Acceptable Use Policy

 

General:

IN ORDER TO PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF REBUS COMMUNICATIONS HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS ("SERVICE"), REBUS COMMUNICATIONS HAS ADOPTED THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY.

PLEASE READ THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY PRIOR TO ACCESSING THE SERVICE. THE WORD CUSTOMER IS USED HEREIN TO REFER TO ANY PERSON, ENTITY OR BUSINESS ORGANIZATION THAT SUBSCRIBES TO THE SERVICE. BY USING THE SERVICE, CUSTOMER AGREES TO THE TERMS OF THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY.

REBUS COMMUNICATIONS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO IMMEDIATELY TERMINATE THE CUSTOMER'S SERVICE WITHOUT NOTICE, AT REBUS COMMUNICATIONS SOLE DISCRETION, IF CUSTOMER OR OTHERS WHO USE CUSTOMER?S SERVICE, VIOLATE THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY.

REBUS COMMUNICATIONS ALSO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO IMMEDIATELY REMOVE ANY MATERIAL OR INFORMATION THAT VIOLATES THIS POLICY FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER AT REBUS COMMUNICATIONS SOLE DISCRETION WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.
 

1. Use:

The high-speed Internet access service provided to the Customer is being provided solely for use in Customer's residence or business and any unauthorized access by a third party to e-mail, Internet access, or any other function of the Service is in violation of this Policy and relieves Rebus Communications of any affirmative obligations it may have.

Customer will not resell or redistribute, nor allow others to resell or redistribute, access to the Service in any manner, except as expressly provided in any contract for service. The limitation on resale or redistribution of access includes, but is not limited to, hosting applications such as the provision of e-mail, FTP, PtP, and Telnet access.

Rebus Communications reserves the right to disconnect or reclassify the Service for failure to comply with any portion of this provision or this Policy.

Any violation of these policies may lead to prosecution under state and/or federal law and/or termination of Customer's Service.
 

2. End Users:

Customer is responsible for ensuring that all end users of the Service comply with this AUP. Rebus Communications may disconnect Service if an end user violates this AUP. The Customer must make contact information publicly available, and must respond in a timely manner to any complaints. Rebus Communications shall consider any complaints regarding the Customer's end users to apply to the Customer. Customer is responsible for any and all e-mail addresses associated with the Customer's account.

The Customer is responsible for any misuse of the Service, whether by authorized or unauthorized end users. Therefore, the Customer must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to the Service. Customer is solely responsible for the security of (i) any device Customer chooses to connect to the Service, including any data stored or shared on that device and (ii) any access point to the Service.
 

3. No Illegal or Fraudulent Use:

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to violate any applicable federal, state, local or international laws or regulations, or to promote illegal activity , including, but not limited to, posting or transmitting child pornography or obscene material, gambling, the offering for sale of illegal weapons or substances, the promotion or publication of any material that may violate hate crime laws, or by exporting software or technical information in violation of U.S. export control laws. Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to commit a crime, act of terrorism, or fraud, or to plan, encourage or help others to commit a crime or fraud, including but not limited to, acts of terrorism, engaging in a pyramid or ponzi scheme or sending chain letters that request money or other items of value.
 

4. No Copyright or Trademark Infringement:

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to send or receive any information which infringes the patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets or proprietary rights of any other person, entity or business organization. This includes, but is not limited to, digitization of music, movies, photographs or other copyrighted materials or software.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), copyright owners have the right to notify Rebus Communications if they believe a Rebus Communications customer has infringed the copyright owner's work(s). If Rebus Communications receives a notice from a copyright owner alleging a Customer has committed copyright infringement, Rebus Communications will notify the Customer of the alleged infringement. If Rebus Communications receives more than one notice alleging copyright infringement on the Customer's part, Customer may be deemed a "repeat copyright infringer." Rebus Communications reserves the right to terminate the accounts and access to the Service of repeat copyright infringers.
 

5. No Threats or Harassment:

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to transmit any material that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property or which harasses, abuses, defames, slanders, or invades the privacy of any other person or entity.
 

6. No Harm to Minors:

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to send unsolicited messages or materials, bulk e-mail, or other forms of solicitation ("spamming"). Rebus Communications reserves the right, in Rebus Communications sole discretion, to determine whether such posting or transmission constitutes unsolicited messages or materials. Forging, altering, or removing electronic mail headers is prohibited. Deceiving any recipient as to the identity of the sender through any process is prohibited. This prohibition against spamming is applicable to mass mailings by Customers in conjunction with third parties and is designed to maintain Service quality for all Customers. Mass mailings are those sent to more than 150 recipients by Customer or in conjunction with a third party to any group of recipients. Customer is responsible for maintaining confirmed opt-in records and must provide them to Rebus Communications upon request. The term "opt-in" means that recipient has signed up for mailings voluntarily.
 

7. No "Spamming":

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to violate any applicable federal, state, local or international laws or regulations, or to promote illegal activity , including, but not limited to, posting or transmitting child pornography or obscene material, gambling, the offering for sale of illegal weapons or substances, the promotion or publication of any material that may violate hate crime laws, or by exporting software or technical information in violation of U.S. export control laws. Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to commit a crime, act of terrorism, or fraud, or to plan, encourage or help others to commit a crime or fraud, including but not limited to, acts of terrorism, engaging in a pyramid or ponzi scheme or sending chain letters that request money or other items of value.
 

8. No "Hacking":

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to access the accounts of others or to attempt to penetrate security measures of the Service or other computer systems ("hacking") or to cause a disruption of the Service to other on-line users. Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, tools designed for compromising network security, such as password-guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools. In addition, Customer will not participate in, or allow others to participate in, the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice known as spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use of software (including "adware" or "spyware") designed to facilitate this activity.
 

9. No System Disruption:

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to disrupt Rebus Communications network or computer equipment owned by other Rebus Communications customers. This includes, but is not limited to, improperly interfering with, inhibiting, degrading, or restricting the use and operation of the Service by others. Any static IP address must be authorized and provisioned by Rebus Communications. Altering any IP address provisioned by Rebus Communications or otherwise cloning another user's IP address is prohibited. Customer also agrees that Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to disrupt other Internet Service Providers or services, including but not limited to e-mail bombing or the use of mass mailing programs. In addition, Customer will not, or allow others to, alter, modify, service, or tamper with the Rebus Communications Equipment or Service or permit any other person to do the same who is not authorized by Rebus Communications.
 

10. Security:

Customer is solely responsible for the security of any device connected to the Service, including any data stored on that device. Charter recommends that Customer take appropriate security precautions for any systems connected to the Service. Customer is responsible for securing any wireless ("Wi-Fi") networks connected to the Service and are prohibited from installing unsecured or "open" wireless networking to the Rebus Communications network.
 

11. No Impersonation or Forgery:

Customer will not impersonate, nor allow others to impersonate, another user, falsify one's user name, company name, age or identity in e-mail or in any post or transmission to any newsgroup or mailing list or other similar groups or lists. Customer will not, nor allow others to, forge any message header or TCP/IP packet header of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through the Service. Customer will not, or allow others to, forge anyone else's digital or manual signature.
 

12. No Abuse of Newsgroups:

Customer will not post, nor allow others to post, a similar item to more than six (6) newsgroups or mailing lists. Customer will not, nor allow others to, post or transmit any private, third party e-mail to any newsgroup or mailing list without the explicit approval of the sender. Customer will not, or allow others to, post messages that do not comply with or are not permitted by or otherwise violate the newsgroup's terms of use, written charters, FAQ or similar instructions or guidelines. Customer will also not circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup and will not "flood," "newsbomb" or otherwise disrupt users of newsgroups by posting a large number of messages to a newsgroup with the intent to hinder normal discussion, cancel messages of others (except as an authorized moderator), send excessive quantities of data to a newsgroup, post binary files to newsgroups that do not expressly permit them or download any newsgroup in bulk unless expressly permitted.
 

13. No Excessive Use of Bandwidth:

If Rebus Communications determines, in Rebus Communications sole discretion, that Customer is using an excessive amount of bandwidth over the Rebus Communications network infrastructure for Internet access or other functions using public network resources, Rebus Communications may at any time and without notice, suspend excessive bandwidth capability, suspend Customer's access to the Service, require Customer to pay additional fees in accordance with Rebus Communications then-current rates for such service, or terminate Customer's account. Rebus Communications uses traffic prioritization practices with the goal of relieving network congestion and ensuring that all customers have the opportunity to use the Service with the best available results, but intentional flooding of network resources for the purpose of disrupting service of other customers, at Rebus Communications sole discretion, is subject to this provision.
 

14. No "Viruses":

Customer will not use, nor allow others to use, the Service to transmit computer "viruses", worms, "Trojan horses", denial of service attacks or other harmful software programs. Customer will use standard practices to prevent the transmission of such viruses or other harmful software.
 

15. Other Service Providers' Acceptable Use Policies:

Rebus Communications obtains services from and relies upon many other entities to provide the Service to Customer. Where Customer accesses services of other entities through the Service, Customer agrees to and shall abide by the publicized acceptable use policies of such other known entities.
 

16. No Waiver:

The failure by Rebus Communications or its affiliates to enforce any provision of this AUP shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time.
 

17. Revisions to Policy:

Rebus Communications reserves the right to update or modify this Policy at any time and from time to time with or without prior notice. Continued use of the Service will be deemed acknowledgment and acceptance of the policy. Notice of modifications to this Policy may be given by posting such changes to Rebus Communications homepage www.Rebus.Biz, by electronic mail or by conventional mail and will be effective immediately upon posting or sending. Customers should regularly visit Rebus Communications website and review this Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version.

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