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panoptic, inc. d/b/a porchlight communications, inc.’s Internet
Acceptable Use Policy
Important Note:
We may revise this Acceptable Use Policy (the "Policy") from time to
time without notice by posting a new version of this document on our
web site at WWW.PORCHLIGHTCOMMUNICATIONS.COM/RAUP. All revised
copies of the Policy are effective immediately upon posting.
Accordingly, customers and users of the PanOptic FiboNet Service
should regularly visit our web site and review this Policy to ensure
that their activities conform to the most recent version. In the
event of a conflict between any subscriber or customer agreement and
this Policy, the terms of this Policy will govern. Questions
regarding this Policy and complaints of violations of it by PanOptic
customers and users can be directed to
http://www.porchlightcommunications.com/contactus.asp?PageID=6.
It is PanOptic's intent to provide our
customers with the best Internet service possible. In order to
accomplish this task, we have adopted this Acceptable Use Policy
(the "AUP" or "Policy"). This Policy outlines acceptable use of the
PanOptic High-Speed Internet service (the "Service"), as well as
permissible and prohibited conduct for using the Service to access
the Internet. This Policy, including its customer use restrictions,
is in addition to the restrictions contained in the PanOptic
High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement (the "Subscriber
Agreement"). All capitalized terms used in this AUP that are not
defined here have the meanings given to them in the Subscriber
Agreement.
It is the responsibility of all PanOptic
High-Speed Internet customers and all others who have access to
PanOptic's network ("customer," "you," or "your"), to comply with
this AUP and all PanOptic policies. As a Service customer, it is
your responsibility to secure your computer equipment so that it is
not subject to external threats such as viruses, spam, and other
methods of intrusion. Failure to comply with these or any other
PanOptic policies could result in the suspension or termination of
your Service. If you do not agree to comply with all of these
policies including the AUP, you must immediately stop use of the
Service and notify PanOptic so that your account may be closed.
Note: PanOptic reserves the right to immediately terminate the
Service and the Subscriber Agreement if you engage in any of the
prohibited activities listed in this AUP or if you use the PanOptic
Equipment or Service in a way which is contrary to any PanOptic
policies or any of PanOptic's suppliers' policies. You must strictly
adhere to any policy set forth by another service provider accessed
through the Service.
Prohibited Uses and Activities
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited
to, using the Service, Customer Equipment, or the PanOptic Equipment
to:
i.
undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes, but is
not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating
information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful,
threatening, defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual
property rights of any person or entity, or which in any way
constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal
offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any
local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation;
ii.
post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or
material which a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable,
offensive, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening,
embarrassing, distressing, vulgar, hateful, racially or ethnically
offensive, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether this
material or its dissemination is unlawful;
iii.
access any other person's computer or computer system, software, or
data without their knowledge and consent; breach the security of
another user; or attempt to circumvent the user authentication or
security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not
limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or
making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized
to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or
accounts;
iv.
use or distribute tools designed or used for compromising security,
such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers,
unauthorized keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet
sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse
programs. Network probing or port scanning tools are only permitted
when used in conjunction with a residential home network, or if
explicitly authorized by the destination host and/or network.
Unauthorized port scanning, for any reason, is strictly prohibited;
v.
upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works
of, or distribute in any way information, software or other material
obtained through the Service or otherwise that is protected by
copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining permission
of the owner;
vi.
copy, distribute, or sublicense any software provided in connection
with the Service by PanOptic or any third party, except that you may
make one copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
vii.
restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any
other person, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to use or
enjoy the Service, including, without limitation, posting or
transmitting any information or software which contains a worm,
virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic
sufficient to impede others' ability to send or retrieve
information;
viii.
restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a
performance degradation, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge,
to the Service or any PanOptic (or PanOptic supplier) host, server,
backbone network, node or service, or otherwise cause a performance
degradation to any PanOptic (or PanOptic supplier) facilities used
to deliver the Service;
ix.
resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside the
Premises the ability to use the Service (i.e. wi-fi, or other
methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly,
or on a bundled or unbundled basis. The Service is for personal and
non-commercial use only and you agree not to use the Service for
operation as an Internet service provider or for any business
enterprise or purpose, or as an end-point on a non-PanOptic local
area network or wide area network;
x.
connect multiple computers behind the modem to set up a LAN (Local
Area Network) that in any manner would result in a violation of the
terms of this Policy or an applicable Service plan;
xi.
transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages or "spam." This
includes, but is not limited to, unsolicited advertising,
promotional materials or other solicitation material, bulk mailing
of commercial advertising, chain mail, informational announcements,
charity requests, and petitions for signatures;
xii.
send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages,
empty messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or
send very large messages or files to a recipient that disrupts a
server, account, newsgroup, or chat service;
xiii.
distribute programs that remove locks or time-outs built into
software (cracks);
xiv.
run programs, equipment, or servers from the Premises that provide
network content or any other services to anyone outside of your
Premises LAN (Local Area Network), also commonly referred to as
public services or servers. Examples of prohibited services and
servers include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file
sharing, and proxy services and servers;
xv.
initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or
other illegal soliciting scheme;
xvi.
participate in the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or
other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a
practice sometimes known as spidering or harvesting, or participate
in the use of software (including "spyware") designed to facilitate
this activity;
xvii.
collect responses from unsolicited messages;
xviii.
impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address
falsification, forge anyone else's digital or manual signature, or
perform any other similar fraudulent activity;
xix.
service, alter, modify, or tamper with the PanOptic Equipment or
Service or permit any other person to do the same who is not
authorized by PanOptic;
xx.
connect the PanOptic Equipment to any computer outside of your
Premises;
xxi.
collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third
parties without their consent;
xxii.
interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to
any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of
service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service,
improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges and attempts to
"crash" a host; and
xxiii.
violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any
network, server, computer database, or Web site that you access.
Security
You are responsible for any misuse of the
Service, even if the misuse was committed by a friend, family
member, or guest with access to your Service account. Therefore, you
must take steps to ensure that others do not use your account to
gain unauthorized access to the Service by, for example, strictly
maintaining the confidentiality of your Service login and password.
In all cases, you are solely responsible for the security of any
device you choose to connect to the Service, including any data
stored or shared on that device. PanOptic recommends against
enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict
compliance with all security recommendations and features provided
by PanOptic and the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer
sharing devices. Any files or devices you choose to make available
for shared access on a home LAN, for example, should be protected
with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.
Inappropriate Content and
Transmissions
PanOptic reserves the right, but not the
obligation, to refuse to transmit or post and to remove or block any
information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole
discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise
inappropriate, regardless of whether this material or its
dissemination is unlawful. Neither PanOptic nor any of its
affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to monitor
transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to, e-mail,
newsgroup, and instant message transmissions as well as materials
available on the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features)
made on the Service. However, PanOptic and its affiliates,
suppliers, and agents have the right to monitor these transmissions
and postings from time to time for violations of this Policy and to
disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with the Subscriber
Agreement and any other applicable agreements and policies.
Electronic Mail
The Service may not be used to send
unsolicited bulk or commercial messages and may not be used to
collect responses from unsolicited e-mail sent from accounts on
other Internet hosts or e-mail services that violate this Policy or
the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider.
Moreover, unsolicited e-mail may not direct the recipient to any Web
site or other resource that uses the Service. Activities that have
the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial e-mail or
unsolicited bulk e-mail, whether or not the e-mail is commercial in
nature, are prohibited. Forging, altering, or removing electronic
mail headers is prohibited. You may not reference PanOptic or the
PanOptic network (e.g. by including "Organization: PanOptic" in the
header or by using an IP address that belongs to PanOptic or the
PanOptic network) in any unsolicited e-mail even if that e-mail is
not sent through the PanOptic network or Service.
PanOptic is not responsible for deleting or
forwarding any e-mail sent to the wrong e-mail address by you or by
someone else trying to send e-mail to you. PanOptic is also not
responsible for forwarding e-mail sent to any account that has been
suspended or terminated. This e-mail will be returned to the sender,
ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at PanOptic's sole
discretion. In the event that PanOptic believes in its sole
discretion that any subscriber name, account name, or e-mail address
(collectively, an "identifier") on the Service may be used for, or
is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent, or other improper or
illegal purpose, PanOptic (i) reserves the right to block access to
and prevent the use of any such identifier and (ii) may at any time
require any customer to change his or her identifier. In addition,
PanOptic may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Service for
PanOptic's own purposes.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply
with the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups as well as
any other terms and conditions applicable to any particular
newsgroups or provider of newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations,
or other commercial messages should be posted only in those
newsgroups whose charters or FAQs explicitly permit them. You are
responsible for determining the policies of a given newsgroup before
posting to it. PanOptic reserves the right to discontinue access to
any newsgroup at any time for any reason. PanOptic permits users of
the Service to download a maximum of five gigabytes (5GB) of
newsgroup content in any one month, unless users are subject to a
Service plan that permits downloading more newsgroup content.
Instant Messages and Video
Messages
Users alone are responsible for the contents
of their instant messages and video messages and the consequences of
any such messages. PanOptic assumes no responsibility for the
timeliness, mis-delivery, deletion or failure to store instant
messages or video messages.
Personal Web Page and File
Storage
As part of the Service, PanOptic provides
you with access to personal Web pages and storage space through the
Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features (collectively, the
"Personal Web Features"). You are solely responsible for any
information that you or others publish or store on the Personal Web
Features. You must ensure that the intended recipient of any content
made available through the Personal Web Features is appropriate. For
example, you must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors
from receiving or accessing inappropriate content. PanOptic reserves
the right to remove, block, or refuse to post or store any
information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole
discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise
inappropriate regardless of whether this material or its
dissemination is unlawful. This includes, but is not limited to:
obscene material; defamatory, fraudulent or deceptive statements;
threatening, intimidating or harassing statements, or material that
violates the privacy rights or property rights of others (copyrights
or trademarks, for example). For purposes of this Policy, "material"
refers to all forms of communications including narrative
descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations,
images, drawings, logos), executable programs and scripts, video
recordings, and audio recordings. PanOptic may remove or block
content contained on your Personal Web Features and terminate your
Personal Web Features and/or your use of the Service if we determine
that you have violated the terms of this Policy.
Network, Bandwidth, Data Storage
and Other Limitations
PanOptic may provide versions of the Service
with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations, among other
characteristics, subject to applicable Service plans. You shall
ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit,
interfere with, or degrade any other user's use of the Service, nor
represent (in the sole judgment of PanOptic) an overly large burden
on the network. In addition, you shall ensure that your use of the
Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, disrupt,
degrade, or impede PanOptic's ability to deliver and provide the
Service and monitor the Service, backbone, network nodes, and/or
other network services.
You shall ensure that your bandwidth
consumption using the Service does not exceed the limitations that
are now in effect or may be established in the future.
If your use of the Service
results in the consumption of bandwidth in excess of the applicable
limitations, that is a violation of this Policy. In such cases,
PanOptic may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your
Service account or request that you subscribe to a version of the
Service with higher bandwidth usage limitations if you wish to
continue to use the Service at higher bandwidth consumption levels.
An example of such excessive use would be the installation of a
game, music, or video server on your personal residential account,
which would in itself be a violation of your service.
We can provide commercial accounts with larger usage
capacities for such services.
In addition, you may only access and use the
Service with a dynamic Internet Protocol ("IP") address that adheres
to the dynamic host configuration protocol ("DHCP"). You may not
configure the Service or any related equipment to access or use a
static IP address or use any protocol other than DHCP unless you are
subject to a Service plan that expressly permits otherwise.
Copyright Infringement
PanOptic is committed to complying with
Copyright owners may report alleged
infringements of their works that are stored on the Service or the
Personal Web Features by sending PanOptic's authorized agent a
notification of claimed infringement that satisfies the requirements
of the DMCA. Upon PanOptic's receipt of a satisfactory notice of
claimed infringement for these works, PanOptic will respond
expeditiously to either directly or indirectly (i) remove the
allegedly infringing work(s) stored on the Service or the Personal
Web Features or (ii) disable access to the work(s). PanOptic will
also notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the
removal or disabling of access to the work(s). If the affected
customer or user believes in good faith that the allegedly
infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or
misidentification, then that person may send a counter notification
to PanOptic. Upon PanOptic's receipt of a counter notification that
satisfies the requirements of DMCA, PanOptic will provide a copy of
the counter notification to the person who sent the original
notification of claimed infringement and will follow the DMCA's
procedures with respect to a received counter notification. In all
events, you expressly agree that PanOptic will not be a party to any
disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.
Copyright owners may send PanOptic a
notification of claimed infringement that satisfies the requirements
of
Section 512(c)(3)
of the U.S. Copyright Act* to report alleged infringements of their
works to:
PanOptic, Inc.
Attn:
Scott Seab, General Counsel
(719)
660-3109
Under the DMCA anyone who knowingly makes
misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright infringement may be
liable to PanOptic, the alleged infringer, and the affected
copyright owner for any damages incurred in connection with the
removal, blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.
If a notification of claimed infringement
has been filed against you, you can file a counter notification with
PanOptic's designated agent using the contact information shown
above. All counter notifications must satisfy the requirements of
Section 512(g)(3)
of the U.S. Copyright Act.
* A valid written notification of
infringement made under Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act
must include the following information:
i.
A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized
to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
ii.
Identification of the copyrighted work or works claimed to
have been infringed.
iii.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be
infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is
to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information
reasonably sufficient to permit Comcast to locate the material.
iv.
Information reasonably sufficient to permit Comcast to
contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number,
and, if available, an electronic mail address.
v.
A statement that the complaining party has a good faith
belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not
authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
vi.
A statement that the information in the notification is
accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party
is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right
that is allegedly infringed.
Violation of Acceptable Use
Policy
PanOptic does not routinely monitor the
activity of Service accounts for violation of this AUP. However, in
our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet
community, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of
inappropriate use of our Service. Although PanOptic has no
obligation to monitor the Service and/or the network, PanOptic and
its suppliers reserve the right at any time to monitor bandwidth,
usage, transmissions, and content from time to time to operate the
Service; to identify violations of this Policy; and/or to protect
the network, the Service and PanOptic users.
PanOptic prefers to advise customers of
inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective action. However,
if the Service is used in a way that PanOptic or its suppliers, in
their sole discretion, believe violate this AUP, PanOptic or its
suppliers may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate.
These actions include, but are not limited to, temporary or
permanent removal of content, cancellation of newsgroup posts,
filtering of Internet transmissions, and the immediate suspension or
termination of all or any portion of the Service. Neither PanOptic
nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will have any liability for
any these responsive actions. These actions are not PanOptic's
exclusive remedies and PanOptic may take any other legal or
technical action it deems appropriate.
PanOptic reserves the right to investigate
suspected violations of this AUP, including the gathering of
information from the user or users involved and the complaining
party, if any, and examination of material on PanOptic's servers and
network. During an investigation, PanOptic may suspend the account
or accounts involved and/or remove or block material that
potentially violates this Policy. You expressly authorize PanOptic
and its suppliers to cooperate with (i) law enforcement authorities
in the investigation of suspected legal violations, and (ii) and
system administrators at other Internet service providers or other
network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy.
This cooperation may include PanOptic providing available personally
identifiable information about you to law enforcement or system
administrators, including, but not limited to, username, subscriber
name, and other account information. Upon termination of your
account, PanOptic is authorized to delete any files, programs, data
and e-mail messages associated with your account.
The failure of PanOptic or its suppliers to
enforce this AUP, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a
waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that if any
portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that
portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly
as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force
and effect.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold
harmless PanOptic and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents against
all claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees)
resulting from you engaging in any of the prohibited activities
listed in this AUP or resulting from your violation of the AUP or of
any other posted PanOptic policy related to the Service. Your
indemnification will survive any termination of the Subscriber
Agreement.
Revised and effective: May 28, 2007