Privacy and Acceptable Use Policies
Acceptable Use Policy, version 2011-1003
Please read this Policy carefully. This policy defines the Agreement between Virtual Bridge LLC and Customer (as defined by the Virtual Bridge service application form) for Internet services. Failure to adhere to these terms may result in cancellation of your account.
The following are the terms and conditions for use of Internet services provided by Virtual Bridge. By using your account, you agree to be bound by these terms.
Customer agrees to abide by the following:
1. Each Virtual Bridge account has one or more passwords that are the key to gain access to the account. The customer who registered the account is solely responsible for all actions taken with regard to the account. It is the account owner's responsibility to safeguard the account password(s) and to ensure that the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy is honored at all times. Virtual Bridge will hold the account owner responsible for any violations of the Acceptable Use Policy.
2. All users are expected to adhere to the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy. In addition, all sites directly attached to the Virtual Bridge network backbone are expected to adhere to the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy. The individual who signed the contract is responsible for educating site users on the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy. Violations of the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy by directly attached sites will be referred to the contract signer for resolution. The contract signer will be held responsible for any violations of the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy.
3. Virtual Bridge enforces these polices with respect to the Virtual Bridge Customer only. We are not responsible for abusive actions which originate from other sites or networks on the Internet.
4. Customers are prohibited from transmitting on or through any of Virtual Bridge's services, any material that is, in Virtual Bridge's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, hateful, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.
5. Virtual Bridge services may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material from its servers.
6. New Customers signing up for Virtual Bridge must be 18 years or older in order to start an account.
7. The Customer is responsible for keeping billing data with Virtual Bridge up-to-date and accurate. Furnishing false data on the signup form or contract, including fraudulent use of credit card numbers, is grounds for immediate termination, and may subject the offender to civil or criminal liability.
8. The Service Begin Date is the day on which Virtual Bridge activates your account. All fees, as outlined in Virtual Bridge's Service Application Form, are refundable if the customer cancels within 10 calendar days of the Service Begin Date. Virtual Bridge reserves the right to change its fees at any time.
9. Payment is due by the date specified on the billing statement we send you. This billing statement will be sent by electronic mail, postal mail or fax, at our discretion. The day of the month that payment is due may vary. Payment by credit card will be automatic. If payment is not received within seven (7) days of the due date your account may be suspended until payment arrives. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY! After 30 days, unpaid accounts will be completely deleted from our system. Deleted accounts will incur a $20 reactivation fee to reopen them. Seriously past due accounts are turned over to a collection agency.
10. Charges will be billed according to the price list currently in effect at the time. You may cancel your account at any time. Accounts are billed monthly, quarterly, or annually. For quarterly and annual term billing commitments, you are responsible for the entire length of the term; refunds are not available for unused months.
11. There will be a $25 service charge for all returned checks plus any applicable court costs or legal fees required to collect.
12. Customers may not attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for the customer, logging into a server or account the customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks.
13. Customer may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host, or network. This includes, but is not limited to, deliberate attempts to overload a service and attempts to crash a host.
14. Customers may not use any kind of program, script, command, or send messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or by the Internet.
15. Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. Virtual Bridge will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.
16. Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of message, is prohibited.
17. Customers may not forward or otherwise propagate chain letters, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
18. Malicious email, including but not limited to flooding a user or site with very large or numerous pieces of email is prohibited.
19. Forging of header information is not permitted.
20. Distribution of materials which violate any local, state, or federal statutes is prohibited.
21. Customer agrees to comply with the policies governing use of the Virtual Bridge network, as set forth in the Virtual Bridge Acceptable Use Policy, as they may change from time to time. Any changes to the terms governing use of the Virtual Bridge Network will be posted as warranted on the Virtual Bridge computer system.
22. This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Arizona.
23. Either party may terminate this agreement at any given time by giving written notice. Such notice is effective when given. Customer is obligated to pay for service through the termination date, as detailed on the final billing statement.
24. By accessing and using the Virtual Bridge computer system, user is consenting to system monitoring for systems administration, law enforcement, and other purposes. Unauthorized use of, or access to, this computer system may subject users to criminal prosecution and penalties.
25. The customer can not resell, distribute or share Virtual Bridge Internet service in any form. To do so will result in termination and prosecution. The customer will be required to forfeit any earnings plus interest.
26. Virtual Bridge reserves the right to restrict or terminate service without refund in the event of a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. Virtual Bridge also reserves the right to take action on abuse which is not specifically named in this Acceptable Use Policy, at the sole discretion of Virtual Bridge. Use of Virtual Bridge Internet's systems and network constitutes understanding and agreement of this policy.
27. Virtual Bridge owns and maintains the equipment necessary to receive and transmit the Internet Service.
28. Customer may not restrict or inhibit any other Customer from using and enjoying the Internet.
29. Customer may not use the Virtual Bridge service to operate server programs, including, but not limited to web hosting, multi-user interactive forums, game servers, or operating an internal mail/http/ftp/irc/dhcp server to serve external connections or to support multi-user interactive forums.
30. Customer may not post or transmit any information or software which contains a virus, cancelbot, trojan horse, worm or other harmful component.
31. Customer may not upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, or distribute in any way, information, software or other material obtained through the Service which is protected by copyright, or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without obtaining permission of the copyright owner or rightholder; or may not upload, post, publish, reproduce, transmit or distribute in any way any component of the Service itself or derivative works with respect thereto, as the Service is copyrighted as a collective work under U.S. copyright laws.
32. Customer may not use the Service to invade the privacy of third parties, impersonate Virtual Bridge personnel, transmit via e-mail, USENET, chat service or the Customer's personal web page or site, abusive, profane, libelous, slanderous, threatening or otherwise harassing material, or post material in any USENET or newsgroup that is off-topic according to the charter or other public statement of the USENET or newsgroup. Customer also agrees not to use the Service to solicit other customers to patronize competing services, to violate or tamper with the security of the Virtual Bridge Service or attempt to utilize another customer's account name or persona without authorization from that customer.
33. Customer may not use the Virtual Bridge service, Virtual Bridge's equipment or any Virtual Bridge electronic mail address or Virtual Bridge hosted service in connection with the sending of unsolicited email messages (spam) or Usenet Newsgroup postings, whether commercial or not, to a large number of recipients. This prohibition extends to the sending of unsolicited mass mailings from another service which in any way implicates the use of the Virtual Bridge Service, Virtual Bridge's equipment or any Virtual Bridge electronic mail address or Virtual Bridge hosted service. Any implication thereof by any mass emailing or posting of this type will be grounds for dismissal, regardless of the provable origin of the offending messages. A message is unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a USENET or newsgroup charter and/or if it is sent to a recipient who has not requested or invited the message.
34. Customer agrees that any personal web page or site Customer publishes in connection with the Virtual Bridge Service is intended for personal use. While other uses (e.g. commercial) are not prohibited, they may draw sufficient third party visits ("hits") to the page or site so as to impose a burden on the Service by reducing available bandwidth. To ensure that all Customers can use and enjoy the Service, Customer agrees that Virtual Bridge is entitled to suspend or terminate access to any Customer's personal web page or site if Virtual Bridge determines that the page or site has received download traffic sufficient to cause access to the server to be impaired in Virtual Bridge's judgment. Customer expressly agrees that Virtual Bridge shall not be liable to Customer or parties interacting with Customer for any damages resulting from action Virtual Bridge takes to enforce this provision.
35. Customer is responsible for all actions taken or caused to be taken in connection with use of the service. As a condition of service, Customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Virtual Bridge, it's officers, employees, agents, and shareholders, for any cause of action arising from the use of Customer's account or with Customer's use of the service.
36. While we do backup our system files, we DO NOT backup personal or business files uploaded to our server by our customers, or e-mail messages. This means that if you upload web pages or any other personal or business files to our system, you must keep a local backup of them on your machine. This also applies to e-mail messages that you send or receive. Please backup your files, because we do not!
37. Virtual Bridge does not warrant any connection to, transmission over, or the results of the use of any network connection. Virtual Bridge assumes no responsibility for any damage, loss, or expense suffered by the Customer, including but not limited to loss of data, delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, or service interruption caused by Virtual Bridge or Customer error, omission, or negligence. Use of this service and any information obtained using this service is at the Customer's risk. Virtual Bridge does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of, quality of, or actions taken in response to the information obtained through its services.
38. Service is provided as-is. Use at your own risk. There are no warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Virtual Bridge is not responsible for hardware or software damage, loss of wages, or any other financial or personal loss resulting from the use of, or inability to use this service.
39. If any portion of this agreement is found to contradict federal, state, or local laws, the remaining portions will remain in full force until account termination. Any disputes with Virtual Bridge will be governed by the laws and courts of the State of Arizona.
40. IP addresses, both static and dynamically assigned, are the property of Virtual Bridge and/or its suppliers. These addresses are not owned by the customer and may be changed in the future at Virtual Bridge's discretion.