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ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

This document sets forth the principles, guidelines and requirements of the Acceptable Use Policy of Connected Technologies Inc. governing the use by the Customer of Connected Technologies Inc. services and products. The Purpose of Connected Technologies Inc. Acceptable Use Policy, hereinafter referred to as the AUP, is to comply with all Canadian, U.S. and local laws coupled with protecting the network security, network availability, physical security, Customer privacy, and other factors affecting the services provided by Connected Technologies Inc.. Connected Technologies Inc. reserves the right to impose reasonable rules and regulations regarding the use of its services provided to all Customers and such rules and regulations are subject to change. The AUP is not an all inclusive exhaustive list and Connected Technologies Inc. reserves the right to modify the AUP at any time as needed, effective upon either the publishing of the modified AUP or notification to the Customer via email. Any violation of the AUP may result in the suspension or termination of Customer account(s) or such other action as Connected Technologies Inc. deems appropriate. No credits will be issued for any interruption in service resulting from policy violations.

VIOLATION OF ANY SECTION OF THE AUP IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND MAY RESULT IN THE IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF THE SERVICES CUSTOMER RECEIVES FROM Connected Technologies Inc..

Any questions or comments regarding the AUP should be directed to \n abuse(at)connectedgear.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


Compliance with Law
Customer shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store material on or through any of Services or Products which, in the sole judgment of the Connected Technologies Inc. is in violation of any Canadian, U.S. or local law or regulation, threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by Customer. Customer shall be responsible for determining what laws or regulations are applicable to its use of the Services and Products.


Customer Security Obligation
Each Customer must use reasonable care in keeping each server or network devices attached to Connected Technologies Inc. infrastructure up-to-date and patched with the latest security updates. Failure to use reasonable care to protect a server may result in a security compromise by outside sources. Connected Technologies Inc. is not responsible for Customer server level security unless a security administration package, firewall security administration package or fully managed operating system package is contracted for and maintained. A compromised server creating network interference will result in immediate Customer notification and will be disconnected from the network immediately so as to not directly affect other Customers. No service credits will be issued for outages resulting from disconnection due directly to breached server security. The Customer is solely responsible for any breaches of security affecting servers under Customer control, including repairing the system, terminating the account(s) of the abusive user(s), and reporting occurrence of the issue to \n abuse(at)connectedgear.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . If a Customer intentionally creates a security breach, the cost to resolve any damage to Customer's server or other servers will be charged directly to the Customer. 


System and Network Security
Violations of system or network security are strictly prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Connected Technologies Inc. investigates all incidents involving such violations and will cooperate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected.


Examples of system or network security violations include, without limitation, the following:

  1. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (example: viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, key loggers, and other executables intended to inflict harm).

  2. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of Internet communication and/or connectivity. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the Customer is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the Customer is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to port scans, flood pings, email-bombing, packet spoofing, IP spoofing and forged routing information.

  3. Executing any form of network activity that will intercept data not intended for the Customer's server.

  4. Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account, including “cracking.”

  5. Interfering with or denying service to any user, host, or network other than the Customer's host (example: denial of service attack or distributed denial of service attack).

  6. Conduct designed to avoid restrictions or access limits to specific services, hosts, or networks, including but not limited to the forging of packet headers (“spoofing”) or other identification information.

  7. Using any program script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with or to disable, a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet.

  8. Failing to comply with the Connected Technologies Inc. procedure relating to the activities of Customers on the Connected Technologies Inc. premises. Violators of the policy are responsible, without limitations, for the cost of labor to correct all damage done to the operation of the network and business operations supported by the network. Such labor is categorized as emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $100.00 USD per hour required. Network interference by any Customers that may cause or is currently causing network interference with another Customer will be disconnected immediately. No service credits will be issued to Customers disconnected for network violations.

 

Backups and Data Loss 
The Customers use of any Connected Technologies Inc. product or service is their sole risk. Connected Technologies Inc. is not responsible for files and data residing on Customers account(s). Customers agree to take full responsibility for files and data transferred and to maintain all appropriate backup of files and data stored on Connected Technologies Inc. servers.


Child Pornography
Connected Technologies Inc. will cooperate fully with any criminal investigation into a Customer's violation of the Child Protection Act concerning child pornography. Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over Connected Technologies Inc. network, and will be liable for illegal material posted by their clients.


Hosting Policy
Data Unlawful or Against the AUP: Promoting violation of the law or the AUP by hosting data that facilitates the violation is prohibited, including but not limited to:


Email Policy
Email Spam: Connected Technologies Inc. has a zero stance policy on SPAM, Junk E-mail or UCE. Spam, Junk-mail and UCE are defined as: the sending of the same, or substantially similar, unsolicited electronic mail messages, whether commercial or not, to more than one recipient. A message is considered unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a newsgroup charter or if it is sent to a recipient who has not requested or invited the message. UCE also includes e-mail with forged headers, compromised mail server relays, and false contact information. This prohibition extends to the sending of unsolicited mass mailings from another service, which in any way implicates the use of Connected Technologies Inc. whether or not the message actually originated from our network.

Block Removal: If Customer actions have caused Connected Technologies Inc. mail servers or Connected Technologies Inc. IP address ranges to be placed on black hole lists and other mail filtering software systems used by companies on the internet, Customer will be assessed a $150 charge to Customer account and $150 per hour for administrative charges incurred to remove and protect mail servers and IP ranges.

Mass Mailings: Sending mass unsolicited email is considered spam. Unsolicited email is defined as email sent to a recipient who has not double-opted in to mailings from the Customer. Senders of mass mailings must maintain complete and accurate records of all opt-ins, including the email and its headers if applicable, and provide such records to Connected Technologies Inc. upon request. If positive and verifiable proof of opt-in cannot be provided, complaints from recipients of the mailing are considered proof they did not subscribe and the mailing is unsolicited.

Mailing Lists: Connected Technologies Inc. mass mailing rules also apply to mailing lists, list servs, or mailing services contracted for by Customer. The policy is stated as follows: An acceptable mailing list will be focused at a targeted audience that has voluntarily signed up for e-mail information using a double opt-in process or that has made their e-mail address available to Customer for distribution of information. The list must also allow for automatic removal by all end Customers with non-distribution in the future.


IP Allocation
Connected Technologies Inc. administers an Internet network on which multiple Customer servers reside. Customers shall NOT use IP addresses that were not assigned to them by the network administrators. Any server utilizing IP addresses outside of the assigned range will be suspended from network access until such time as the IP addresses overlap can be corrected. Use of an unauthorized IP address creating a third party Customer outage will result in a $150 charge and termination of service until the IP allocation is resolved.


IRC Policy
Connected Technologies Inc. allows stand alone IRC servers which are not connected to global IRC networks such as Undernet, EFnet, DALnet and other IRC networks. IRC servers which establish and maintain connections to global IRC networks such as Undernet, EFnet, DALnet and others will be considered to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.
Connected Technologies Inc. does not allow IRC plug-ins, scripts, add-ons, clones or other software that has the intent or effect of disrupting or denying service to other users. Harassing, disrupting or denying service to other users is expressly prohibited, and may result in the immediate suspension or cancellation of Customer account(s).

If IRC servers attract DoS or DDoS attacks that disrupts or denies service to other Customers, Connected Technologies Inc. will null-route, ACL or otherwise suspend service to maintain quality of service for other Customers on our network.

Connected Technologies Inc. allows the limited use of stand-alone IRC “bots”. Connected Technologies Inc. prohibits the use of “botnets”. Customer IRC server may run a “bot”, but Customer may not join a “botnet”. The use of IRC BNC’s or other proxy and re-direction software is expressly prohibited.
For the purposes of policy enforcement, any malicious activity observed to originate from a Customer’s server may result in the immediate suspension of service to the offending Customer’s server without prior notice. Frequently compromised servers may be reviewed for account termination on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this case-by-case review is to deter AUP prohibited activity from occurring under the blanket excuse of a “compromised server.”

Connected Technologies Inc. reserves the right to modify or amend the IRC policy at any time.


Reseller Policy
Resellers are responsible for the conduct of their Customers and by agreeing with this AUP, agree that their Customers will adhere to the AUP. Resellers should make their perspective Customers aware of the AUP and the consequences for violation.


Suspension and Cancellation
Connected Technologies Inc. will use reasonable care in notifying the Customer and in resolving the problem in a method resulting in the least amount of service interference as reasonably possible. Connected Technologies Inc. reserves the sole right to suspend service to any Customer for violation of the AUP without notice. Connected Technologies Inc. reserves the right to terminate service without notice for any violations of the AUP.