Stimulus Technologies Acceptable Use Policy
Stimulus Technologies Corp. d/b/a Stimulus Technologies (“Stimulus”), has formulated this Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) in order to encourage the responsible use of Stimulus' networks, systems, Services, web sites and products (collectively, “Services”) to customers, customers' customers, end users, and any other parties who access or use the Services (collectively, “Users”), and to enable us to provide Users with secure, reliable and productive Services.
BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND TO AND COMPLY WITH ALL THE TERMS OF THIS AUP. If you violate this AUP or authorize or help others to do so, Stimulus may suspend or terminate your use of the Services in accordance with this AUP. Stimulus reserves the right to change this AUP from time to time and will notify Users by posting a revised copy of the AUP on the Stimulus web site. Any indirect or attempted violation of this AUP by or on behalf of any End User, and any actual or attempted violation by a third party on behalf of any End User, shall be considered a violation of this AUP by the End User and the End User shall be held directly accountable therefore.
- General Conduct
- Acceptable Use. End Users shall not use the Services to transmit, distribute, or store material: (i) in violation of any applicable law, regulation, or judicial order; (ii) that violates the terms of this AUP, the terms of any applicable agreement with Stimulus or its authorized provider, or any other Stimulus policy; (iii) that interferes with or adversely affects the Services or access or use of the Services by other End Users; or (iv) that may expose Stimulus or its authorized providers to criminal or civil liability. End Users shall cooperate with Stimulus in investigating and correcting any apparent breach of this AUP. Stimulus further reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and third parties in the investigation of alleged wrongdoing, including disclosing the identity of the End User that Stimulus deems responsible for the wrong doing.
- Responsibility. End Users shall be solely responsible for any electronic files, materials, data, text, audio, video, images or other content accessed, transmitted, stored, made available, retrieved or processed by End Users using the Services (collectively, “Content”). Stimulus takes no responsibility for any such Content, and although Stimulus is not obligated to monitor or exercise any editorial control over such Content, it reserves the right to do so. In the event that Stimulus becomes aware that any Content may violate this AUP and/or expose Stimulus to civil or criminal liability, Stimulus reserves the right to block access to such Content and suspend or terminate any End User creating, storing or disseminating Content and/or using any Services.
-
Prohibited Conduct. In particular, but without limiting the more general prohibitions in this
AUP, End Users shall not use the Services, or assist anyone else to:
- Transmit, distribute or store information or material that, as reasonably determined by Stimulus, is (i) inappropriate, obscene (including child pornography), defamatory, threatening, abusive, advocating violence, or which violates a law, regulation, or public policy; (ii) harmful to or interferes with provision of Services, or any third party's networks, equipment, applications, services, or web sites (e.g., the sending, storage or transmission of information regarding internet viruses, 4814-3795-3760 worms, phishing, Trojan horses, packet, flooding, mail bombing, or denial of service attacks); (iii) fraudulent or contains false, deceptive, or misleading statements, claims, or representations (such as “phishing”); or (iv) violates generally accepted standards of Services usage.
- Engaging in any activity that infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, software piracy, patents, and unauthorized use of domain names, held by individuals, corporations, or other entities. Also, engaging in activity that violates privacy, publicity, or other personal rights of others. Stimulus may be required by law to remove or block access to Content upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright infringement. It is also our policy to terminate the privileges of End Users who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
- Attempt to disrupt, degrade, impair, or violate the integrity or security of the Services or the computers, services, accounts, or networks of any other party (e.g., “hacking,” “denial of service” attacks, etc.), including any activity that typically precedes attempts to breach security such as scanning, probing, or other testing or vulnerability assessment activity, or engaging in or permitting any network or hosting activity that results in the blacklisting or other blockage of Services or IP space.
- Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software, program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP, which includes the facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of packet, flooding, mail bombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software.
- Attempts to circumvent, avoid, or alter any method of measuring or billing for the Service, or otherwise being required to pay for the Services.
- Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet (known as “spamming”). It is not only harmful because of its negative impact on consumer attitudes toward Stimulus, but also because it can overload our network and disrupt service to our subscribers. Also, maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When a complaint is received, Stimulus has the discretion to determine from all of the evidence whether the email recipients were from a double 'opt-in' email list. vii.
- Exporting encryption software over the Internet or otherwise, to points outside the United States.
- Engaging in activities that are determined to be illegal, including advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, and pirating software.
- Engaging in activities, whether lawful or unlawful, that Stimulus determines to be harmful to its customers, operations, reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.
- Violate any charters, policies, rules or agreements promulgated by any search engines, subscription web services, chat areas, bulletin boards, web pages, USENET, or other services accessed via the Services (“Usenet Rules”), including, without limitation, any cross postings to unrelated news groups, continued posting of off-topic messages, and disrupting newsgroups with materials, postings, or activities that are inappropriate (as determined by Stimulus in its sole discretion), unless such materials or activities are expressly allowed or encouraged under the 4814-3795-3760 Usenet Rules.
- Forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of an email header or newsgroup posting.
- Violate the applicable acceptable use policies of ISPs when data, content, or other communications are carried across the networks of such ISPs.
- Government Users. If End User is a U.S. government entity, End User acknowledges that elements of the Service constitute software and documentation and are provided as “Commercial Items” as defined at 48 C.F.R. 2.101, and are being licensed to U.S. government End Users as commercial computer software subject to the restricted rights described in 48 C.F.R. 2.101 and 12.212.
-
Enforcement
- Investigation of Violations. Stimulus may investigate any reported or suspected violation of this AUP, and take any action that it deems appropriate and reasonable under the circumstance to protect its systems, facilities, customers and/or third parties. Stimulus reserves the right and has absolute discretion to restrict or remove from it Services any Content that violates this AUP, or potentially infringing on any third party's rights or potentially in violation of any laws.
- Corrective Actions. If Stimulus becomes aware of any possible violation by End User of this AUP, third party rights or laws, Stimulus may immediately take corrective action, including, but not limited to, (i) issuing warnings; (ii) suspending or terminating access to and/or use of the Service; (iii) restricting or prohibiting any and all uses of Content hosted on our network or systems; and/or (iv) disabling or removing any hypertext links to third- party web sites, any of End User's Content distributed or made available for distribution via the Services, or other Content not supplied by Stimulus which, in our sole discretion, may violate or infringe any law or third-party rights or which otherwise exposes or potentially exposes Stimulus to civil or criminal liability or public ridicule. It is our policy to terminate repeat infringers. Stimulus reserves the right to take corrective action, however, this does not obligate Stimulus to monitor or exert editorial control over the information made available for distribution via the Services. If Stimulus takes corrective action due to such possible violation, Stimulus shall not be obligated to refund to End User any fees paid in advance of such corrective action. End User acknowledges and agrees that neither it, nor any third party, will have access to any End User Content during a suspension of the Services or following termination. End User agrees to maintain current and reliable backups of stored files. Stimulus has no obligation to help recover files.
- Disclosure Rights. In order to comply with applicable laws and lawful governmental requests, to protect the Services and End Users, or to ensure the integrity and operation of our business and systems, Stimulus may access and disclose any information it considers necessary or appropriate, including, without limitation, End User profile information (i.e., name, e-mail address, etc.), IP addressing and traffic information, usage history, and Content residing on the Services. Stimulus also reserves the right to report any activity that it suspects violates any law or regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or other appropriate third parties.
- Liability of End User. Any mistakes, accidents, omissions, interruptions, delays, errors or defects in transmission or Service which are caused or contributed to, directly or indirectly, 4814-3795-3760 by an act or omission of the End User or other or by the use of End User-provided facilities or equipment, or by the use of facilities or equipment furnished by any other person using End User's facilities which are connected to our facilities, shall not result in the imposition of any liability upon Stimulus and End User shall pay to Stimulus any reasonable costs, expenses, damages, fees or penalties incurred by Stimulus as a result thereof, including costs of local exchange company, labor and materials.
-
Security and Privacy
- Security. Stimulus will implement commercially reasonable administrative, physical, and technical measures including disaster recovery procedures designed to secure the Content stored through the Services against accidental or unlawful loss, access or disclosure. Stimulus shall have no liability to End Users or any third party for any reason as a result of any unauthorized disclosure or access to End User's Content as a result of End User's or its agents misuse, loss or theft of any password or username.
- U.S. Export Control. The Service is provided from the United States. By using and accessing the Service, End User agrees and acknowledges that it and its authorized users will access and use the Content and any other personal information only in the United States. An End User's use of the Service is governed by U.S. export control laws. These laws apply regardless of whether an End User actually resides in the United States. More information about U.S. export laws may be found at: http://www.export.gov/regulation/index.asp. These laws generally prohibit: (i) selling certain products and services outside the U.S., though you may be allowed to sell them in the U.S.; and/or (ii) doing business with individuals or entities with whom U.S. citizens may not do business.
- Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy available at https://www.stimulustech.com/website-privacy-policy/ identifies how we collects, uses and discloses, on a limited basis, personal information solely of End Users.
-
Intellectual Property Rights
- End User License Grant to Stimulus. End User hereby grants to Stimulus a non-exclusive, worldwide, and royalty-free license for the term of the End User's use of the Services to use End User's Content as necessary for the purposes of rendering and operating the Services to End User under this AUP
- Stimulus Materials and Intellectual Property. All materials including but not limited to any software (in object code and source code form), data or information developed or provided by Stimulus or its suppliers or agents pursuant to this AUP, and any know-how, methodologies, equipment, or processes used by Stimulus to provide the Services to End User, including, without limitation, all copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other proprietary rights are and will remain the sole and exclusive property of Stimulus or its suppliers, including but not limited to any software programs, inventions, products and/or technology innovations and methodologies utilized, developed, or disclosed by Stimulus during End User's use of the Services. Unauthorized copying, reverse engineering, decompiling, and creating derivative works based on any such software is expressly forbidden except as permitted in this AUP. End User may be held legally responsible for violation of any patent rights, copyright or trade secret rights that is caused 4814-3795-3760 or encouraged by failure to abide by the terms of this AUP.
-
Warranty Disclaimer
- Stimulus is not responsible in any manner for any nonconforming Services to the extent caused by End User or its agents. In addition, Stimulus is not responsible for loss or corruption of data in transmission, or for failure to send or receive data, due to events beyond our reasonable control. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, STIMULUS MAKES NO AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, THAT THE CONTENT WILL BE SECURE OR NOT OTHERWISE LOST OR DAMAGED, OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTY ARISING OUT OF ANY COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES. IN SUCH AN EVENT THE ABOVE EXCLUSION WILL NOT APPLY SOLELY TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW.
-
Limitation of Liability
- IN NO EVENT WILL OUR TOTAL AND CUMULATIVE LIABILITY AND THAT OF ITS LICENSORS, DISTRIBUTORS AND RESELLERS, FOR ALL CLAIMS OF ANY NATURE ARISING OUT OF THIS AUP EXCEED THE GREATER OF $100, OR THE AMOUNT PAID FOR THE SERVICES THAT ARE THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM DURING THE THREE MONTHS PRIOR TO THE OCCURRENCE OF THE EVENTS GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL STIMULUS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, COVER OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE OR DATA) HOWEVER CAUSED, UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, CONTRACT, TORT, WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF STIMULUS HAS BEEN ADVISED AS TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES. IN SUCH AN EVENT THIS LIMITATION WILL NOT APPLY TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW.
-
Indemnity
- End User will defend, indemnify, release and hold harmless Stimulus and its affiliates, officers, directors, shareholders, employees, consultants, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and suppliers (each, an “Indemnitee”) from any and all threatened or actual claims, demands, causes of action, suits, proceedings (formal or informal), losses, damages, fines, penalties, liabilities, costs and expenses of any nature, consequential damages, including 4814-3795-3760 but not limited to attorneys' fees and court costs, sustained or incurred by or asserted against any Indemnitee by any person, firm, corporation, governmental authority, partnership or other entity by reason of or arising out of or relating to: (a) End User's violation or breach of any term, condition, representation or warranty of this AUP; (b) End User's conduct, including but not limited to, your negligence, gross negligence, or wilful misconduct; (c) End User's improper or illegal use of the Services; (d) any claim by a former employee of End User's whose employment has been or may be terminated in connection with or as a result of this AUP and performance of the Services by Stimulus; (e) any claim relating to End User's services or products, including but not limited to advertising, product liability claims or infringement of any trademark, copyright, patent, trade secrets or non-proprietary right of a third party (including, without limitation, defamation, libel, or violation of privacy or publicity); and (f) End User's use of the Services and facilities provided to End User under this AUP, even if Stimulus has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
-
Confidentiality
- The parties each agree that all Confidential Information (as defined below) communicated to it by the other is done so in confidence and will be used only for the purposes of this AUP and will not be used to compete with the other party or disclosed to any third party without the prior written consent of the other party except as permitted under this AUP. “Confidential Information” means all information in any form, including, without limitation, printed or verbal communications and information stored in printed, optical or electromagnetic format, which relates to the Services; End User Content; computer, data processing or electronic commerce programs and software; electronic data processing applications, routines, subroutines, techniques or systems; information which incorporates or is based upon proprietary information of either party; or information concerning business or financial affairs, product pricing, financial conditions or strategies, marketing, technical systems of either party; or any information concerning customers or vendors of either party; or any data exchange between a party and any of their respective customers or vendors. Exceptions to Confidential Information include (a) information in the public domain; (b) information developed independently by a party without reference to information disclosed under this Agreement; or (c) information received from a third party without restriction and/or breach of this AUP or a similar agreement. It is not a violation of this provision to disclose Confidential Information in compliance with any legal, accounting or regulatory requirement beyond the control of either party or, but in such case, prior to disclosure, the disclosing party shall give written notice to the other party to permit that party an opportunity to challenge such disclosure. If either party is subpoenaed, such party shall give written notice to the other party to permit that party an opportunity to challenge the disclosure of Confidential Information. Upon the termination of End User's access and use of the Services and upon written request of the disclosing party, each party shall promptly return all Confidential Information of the other party. This provision shall survive the termination of End User's access and use of the Services for two (2) years.