisee shall not tabulate any test results that would reveal the commercial product preferences or opinions of individual subscribers, members of their families or their invitees, licensees, or employees, nor permit the use of the system for such tabulation without the subscriber's prior valid authorization. A subscriber may at any time revoke any valid authorization to release information by delivering to the franchisee in writing, by mail or otherwise, the subscriber's decision to revoke the authorization. Any such revocation shall be effective upon receipt by the franchisee. A franchisee shall not condition subscriber service on the subscriber's valid authorization or grant or denial of permission to collect, maintain, or disclose personally identifiable information, except to the extent that such information is necessary for credit check or billing purposes.