This Acceptable Use Policy ("Policy") describes the proper and prohibited use of Plaza Dynamics's Hosting Services ("Services") as subscribed to by Client pursuant to a Schedule of Services. This Policy is designed as a guideline and is not exhaustive as such. The Policy may be modified from time to time effective upon posting on www.plazadynamics.com/terms.
The Services allow Client to develop, publish, and display a web site, store data in a database, send and receive e-mail messages, maintain a bulletin board through which Client can interact with the Internet users or other systems, and transmit, post, store, send and retrieve various information. Plaza Dynamics does not monitor or censor the information Client make available or collect through the use of the Services with the exception of systems and network resources monitoring. Plaza Dynamics, however, will act upon Policy violations when such are discovered during regular monitoring processes or reported to Plaza Dynamics. Plaza Dynamics expects Client, and all other users of the Services, to take responsibility in using the Internet with courtesy and responsibility, and be familiar with and practice good Internet etiquette. As consideration for Plaza Dynamics's provision of Services, Client agrees to abide by the following provisions relating to the acceptable use of Client's Plaza Dynamics account.
Plaza Dynamics reserves the right in its sole discretion to:
- Revise this Policy, which shall be posted at www.plazadynamics.com/terms and
- Remove any content for any reason, including but not limited to, Client's violation of any conditions thereof. Plaza Dynamics's right to remove inappropriate content under this Policy shall not place an obligation on Plaza Dynamics to monitor or exert editorial control over the content of Client's account.
Client agrees not to use or allow access to Plaza Dynamics Services to:
1. Create or maintain software download or distribution sites or sites created for the purpose of mass distribution of software products. A software distribution site is defined as a site on which 50% or more of total bandwidth (data transfer) is used for programs or binary code downloads.
2. Create or maintain sites that generate system errors or exceptions that disrupt servers' performance or cause server-wide outages. This includes overriding or avoiding system settings and restrictions imposed by the terms of Services.
3. Create or maintain sites that consume thirty-five percent or more of CPU capacity or use two hundred megabytes of memory, both physical and virtual combined, on the hosting server.
4. Exceed allowed bandwidth by transferring amounts of data greater than allowed by the terms of purchased Service.
5. Violate any applicable laws, regulations, or other provisions having the force of law, either intentionally or unintentionally.
6. Impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent Client's affiliation with a person or entity.
7. Employ misleading e-mail addresses or falsify information in any part of any communication.
8. Upload, transmit, disseminate, post, store or post links to any content that:
- Is prohibited from being transmitted or posted by law, or by contractual or fiduciary relationship;
- Facilitates hacking or unauthorized access or use of data, systems, servers or networks including any attempt to probe, scan or test for vulnerabilities, or to breach security or authentication measures;
- Falsifies origin by forging TCP/IP packet headers, e-mail headers, or any part of a message header, unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic;
- Interferes with service to any user, system or network by using flooding techniques, overloading a system or a network, staging or broadcasting an attack, or any other means resulting in a crash of a host either deliberately or by negligence;
- Infringes or contributes to any infringement of any intellectual property, material protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or proprietary right of any party;
- Is or may be considered unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, or any junk mail, spam, spamvertisements, make money fast schemes, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any other form of solicitation;
- Contains viruses, worms, Trojan horses, time bombs, trap doors, or any other computer code, files, or programs or repetitive requests for information designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
- Is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, unlawful, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, or invasive of privacy;
- Is of adult nature, pornographic, or harmful to minors;
- Promotes illegal activity, including providing instructions for illegal activity, or transmitting, disseminating or offering fraudulent goods, services, schemes or promotions, or furnishing false data on any signup form, contract or online application or registration, or the fraudulent use of any information obtained through the use of the Services including use of credit card numbers.
- Exploits the images of children or discloses personally identifiable information belonging to children.
If Plaza Dynamics determines that Client have violated the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy, that determination, made at Plaza Dynamics's sole discretion, is grounds for immediate termination of Client's Plaza Dynamics account without notice or penalty to Plaza Dynamics.
Owners of Hosted Service accounts are responsible for any and all complaints and consequences arising from use of the accounts. Upon discovery or notification of any violation of the Policy, Plaza Dynamics will investigate and may, without prior notice to Client, disable any account in order to protect the security, integrity and usability of the hosting services and Plaza Dynamics servers and shared network.
Indemnification
Client agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Plaza Dynamics and its directors, officers, employees, representatives, agents, and assigns and successors (separately and collectively "Indemnitee") from and against any and all third-party claims, actions, demands, legal proceedings, liabilities, damages, losses, judgments, authorized settlements, costs or expenses, including without limitation reasonable attorneys' fees, which may be assessed against or incurred by Indemnitee arising out of or related to any alleged or actual (i) negligent or reckless acts or omissions of Client or its directors, officers, employees, agents, assigns and successors; (ii) material breach of any of the Hosted Exchange Service Terms, Acceptable Use Policy, or any Schedule of Services; or (iii) violation by Client or its directors, officers, employees, agents, assigns and successors of any federal, state, county or local laws, regulations, rules or ordinances. The indemnification set forth herein shall include, without limitation, reasonable attorney's fees and other costs of defense. Client shall, at its sole costs and expense, defend all such claims and actions against Indemnitee, whether sought informally or through court or administrative procedures; provided, however, that Indemnitee shall have the right of approval of counsel in all situations and, further, that Indemnitee shall be consulted regarding settlement of any claim or action before a settlement agreement is finalized.
Reporting Spam
Plaza Dynamics defines SPAM, also known as Unsolicited Commercial Email ("UCE") or Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE"), as any email message the recipient considers unsolicited and of a commercial nature or email sent in bulk. Plaza Dynamics expressly prohibits the sending of SPAM through its network and servers. If Client believes that it has received SPAM from Plaza Dynamics's network, Client should send a signed complaint along with the SPAM message, including its complete email headers, to Client's administrator. Plaza Dynamics does not investigate or take action based on anonymous SPAM complaints.
Prohibited Email Activities
Sending UCE/UBE, also known as SPAM:
Defined as the sending of email to recipients who consider the message unsolicited email of a commercial nature or the sending of email in bulk to recipients who consider the message unsolicited email of any nature. It is one of the most serious account abuses.
UCE or SPAM Response Collection:
Defined as the collection of responses, directly or indirectly, from UCE or UBE sent by Client or UCE or UBE sent on Client's behalf.
Web Site Advertising via UCE or UBE, also known as SPAMvertising:
Defined as the sending of email which:
1. is UCE or UBE as defined above; and
2. contains direct or indirect links or references to one or more web sites.
This also includes the use of third-party email accounts, servers or services to SPAMvertise the site(s).
Mail Bombing:
Defined as the sending an unreasonably large number of electronic mail messages to a single system, person or email address.
Mail Harassment:
Defined as sending email in a manner or with content that is perceived as threatening or harassing by the intended or actual recipient.
Letter Bombing:
Defined as sending email with content that will or could potentially harm the recipient's computer.
Email Relay:
Any use of another party's electronic mail server to relay email without express permission from such other party is prohibited.
Prohibited Mailing List Activity and Mailing List and Address List Minimum Requirements
The following is a list of minimum requirements for the permitted use of mailing lists by way of Plaza Dynamics services and networks. They are guidelines to minimize the probability of complaints. Client, however, will be responsible for any complaints received in relation to Client's account even where all of the requirements have been implemented.
If Client sends out bulk email, Client's email will be conclusively labeled as SPAM unless Client implements all of the following requirements, either under option A or Option B below.
Option A. Listserve-style email lists:
(All members add themselves to the list by sending a subscribe email from their email addresses to the list owner.)
1. In the initial message to the member,
a. there is clear and conspicuous notice that the member is signing up for a mailing or address list; and
b. there is a simple, effective method of list removal outlined in the message.
c. a non-Internet method of contacting the list owner is provided-phone number and/or land address will suffice.
d. terms and conditions of email address use by the list are provided.
2. Prior to any subsequent mailing to the list, list owners must remove all addresses for list members who have chosen to be removed from the list and all addresses from which emails have bounced back as undelivered.
3. Lists are not used for purposes or in a manner which are harassing, abusive, illegal, and/or will create liability for Client, Plaza Dynamics or third parties.
4. Email to the list members is only from the entity with which the member signed up and only on the topic for which the recipient agreed to receive information. Emailing to a list which contains members of a list which was purchased, rented, leased, or lent to Client is prohibited. Email to list members on a subject which is not on the topic or product for which the member agreed to receive messages is SPAM and is prohibited.
Option B. General Mailing and Address Lists:
(Members added by means other than members sending a subscribe email from their email addresses to the list owner.)
1. Provide clear and conspicuous notice that the prospective member is signing up for a mailing or address list and such notice must appear near the email address collection point.
2. Require prospective members of the list to take some non-passive action to request sign up for the list.
3. Provide conspicuous, comprehensive terms and conditions of address use that are posted or linked near the email collection point and available to the list member to print or download after sign up. Include subject matter of the list and anticipated mailing frequency, sharing/trading/selling of the address.
4. An address is added to the list using only Double Opt-In Procedures, with the address confirmed and permission-to-email verified before mailings begin.
An Opt-In Procedure is defined as a list sign up process where:
a. potential mailing list members are given a clear, conspicuous choice as to whether they want to receive such emails or not; and
b. if the potential member chooses to receive such emails, they express this choice by undertaking some non-passive action.
A Double Opt-In Procedure is defined as an Opt-In Procedure where:
a. the potential mailing list members request an invitation to join the mailing list or address
list;
b. prior to receiving any other mailing from the mailing list or address list, the potential member receives an invitation email message to the email account that will receive the mailings;
c. to be added to the mailing list, the potential member must reply or click a link contained in the invitation email message; and if replies constitute a request to receive email, then Client is responsible for reading the replies and taking appropriate action, i.e., if the reply says, "Do not send me emails", then the address must be removed from the list owner's databases.
d. if an invitation email is not replied to or confirmed by the link, that email address is not added to the mailing list and no further email is sent to that email address.
5. The list removal method must be simple, effective, and conspicuously displayed in all messages including the invitation email message.
6. There must be both an automated and non-automated means of removal from the list.
7. The list must provide a non-Internet method of contacting the list owner.
8. Prior to any subsequent mailing to the list, list owners must remove all addresses from which emails have bounced back as undelivered and all addresses for list members who have chosen to be removed from the list.
9. Lists must not be used for purposes which are harassing, abusive, or illegal or for purposes or in a manner which will create liability for Client, Plaza Dynamics or third parties.
10. Email to the list members is only from the entity with which the member signed up and only on the topic for which the recipient agreed to receive information.
11. Email to a list which contains members of a list which was purchased, rented, leased, or lent to Client are prohibited. Email to list members concerning a subject which is not concerning the topic or product for which the member agreed to receive messages is prohibited.
Prohibited Newsgroup Activities
Newsgroup SPAMMING
Defined as posting content or messages which:
1. are posted to 15 or more newsgroups and which contain the same or similar information;
2. violates the rules of the newsgroup in which the posting is made;
3. is off the topic of the newsgroup and is not the topic of the current discussion in the group; and/or
4. is a commercial posting unless the newsgroup rules expressly permit commercial posting.
Plaza Dynamics Complaint Processing
Plaza Dynamics prohibits SPAMMING, defined as the sending of UCE and/or UBE, in order to protect the integrity of Plaza Dynamics shared server and network resources. Please review Plaza Dynamics's No SPAM Policy, as set forth herein, for full definitions of SPAM, UCE and UBE, in addition to other email guidelines. Complaints of UCE and UBE, regardless whether the email is actually solicited, are what trigger the blacklisting of Plaza Dynamics networks and services. Therefore, the sending of email which results in UCE/UBE complaints is conclusively a SPAMMING activity in violation of Plaza Dynamics's No SPAM Policy.
IT IS CLIENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO PREVENT ALL SPAM COMPLAINTS RESULTING FROM EMAIL ACTIVITIES ON CLIENT'S HOSTED ACCOUNT.
Processing of Reports of SPAM Activity and SPAM Complaints
Plaza Dynamics processes reports of SPAM activity and SPAM complaints in the manner described below.
A. If the email activity associated with Client's hosted Plaza Dynamics account poses an immediate threat to Plaza Dynamics's servers or network, Plaza Dynamics reserves the right to immediately disable the account and send email notice to Client's account contact. An immediate threat includes Plaza Dynamics's receipt of ten or more SPAM complaints in a 72 hour period.
B. Absent an immediate threat to the servers or network, Plaza Dynamics will follow the steps outlined below for SPAM processing.
1. First UCE/UBE Event - Plaza Dynamics sends a "complaint received" message to the complainants and sends the complaints and first warning to Client's Plaza Dynamics account contact.
2. Second UCE/UBE Event - Plaza Dynamics sends a "complaint received" message to the complainants and sends the complaints and second and final warning to Client's Plaza Dynamics account contact.
3. Third UCE/UBE Event - Plaza Dynamics immediately and permanently disables the email capabilities of the account and then sends notice to Client's Plaza Dynamics account contact of this permanent email disablement.
A UCE/UBE Event is defined as either of the following:
1. Plaza Dynamics's receipt in any 72 hour period of 3 or more complaints or notices of activity on Client's account that violates Plaza Dynamics's No SPAM Policy; or
2. Plaza Dynamics's receipt in any 30 day period of 6 or more complaints or notices of activity on Client's account that violates Plaza Dynamics's No SPAM Policy.