APPROPRIATE USE POLICY
Effective Date October 7, 2008
1. AGREEMENT
1.1. This Appropriate Use Policy (“AUP”) is intended to help protect our customers and the Internet community from irresponsible or illegal activities. In addition to the terms and conditions contained in the Terms of Service Agreement, the following AUP shall govern the access to and use of liNKCity services (“Services”).
1.2. Your use of the Services constitutes your acceptance of this AUP. Please read the following sections carefully, as they constitute a legally binding agreement between you and liNKCity. If you do not wish to be bound by the AUP contained herein then you are prohibited from using or accessing the Services. The terms of this AUP are subject to change, so we encourage you to periodically review this page in order to check the changes that may have been made to this AUP. Every time you use or access the Services, you are agreeing to the terms of the AUP as they exist at that time.
2. USER OBLIGATIONS Compliance with Law: The user of the Services shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations. The Services provided are operated from the
3. VIOLATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF APPROPRIATE USE.
3.1. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF SERVICES
3.1.1. No Violation Of Copyright, Trademark Or Trade Secret Rights: You agree that you will not use the Services to publish, post, distribute, disseminate, or otherwise make available another's proprietary information, including but not limited to trademarks, trade secrets or copyrighted information, without the express authorization of the rights holder.
3.1.2. User shall refrain from renting, leasing, sublicensing, assigning, selling, loaning or otherwise transferring user’ s user name or password.
3.1.3. No Offensive Content: You agree that you will not use, or allow others to use, your account to post, transmit, promote, or facilitate the distribution of any threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, profane or otherwise objectionable information of any kind.
3.1.4. No Illegal Material Or Encouragement Of Illegal Behavior: You agree that you will not use, or allow others to use, your account to post, transmit, promote, or facilitate the distribution of any unlawful or illegal material, including but not limited to material that would constitute or encourage a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. You will not use the Services to commit a crime, or to plan, encourage or help others to commit a crime.
3.1.5. Impersonation/Forgery: Adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information (a.k.a. "spoofing") in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is especially frowned upon. Please note the use of anonymous re-mailers and nicknames does not constitute impersonation.
3.1.6. Network unfriendly activity: Any activities which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use liNKCity services or the Internet is prohibited. This includes "denial of service" ("DOS") attacks against another network host or individual user.
3.1.7. Privacy violations: Attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to gain access to any computer system or customer's data, without consent, are prohibited.
3.1.8. Threats: Threats of bodily harm or destruction of property are always prohibited.
3.2. Inappropriate Content
3.2.1. There is content on the Internet, or otherwise available through the Service, which some may find offensive or disturbing. It is possible to obtain access to content that is pornographic or offensive. liNKCity cannot assume any responsibility for the content contained on the Internet or otherwise available through the Service. You must assume the risk of accessing content through the Service, and neither liNKCity nor the City of North Kansas City, Missouri shall have any liability whatsoever for any claims, losses, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise related to access to such content. You are solely responsible for any information that you publish on the Web or other Internet services. You must ensure that the receipt of the content is appropriate. You must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from viewing inappropriate content. liNKCity reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole and absolute discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether such material is unlawful.
3.2.2. liNKCity has no obligation to monitor transmissions made on the Service. liNKCity does, however, have the right to monitor transmissions at any time.
3.3. Email
3.3.1. Commercial email: Sending unsolicited commercial email is prohibited. Using a liNKCity email or website address to collect responses from unsolicited commercial email is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures and political or religious messages. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested them. The Service may not be used to collect email from unsolicited accounts on other Internet resources or email services that violate this policy or the Acceptable Use Policy of any other Internet Service Provider (ISP). In addition, unsolicited email may not direct the recipient to any website or other resource which uses the Service.
3.3.2. Mail Bombing: Sending large volumes of unsolicited email is prohibited. The propagation of chain letters is similarly prohibited, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
3.3.3. Harassment: Sending threatening or harassing email is prohibited. If after being requested to stop, a liNKCity user persists in emailing another Internet user, liNKCity may intervene. Extremely threatening or harassing email is always prohibited. liNKCity is not responsible for the forwarding of email sent to any account, which has been suspended or terminated. Such mail will be returned to the sender, ignored, or deleted at the sole discretion of liNKCity.
3.4. Internet Relay Chat ("IRC") The Service may be used to participate in "chat" discussions. liNKCity will not monitor the contents of these discussions and is not liable for the contents of any communications made via Internet chat. The Service may not be used to send messages that disrupt another user's equipment, including software, hardware, and user display. Flooding is defined as the deliberate act of repeating text-generating actions in quick succession in order to prevent other service users from utilizing the chat service. The Service may not be used to "flood" a chat room or to perform acts of "flooding" of chat services. The use of IRC "bots" is prohibited, as is the violation of any accepted policies on IRC servers. If liNKCity is banned from a server, the offending account may be terminated. Any computer or other device connected through the services may not maintain more than three simultaneous chat connections. This includes the use of automated programs, such as "bot" or "clones". The Service may not be used to access any chat server in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy of that server. The Service may not be used to manipulate any chat server in order to disconnect or harass other Internet users, or to gain unauthorized access to network resources. A customer may not use the Service to connect to chat servers or channels from which they have previously been banned.
3.5. Unauthorized Reselling, Unauthorized Commercial Use Reselling service without express written consent from liNKCity and the City of North Kansas City, or offering any public information service, such as running a Web server or FTP server, is prohibited.
3.6. Excessive Bandwidth liNKCity reserves the right to set limits on bandwidth and use in excess of those limits is not permitted. The total number of bytes transferred from an account's Web and FTP space determines bandwidth utilization. If excessive bandwidth is determined to adversely affect liNKCity's ability to provide service, immediate action may be taken. The account owner will be notified by email as soon as possible.
3.7. Line of Service Demarcation liNKCity may provide technical support for one computer connection to the Service of the network. liNKCity or any member of its technical support team does not support any additional internal networking within the customer's premise, regardless of who installed it. liNKCity is not responsible for supporting shared networking printer devices or other shared resources within the customer's premise.
4. RATIONALE AND RUMINATIONS. This section attempts to provide a general understanding of liNKCity's AUP. Common sense and judgment are a necessary part of any system of rules, and this AUP is no exception. Of course, flagrant or repeated violations of the policy are viewed in a very different light than minor infractions. liNKCity considers net-abuse an action that undermines the ability of the Internet to serve as a discussion medium. In addition, net-abuse may be a violation of municipal, state or federal law, or the laws of other countries. Protection of liNKCity's customers and its resources, the ability to provide quality service to liNKCity customers, compliance with existing law, and the protection of liNKCity's reputation as a service provider are all contributing factors to decisions on AUP violations. It is liNKCity's intention to allow liNKCity customers access to everything the Internet has to offer with minimal or no interference. liNKCity's belief in free speech is a firm commitment to its customers. Just as free speech, however, does not include the right to shout "fire" in a crowded theater; certain activities are considered inappropriate by the Internet community at large and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. liNKCity does not censor the content of any newsgroups. liNKCity believes such choices should be left to the individual. liNKCity does advise its users that tools are available to screen an account's access to newsgroups one considers offensive. It is the account owner's responsibility to make use of such tools if desired. liNKCity does not monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements of system utilization and billing records. In our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, however, liNKCity will respond if it becomes aware of inappropriate use of liNKCity service. If a liNKCity account is used to violate the AUP, liNKCity reserves the right to terminate service without notice. liNKCity's preferred course of action would be to advise the account owner of the inappropriate behavior and the corrective action necessary. Flagrant violations of the AUP, however, may result in immediate termination of service. In the event that an account is temporarily inactivated as a result of any prohibited activities, the account may be subject to reactivation charges and/or deposit requirements determined by liNKCity.
5. COPYRIGHT COMPLAINTS
5.1. liNKCity respects the intellectual property of others. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our copyright agent the written information specified below.
5.1.1. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
5.1.2. A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;
5.1.3. A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the website, including the auction ID number, if applicable;
5.1.4. Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
5.1.5. A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
5.1.6. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
5.2. liNKCity's copyright agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:
312 Armour Road
North Kansas City, MO 64116
Phone: (816) 412-7990
Fax: (816) 412-7995
e-mail: abuse@linkcity.org
6. ACCOUNT TERMINATION POLICY
6.1. LiNKCity may terminate a user's account and access to the Services if, under appropriate circumstances, it is determined in liNKCity's discretion, that such user has repeatedly violated the terms of this AUP (i.e. by repeated copyright infringement).
6.2. Untimely payment of any and all amounts due may result in account cancellation.
liNKCity INTERNET SERVICES APPROPRIATE USE POLICY VERSION 1.0 4
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