StokesWifi Acceptable Use Policy
THIS
ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY (“AUP” OR “POLICY”) IS A MATERIAL PART OF ANY AGREEMENT
WITH StokesWifi FOR PROVISION OF ITS SERVICES TO ITS
CUSTOMERS. PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THIS POLICY CAREFULLY. THIS POLICY MAY BE
REVISED FROM TIME TO TIME BY STOKESWIFI, OR AS OTHERWISE SET FORTH BELOW AND
THE CURRENT VERSION OF THIS POLICY MAY BE FOUND AT https://www.StokesWifi.com/aup.html.
StokesWifi, LLC (collectively “StokesWifi”) has
established this AUP for subscribers (“YOU” or “YOUR”) of StokesWifi’s
Internet access service, email, web hosting, voice-over-IP telephone service,
or other Internet related services (collectively the “Service”) by designating
standards for acceptable and unacceptable uses of the Service. This AUP forms
part of the agreement between StokesWifi and you and
is incorporated by reference into StokesWifi’s terms
and conditions for the applicable Service (the “Terms”) as found at https://www.StokesWifi.com/tos.html. All subscribers of the Service and anyone
who uses or accesses the Service, must comply with, and shall be bound by the
terms of this AUP. Your access to the Service is conditioned on legal and
appropriate use of the Service. Your use of the Service and any activities
conducted online through the Service shall not violate any applicable law or
regulation or the rights of StokesWifi, or any third
party.
PROHIBITED USES OF THE SERVICE. For the benefit of all of StokesWifi’s
subscribers, as a condition of the Service, StokesWifi prohibits
the following activities:
1. Unlawful or Improper Use of the Service.
·
You may not use the
Service in a manner prohibited by any applicable laws or regulations.
·
Without limiting the
foregoing, you may not use the Service for any unlawful or abusive purpose, in
any way that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any StokesWifi property, or in any way that directly or
indirectly interferes with or disrupts our network or adversely affects
another’s use or enjoyment of any Service, including other StokesWifi
subscribers.
·
You may not use or
attempt to use the Service in any manner such as to avoid incurring charges for
or otherwise being required to pay for such usage.
·
You may not circumvent
or attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network,
network element, or account (also known as “cracking” or “hacking”). This
includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging
into a server or account that you are not expressly authorized to access, or
probing the security of our network or other networks.
·
You may not interfere
or attempt to interfere with any services to any user, host, or network
(“denial of service attacks”). This includes, but is not limited to, “flooding”
of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service, and attempts to “crash”
a host.
·
You may not use any
kind of program/script/command, or send messages of any kind, designed to
interfere with (or which does interfere with) any server or a user’s session,
by any means, locally or via the Internet. The Service is intended for
periodic, active use.
·
You may not use the
Services on a standby or inactive basis in order to maintain a connection.
Pinging is prohibited.
2. Excess Utilization of Network Resources. The excessive use or abuse of StokesWifi ’s network resources by one subscriber may
have a negative impact on all other subscribers. Accordingly, you may not use
the Service or take any action, directly or indirectly, that will result in
excessive consumption or utilization of the system or network resources, or
which may weaken network performance, as determined in StokesWifi’
sole discretion. Such prohibited actions include, but are not limited to: using
the Service to host a web server which attracts excessive traffic at your
location, continuously uploading or downloading streaming video or audio, usenet hosting, or continuous FTP uploading or
downloading. In the event that you violate the terms of this provision StokesWifi may, without limitation, restrict your
access to StokesWifi’ network, increase the fees
associated with your Service, including upgrading you to a higher class of
Service, or immediately suspend or terminate your Service. In the event of
termination of your Service, all applicable termination charges will apply.
3. Intellectual Property Infringement. You may not use the Service to store,
transmit or receive any material that infringes on any patent, trademark, trade
secret, copyright, or other proprietary or intellectual right of any party,
including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted
material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines,
books, or other copyrighted sources, or the unauthorized transmittal of
copyrighted software. If StokesWifi receives a notice
from a copyright owner alleging a Customer has committed copyright
infringement, StokesWifi will notify the Customer of
the alleged infringement. If StokesWifi receives more
than one notice alleging copyright infringement on the Customer’s part,
Customer may be deemed a “repeat copyright infringer.” StokesWifi
reserves the right to terminate the accounts and access to the Service of
repeat copyright infringers. You are also prohibited from using the service to
interfere with any technical measures employed by StokesWifi
that are used to ensure compliance with this policy.
4. Objectionable Material. You may not use the Service to advertise, solicit, store,
post, transmit, disseminate, or otherwise make available material or
information that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing,
libelous, defamatory, hateful, obscene, indecent, or otherwise objectionable or
which encourages or participates in conduct that would constitute a criminal
offense, gives rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violates any local, state,
national, or international law, order, rule, or regulation. StokesWifi
will notify and fully cooperate with law enforcement if it becomes aware of any
use of the Service in any connection with child pornography or the solicitation
of sex with minors.
5. Spamming, Junk E-mail and Invasion of Privacy. You may not use the Service to
transmit or facilitate any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising,
telemarketing, promotional materials, “junk mail”, unsolicited bulk e-mail,
unsolicited duplicative e-mail, unsolicited commercial e-mail, fax
broadcasting, fax blasting, or other activity that invade another person’s
privacy (collectively, “Spam”). An e-mail may be “unsolicited” for purposes of
this AUP if (1) the recipients’ e-mail addresses were not obtained through a
personal or customer relationship between recipient and sender, (2) recipients
did not affirmatively consent to receive communications from the sender, or (3)
recipients have opted out of receiving communications from sender when given
the opportunity to do so.
6. Fraudulent Activity. You may not use the Service to make fraudulent offers to
sell or buy products, items, or services or to advance any type of financial
scam such as “pyramid schemes”, “Ponzi schemes”, or “chain letters.” You may
not use techniques to hide or obscure the source of any e-mail or other
communication.
7. Impersonation. You may not use the Service to
impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your
affiliation with any person or entity, or to create a false identity for the
purpose of misleading others. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not use
invalid or forged headers, invalid or non-existent domain names or other means
of deceptive addressing. Further, you may not alter, obscure or forge the MAC
or IP addresses of the network’s equipment or systems used by StokesWifi to provide the Service.
8. Software Viruses. Worms, Trojan Horses time bombs,
cancelbots, corrupted files, or other code that manifests contaminating or
destructive properties. Also, activities that disrupt the use of or interfere
with the ability of others to effectively use the Service or any connected
network, system, service, or equipment are not permitted.
9. Collecting Information. You may not use the Service to store or collect, or
attempt to store or collect, personal information about third parties without
their prior knowledge and consent.
10. Newsgroups. You should use your best judgment when posting to any
newsgroup. Many groups have charters, published guidelines, FAQS, or “community
standards” describing what is and is not considered appropriate. You must abide
by such guidelines. You may not post or list articles which are off-topic
according to the description of the group or send unsolicited mass e-mailings
to ten or more people if such e-mail could reasonably be expected to provoke
complaints from its recipients. Without limiting any other rights or remedies
that StokesWifi may have under this AUP, the
applicable Terms or applicable law, StokesWifi may
cancel any postings that violate this AUP as determined by StokesWifi
in its sole discretion.
11. Use of Your Account by Others. You may not, through action or
inaction, allow others to use the Service for illegal or improper activities or
for any purpose or in any manner prohibited by this AUP. You may not permit your
network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives
a third party the capability to use the Service in an illegal or improper
manner or for any purpose or in any manner prohibited by this AUP.
12. Reselling. You may not directly or indirectly reproduce, duplicate,
copy, sell, provision, resell, rent, lend, pledge, transfer, distribute or
exploit any portion of the Service without StokesWifi’s
prior written consent.
13. Forging of Headers. You may not forge or misrepresent message headers,
whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the message.
14. Hacking. You
may not access illegally, or without authorization, computers, accounts,
equipment or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate
security measures of another system. This includes any activity that may be
used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration, including, but not
limited to, port scans, stealth scans, or other information gathering activity.
15. Facilitating a Violation of this Policy. You may not advertise, transmit, or
otherwise make available any software product, product, or service that is
designed to violate this Agreement, which includes the facilitation of the
means to spam, initiation of pinging, flooding, mailbombing, denial of service
attacks, and piracy of software.
16. Export Control Violations. You may not use the service for the
transfer of technology, software, or other materials in violation of applicable
export laws and regulations, including but not limited to the U.S. Export
Administration Regulations and Executive Orders.
17. Other Illegal Activities. You may not use the service in violation
of any applicable law or regulation, including, but not limited to,
advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available ponzi
schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, pirating
software, or making fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or
services.
ILLEGAL AND FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY
You
acknowledge and agree that StokesWifi may cooperate
fully with investigations of possible illegal activity or violations of systems
or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement
authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations. Subscribers
who violate systems or network security may incur criminal and/or civil
liability. StokesWifi may immediately suspend or
terminate your Service if StokesWifi suspects abuse
or fraudulent use of the Service, interference with our network, or violation
of the AUP or applicable Terms, and may notify the appropriate authorities if
it reasonably believes that such abuse or fraudulent use is in violation of
applicable law. You must cooperate with StokesWifi in
any fraud investigation and use any fraud prevention measures that StokesWifi prescribes. Your failure to provide reasonable
cooperation may result in your liability for all fraudulent usage.
Sharing
your User ID or password with any other person is absolutely prohibited. In the
result that you do share your User ID or password with another person, you will
be solely responsible for the actions of that other person. Deletion,
examination, copying, or modification of files and/or data belonging to other
users without their prior consent is prohibited. Continued impedance of other
users through mass consumption of system resources, after receipt of a request
to cease such activity, is prohibited. Any unauthorized, deliberate action
which damages or disrupts a computing system, alters its’ normal performance,
or causes a malfunction, is a violation regardless of system location or time
duration.
VIOLATIONS OF AUP
1.
In the event that you violate this AUP, StokesWifi
may, without limitation, restrict your access to StokesWifi’s
network, increase the fees associated with your Service, including upgrading you
to a higher class of Service, or immediately suspend or terminate you Service.
In the event of termination of your Service, all applicable termination charges
will apply. Except as expressly provided herein, the rights and remedies of StokesWifi are cumulative and not exclusive of any rights
or remedies that StokesWifi may otherwise have at law
or in equity. Waiver of any violation of this AUP by StokesWifi
shall not act as a waiver of any subsequent violation, nor shall it be deemed
to be a waiver of the underlying obligation or term. No failure or delay by StokesWifi in exercising any right or remedy hereunder will
operate as a waiver thereof, nor will any single or partial exercise of any
right or remedy preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise
of any other right or remedy. You should read this AUP in conjunction with the
Terms of Service for any applicable Service and our other Policies which are
set forth on our website. StokesWifi has the right
but not the obligation to monitor or restrict any uses of the Service that StokesWifi believes in its sole discretion violates this
AUP, any part of the applicable Terms, or applicable law. You are solely
responsible for all content that you transmit or receive utilizing the Service,
and are responsible for abuse of your account by others.
2.
In addition, violations of this AUP may result in a demand for: immediate
removal of offending material; immediate, temporary or permanent filtering;
blocked access; suspension or termination of service (in whole or in part); or
other action appropriate to the violation, as determined by StokesWifi,
in its sole discretion. We reserve the right to take any such action without
notice at any time, as determined by us in our sole discretion. StokesWifi may involve, and will cooperate with, law
enforcement if criminal activity or threatened criminal activity is suspected.
Violators may also be subject to civil or criminal liability under applicable
law. Refunds or credits are not issued in connection with actions taken for
violations or alleged violations of this AUP. You will be liable to us for any
damages incurred by us or amounts that are required to be paid by us that arise
out of or are related to your violation of this AUP, including, without
limitation, damages paid to third parties, cost of repairs or replacements,
reasonable attorney’s fees or other costs or damages incurred by us.
PRIVACY, MONITORING THE SERVICE, POLICY MANAGEMENT
StokesWifi is under no obligation to monitor the Service, anyone’s use of
the Service, or to retain the content of any user session. However, StokesWifi may do so from time to time in its discretion.
Without limiting any other right of StokesWifi under
this AUP or the applicable Terms of Service, StokesWifi
(a) reserves the right at all times and without notice to delete any content
and (b) may disclose any information regarding you or your use of the Service
for any reason and at its sole discretion in order to satisfy applicable laws,
regulations, orders, or governmental requests, or in order to operate and
deliver the Service in an efficient manner, or to otherwise protect StokesWifi’s property or legal interests and those of its
subscribers. To protect its customers and its network StokesWifi
may, without limitation, block and allow traffic types as we see fit at any
time.
REPORTING VIOLATIONS
StokesWifi requests that any person who becomes aware of a violation of
this AUP report the information to StokesWifi
at abuse@StokesWifi.com or by mail to 217 Redwood Bend, King NC 27021.
If available, please provide the IP address used to commit the alleged
violation and the date and time of the alleged violation. StokesWifi
may take any appropriate action as it deems fit in its sole discretion,
including, but not limited to, one or more of the following actions in response
to a report: issue a warning; suspend the subscriber’s newsgroup posting
privileges; suspend the subscriber’s account; terminate the subscriber’s
account; bill the subscriber for administrative costs and/or reactivation
charges; bring appropriate legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect
damages, if any, caused by violations; or take no action.
REVISIONS, RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
StokesWifi reserves all rights including the right to revise, amend, or
modify this AUP or any other Policy at any time, and any such revisions will be
effective ten (10) days after posting on StokesWifi’s
website. You agree that your continued use of the Service after the effective date
of any such revision, amendment or modification will constitute your acceptance
thereof and you shall thereafter be bound by the terms of this AUP, as revised,
modified or amended. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK STOKESWIFI’S WEBSITE
REGULARLY, AS ALL OR ANY PART OF THIS AUP MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
INTERPRETATION
The
terms and provisions of this AUP are intended as guidelines and are not meant
to be exhaustive. Generally, conduct that violates law, regulation, or the
accepted norms and ethics of the Internet community or the community at large,
whether or not expressly mentioned in this AUP, is prohibited. We reserve the
right at all times, with or without notice, to prohibit activities that damage
our commercial reputation and goodwill or that affect the quality of our
services or our ability to provide services.
INDEMNIFICATION
You
agree to indemnify and hold harmless StokesWifi, and
its suppliers and licensors, officers, directors, employees, agents and
affiliates from any claim, liability, loss, damage, cost, or expense (including
without limitation, reasonable attorney’s fees) arising out of or related to your
use of the Service, any materials downloaded or uploaded through the Service,
any actions taken by you in connection with your use of the Service, any
violation of any third party’s rights or an violation of law or regulation, or
any breach of this AUP. This Section will not be construed to limit or exclude
any other claims or remedies that StokesWifi may
assert under this AUP, the applicable Terms of Service or by law.
Rev.
1/06/2019