ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
Scope and Application of Policy
Biro Networks maintains this Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP")
to provide users of its Services (with a clear statement of rules
and use restrictions that apply to the use of Biro Network’s
Services.
This AUP forms an integral part of the Terms of Service that govern
your use of Biro Network’s Services. Your compliance with
and cooperation in Biro Network’s enforcement of this AUP
is an express condition to your continuing contractual rights
to use Biro Network’s Services. This AUP also applies to
your employees, agents, contractors and end users. The evolving
nature of the Internet and on-line commerce makes it necessary
for Biro Networks to reserve the right to make changes to this
AUP at any time. You agree that any changes will be effective
when posted on-line at this location and that your continued use
of Biro Network’s Services will constitute your acceptance
of any changes or additions to this AUP. You may determine the
date of posting at the Effective Date section at the end of this
AUP.
This AUP is not intended to address all possible unacceptable
uses of Biro Network’s Services. As a result, Biro Networks
reserves complete discretion to determine what constitutes an
unacceptable use of its Services and reserves the right to suspend
or terminate your Services, or take such other action as Biro
Networks deems appropriate in its sole discretion.
Prohibited Uses
YOUR USE OF BIRO NETWORKS’S SERVICES MAY NOT VIOLATE ANY
OF THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS. BIRO NETWORKS MAY SUSPEND OR TERMINATE
YOUR SERVICES IF IT DETERMINES, IN ITS SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE DISCRETION,
THAT YOU HAVE ENGAGED IN ANY ACTIVITY THAT VIOLATES THIS AUP.
YOU VIOLATE THIS AUP WHEN YOU, YOUR END USERS OR ANY THIRD PARTY
ACTING ON YOUR OR YOUR END USERS’ BEHALF, ENGAGE IN ANY
ACTIVITY, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ATTEMPT TO ENGAGE IN AN ACTIVITY,
WHETHER SUCCESSFULLY OR OTHERWISE, CONTRARY TO THE TERMS OF THIS
AUP.
BIRO NETWORKS WILL NOT INTERVENE OR BECOME INVOLVED IN ANY DISPUTES
BETWEEN YOU AND A THIRD PARTY. CONSEQUENTLY, BIRO NETWORKS RESERVES
THE RIGHT, IN ITS SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE DISCRETION, TO SUSPEND OR
TERMINATE YOUR SERVICES UPON ITS RECEIPT OF ANY THIRD PARTY COMPLAINT
THAT YOU HAVE ENGAGED IN ANY ACTIVITY THAT VIOLATES THIS AUP,
THAT MAY OTHERWISE SUBJECT BIRO NETWORKS TO LIABILITY FOR ANY
REASON, OR THAT MAY CAUSE AFFINTY TO INCUR LEGAL FEES OR OTHER
EXPENSES.
BIRO NETWORKS MAY SUSPEND AND TERMINATE YOUR SERVICES UNDER THIS
AUP WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU AND YOUR END USERS. BIRO NETWORKS MAY
ALSO REPORT YOUR ACTIVITIES TO FEDERAL AND/OR STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT
AGENCIES.
Lawful Purpose
You may use Affinity’s Services only for lawful purposes.
You may not transmit, store or present any information, software,
data, file or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
You may not use Affinity’s Services to facilitate, or otherwise
assist in, the violation of any law or regulation.
Spamming and Related Activities
Affinity strictly prohibits your use of Affinity’s Services
to transmit SPAM or to host a site that is advertised or announced
via SPAM. "SPAM" is any form of unsolicited advertisement
or informational announcement that is transmitted, whether singularly
or in bulk, via any Internet-based communications medium including,
but not limited to, Microsoft Messenger Service; Chat Programs
such as AIM, YIM and MSN; e-mail, Internet facsimile, Internet
phone, instant and text messaging (SMS) and IRC applications.
Activities that violate this policy may also subject you to civil
liability to third parties and to criminal penalties.
Permission Based Communications
You may use Affinity’s Services to transmit permission-based
communications for purposes of marketing your goods and services,
provided that you otherwise comply with the standards set out
in this AUP and all applicable laws including, but not limited
to, the CAN-SPAM Act. All marketing conducted using Affinity’s
Services must be permission (opt-in) based. You must keep adequate
and verifiable records to prove that your marketing is strictly
permission-based. In addition, should you purchase mailing lists
or other types of data that are to be used to contact third parties
via Affinity’s Services, you must verify that the lists
have been compiled on a strict "opt-in" basis.
In addition to the foregoing general requirements, all permission-based
communications sent using Affinity’s Services must include
the following (and you are required to take the corresponding
actions set forth below):
A working "unsubscribe" link. (You must honor all
unsubscribe requests within 72 hours from the time they enter
Affinity’s Services.)
The recipient’s accurate e-mail address in the "to"
line and the sender’s accurate e-mail address in the "from"
line.
A working link to your privacy policy.
A working "abuse" address
and/or link. (You must answer all complaints forwarded to this
address within 72 hours from
the time they enter Affinity’s Services.)
An up-to-date website that corresponds
with the domain portion of the response e-mail. Your website must
conspicuously display your up-to-date
mailing address, telephone number and facsimile number.
You are solely responsible for the transmission of all such permission-based
communications. Affinity reserves the right to suspend or terminate
your Services in the event Affinity receives an excessive number
of complaints related to your permission-based communications,
whether such complaints are made by parties whom "opt-in"
or otherwise. You agree that Affinity may determine what constitutes
an excessive number of complaints in its sole and exclusive discretion.
The DMCA contains very specific guidelines as to what proper notification
of claimed infringement must contain. Copyright owners may obtain
a copy of the DMCA, including these guidelines, by visiting the
web site of the U.S. Copyright Office at
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512.
Biro Networks is not required to respond to notices that do not
meet the requirements of the DMCA. Copyright owners should be
aware that there are substantial penalties for false claims and
that Biro Networks will actively refer complainants who use the
DMCA for improper purposes to relevant law enforcement agencies.
In the event that Biro Networks must remove, or disable access
to, material on your web site that is alleged to infringe another’s
copyright under the DMCA, you acknowledge and agree that Biro
Networks may do so by disabling access to your entire web site.
Violations of Other Intellectual Property Rights
You may not use Biro Network’s Services in any manner that
infringes or misappropriates any other intellectual property rights
of a third party including, but not limited to, trademarks, trade
names, trade dress, logos, domain names, patents, trade secrets
and other proprietary rights of a third party.
Although Biro Networks reserves the right to suspend or terminate
your Services upon its receipt of a third party claim that alleges
that you are using Biro Network’s Services in a manner that
infringes such third party’s intellectual property rights,
Biro Networks may, in its sole and exclusive discretion, allow
you to continue use of its Services provided that you confirm
in a timely manner that you have discontinued the allegedly infringing
activities or provide Biro Networks with a court order confirming
that your activities do not infringe the intellectual property
rights of such third party.
Defamation and Harassment
You may not use Affinity’s Services to defame, harass, abuse,
libel, slander or threaten a third party.
Complaints about activity in violation of this policy engaged
in by Affinity customers or end users may be directed to
abuse@affinity.com.
Child Pornography
You may not use Biro Network’s Services to disseminate or
display images or other content that constitutes child pornography
under United States laws.
Biro Networks applies a zero tolerance policy to the enforcement
of this prohibition. Biro Networks takes an active role in cooperating
with law enforcement officials in their efforts to prosecute violations
of statutes that prohibit the dissemination of child pornography.
Biro Networks reports the use of its Services to disseminate or
display child pornography as required by law. You will not be
notified that Biro Networks may be cooperating with law enforcement
or that Biro Networks has reported the use of its Services in
this manner.
For further information about child pornography, you may visit
the web site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children at
www.ncmec.org.
Complaints about activity in violation of this policy engaged
in by Biro Networks customers or end users may be directed to
debbie@bironetworks.com.
Disruptive or Abusive Activity
You may not use Affinity’s Services:
to forge, misrepresent, omit, or delete message headers, return
mailing information and/or Internet Protocol addresses to conceal
or misidentify the origin of a
message;
to create or transmit any Internet
virus, worm, Trojan horse or computer code intended to disrupt
services, destroy data, destroy or damage
equipment, or disrupt the operations of the Services;
to maintain open mail relays, forward or propagate "chain"
mail or mail bomb;
to engage in denial of service attacks
including, but not limited to transmitting packets with an illegal
packet size, UDP flooding, ping-flooding,
half-open TCP connection flooding and any other use, or otherwise
interfere with an Internet user’s terminal session;
in a manner that encumbers or utilizes disk space, processors
or other system requirements beyond those allowed by your specific
account;
to establish, create or otherwise make available any Internet
Relay Chat (IRC) server;
to hack, subvert, or assist others in hacking or subverting the
security or integrity of Affinity’s Services;
to disseminate or display indecent or obscene images or content;
to solicit information that is considered to be confidential,
such as passwords or credit card information, or to crack passwords
or to defraud third parties into
releasing their passwords;
to solicit or facilitate the performance
of any illegal activity, even if the activity itself is not performed;
and/or
in any manner that might potentially subject Affinity to unfavorable
regulatory action, subject Affinity to any liability for any
reason, or adversely affect Affinity’s
public image, reputation, goodwill, business or operations.
United States Export Laws
United States export control laws govern your use of Affinity’s
Services. These laws apply to you and your use of Affinity’s
Services regardless of whether you actually reside in the United
States.
You may not use Affinity’s Services for any purpose that
violates these laws, which may include the sale of products that
may be legal to sell in the United States, but illegal to export.
You may not use Affinity’s Services to provide services
to end users with whom United States citizens may not do business.
For further information about United States export laws, you may
visit the United States government’s portal to exporting
and trade services at
http://www.export.gov/exportcontrols.html.
While Biro Networks is concerned with the privacy of on-line communications
and websites, the Internet is no more secure than other means
of communications. You should assume that all on-line communications
are insecure. Biro Networks is not responsible for the security
of any information transmitted over its Services, unless it has
expressly agreed to do so. Such an agreement must be in writing
and signed by an authorized officer of Biro Networks.
IP Addresses
In connection with your use of Biro Network’s Services,
you may only use IP addresses that are assigned to you by Biro
Networks. If you use IP addresses that are not assigned to you
by Biro Networks, Biro Networks will suspend your Services from
network access until such time as the IP address overlap is corrected.
Biro Networks owns all IP addresses that may be assigned to you
by Biro Networks. Biro Networks may, in its sole discretion, change
these numbers from time to time without notice to you.
Certain Restrictions Applicable to Shared Customers
If you are the registered owner of a Biro Networks shared account:
Your Services may not be transferred or used by anyone other than
you. You may not sell, lease or assign the Services or any part
of the Services to any party not named in Biro Network’s
records. You may allow ftp access and host websites for your end
customers without violating this AUP.
When you utilize an excessive amount of system resources, Biro
Networks reserves the right to place CPU process limits on your
account to prevent disruption of Biro Networks Services to other
customers. Biro Networks reserves sole discretion to determine
what constitutes excessive usage of system resources.
Certain Restrictions Applicable to Dedicated Customers
If you are the registered owner of an Biro Networks dedicated
account:
You are solely responsible for any breaches of security affecting
servers under your control. If your server is involved in an attack
on another server or system, it may be shut down and Biro Networks
may launch an investigation to determine the cause and source
of the attack. In such an event, you are responsible for all costs
to rectify any damage done to your server and any other requirement
affected by the security breach. You acknowledge and agree that
Biro Networks will not be liable to you or your end users for
any loss or corruption of data or information, inability to access
the Internet or Biro Network’s Services or inability to
transmit or receive information as a result of any actions taken
by Biro Networks in response to such security breaches. This foregoing
sentence may not be construed to diminish or amend any limitations
of liability, or restrict the applicability of such limitations,
as to Biro Networks that are set forth in the Terms of Service
or any other agreement between you and Biro Networks.
No Credits or Refunds for Suspension and/or Termination of Services
Biro Networks does not issue credits or refunds for outages incurred
as a result of its decision to suspend or terminate its Services
for a violation of this AUP. You agree to indemnify, defend and
hold harmless Biro Networks from any claims by your end users
and any third party that they have been damaged by reason of such
suspension or termination of Biro Network’s Services.
Monitoring of Services; Cooperation with Law Enforcement; Legal
Documents
You are solely responsible for ensuring that materials disseminated
or posted using Biro Network’s Services comply with this
AUP and all applicable laws and regulations. Biro Networks does
not review, edit, censor or take responsibility for any information
you, other customers or your end users may create.
Biro Networks may disclose information, including information
that you may consider confidential, in order to comply with a
court order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, regulation
or governmental request. Biro Networks assumes no obligation to
inform you that such information has been provided and, in some
cases, may be prohibited by law from providing you with notice.
On occasion, Biro Networks may have a need to communicate with
you about issues that relate to billing, service changes, additions
and modifications to its Services. Biro Networks may choose the
method of such communication in its sole discretion. The preferred
method of communication is via e-mail.
It is your responsibility to provide and check the account and
contact information, including a required valid e-mail address
that you provide to Biro Networks during the sign-up process.
It is your responsibility to inform Biro Networks promptly of
any changes to your account or contact information. Biro Networks
has no responsibility for communications that are misdirected
as a result of your failure to provide Biro Networks with updated
contact information.
Effective Date
This AUP was last updated on January 7th, 2007.
