This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) describes activities that are not allowed on Flock SAAS. The AUP is incorporated by reference in your Agreement with Flock. Capitalized terms used in this AUP and not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning given in the Agreement. In this AUP, “you” refers to the Customer and/or the End User and “us”/”we” refers to Flock.
1. Abuse
At all times, you must comply with the rules of any other network you access or participate in using Flock SAAS. Neither the Customer nor the End User may use Flock SAAS to engage in, foster, or promote illegal, abusive, or irresponsible behaviour, including but not limited to:
(a) Any activity or conduct that is likely to be in breach of any applicable laws, codes or regulations, including data protection and privacy laws and laws relating to unsolicited commercial electronic messages;
(b) Use of an internet account or computer without the owner's authorization;
(c) Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
(d) Monitoring data or traffic on any network or system without the express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
(e) Introducing intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, any virus or other contaminating code into Flock SAAS;
(f) Collecting or using information, including email addresses, screen names or other identifiers, by deceit, (such as, phishing, Internet scamming, password robbery, spidering, and harvesting);
(g) Use of any false, misleading, or deceptive TCP-IP packet header information in an email or a newsgroup posting;
(h) Distributing software that covertly gathers or transmits information about a user;
(i) Distributing advertisement delivery software unless: (i) the user affirmatively consents to the download and installation of such software based on a clear and conspicuous notice of the nature of the software, and (ii) the software is easily removable by use of standard tools for such purpose included on major operating systems;
(j) Any conduct that is likely to result in retaliation against Flock or its website, or its directors, employees, officers or other agents, including engaging in behaviour that results in any server being the target of a denial of service attack;
(k) Any activity intended to withhold or cloak identity or contact information, including the omission, deletion, forgery or misreporting of any transmission or identification information, such as return mailing and IP addresses;
(l) Interference with service to any user of Flock or other network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks;
(m) Any action which directly or indirectly results in any of Flock’s intellectual property being listed on any abuse database;
(n) Conducting any gambling activity in violation of any required licenses, codes of practice, or necessary technical standards required under the laws or regulations of any jurisdiction in which your site is hosted or accessed; and/or
(o) Any action that is otherwise illegal or solicits conduct that is illegal under laws applicable to you or to Flock;
2. Offensive content
2.1. The Customer and the End User may not publish, transmit or store on or via Flock SAAS transmit any content or links to any content that Flock reasonably believes:
(a) Constitutes, depicts, fosters, promotes or relates in any manner to child pornography, bestiality, non-consensual sex acts, or otherwise unlawfully exploits persons under 18 years of age;
(b) Publish, transmit or store any content or links to any content that is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, contains harassing content or hate speech, creates a risk to a person’s safety or health, or public safety or health, compromises national security or interferes with an investigation by law enforcement;
(c) Is unfair or deceptive under the consumer protection laws of any jurisdiction, including chain letters and pyramid schemes;
(d) Is defamatory or violates a person’s privacy; or
(e) Is otherwise malicious, fraudulent, morally repugnant.
3. Prohibited Activities
3.1. The Customer may not use Flock SAAS in any manner that would violate either the terms of this Agreement or any applicable law. It shall be the sole responsibility of the Customer to ensure that the End User complies with these terms.
4. No High Risk Activity use
4.1. The Customer and the End User may not use Flock SAAS in any situation where failure or fault of Flock SAAS could lead to death or serious bodily injury of any person, or to physical or environmental damage. For example, you may not use, or permit any other person to use Flock SAAS in connection with aircraft or other modes of human mass transportation or nuclear or chemical facilities.
5. Mail requirements
5.1. The Customer and the End User must comply with the laws and regulations applicable to bulk or commercial email in their respective jurisdiction. In addition, your bulk or commercial email must meet the following requirements:
(a) The Customer and the End User must have a privacy policy posted for each domain associated with the mailing;
(b) The Customer and the End User must have the means to track anonymous complaints;
(c) The Customer and the End User must post an email address for complaints (such as [email protected]), and you must promptly respond to messages sent to that address; and
(d) The Customer and the End User must use reasonable means to ensure that the person giving consent is the owner of the e-mail address for which the consent is given.
(e) These policies apply to messages sent using Flock SAAS, or to messages sent from any network by the Customer and the End User or any person on the Customer and the End User’s behalf that directly or indirectly refer the recipient to a site hosted via Flock SAAS. In addition, the Customer and the End User may not use a third party e-mail service that does not practice similar procedures for all its customers. These requirements apply to distribution lists created by third parties to the same extent as if you created the list.
6. Vulnerability Testing
6.1. The Customer and the End User may not attempt to probe, scan, penetrate or test the vulnerability of the Flock system or network, or to breach Flock’s security or authentication measures, whether by passive or intrusive techniques. Additionally, the Customer and the End User may not perform such testing without Flock’s prior written consent.
7. Export control
7.1. Flock SAAS may not be used in violation of export laws, controls, regulations or sanction policies of The Customer and the End User and Flock’s respective jurisdiction. Flock SAAS may not be used by persons, organizations, companies or any such other legal entity or unincorporated body, including any affiliate or group company, which is involved with or suspected of involvement in activities or causes relating to: illegal gambling; terrorism; narcotics trafficking; arms trafficking or the proliferation, development, design, manufacture, production, stockpiling, or use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, weapons of mass destruction, or missiles; in each case including any affiliation with others whatsoever who sponsor or support the above such activities or causes.
8. Intellectual property and other proprietary rights
8.1. The Customer and the End User may not use Flock SAAS in a manner that infringes on or misappropriates the rights of a third party in any work protected by copyright, trade or service mark, invention, or other intellectual property or proprietary information. For example:
(a) The Customer and the End User may not use Flock SAAS to download, publish, torrent, distribute, use, or otherwise copy in any manner any text, music, software, art, image, or other work protected by copyright law unless you have permission from the owner of the work to use or copy the work in that manner, or you are otherwise permitted by established intellectual property law to copy or use the work or rights in that manner;
(b) The Customer and the End User may not use Flock SAAS to publish content intended to assist others in defeating technical copyright protections; and
(c) The Customer and the End User may not display another person's trademark without permission.
8.2. In addition, the Customer and the End User may not use Flock SAAS to publish another person's trade secrets, or to publish information in violation of a duty of confidentiality. It is Flock’s policy to terminate the Subscription of Customers who are repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.
9. Cooperation with investigations and legal proceedings
9.1. If Flock is legally required to permit any relevant authority to inspect the Customer and the End User’s content or traffic, the Customer and the End User agree the Flock can do so; provided however that, where possible without breaching any legal or regulatory requirement, we give you reasonable prior notice of such requirement.
9.2. Flock may, without notice to the Customer and the End User, report to the appropriate authorities any conduct by the Customer and the End User that Flock believes violates applicable law, and provide any information we have about you, or your users or your traffic and cooperate in response to a formal request from a law enforcement or regulatory agency investigating any such activity, or in response to a formal request in a civil action that on its face meets the requirements for such a request.
10. Excessive use of shared system resources
10.1. The Customer and the End User may not use any shared system provided by Flock in a way that unnecessarily interferes with the normal operation of the shared system, or that consumes a disproportionate share of the resources of the system. The Customer and the End User agree that Flock may quarantine or delete any data stored on a shared system if the data is infected with a virus, or is otherwise corrupted, and has the potential to infect or corrupt the system or other customers' data that is stored on the same system.
11. Third Party Conduct
11.1. The Customer and the End User are responsible for violations of this AUP by anyone using the Customer’s Subscription with the Customer’s permission or on an unauthorized basis as a result of the Customer’s failure to use reasonable security precautions. The Customer and End User’s use of Flock SAAS to assist another person in an activity that would violate this AUP if performed by you is a violation of the AUP.
11.2. The Customer and the End User must use reasonable efforts to secure any device or network within your control against being used in breach of the applicable laws against spam and unsolicited email, including where appropriate by the installation of antivirus software, firewall software and operating system and application software patches and updates. Flock’s right to suspend or terminate the Customer’s Subscription applies even if a breach is committed unintentionally or without your authorization, including through a Trojan horse or virus.
12. Other
12.1. The Customer and the End User must have valid and current information on file with your domain name registrar for any domain hosted on the Flock network.
12.2. The Customer and the End User may not register to use Flock SAAS under a false name, or use an invalid or unauthorized credit card in connection with Flock SAAS.
13. Changes to the AUP
13.1. Flock may from time to time amend this AUP to further detail or describe reasonable restrictions on your use of Flock SAAS by publishing a revised version of the AUP. The revised AUP will become effective upon publishing.
13.2. If the Customer and the End User’s compliance with the revised AUP would adversely affect the Customer and the End User’s use of Flock SAAS, the Customer may elect to terminate the Agreement by giving Flock written notice of the Customer’s objection no later than thirty (30) days following the date that the revised AUP would otherwise have become effective as to you. We will not charge you an early termination fee for a termination on these grounds.
14. Consequences of Violation of AUP
14.1. If Flock detects a breach of the AUP, or suspects a breach of the AUP, or expects there to be a breach of the AUP by the Customer and/or the End User , then Flock, at its sole discretion may suspend or terminate the Customer’s Subscription in accordance with the Agreement. We may intercept or block any content or traffic belonging to you or to users where Flock SAAS are being used unlawfully or not in accordance with this AUP.