ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
PENNWISP, LLC. APRIL 2015
Why is PennWisp providing
this Policy to me?
PennWisp’s
goal is to provide its customers with the best High Speed Wireless Internet
service possible. In order to help accomplish this, PennWisp has adopted this
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This Policy outlines acceptable use of the PennWisp
High-Speed Internet service (the Service). This Policy is in addition to any
restrictions contained in the PennWisp Terms of Service.
What obligations do I have
under this Policy?
All
PennWisp High-Speed Internet customers and all others who use the Service (the
customer, user, you, or your) must comply with this Policy. Your failure to
comply with this Policy could result in the suspension or termination of your
Service account. If you do not agree to comply with this Policy, you must
immediately stop all use of the Service and notify PennWisp so that it can
close your account.
How will I know when
PennWisp changes this Policy and how do I report violations of it?
PennWisp
may revise this Policy from time to time by posting a new version on the Web
site at http://www.PennWisp.com. PennWisp will use reasonable efforts to make
customers aware of any changes to this Policy, which may include sending e-mail
announcements or posting information on the PennWisp website. Revised versions
of this Policy are effective immediately upon posting. Accordingly, customers
of PennWisp High-Speed Internet Service should read any PennWisp announcements
they receive and regularly visit the PennWisp website and review this Policy to
ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. You can send
questions regarding this Policy, report a child exploitation incident involving
the Internet, and report violations using the Contact Us form at http://www.PennWisp.com.
I. Prohibited Uses and Activities
What
uses and activities does PennWisp prohibit?
In
general, the Policy prohibits uses and activities involving the Service that
are illegal, infringe the rights of others, or interfere with or diminish the
use and enjoyment of the Service by others. For example, these prohibited uses
and activities include, but are not limited to, using the Service, Customer
Equipment, or the PennWisp Equipment, either individually or in combination
with one another, to:
Conduct and information
restrictions
*
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 or 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, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal, or non-U.S.
law, order, or regulation;
*
post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any
information or material which a reasonable person could deem to be unlawful;
*
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 any required permission of the owner;
*
transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages commonly known as spam;
*
send very large numbers of copies of the same or substantially similar
messages, empty messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or
send very large messages or files that disrupts a server, account, blog,
newsgroup, chat, or similar service;
*
initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal
scheme;
*
participate in the collection of very large numbers 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;
*
collect responses from unsolicited bulk messages;
*
falsify, alter, or remove message headers;
*
falsify references to PennWisp or its network, by name or other identifier, in
messages;
*
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 (for example, phishing);
*
violate the rules, regulations, terms of service, or policies applicable to any
network, server, computer database, service, application, system, or Web site
that you access or use;
Technical
restrictions
*
access any other person's computer or computer system, network, software, or
data without his or her knowledge and consent; breach the security of another
user or system; 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 without express permission to do so;
*
use or distribute tools or devices designed or used for compromising security
or whose use is otherwise unauthorized, such as password guessing programs,
decoders, password gatherers, keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools,
packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs.
Unauthorized port scanning is strictly prohibited;
*
copy, distribute, or sublicense any proprietary software provided in connection
with the Service by PennWisp or any third party, except that you may make one
copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
*
distribute programs that make unauthorized changes to software (cracks);
*
use or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from the Premises that
provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your
Premises local area network (Premises LAN), also commonly referred to as public
services or servers. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but
are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing,
and proxy services and servers;
*
use or run programs from the Premises that provide network content or any other
services to anyone outside of your Premises LAN, except for personal and
non-commercial residential use;
*
service, alter, modify, or tamper with the PennWisp Equipment or Service or
permit any other person to do the same who is not authorized by PennWisp;
Network
and usage restrictions
*
restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person,
regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to use or enjoy the Service (except
for tools for safety and security functions such as parental controls, for
example), 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 use, send,
or retrieve information;
*
restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a performance
degradation, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to the Service or any PennWisp
(or PennWisp supplier) host, server, backbone network, node or service, or
otherwise cause a performance degradation to any PennWisp (or PennWisp
supplier) facilities used to deliver the Service;
*
resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside the Premises
the ability to use the Service (for example, through wi-fi
or other methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly.
The Service is for personal and non-commercial residential use only and you
agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider or
for any business enterprise or purpose (whether or not for profit);
*
connect the PennWisp Equipment to any computer outside of your Premises;
*
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 abusing
operator privileges, and attempts to crash a host; and
*
accessing and using the Service with anything other than 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 you to do so.
II. Customer Conduct and Features of the Service
What obligations do I have
under this Policy?
In
addition to being responsible for your own compliance with this Policy, you are
also responsible for any use or misuse of the Service that violates this
Policy, even if it 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.
PennWisp
recommends against enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict
compliance with all security recommendations and features provided by PennWisp
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.
It
is also your responsibility to secure the Customer Equipment and any other
Premises equipment or programs not provided by PennWisp that connect to the
Service from external threats such as viruses, spam, bot nets, and other
methods of intrusion.
How does PennWisp address
inappropriate content and transmissions?
PennWisp
reserves the right 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 in violation of Sections I or II of this Policy, or otherwise
harmful to PennWisp's network or customers using the Service, regardless of
whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful so long as it violates
this Policy.
Neither
PennWisp nor any of its affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to
monitor transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to, e-mail, file
transfer, blog, newsgroup, and instant message transmissions as well as
materials available on the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features) made
on the Service. However, PennWisp 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 this Policy, the Terms of Service, and applicable law.
What requirements apply to
electronic mail?
The
Service may not be used to communicate or distribute e-mail or other forms of
communications in violation of Section I of this Policy. As described below in
Section III of this Policy, PennWisp uses reasonable network management tools
and techniques to protect customers from receiving spam and from sending spam
(often without their knowledge over an infected computer).
PennWisp
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. PennWisp
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 PennWisp's sole discretion. In the event that
PennWisp 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, PennWisp (i) reserves the right
to block access to and prevent the use of any of these identifiers and (ii) may
at any time require any customer to change his or her identifier.
In
addition, PennWisp may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Service for PennWisp's
own purposes. In the event that a Service account is terminated for any reason,
all e-mail associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be
permanently deleted as well.
What requirements apply to
instant, video, and audio messages?
Each
user is responsible for the contents of his or her instant, video, and audio
messages and the consequences of any of these messages. PennWisp assumes no
responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery,
deletion, or failure to store these messages. In the event that a Service
account is terminated for any reason, all instant, video, and audio messages
associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently
deleted as well.
III. Network Management and Limitations on Data Consumption
Why does PennWisp manage its
network?
PennWisp
manages its network with one goal: to deliver the best possible broadband
Internet experience to all of its customers. High-speed bandwidth and network
resources are not unlimited. Managing the network is essential as PennWisp
works to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of its customers.
How does PennWisp manage its
network?
PennWisp
uses various tools and techniques to manage its network, deliver the Service,
and ensure compliance with this Policy and the Terms of Service. These tools and
techniques are dynamic, like the network and its usage, and can and do change
frequently. For example, these network management activities may include (i) identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customer
e-mail accounts, (ii) detecting malicious Internet traffic and preventing the
distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, (iii) temporarily
lowering the priority of traffic for users who are the top contributors to
current network congestion, and (iv) using other tools and techniques that PennWisp
may be required to implement in order to meet its goal of delivering the best
possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers.
Are there restrictions on
data consumption that apply to the Service?
PennWisp
reserves the right to suspend or terminate Service accounts where data consumption
is not characteristic of typical use of the Service plan selected,as determined by PennWisp in its sole discretion. Common activities that may cause excessive
data consumption in violation of this Policy include, but are not limited to,
numerous or continuous bulk transfers of files and other high capacity traffic
using (i) file transfer protocol (FTP), (ii)
peer-to-peer applications, and (iii) newsgroups. You must also ensure that your
use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any
other person's use of the Service, nor represent (as determined by PennWisp in
its sole discretion) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, you
must ensure that your use of the Service does not limit or interfere with PennWisp's
ability to deliver and monitor the Service or any part of its network. If you
use the Service in violation of the restrictions referenced above, that is a
violation of this Policy. In these cases, PennWisp may, in its sole discretion,
suspend or terminate your Service account or request that you subscribe to a
version of the Service (such as a commercial grade Internet service, if
appropriate) if you wish to continue to use the Service at higher data
consumption levels. PennWisp may also provide versions of the Service with
different speed and data consumption limitations, among other characteristics,
subject to applicable Service plans. PennWisp's determination of the data
consumption for Service accounts is final.
IV. Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy
What happens if you violate
this Policy?
PennWisp
reserves the right immediately to suspend or terminate your Service account and
terminate the Terms of Service if you violate the terms of this Policy or the Terms
of Service.
How does PennWisp enforce
this Policy?
PennWisp
does not routinely monitor the activity of individual Service accounts for
violations of this Policy, except for determining aggregate data consumption in
connection with the data consumption provisions of this Policy. However, in the
company's efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, it
will respond appropriately if it becomes aware of inappropriate use of the
Service.
PennWisp
has no obligation to monitor the Service and/or the network. However, PennWisp
and its suppliers reserve the right at any time to monitor bandwidth, usage,
transmissions, and content in order to, among other things, operate the
Service; identify violations of this Policy; and/or protect the network, the
Service and PennWisp users.
PennWisp
prefers to inform customers of inappropriate activities and give them a
reasonable period of time in which to take corrective action. PennWisp also
prefers to have customers directly resolve any disputes or disagreements they
may have with others, whether customers or not, without PennWisp's
intervention. However, if the Service is used in a way that PennWisp or its
suppliers, in their sole discretion, believe violates this Policy, PennWisp or
its suppliers may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate under the
circumstances with or without notice. 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 (including but
not limited to newsgroups).
Neither PennWisp nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will have any liability for any of these responsive
actions. These actions are not PennWisp's exclusive remedies and PennWisp may
take any other legal or technical actions it deems appropriate with or without
notice.
PennWisp
reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this Policy,
including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the
complaining party, if any, and examination of material on PennWisp's servers
and network. During an investigation, PennWisp may suspend the account or
accounts involved and/or remove or block material that potentially violates
this Policy.
You
expressly authorize and consent to PennWisp and its suppliers cooperating 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. Upon termination of your Service account, PennWisp is
authorized to delete any files, programs, data, e-mail and other messages
associated with your account (and any secondary accounts).
The
failure of PennWisp or its suppliers to enforce this Policy, 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 PennWisp and its affiliates,
suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses (including reasonable
attorney fees) resulting from any violation of this Policy. Your
indemnification will survive any termination of the Terms of Service.
V. Copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Requirements
What is PennWisp's DMCA
policy?
PennWisp is committed to complying
with U.S. copyright and related laws, and requires all customers and users of
the Service to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any
material or content on, or disseminate any material or content over, the
Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an
infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights
granted by U.S. copyright law.
Owners of copyrighted works who
believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may take
advantage of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
(the DMCA) to report alleged infringements.
It is PennWisp's policy in
accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws to reserve the right to
terminate the Service provided to any customer or user who is either found to
infringe third party copyright or other intellectual property rights, including
repeat infringers, or who PennWisp, in its sole discretion, believes is
infringing these rights. PennWisp may terminate the Service at any time with or
without notice for any affected customer or user.
How do copyright owners report
alleged infringements to PennWisp?
Copyright owners may report alleged
infringements of their works that are stored on the Service or the Personal Web
Features by sending PennWisp's authorized agent a notification of claimed
infringement that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA.
PennWisp requires a $25.00 service
fee from copyright owners for servicing and handling of each complaint, payment
must be sent with any notification of claimed infringement to the address listed
below.
Upon PennWisp's receipt of a
satisfactory notice, and service fee, of claimed infringement for these works, PennWisp
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). PennWisp
will also notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the removal or
disabling of access to the work(s).
Copyright owners may send PennWisp a
notification of claimed infringement to report alleged infringements of their
works to:
DCMA Copyright Infringement
PennWisp LLC
PO Box 641
Mansfield, PA 16933
Copyright owners may use their own
notification of claimed infringement form that satisfies the requirements of
Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Under the
DMCA, anyone who knowingly makes misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright
infringement may be liable to PennWisp, the alleged infringer, and the affected
copyright owner for any damages incurred in connection with the removal,
blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.
What can customers do if
they receive a notification of alleged infringement?
If you receive a notification of
alleged infringement as described above, and you believe in good faith that the
allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or
misidentification, then you may send a counter notification to PennWisp.
Upon PennWisp's receipt of a counter
notification that satisfies the requirements of DMCA, PennWisp 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 PennWisp will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged
copyright infringement.
If a notification of claimed
infringement has been filed against you, you can file a counter notification
with PennWisp'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.