It is Gatehouse's intent to provide our customers with the best cable Internet service possible. In order to accomplish this task, we have adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (the "AUP" or "Policy"). This Policy outlines acceptable use of the Gatehouse High-Speed Internet service (the "Service"), as well as permissible and prohibited conduct for using the Service to access the Internet. This Policy, including its customer use restrictions, is in addition to the restrictions contained in the Gatehouse High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement (the "Subscriber Agreement"). All capitalized terms used in this AUP that are not defined here have the meanings given to them in the Subscriber Agreement.
It is the responsibility of all Gatehouse High-Speed Internet customers and all others who have access to Gatehouse's network ("customer," "you," or "your"), to comply with this AUP and all Gatehouse policies. As a Service customer, it is your responsibility to secure your computer equipment so that it is not subject to external threats such as viruses, spam, and other methods of intrusion. Failure to comply with these or any other Gatehouse policies could result in the suspension or termination of your Service. If you do not agree to comply with all of these policies including the AUP, you must immediately stop use of the Service and notify Gatehouse so that your account may be closed.
Note: Gatehouse reserves the right to immediately terminate the Service and the Subscriber Agreement if you engage in any of the prohibited activities listed in this AUP or if you use the Gatehouse Equipment or Service in a way which is contrary to any Gatehouse policies or any of Gatehouse's suppliers' policies. You must strictly adhere to any policy set forth by another service provider accessed through the Service.
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using the Service, Customer Equipment, or the Gatehouse Equipment to:
You are responsible for any misuse of the Service, even if the misuse was committed by a friend, family member, or guest with access to your Service account. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not use your account to gain unauthorized access to the Service by, for example, strictly maintaining the confidentiality of your Service login and password. In all cases, you are solely responsible for the security of any device you choose to connect to the Service, including any data stored or shared on that device. Gatehouse recommends against enabling file or printer sharing of any sort unless you do so in strict compliance with all security recommendations and features provided by Gatehouse and the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer sharing devices. Any files or devices you choose to make available for shared access on a home LAN, for example, should be protected with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.
Gatehouse reserves the right, but not the obligation, to refuse to transmit or post and to remove or block any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful. Neither Gatehouse nor any of its affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to monitor transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to, e-mail, newsgroup, and instant message transmissions as well as materials available on the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features) made on the Service. However, Gatehouse and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents have the right to monitor these transmissions and postings from time to time for violations of this Policy and to disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with the Subscriber Agreement and any other applicable agreements and policies.
The Service may not be used to send unsolicited bulk or commercial messages and may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited e-mail sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or e-mail services that violate this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider. Moreover, unsolicited e-mail may not direct the recipient to any Web site or other resource that uses the Service. Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial e-mail or unsolicited bulk e-mail, whether or not the e-mail is commercial in nature, are prohibited. Forging, altering, or removing electronic mail headers is prohibited. You may not reference Gatehouse or the Gatehouse network (e.g. by including "Organization: Gatehouse" in the header or by listing an IP address that belongs to Gatehouse or the Gatehouse network) in any unsolicited e-mail even if that e-mail is not sent through the Gatehouse network or Service.
Gatehouse is not responsible for forwarding e-mail sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. This e-mail will be returned to the sender, ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at Gatehouse's sole discretion. In the event that Gatehouse believes in its sole discretion that any subscriber name, account name, or e-mail address (collectively, an "identifier") on the Service may be used for, or is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent, or other improper or illegal purpose, Gatehouse (i) reserves the right to block access to and prevent the use of any such identifier and (ii) may at any time require any customer to change his or her identifier. In addition, Gatehouse may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Service for Gatehouse's own purposes.
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups as well as any other terms and conditions applicable to any particular newsgroups or provider of newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages should be posted only in those newsgroups whose charters or FAQs explicitly permit them. You are responsible for determining the policies of a given newsgroup before posting to it. Gatehouse reserves the right to discontinue access to any newsgroup at any time for any reason. Gatehouse permits users of the Service to download a maximum of one gigabyte (1GB) of newsgroup content in any one month, unless users are subject to a Service plan that permits downloading more newsgroup content.
Users alone are responsible for the contents of their instant messages and the consequences of any instant messages. Gatehouse assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery, deletion or failure to store instant messages.
As part of the Service, Gatehouse provides you with access to personal Web pages and storage space through the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features (collectively, the "Personal Web Features"). You are solely responsible for any information that you or others publish or store on the Personal Web Features. You must ensure that the intended recipient of any content made available through the Personal Web Features is appropriate. For example, you must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving or accessing inappropriate content. Gatehouse reserves the right to remove, block, or refuse to post or store any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deem to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful. This includes, but is not limited to: obscene material; defamatory, fraudulent or deceptive statements; threatening, intimidating or harassing statements, or material that violates the privacy rights or property rights of others (copyrights or trademarks, for example). For purposes of this Policy, "material" refers to all forms of communications including narrative descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images, drawings, logos), executable programs and scripts, video recordings, and audio recordings. Gatehouse may remove or block content contained on your Personal Web Features and terminate your Personal Web Features and/or your use of the Service if we determine that you have violated the terms of this Policy.
You must comply with all current bandwidth, data storage, and other limitations on the Service established by Gatehouse and its suppliers. In addition, you may only access and use the Service with a dynamic Internet Protocol ("IP") address that adheres to the dynamic host configuration protocol ("DHCP"). You may not access or use the Service with a static IP address or using any protocol other than DHCP unless you are subject to a Service plan that expressly permits otherwise.
You must ensure that your activity (including, but not limited to, use made by you or others of any Personal Web Features) does not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user's use of the Service, nor represent (in the sole judgment of Gatehouse) an unusually large burden on the network. In addition, you must ensure that your activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, disrupt, degrade or impede Gatehouse's ability to deliver the Service and monitor the Service, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network Services.
Gatehouse is committed to complying with U.S. copyright and related laws, and requires all customers and users of the Service to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any material or content on, or disseminate any material or content over, the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights granted by U.S. copyright law. Owners of copyrighted works who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may take advantage of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the "DMCA") to report alleged infringements. It is Gatehouse's policy in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws to reserve the right to terminate the Service provided to any customer or user who is either found to infringe third party copyright or other intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers, or who Gatehouse believes in its sole discretion is infringing these rights. Gatehouse may terminate the Service at any time with or without notice for any affected customer or user.
Copyright owners may report alleged infringements of their works that are stored on the Service or the Personal Web Features by sending Gatehouse's authorized agent a notification of claimed infringement that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA. Upon Gatehouse's receipt of a satisfactory notice of claimed infringement for these works, Gatehouse will respond expeditiously to either directly or indirectly (i) remove the allegedly infringing work(s) stored on the Service or the Personal Web Features or (ii) disable access to the work(s). Gatehouse will also notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the removal or disabling of access to the work(s). If the affected customer or user believes in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then that person may send a counter notification to Gatehouse. Upon Gatehouse's receipt of a counter notification that satisfies the requirements of DMCA, Gatehouse will provide a copy of the counter notification to the person who sent the original notification of claimed infringement and will follow the DMCA's procedures with respect to a received counter notification. In all events, you expressly agree that Gatehouse will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.
Copyright owners may send Gatehouse a notification of claimed infringement to report alleged infringements of their works to:
Larry Weiner
Gatehouse Networks
35 Mason Street
Greenwich, CT 06830
Phone: (203) 661-4771
Fax: (203) 661-6143
Gatehouse does not require the use of a specific notification form, but the claimed infringement form must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Under the DMCA anyone who knowingly makes misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright infringement may be liable to Gatehouse, the alleged infringer, and the affected copyright owner for any damages incurred in connection with the removal, blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.
If a notification of claimed infringement has been filed against you, you can file a counter notification with Gatehouse's designated agent using the contact information shown above. All counter notifications must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Gatehouse does not routinely monitor the activity of Service accounts for violation of this AUP. However, in our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of our Service. Although Gatehouse has no obligation to monitor the Service and/or the network, Gatehouse and its suppliers reserve the right at any time to monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions, and content from time to time to operate the Service; to identify violations of this Policy; and/or to protect the network, the Service and Gatehouse users.
Gatehouse prefers to advise customers of inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective action. However, if the Service is used in a way that Gatehouse or its suppliers, in their sole discretion, believe violate this AUP, Gatehouse or its suppliers may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate. These actions include, but are not limited to, temporary or permanent removal of content, cancellation of newsgroup posts, filtering of Internet transmissions, and the immediate suspension or termination of all or any portion of the Service. Neither Gatehouse nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will have any liability for any these responsive actions. These actions are not Gatehouse's exclusive remedies and Gatehouse may take any other legal or technical action it deems appropriate.
Gatehouse reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this AUP, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on Gatehouse's servers and network. During an investigation, Gatehouse may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove or block material that potentially violates this Policy. You expressly authorize Gatehouse and its suppliers to cooperate with (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected legal violations, and (ii) and system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy. This cooperation may include Gatehouse providing available personally identifiable information about you to law enforcement or system administrators, including, but not limited to, username, subscriber name, and other account information. Upon termination of your account, Gatehouse is authorized to delete any files, programs, data and e-mail messages associated with your account.
The failure of Gatehouse or its suppliers to enforce this AUP, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that if any portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Gatehouse and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) resulting from you engaging in any of the prohibited activities listed in this AUP or resulting from your violation of the AUP or of any other posted Gatehouse policy related to the Service. Your indemnification will survive any termination of the Subscriber Agreement.
Revised and effective: June 2004