Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
for Residential and Business
Customers
What is an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)?
It lets you know how to use our internet service safely and legally. All internet service providers have usage policies of some kind. Here’s where you can read more about ours.Our Acceptable Use Policy covers a range of prohibited activities, but it mainly focuses on the most severe misuse of our services. That’s activities that are:
- Illegal
- Unlawful
- Or inconveniencing other internet users.
To put it
simply, it’s there to protect our customers and make sure everyone gets the
best broadband experience possible. Our Acceptable Use Policy is all part of
our Terms and Conditions which you accept when you join UPFIBRE.
- Introduction
1.1. This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) specifies actions prohibited by UPFIBRE
to users of the Internet Services.
1.2. You must read this AUP very carefully. It is important. It and our Terms and Conditions are
part of your legally binding relationship with us.
1.3. “Users” and “you” means customers or anyone else who uses or accesses the
Services. This AUP outlines the principles that govern use of the systems,
services and equipment (e.g. your fibre router and UPS) provided by UPFIBRE in
connection with the Services. By using our Services, you agree to comply with
all parts of this AUP, and we may (not withstanding our rights of suspension
and restriction referred to below) terminate your account if you fail to comply
with any of the same.
1.4. We may amend, modify or substitute this AUP at any time and any such modification, amendment
or substitution shall be posted on the relevant web site and become
automatically effective upon all Users as from the date of posting.
1.5. We recommend that you visit our
website regularly to check for any updates or amendments to this AUP.
- UPFIBRE’s right to suspend, restrict or
terminate your services
2.1. We will take action if you abuse
the Services. The actions we may take include:
- a formal warning to you;
- suspension of your account (with or without notice);
- restriction of your access to the Services (or any part of the
Services); or
- Termination of your account.
This is not a full list of the action we may take and we reserve
the right to apply further sanctions as necessary to protect the operation of
the UPFIBRE network and to fulfill our legal obligations.
2.2. Notwithstanding our right to restrict, suspend or
terminate the Services, if you breach this AUP and/or our Terms and Conditions
you may receive a formal warning from us specifying the unacceptable conduct
and notifying you that repeated breaches may result in the Services (or any
part of Services) being temporarily or permanently withdrawn from you.
2.3. If, after you have received a formal warning from us in
accordance with paragraph 2.2 above, your conduct continues to breach this AUP,
then we will withdraw the Services (or part of the Services) from you until
such time as we are satisfied that you have implemented appropriate steps to
ensure that your use of our systems, Services or equipment will comply with this
AUP.
2.4. If such a
suspension is imposed, then this may be lifted at our discretion, upon receipt
of a formal written undertaking from you not to commit any future relevant
abuse. However, all cases will be considered individually (in our sole discretion)
upon their merits.
- Use of the services
3.1. We reserve
the right to investigate any suspected violation(s) of this AUP. When we become
aware of possible violations, we may initiate an investigation, which may
include gathering information from the User involved and the complaining party,
if any, and examination of material on our servers, networks or any other
equipment associated with the Services.
3.2. You must not
use the Services in any way that is unlawful or illegal or in any way to the
detriment of other Internet users. You also must not allow anybody using your
connection to use the Services in any way that is unlawful or illegal or in any
way to the detriment of other Internet users.
3.2.1. UPFIBRE does
not place a limit on monthly network usage. However, in isolated cases where excessive network usage at busy times (9am to 9pm)
is having a detrimental effect on other users, we may need to take appropriate
action in accordance with the terms of this AUP to notify users of the impact
they are having and require them to move some of their activity into the less
busy period.
3.3. During an
investigation, if we believe that a violation of this AUP or our Terms and
Conditions has occurred, we may take immediate remedial action. Such action may
include temporary or permanent, warnings to the User responsible, and the
suspension, restriction or termination of the User’s account. We will determine
what action will be taken on a case-by-case basis. Please note that we have a
policy of open co-operation with all relevant authorities and regulators.
3.4. In addition
to and without prejudice to your obligations pursuant to our Terms and
Conditions, you agree to comply with (and ensure that others using the Services
comply with) all applicable laws, statutes and regulations in connection with
the Services. As the User of record, you are responsible for all use of your
account, irrespective of use without your knowledge and/or consent.
3.5. You are required
to keep your contact details provided to UPFIBRE up to date. Keeping such
records up to date is important as we may need to send notices or other
information to you using the contact information you gave us.
3.6. Users are
expected and required to review email in their primary mailbox, the details of
which were provided to us as part of the Services sign up, on a regular basis.
This is to enable us to advise you of any significant issues that may affect
your use of the Services.
- Use of material
4.1. You are prohibited from storing,
distributing, transmitting or causing to be published any
Prohibited
Material through your use of the Services. Examples of “Prohibited
Material” shall be determined by us (acting in our sole discretion) and
shall include (but are not limited to) material that:
4.1.1. is
threatening, harassing, invasive of privacy, defamatory, racist, obscene,
indecent, offensive, abusive, harmful or malicious;
4.1.2. infringes or breaches any third party’s intellectual
property rights (which shall include, but not be limited to copyright, trade
mark, design rights, trade secrets, patents, moral rights, paternity rights and
performance rights) – this includes the use, distribution and/or copying of any
material without the express consent of the owner;
4.1.3. is in violation of any law or
regulation that is enforceable in the United Kingdom;
4.1.4. unsolicited promotional or
marketing material;
4.1.5. letters or pyramid selling schemes; and
4.1.6. programs containing viruses,
hoaxes or any tools designed to compromise the security of other websites
and/or systems.
However, you may pass samples of malware in a safe manner
to appropriate agencies for the purpose of combating its spread.
4.2. For the
avoidance of doubt, the storage upon and/or distribution over our systems by
any User of “pirated” software, or any other materials that are not
expressly licensed to the User, will constitute a violation of this section 4
of the AUP.
4.3. We reserve
the right to inform and/or report the storage, distribution, transmission,
retransmission or publication of Prohibited Material (and/or any other
materials which may constitute unlawful conduct by Users) to relevant
authorities and/or regulators, in addition to any action we may take as outlined
in this AUP.
- System security
5.1. You are
prohibited from using the Services to compromise the security, adversely affect
or tamper with our system resources or accounts (including but not limited to
those of other Users) on our systems, or at any other site accessible via our
systems, without the explicit consent of the owner of such account and/or site.
Malicious use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security is
prohibited.
5.2. The security
of the services used by you from your home is your responsibility. It is also
your responsibility to ensure that you keep your passwords secure. We are not
responsible for any negative consequences (e.g. lost or corrupted files)
incurred by your failure to employ adequate security measures.
5.3. Users are
responsible for the security of their own devices that are directly or
indirectly connected to our network. This includes, but is not limited to: PCs,
wired and wireless home networking devices and games consoles.
5.4. If we
identify that machines on the end of your connection are causing significant
impact to our service or are part of a “botnet” (machines hijacked by others to
distribute malicious software or other forms of abuse), we reserve the right to
disconnect your connection without notice.
- Prohibited uses of UPFIBRE’s
systems, services and equipment
6.1. Users must
not take any action that may restrict or inhibit any person, partnership,
company, firm or organization (whether a customer of UPFIBRE or otherwise) in
its lawful use or enjoyment of any of our systems, services or products.
Examples of this may include: Prohibited Actions: General Conduct:
6.1.1. The sale or resale of our services
and products;
6.1.2. Any form of
on-line advertising or marketing practices – deceptive, misleading or
otherwise;
6.1.3. Furnishing
false data on our sign-up forms, contracts or on-line applications, including
fraudulent use of credit card numbers (and such conduct is grounds for
immediate termination and may subject the offender to civil or criminal
liability); and
6.1.4. Trade or
business use of the Services of any kind unless used during the course of
working away from the usual place of work (“home working”) or as part of the
operations of a micro-business. The Services are for residential and
micro-business use only. (Micro-businesses are defined as having no more than 5
employees)
Prohibited Actions: System and Network Security:
6.1.5. Attempting to
circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account
(“cracking”). This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data
not intended for the User, logging into a server or account the User is not
expressly authorised to access, or probing the security of other networks without
the express authorisation of the owner of such third party network(s);
6.1.6. Effecting
security breaches or disruptions of Internet communications. Security breaches
include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the customer is not an
intended recipient or logging onto a server or account that the customer is not
expressly authorised to access. For the purposes of this section
“disruption”
includes, but is not limited to, port scans, ping floods, packet spoofing,
forged routing information, deliberate attempts to overload a service, any
otherwise unspecified form of Denial of Service (DoS) attack, or attempts to
“crash” a host;
6.1.7. Using any
program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere
with or adversely affect a user’s enjoyment of our network by any means,
locally or by the Internet – including violating the privacy of other Users;
and
6.1.8. Executing any
form of network monitoring which causes the interception for malicious purposes
of any data that does not belong to the User.
- Internet protocol services
7.1. Users may
only provide Internet Protocol Services (“IPS”) within the limits set
out in this Section 7. Users are deemed wholly responsible for any and all
network traffic emanating from relevant servers and are required to ensure that
such IPS are secured against abuse by third parties. This includes (but is not
limited to) ensuring that servers are running up to date security patches and
are configured so as to not act as relay servers at any time. “Relay
servers” mean servers that can be utilised by another Internet user to
relay spam, or any other type of abusive network traffic.
7.2. Failure by
Users to secure servers against such abuse may result in immediate suspension
or termination of service by us (acting at our sole discretion), with no prior
notice, in order to protect the overall network and services provided to other
customers.
7.3. In addition
to the above, Users’ provision of IPS may not adversely affect any other users
of our network (including telephony and internet services). Further, Users may
not include within and/or distribute via an IPS any content without the express
consent of the owner of all relevant rights in such content (including but not
limited to intellectual property rights). We reserve the right to monitor
network traffic and to take appropriate action as required, including the right
to restrict any IPS. An example of such adverse usage could be the consumption
of a high proportion of the available upload bandwidth over a significant
period of time. We will not offer any technical support for the provision of
IPS.
- Email use
8.1. Email usage
must be fully compliant with Sections 3 and 4 of this AUP (Use of Services and
Use of Material).
8.2. We will
investigate complaints regarding email and may take action at our discretion,
which shall be based on but not limited to the following:
8.2.1. you may not use your email to send
unsolicited messages to groups of people;
8.2.2. if so
requested by us or a recipient, you must desist from posting messages to said
recipient;
8.2.3. malicious
mail, unsolicited e-mail and unsolicited bulk e-mail is prohibited from being
sent from or via a UPFIBRE connection. Users must take all appropriate
precautions to prevent such use of their machines by third parties. We will not
forward mail of accounts terminated for bulk mailing or unsolicited
advertising;
8.2.4. chain letters
are unsolicited by definition and may not be propagated using the Services;
8.2.5. you may not
send, distribute, or reply to mailbombs (whether malicious or otherwise).
“Mailbombing” is understood as causing individuals to receive large
amounts of unrequested email by any means;
8.2.6. Users may not
construct, alter and/or forge the headers of email messages to conceal the
sender’s email address, or to prevent other Internet users from responding to
messages;
8.2.7. violations of
this AUP may result in a large amount of email traffic. If our customers
receive so much email that our resources are affected, we reserve the right to
take such action(s) as may be necessary (to be determined at our sole
discretion) to protect both the Services and our Users, including, but not
limited to, deployment of appropriate network security software; and
8.2.8. harassment,
whether through language, frequency or size of messages sent, is prohibited.
- Complaints and enforcement
- Complaints
9.1.1. Complaints regarding the conduct of a User on our network should be sent to dan@upfibre.uk and via all other standard abuse reporting mechanisms. We must be able to verify each instance of abuse, and so each complaint must include the full headers and/or complete body of the offending message (where appropriate) or other forms of quantitative, supportive evidence. Submitting all relevant evidence in the original abuse report will significantly speed up the resolution of the issue by our Internet Security Team.
9.1.2. Please do NOT
send excerpted parts of a message; sending a copy of the entire message,
including headers, helps to prevent misunderstandings based on incomplete
information, or information used out of context. Full headers demonstrate which
path the message has taken, and enable us to determine whether any part of the
message has been forged. This information is vital to our investigation.
9.2. Enforcement
9.2.1. We may, in our sole discretion,
suspend, restrict or terminate a User’s service for violation of any of part of
this AUP at any time and without warning.
9.2.2. Prior to
terminating services as a general rule, we will attempt to work with Users to
avoid future violations of the AUP and to ensure that there is no reoccurrence
of the incident (but it shall not be obliged to do so).
- UPFIBRE is not responsible for
content
10.1. We are not
responsible for the content of materials and information published by others (including Users) that are accessible via the Services, and we
do not accept liability or responsibility for any such publication.
10.2. At our sole
discretion (and without prejudice to any of our other rights pursuant to this AUP and our Terms and Conditions), we reserve the right to
remove any materials from any server under our control.