Introduction
This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) encourages the responsible use of service provider Behindtheforest International, LLC and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (TheWebheads.net: dba TWH™, dba The Webheads™ ; MindsBehindDesign.com: dba MBD Agency™, dba MBD™, dba Minds Behind Design™ and Piece of Mind™) (the "Service Provider") services and delineates the relatively narrow range of uses of Service Provider's services that are contrary to Service Provider's mission, generally because such uses either pose an unacceptable risk to the stability, integrity, or quality of Service Provider's systems or the systems of its vendors, or harm (or threaten to harm) the rights and interests of third parties. This Acceptable Use Policy supplements your Service Agreement with us. Uses of the Service Provider services described below are prohibited.
Prohibited Uses
I. You agree to comply with all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations regarding use of all services delivered by Service Provider. The following are prohibited uses of our services:
- Transmission, distribution, uploading, posting or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, libelous, unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, constitutes an illegal threat, violates export control laws, hate propaganda, fraudulent material or fraudulent activity, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature. You may not transmit, distribute, or store material that contains a virus, "Trojan Horse," corrupted data, or any software or information to promote or utilize software or any of Service Provider's services to deliver unsolicited e-mail. You further agree not to transmit any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation.
- Sending Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE", "spam"). The sending of any form of Unsolicited Bulk Email through Service Provider's servers is prohibited. Likewise, the sending of UBE from another service provider advertising a web site, email address or utilizing any resource hosted on Service Provider's servers, is prohibited. Service Provider accounts or services may not be used to solicit customers from, or collect replies to, messages sent from another Internet Service Provider where those messages violate this Policy or that of the other provider.
- Running Unconfirmed Mailing Lists. Subscribing email addresses to any mailing list without the express and verifiable permission of the email address owner is prohibited. All mailing lists run by Service Provider customers must be Closed-loop ("Confirmed Opt-in"). The subscription confirmation message received from each address owner must be kept on file for the duration of the existence of the mailing list. Purchasing lists of email addresses from 3rd parties for mailing to or from any Service Provider-hosted domain, or referencing any Service Provider account, is prohibited.
- Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available or using any software, program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP or the AUP of any other Internet Service Provider, which includes, but is not limited to, the facilitation of the means to send Unsolicited Bulk Email, initiation of pinging, flooding, mail-bombing, denial of service attacks.
- Forwarding Internet users to any Web site that, if such web site were provided by Service Provider, would violate the provisions of this Acceptable Use Policy.
- Using the Private Registration service to provide anonymity to activities which are unlawful, fraudulent, or violate the intellectual property rights of a third party.
- Using the DNS Manager service, or knowingly or recklessly permitting others to use the DNS Manager Services: (a) for any unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory, or fraudulent purpose; (b) to alter, steal, corrupt, disable, destroy, trespass or violate any security or encryption of any computer file, database or network; (c) so as to materially interfere with the use of Service Provider's network by other customers or authorized users; (d) in a manner that is inconsistent with Service Provider routing policies, provided you have notice of such policies or such policies are publicly available on Service Provider Web site; (e) in violation of the applicable acceptable use policies of Service Provider's backbone providers, provided you have notice of such policies or such policies are publicly available on such backbone providers' Web sites; (f) to alter, tamper with, adjust, repair or circumvent any aspect of the DNS Manager Service provided by Service Provider; or (g) in a manner which, in Service Provider opinion, is inconsistent with the generally accepted rules of Internet etiquette and conduct.
- Unauthorized attempts by a user to gain access to any account or computer resource not belonging to that user (e.g., "cracking").
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain service by any means or device with intent to avoid payment.
- Engaging in any activities that do or are designed to harass, or that will cause a denial-of-service (e.g., synchronized number sequence attacks) to any other user whether on the Service Provider network or on another provider's network.
- Using Service Provider's services in a manner that interferes with the use or enjoyment of the Service Provider network or other services by other customers or authorized users. This shall include excessive use of services which impair the fair use of other Service Provider customers.
- Holding of Service Provider (including its affiliates) or their employees or shareholders up to public scorn, ridicule, or defamation.
- Impersonating any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Service Provider official, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with a person or entity.
II. You acknowledge and agree that it is a violation of this AUP for your services to cause an interruption or degradation of, interference with, or disproportionate burden on the operations of Service Provider's systems or the services of other customers, regardless of whether such interruption, degradation, interference or burden is the result of your actions or those of a third party over which you have no control.
III. You are solely responsible for the content you furnish to Service Provider in connection with your Web site or other services we provide to you, or make available to others through use of our services. Service Provider cannot and does not design (except where you are receiving our Design Services), review or screen content you provide to us for inclusion in your Web site (or that you use, provide or make available in connection any services we provide to you) and does not assume any obligation to monitor such content. However, you agree that we may review your Web site or other content in responding to a third party complaint or for any other reason.
IV. You may access and use our services for lawful purposes only and you are solely responsible for the knowledge and adherence to any and all laws, statutes, rules and regulations pertaining to your use of our services. You agree that you will not (i) use the services to commit a criminal offense or to encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise violate any local state, Federal or international law or regulation; (ii) upload or otherwise transmit any content that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or contractual or fiduciary duty; (iii) interfere or infringe with any trademark or proprietary rights of any other party; (iv) interfere with the ability of other users to access or use our services; (v) claim a relationship with or to speak for any individual, business, association, institution or other organization for which you are not authorized to claim such a relationship; (vi) interfere with or disrupt the service or servers or networks connected to the service, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to the service; or (vii) reproduce, duplicate, copy, use, distribute, sell, resell or otherwise exploit for any commercial purposes any portion of the services.
V. You represent and warrant that no federal, state or local authority prohibits or materially limits Service Provider from transacting business with you or providing our services to you or your agents, representatives, affiliates or related entities. If, at any time, a federal, state or local authority prohibits or materially limits the transaction of business or our provision of services to you or your agents, representatives, affiliates or related entities, such prohibition or restriction shall be a violation of this Acceptable Use Policy and a material breach of the Service Agreement.
Violations
If Service Provider determines in its sole discretion that your conduct violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy, Service Provider may suspend, restrict, terminate, or take any other appropriate action with regard to your services without any obligation to refund fees paid. Service Provider reserves the right to take such actions without notice to you. You understand that we reserve the right to conclude that your conduct is in violation of the standards set forth in this Acceptable Use Policy, and we may arrive at such a conclusion even if it is based upon our opinion or mere suspicion or belief, without any duty to prove that our opinion or suspicion is well founded, and even if (i) our opinion or suspicion is proven not to be well founded or (ii) we provide other customers services that have similar characteristics or are being used in a similar manner as your services. You agree that we, in responding to a third party complaint, reserve the right in our sole discretion to suspend or terminate the services subject to this Acceptable Use Policy without notice and with no obligation to refund fees paid. You also understand and agree that by providing you services, Service Provider in no way endorses your Web site or deems your content to be suitable under the terms of this Agreement.
You agree that Service Provider shall under no circumstances be held liable on account of any action it takes, in good faith, to restrict transmission of material that it or any user of the services considers to be fraudulent, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.
Modifications to this Acceptable Use Policy
You agree that Service Provider, in its sole discretion, may modify this Acceptable Use Policy. We will post any such revised policy on our Web site at least thirty (30) calendar days before it becomes effective. Use of the Service Provider services after the posting period constitutes acceptance of the modification.