Acceptable Use Policy
1. Introduction. The Towerstream AUP is designed to help protect Towerstream’s assets, the integrity of Towerstream’s wireless broadband, the assets of its Customers, and the Internet community, from irresponsible or illegal activities of Towerstream Customers and its Users. These activities may disrupt or degrade Services, pose a threat to Towerstream’s assets, expose Towerstream (or other providers of Internet Protocol (“IP”) Services) to claims of civil or criminal liability or other legal sanctions. Moreover, because of various conventions used in the industry (including blocking, filtering and blacklisting) these activities may impair Towerstream’s ability to interconnect with other providers of Services. These activities may relate to the content stored or transmitted by Customers or Authorize Users or to the nature of the transmissions themselves such as sending large numbers of unsolicited messages (“spam”). Customers are responsible for avoiding the prohibited activities and strictly following the AUP terms set forth herein.
2. AUP Coverage. If Customer or Authorized User(s) (hereinafter, “Customer”) violate the AUP, Towerstream may, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, suspend or terminate service, as specified below. Customer may have access through the Towerstream network(s) and Service(s) to search engines, subscription web services, chat areas, bulletin boards, web pages, USENET, or other services that promulgate rules, guidelines, or agreements to govern their use. Failure to adhere to any such rules, guidelines, or agreements shall be a violation of this AUP.
3. AUP Enforcement and Notice. Failure to observe the guidelines set forth in this AUP may result in Towerstream taking actions, anywhere from a warning to a suspension of privileges or termination of your Service(s). Towerstream reserves the right, but does not assume the obligation, to strictly enforce the AUP. When feasible, Towerstream may provide Customer with notice of an AUP violation via e-mail or otherwise, and demand that such violation be immediately corrected.
3.1. Towerstream shall not be liable for any damages of any nature suffered by any Customer or third party resulting in whole or in part from Towerstream ‘s exercise of its rights under this AUP.
4. Prohibited Actions. Customer may not use the Service in a manner that violates any applicable local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation. Additionally, Customer may not use the Towerstream Services to:
4.1. Conduct, participate in, or otherwise facilitate pyramid or other illegal soliciting schemes.
4.2. Take part in any fraudulent activities, including impersonating any person or entity or forging anyone else’s digital or manual signature.
4.3. Invade another person’s privacy, stalk, harass, or otherwise violate the rights of others.
4.4. Post, transmit, or disseminate content that is illegal, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory, promotes violence, or is otherwise offensive or objectionable.
4.5. Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy the equipment or the Service, including, without limitation, by posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse, Cancelbots, or other harmful feature.
4.6. Collect or store personal data about other users.
4.7. Use an IP address not assigned to the Customer. 4.8.Violate any other Towerstream policy or guideline. 4.9.Resell or redistribute the Service to any third party via any means including but not limited to wireless technology.
5. Unlawful Activities. Towerstream Services shall not be used in connection with any criminal, civil, or administrative violation of any applicable local, state, and provincial, federal, national or international law, treaty, court order, ordinance, regulation or administrative rule. By using Services, Customer represents and warrants to Towerstream that Customer is not a resident of any country, or affiliated with, any of organization prohibited to do business within the United States as defined by the Office of Foreign Assets Control within the United States Department of the Treasury.
6. Intellectual Property. Customer is prohibited from infringing, publishing, submitting, copying, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting, reproducing, or distributing software, video or audio content, or any other material that is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, any other type of intellectual property rights, trademark laws (by rights of privacy or publicity) or other proprietary right of any party unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consent to do the same. This prohibition includes the use of any material or information including images or photographs that are made available through a Towerstream site or Service(s).
7. Offensive or Threatening Material or Content. Services shall not be used to host, post, transmit, or re-transmit any content or material that is threatening, harassing, obscene, indecent, hateful, malicious, racist, fraudulent, deceptive, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise harmful or offensive to third parties, treasonous, excessively violent or promotes the use of violence, or provides instruction, information or assistance in causing or carrying out violence against any government, organization, group or individual, or provides guidance, information or assistance with respect to causing damage or security breaches to Towerstream’s network or to the network of any other Internet service provider. Customer shall not create or attempt to utilize a domain name that is fraudulent, indecent, offensive, deceptive, threatening, abusive or harassing.
8. Interaction with Minors. Towerstream has a zero tolerance policy regarding use of its Services to engage in inappropriate conduct with a minor (anyone under 18 years of age). Customer shall not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from a minor without the express consent of the parent or guardian of the minor, nor shall you use Services to harm or intimidate a minor. Towerstream complies with all federal and state laws pertaining to the protection of minors.
9. Spam/E-Mail/Usenet/Blog/Social-Networking Abuse. Violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, the Electronic Mail Act of Illinois (Public Act 91-0233), or any other state or federal law regulating e-mail services, constitutes an automatic violation of this AUP and Towerstream reserves the right to seek damages and other available relief against Customer, as applicable. Spam/E-mail/Usenet Abuse are prohibited. Examples of Spam/E-mail/Usenet Abuse include, but are not limited to, the following activities:
9.1. Sending unsolicited electronic mail messages and “mail-bombing” (sending mass unsolicited e-mail messages to a single user, or group of users, commercial or otherwise, or deliberately sending very large attachments to one recipient) using Services is prohibited.
9.2. Using another site’s mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the site;
9.3. Using another computer, without authorization, to send multiple e-mail messages or to retransmit e-mail messages for the purpose of misleading recipients as to the origin;
9.4. Using IP addresses that the Customer does not have a right to use;
9.5. Collecting the responses from unsolicited electronic messages;
9.6. Maintaining a site that is advertised via unsolicited electronic messages, regardless of the origin of the unsolicited electronic messages;
9.7. Spamming, or sending unsolicited commercial e-mail, sending unsolicited electronic messages with petitions for signatures, or any chain mail related materials, or requests for charitable donations;
9.8. Sending messages that are harassing or malicious, or otherwise could reasonably be predicted to interfere with another party’s quiet enjoyment of the Towerstream Services or the Internet (e.g., through language, frequency, size or otherwise);
9.9. Sending bulk (i.e., twenty-five or more recipients) electronic messages without identifying, within the message, a reasonable means of opting out from receiving additional messages from the sender;
9.10. Using distribution lists containing addresses that include those who have opted out;
9.11. Sending electronic messages that do not accurately identify the sender, the sender’s return address, the e-mail address of origin, or other information contained in the subject line or header.
9.12. Forging headers or identifiers in order to disguise the origin of e-mail;
9.13. Use of redirect links in unsolicited commercial e-mail to advertise a website or service;
9.14. Posting a single message, or messages to online forums or newsgroups, that could reasonably be expected to provoke complaints;
9.15. Posting messages to, canceling, or superseding messages on an online forum or newsgroup in a manner that violates the rules of the forum or newsgroup or that contain forged header information.
9.16. Sending bulk electronic messages in quantities that exceed standard industry norms, or that create the potential for disruption of the Towerstream network or of the networks with which Towerstream interconnects;
9.17. Intercepting, redirecting or otherwise interfering or attempting to interfere with e-mail intended for other parties;
9.18. Knowingly deleting any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in a file that the user mails or sends;
9.19. Using, distributing, advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP or the AUP of any other Internet Service Provider, including, but not limited to, the facilitation of the means to spam.
10. Security Violations. Customer is solely responsible for the security of any device connected to the Service, including any data stored on that device. Towerstream Services may not be used to interfere with, to gain unauthorized access to, or otherwise violate the security of Towerstream’s or another party’s server, network, personal computer, network access or control devices, software or data, or other system, or to attempt to do any of the foregoing. Examples of violations of system or network security include, but are not limited to:
10.1. Intercepting, interfering with or redirecting e-mail intended for third parties, or any form of network monitoring, scanning or probing, or other action for the unauthorized interception of data or harvesting of e-mail addresses;
10.2. Using Services to breach or attempt to breach the security of another user or attempt to gain access to any organization or person’s computer, software, or data without the knowledge and consent of such person (“Hacking”). The equipment and the Service may not be used in any attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools, is strictly prohibited;
10.3. Impersonating others in order to obtain another user’s account password or other personal information.
10.4. Using Services to deliver Spyware, Adware, or secretly or deceptively obtain the personal information of third parties (phishing, etc.), or engage in modem hi-jacking;
10.5. Using any program, file, script, command or the transmission of any message or content of any kind, designed to interfere with a terminal session or the access or use of the Internet or any other means of communication;
10.6. Distributing or using tools designed to compromise security, including cracking tools, password guessing programs, packet sniffers or network probing tools (except in the case of authorized legitimate network security operations);
10.7. Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without express authorization of the owner of the system or network; this would include use of sniffers or SNMP tools;
10.8. Falsifying packet header, sender, or User information whether in whole or in part to mask the identity of the sender, originator or point of origin; and
10.9. Knowingly uploading or distributing files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, Cancelbots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer or property of another;
10.10. Engaging in the transmission of pirated software, or otherwise exporting illegal software, or violating U.S. laws concerning the transmission of technical data and other regulated materials via Services;
10.11. Using manual or electronic means to avoid any use limitations placed on Services;
10.12. Gaining unauthorized access to private networks;
10.13. Violating rules, regulations, and policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, web site, or ISP that you access through Services.
11. Customer Responsibilities. Customer remains solely and fully responsible for the content of any material posted, hosted, downloaded/uploaded, created, accessed or transmitted using Service. Towerstream takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any material created or accessible on or through the Towerstream network(s) using Services, or for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography, or profanity Customer may encounter.