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Acceptable Use Policy

Last modified: 10/10/2024

Important note: Clearwave Fiber, may revise this Acceptable Use Policy, as well as its Terms and Conditions, and any other policies or disclosures, from time to time without notice through revisions posted at www.clearwavefiber.com. Accordingly, users of the Clearwave Fiber services should consult this website regularly regarding their rights and obligations and to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. In the event of a conflict between any customer agreement and this policy, the terms of this policy will govern. 

Introduction

Clearwave Fiber provides a variety of Internet services to customers (the “Services”) that allow customers to connect to the Internet through a high-speed Internet access connection. The Services use resources that are shared with many other customers and each user benefits by being able to share these resources. However, as with any resource, the benefits provided must be balanced with duties and responsibilities so that all users can rely on them for a productive experience. Use of the Services therefore is subject to the rules and guidelines set forth below. Each customer of Clearwave Fiber is responsible for ensuring that the use of all Services provided to such customer complies with this Acceptable Use Policy (the “Policy”). ANY USER WHO DOES NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY STOP USE OF THE SERVICES AND NOTIFY THE CLEARWAVE FIBER CUSTOMER CARE DEPARTMENT SO THAT THE USER’S ACCOUNT MAY BE CLOSED.

I. Prohibited uses and activities

In general, the Policy prohibits uses and activities involving the Services that are illegal, infringe the rights of others, interfere with or diminish the use and enjoyment of the Services by others, or impede Clearwave Fiber from providing the Services or operating its business, or that otherwise conflict with Clearwave Fiber’s published policies. These prohibited uses and activities include, but are not limited to, using the Services, customer-provided equipment, or equipment provided by Clearwave Fiber, either individually or in combination with one another, to:

a. Information restrictions and user conduct

  • Undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose including, but not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening or defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal, or non-U.S. law, order, or regulation
  • Post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material which a reasonable person could deem to be indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, hateful, or intimidating
  • Upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works of, or distribute in any way information, software or other material obtained through the Services or otherwise that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining permission of the owner
  • Transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages commonly known as “spam” that do not comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act
  • Send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages, empty messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or send very large messages or files that disrupts a server, account, newsgroup, or chat service
  • Initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal scheme
  • Participate in the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice sometimes known as spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use of software (including “spyware”) designed to facilitate this activity
  • Collect responses from unsolicited bulk messages
  • Falsify, alter, or remove message headers
  • Falsify references to Clearwave Fiber or its network, by name or other identifier, in messages
  • Impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address falsification, forge anyone else’s digital or manual signature, or perform any other similar fraudulent activity (for example, “phishing”)
  • Violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, or Web site that you access

b. Technical restrictions

  • Access any other person’s computer or computer system, network, software, or data without his or her knowledge and consent; breach the security of another user or system; or attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts without express permission to do so
  • Use or distribute tools or devices designed or used for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers, unauthorized keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs
  • Unauthorized port scanning is strictly prohibited
  • Distribute programs that make unauthorized changes to software (cracks)
  • Service, alter, modify, or tamper with Clearwave Fiber Equipment or Services or permit any other person to do the same who is not authorized by Clearwave Fiber

c. Network and usage restrictions

  • Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to use or enjoy the Services, including, without limitation, posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others’ ability to use, send, or retrieve information
  • Restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a performance degradation, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to the Service or any Clearwave Fiber (or Clearwave Fiber supplier) host, server, backbone network, node or service, or otherwise cause a performance degradation to any Clearwave Fiber (or Clearwave Fiber supplier) facilities used to deliver the Services
  • Resell the Services or otherwise make available to anyone outside the Premises the ability to use the Services (for example, though Wi-Fi or other methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly
  • Connect Clearwave Fiber equipment to any computer outside of your Premises
  • Interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abusing operator privileges, and attempts to “crash” a host
  • You may not configure the Services or any related equipment to access or use a static Internet Protocol (IP) address or use any protocol other than dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) unless you are subject to a Service plan that expressly permits you to do so
  • Engage in Excessive Use, as defined below.

II. Customer conduct and features of the service

What are your obligations under this Policy?

You are responsible for any misuse of the Services that you have purchased, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, family member, guest, employee or customer with access to your account. Therefore, you should take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to the Services and ensure that users you have authorized do not engage in any of the “Prohibited Uses and Activities” identified above.

You are solely responsible for the security of any device you choose to connect to the Services, including any data stored on that device. Clearwave Fiber recommends that any files or services you choose to make available for remote access be protected with a strong password, personal firewall or as otherwise appropriate.

How Does Clearwave Fiber address inappropriate content and transmissions?

There may be content on the Internet or otherwise available through the Services which may be offensive to some individuals, or which may not be in compliance with all federal, state and local laws, regulations and other rules. For example, it is possible to obtain access to content which is pornographic or offensive. Clearwave Fiber does not assume any responsibility for the content contained on the Internet or otherwise available through the Services. You must assume the risk of accessing content through the Services and Clearwave Fiber shall not have any liability for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise relating to access to such content. Customers may want to use a program capable of restricting access to sexually explicit or offensive material on the Internet. Content questions or complaints should be addressed to the content provider. You are solely responsible for any information which you publish on the web or other Internet services. You must ensure that the recipient of the content is appropriate. For example, you must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving inappropriate content. Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove 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 such material or its dissemination is unlawful. Clearwave Fiber does not have any obligation to monitor transmissions made on the Services. However, Clearwave Fiber does have the right to monitor such transmissions from time to time and to disclose the same in accordance with your subscriber agreement and/or when required to do so by valid legal process. By using the Services to reproduce, publish, display, transmit and distribute content, a user is warranting that the content complies with this Policy and authorizing Clearwave Fiber to reproduce, publish, display, transmit and distribute such content as necessary for Clearwave Fiber to deliver the content in a timely manner.

What requirements apply to Electronic Mail?

The Services may not be used to distribute e-mail or other forms of communications in violation of the “Prohibited Uses and Activities” described above. This includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, and petitions for signatures and political or religious messages that do not comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested them. The Services may not be used to send messages to any individual who has indicated that he/she does not wish to receive messages from you. The Services may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited email sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or email services which violates this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider. Moreover, unsolicited email may not direct the recipient to any web site or other resource which violates this Policy. You may not create a username or email address that, in the sole judgment of Clearwave, is pornographic, patently offensive or misleading. You may not reference the Clearwave Fiber network in the email address or in the content of the email itself (e.g., by sending mail from a “.corp.clearwavefiber.com” email address, including “Organization: Clearwave Fiber“ in the subject line or in the email itself, or by listing an IP address that belongs to the Clearwave Fiber network) in any unsolicited email even if that email is not sent through the Clearwave Fiber network. In the event that Clearwave Fiber 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, Clearwave Fiber (i) reserves the right to block access to and prevent the use of any of these identifiers, and (ii) may at any time require any customer to change his or her identifier. Clearwave Fiber may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Service for Clearwave Fiber’s own purposes.

What requirements apply to instant, video, and audio messages?

Each user is responsible for the contents of his or her instant, video, and audio messages and the consequences of any of these messages. Clearwave Fiber assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery, or deletion of, or any failure to store, these messages. If a Service account is terminated for any reason, all instant, video, and audio messages associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently deleted as well.

III. Network management and limitations on bandwidth consumption and data storage

The Clearwave Fiber network is designed for typical usage by a typical business or residential user. Computer activity resulting in excessive or sustained bandwidth consumption may burden the network and such usage may be restricted. Bandwidth on our network is a limited, shared resource among subscribers, unless you are subject to a Service plan that provides dedicated Services. Because we seek to provide the Services at a reasonable cost to the largest number of users, the use of our network is subject to fair and reasonable usage guidelines.  Users are expected to refrain from consumption that is disproportionate to the consumption of other similar users and more than the consumption for which their Service plan is designed.  Users must ensure their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user’s use of the Services nor represent (in the sole but reasonable judgment of Clearwave Fiber) an unusually large burden on the network itself. In addition, users must ensure that their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, disrupt, degrade or impede Clearwave Fiber’s ability to deliver the Services and monitor the Services, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services. Clearwave Fiber may respond to such activities and excessive consumption by taking a variety of actions including but not limited terminating the User’s service. In circumstances where immediate action is necessary to protect the network, Clearwave Fiber may terminate a user’s service without prior notice. Clearwave Fiber is committed to ensuring that each customer has equal access to our network to meet its needs as indicated by its selected Service plan.

How does Clearwave Fiber track usage?

We collect data on customer traffic pattern usage through the use of traffic management software. Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to conduct tests to improve network security, to enhance the performance of our network, and to determine whether to make available new service offerings. These technical tests are performed almost continuously and without notice.  All customer traffic or other collected data shall be subject to Clearwave Fiber’s Privacy Policy and applicable law.

What is Excessive Use?

Excessive use means bandwidth or data usage that is consistently higher than fair and reasonable usage given the purchased Services plan for shared services (this does not apply to dedicated Services). Excessive Users consume so much data that their usage could negatively impact the Services provided to other customers. Excessive Users demonstrate sustained usage patterns at high volumes over many hours. These patterns are consistent with unattended usage and create a costly burden on the network, especially during peak usage hours.

IV. Violation of this Policy

What happens if you violate this Policy?

Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to suspend or terminate the Services and your Services Agreement if you violate the terms of this Policy.

How does Clearwave Fiber enforce this Policy?

Clearwave Fiber does not routinely monitor the activity of accounts for violation of this Policy. However, in our efforts to comply with applicable law and promote good citizenship within the Internet community, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of our Services. If we receive notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sec. 512, that you have allegedly infringed the intellectual property rights of a third party, we retain the right to take down or disable access to the allegedly infringing material. In complying with applicable laws in this area, it is our policy, in appropriate circumstances, to suspend or terminate the accounts of subscribers who repeatedly infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. We also will take such other action as appropriate under the circumstances to preserve our rights.

Although Clearwave Fiber has no obligation to monitor the Services and/or the network, Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to monitor bandwidth, usage, and content from time to time to operate the Services; to identify violations of this Policy; and/or to protect the network and Clearwave Fiber users. Clearwave Fiber prefers to advise customers of inappropriate behavior and request that customers take any necessary corrective action. However, if the Services are used in a way which Clearwave Fiber, in its sole but reasonable discretion, believes violate this Policy, Clearwave Fiber may take any responsive actions it deems appropriate. Such 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 Services. Clearwave Fiber will not have any liability for any such responsive actions.

The above-described actions are not Clearwave Fiber’s exclusive remedies and Clearwave Fiber may take any other legal or technical action it deems appropriate. Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this Policy, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on Clearwave Fiber’s servers and network. During an investigation, Clearwave Fiber may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove material which potentially violates this Policy. You hereby authorize Clearwave Fiber to cooperate with (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations, and (ii) system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy. Such cooperation may include Clearwave Fiber providing the username, IP address, or other identifying information about a subscriber. Upon termination of an account, Clearwave Fiber is authorized to delete any user ID, files, programs, data and email messages associated with such account.

The failure of Clearwave Fiber to enforce this Policy, 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. This Policy shall be exclusively governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Georgia.

V. Miscellaneous provisions

End User Devices

Clearwave Fiber strives to produce a high level of reliability, stability and security for our Services subscribers. Routers are a critical network element which we constantly evaluate for compatibility and performance. Due to technical limitations, changes to our network, discontinued support by manufacturers, regulatory obligations, or defects, certain models that previously were certified may be deemed to no longer be suitable for our network. If you own your device and in our sole but reasonable discretion it becomes unsuitable for any of these or other reasons, it will be your responsibility to obtain a new device. Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to upgrade, via software download and without subscriber notification, all Clearwave Fiber devices currently connected to its network.

Communication

Clearwave Fiber may choose to communicate with you regarding these policies using a variety of methods including email or in-browser notices. In-browser notices are an effective way to quickly alert you to important service-impacting issues. These notices may require you to acknowledge receipt of the message or log into your Clearwave Fiber account for more information.

Limitations of liability

Clearwave Fiber will make reasonable efforts to provide its customers with uninterrupted and error-free service. Nonetheless, there are numerous factors that could affect the Service. Temporary interruptions of the Services may occur as normal events in the provision of the Services. Clearwave Fiber reserves the right to interrupt the Services usually between the hours of 1am to 5am (EST or Local) for maintenance purposes. Also understand that Clearwave Fiber has no control over the networks, facilities or services of third parties and that delays and disruptions involving them are completely beyond Clearwave Fiber’s control. As to Clearwave Fiber’s own equipment and software, failure may occur without warning due to causes ranging from our own errors to malicious attack. While Clearwave Fiber employs virus and spam checking software, the speed of new virus and spam creation is such that Clearwave Fiber does not represent or warrant that traffic on its network will be virus or spam free. In light of that, your use of the Services is at your own risk and the Services are provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind either expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

Without limiting the foregoing, Clearwave Fiber and its affiliates will not be liable for any interruptions in Services or failure to perform or partial performance that results in corrupted transmissions and will not be responsible for consequential damages of any sort. In any event, Clearwave Fiber’s liability to you for all potential claims will not exceed the total amount of service fees paid during the preceding three months. Nothing in this Agreement gives you any interest, title or license in the user ID, or IP address that is used in conjunction with the Services.