Acceptable Use Policy

Introduction

IRIS NETWORKS, its affiliates and subsidiaries (“IRIS”, “we,” or “us”), appreciate the opportunity to provide its customers with the best commercial internet service available.  To help accomplish this, IRIS has adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy” or “AUP”). This Policy outlines the acceptable use of IRIS Wholesale and Internet Products, including IRIS provided:

  • Wi-Fi Internet Service. 
  • Ethernet Services. 
  • Other Internet-based Communications Services. 
  • Any other IRIS service that links to or references this Policy. 

This Policy, together with the Terms and Conditions of other Customer agreements covering internet service, provides guidelines for Customers’ conduct on the Internet as IRIS wholesale or business customers.

The Customer agrees to comply with this Policy and remains responsible for all activity originating from their account. We reserve the right to modify this Policy from time to time, effective when posted to www.irisnetworksusa.com. Customer use of the internet services after changes to the Policy are posted shall constitute acceptance of any changes or additional terms.

Scope

This Policy applies to IRIS Network’s data services that provide (or include) access to the Internet, including but not limited to dialup, Broadband DSL, dedicated data center services, managed security, and cloud firewall services, or that are provided over the Internet or wireless data networks (each and collectively, the “Service” or “Internet services”).

For ease of reference, this Policy addresses the following topics:

  • Section 1: Prohibited Activities
  • Section 2: Consequences for Activities in Violation of this Policy
  • Section 3: Privacy
  • Section 4: Account Usage
  • Section 5: Copyright Complaints

The failure of IRIS or its suppliers to enforce this Policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. Your business agrees that if any portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable (local, state, federal) law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.

Section 1: Prohibited Activities

General Prohibitions: It shall be a violation of this Policy to use IRIS Internet service in any way that is unlawful, harmful to or interferes with the use of IRIS’s infrastructure or systems, or the network of any other provider, violates the policies of any network accessed through IRIS Internet service, interferes with the use and enjoyment of services received by others, infringes intellectual property rights, results in the publication of threatening material, or constitutes Spam/E-mail/Usenet abuse, a security risk or a violation of privacy. 

Prohibited Activities include the undertaking or accomplishing of any unlawful task.  This includes, but is not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data, or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening, 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 includes any violations of local, state, federal, or international law, order, or regulation; including without limitation the U.S. export control laws and regulations.

Additionally, download or use of Internet service in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria or in destinations that are otherwise controlled or embargoed under U.S. law, as modified from time to time by the Departments of Treasury and Commerce is prohibited. If Customer has any questions regarding this 

Policy or wishes to report a suspected violation of this Policy, Customer may contact IRIS at the following e-mail address at Accounts@irisnetworksusa.com.

1.2 Intellectual Property Rights: IRIS Network’s Internet services shall not be used to host, publish, submit/receive, upload/download, post, use, copy or otherwise reproduce, transmit, re-transmit, distribute, store any content/material or to engage in any activity that infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates the intellectual property rights or privacy or publicity rights of IRIS or any individual, group or entity, including but not limited to rights protected by any intellectual property right.

1.3 Child Pornography: IRIS Network’s Internet services shall not be used to host, publish, submit/receive, upload/download, post, use, copy or otherwise reproduce, transmit, re-transmit, distribute, or store child pornography, including child exploitation. Suspected violations of this prohibition may be reported to IRIS at the following e-mail address: noc@irisnetworksusa.com. If IRIS receives a complaint of child pornography regarding Customer’s use of IRIS Network’s Internet services and child pornography is apparent in the complaint, we will terminate Customer Internet service immediately. Further, we will report the complaint, any images received with the complaint, subscriber information, including Customer screen name or user identification, Customer location, Customer IP address, and the date, time, and time zone that the images were transmitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to any applicable law enforcement agency.

1.4 E-mail and Related Services: Spam/E-mail or Usenet abuse is prohibited using IRIS Network’s Internet services. Examples of Spam/E-mail or Usenet abuse include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Sending a harassing e-mail, whether through content, frequency, or size.
  • Sending multiple unwanted e-mail messages to the same addressor sending any e-mail that provokes a complaint to IRIS from the recipient.
  • Continuing to send e-mail to a specific address after the recipient or IRIS has requested the Customer to stop.
  • Falsifying e-mail or IP address, or any other identification information, including impersonating any person or entity, engaging in sender address falsification, or forging anyone else’s address.
  • Falsify references to IRIS, its affiliates, or its network, by name or other identifier, in messages.
  • Copy or fake any digital or manual signature or perform any other similar fraudulent activity (for example, “phishing”).
  • Using e-mail to originate chain e-mails or originate or forward pyramid-type schemes.
  • Using a mail server to relay or intercept e-mail without the express permission of the owner
  • Placing Customer website address, which Customer has hosted through IRIS, on unsolicited commercial messages.
  • Interfering with IRIS’s use and control of its domain name server (“DNS”) used in connection with the Service.
  • Sending e-mails, files or other transmissions that exceed contracted capacity or that create the potential for disruption of IRIS Network’s network or of the networks with which IRIS interconnects by virtue of quantity, size or otherwise.
  • Sending unsolicited mass or commercial e-mail (“spamming”) for any purpose whatsoever. Mass or commercial e-mail may be sent only to recipients who have expressly requested receipt of such e-mails by sending an e-mail request to the person performing the mass or commercial mailings. If Customer sends mass or commercial e-mail, Customer must maintain complete and accurate records of all e-mail subscription requests, specifically including the e-mail and associated headers sent by Customer. Subscriptions that do not have a specific recipient-generated e-mail request associated with them are invalid and are strictly prohibited. A violation of the CAN-SPAM Act will be considered a violation of this Policy.
  • Newsgroup spamming or cross-posting the same (or a substantially similar) article to multiple Newsgroups; many Newsgroups prohibit posting commercial advertisements or solicitations. Usenet policy prevents off-topic posting of articles. We reserve the right to restrict access to any Newsgroups.
  • Using an Internet Relay Chat (“IRC”) bot or violating any IRC server policy, including using IRC-based telephony and video conferencing. It is the Customer’s responsibility to determine the acceptable use policies for any IRC server to which the Customer connects. We reserve the right to restrict access to IRC services.

1.5 Hacking and Attacks: Hacking or attacking is prohibited using IRIS Network’s Internet services. Hacking is any unauthorized attempt to monitor access or modify computer system information or interference with normal system operations, whether this involves IRIS equipment or any computer system or network that is accessed through our service; including interference with IRIS’s use and control of its domain name server (“DNS”) used in connection with the Service. Use or distribute tools or devices designed or used for compromising security or whose use is otherwise unauthorized, such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gathers, keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs. Unauthorized port scanning is strictly prohibited. Attacking is any interference with Internet service to any user, host or network, including mail bombing, ping flooding, broadcast attempts or any attempt to overload a system to interrupt service. Examples of hacking and attacks include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Satan or port scans, full, half, FIN, or stealth (packet sniffing).
  • SubSeven port probes.
  • BO scans or attacks.
  • Mail host relaying, mail proxying, or hi-jacking.
  • Telnet, FTP, Rcomands, etc. to internal systems.
  • Attempts to access privileged or private TCP or UDP ports.
  • Multiple and frequent finger attempts.
  • User ID/Password cracking or guessing schemes.
  • Virus, worms, and Trojan horse attacks.
  • DDOS attacks including Smurf, teardrop, and land attacks.
  • Participation in botnets, including but not limited to spam e-mail messages, viruses, computer/server attacks, or committing other kinds of crime and fraud.

1.6 Network Management: To preserve the integrity of our network, we implement reasonable network management practices to ensure that all Customers have a satisfying Internet experience. IRIS Network’s Internet services shall not be used in an excessive or unreasonable manner concerning frequency, duration or bandwidth consumption when compared to the predominant usage patterns of other Customers on a similar service plan or in Customer’s geographic area. 

As technology and Customer usage change, IRIS reserves the right to adjust its determination of excessive or unreasonable use. IRIS reserves the right to terminate service that it determines is excessive or unreasonable or to implement charges for excessive or unreasonable usage in its sole discretion. In the event IRIS determines, in its sole discretion, a Customer’s usage is excessive or unreasonable, IRIS will make reasonable efforts to provide Customer with notice prior to taking any action regarding Customer’s service.

Section 2: Consequences for Activities in Violation of this Policy

2.1 Suspension and Termination: IRIS has the right, in its sole discretion and with reasonable notice, to suspend or terminate Customer’s account when Customer engages in any conduct that violates IRIS’s Terms and Conditions (which includes this Policy, written agreements, attachments, or service orders with IRIS, if applicable, or any other IRIS policy applicable to the Service). 

IRIS will provide a reasonable period of 10 (ten) days to cure any conduct violation. However, if such conduct immediately harms IRIS or its Customers, IRIS reserves the right to take corrective action without notice.  Additionally, we reserve the right to cancel e-mail messages and/or restrict the size of e-mail distribution lists if necessary to avoid an unreasonable burden on the network.

IRIS may retain, store, and provide to law enforcement any traffic information requested pursuant to the procedures of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (“CALEA”), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) or other applicable national security or criminal statutes.

2.2 Charges: Customer agrees to be responsible and pay for any activities that result in damages and/or administrative costs to IRIS or our Customers. These damages include but are not limited to the following: system shutdowns, retaliatory attacks or data flooding, and loss of peering arrangements. Damages may be as follows:

  • Legal fees, subject to a minimum fee of $1,000.
  • Activation fee or further deposits to reconnect suspended services.
  • Unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam clean-up): Customer will be charged $300 + $5 per message sent + $100 per complaint received by IRIS.
  • Mitigation for DDOS attacks on a Customer will involve a minimum $300 charge and $200 per hour of engineering time. Automated mitigation will not be charged.

IRIS reserves the right to modify its rates at any time and will provide notice through this Policy.

Section 3: Privacy

Any information transmitted through the Internet, including information about the Customer, can be intercepted by unwanted third parties. There is no guarantee that Customer or IRIS can prevent this. We provide certain security measures to reduce the risk that Customer information is intercepted by others.

In an effort to protect Customer privacy, we:

  • Use security techniques designated to prevent unauthorized access of Customer information.
  • Honor Customer requests to remove names from e-mail solicitation lists.
  • Do not collect personally identifiable Customer information about the Customer unless provided by the Customer.
  • Do not sell the names and addresses of our customers or visitors to our sites to others without providing information of that disclosure when the personally identifiable information is collected.
  • Do not provide Customer information to other companies with which we do business without an understanding that they will respect Customer privacy.

Section 4: Account Usage

4.1 Usage: Customer’s IRIS Internet account may only be used according to Customer’s service plan. If the Customer account is not a dedicated service, defined as a dedicated ethernet or physical connection directly to an IRIS Network’s router, then the Service may not be used for reselling or to provide dedicated services such as e-mail, gaming, or streaming audio or video servers. Dedicated accounts may include, but are not limited to:

  • Static DSL, 
  • Ethernet Internet, and 
  • Dedicated Internet services. 

IRIS has several dedicated service solutions for the Customer to consider if the Customer desires continuous access to the Internet. IRIS may end an Internet session following periods of inactivity to minimize the burden on the network. The use of automated intervention, such as software or hardware devices, to maintain a connection to the Service is strictly prohibited.

Business Customers are prohibited from reselling Internet services or otherwise making available to anyone outside the Customer’s premises the ability to use the Internet services (for example, through Wi-Fi or other networking methods), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly. If the Customer uses a wireless router, IRIS requires that any wireless network be secure and encrypted. Any use of Internet services made available outside Customer’s Premises or across property lines is strictly prohibited. Customers using Internet service for operation as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), without IRIS Network’s expressed written consent is prohibited.

4.2 Passwords: Customer is solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Customer’s account I.D. and passwords. Customers should not provide their login and password for use by others outside of their immediate business or household. Customer must notify us immediately if Customer account I.D. and/or password have been lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised. Simultaneous use of our service by multiple users with a single login and password is not allowed. Reselling or sharing, in whole or in part, access to Customer’s Internet account or Internet connectivity without IRIS Network’s expressed written consent is prohibited.

4.3 Internet Software: IRIS is not a software licensor, and the license agreement for the Customer’s Internet software is not a part of the Customer’s service agreement with IRIS. This means the Customer’s software license agreement may either remain in effect or terminate independently from Customer’s Internet service.

IRIS is not responsible for technical support or the integrity of any files or software that Customer may obtain from any other source. It is Customer’s responsibility to determine whether any software that Customer intends to use, including any program that Customer intends to download from the Internet, is compatible with Customer’s computer infrastructure and can be installed correctly and safely. IRIS strongly recommends that Customer review the documentation accompanying any software before Customer attempts to install it.

Section 5: Copyright Complaints

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for owners of copyrighted material who believe their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed on the Internet or other telecommunications networks.

As a provider of transitory digital communications, IRIS Network’s activities are typically protected by a safe harbor provision of the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. 512 (a)). IRIS is therefore not obligated to respond to a copyright owner (or the owner’s agent), nor does IRIS have a duty to remove or disable access to material transmitted, routed, or connected to the IRIS network(s) that is initiated and/or directed by an individual user.

If a Party believes that IRIS has infringed their copyrighted work in a way that does not fall within the applicable DMCA safe harbor provision, please notify our Designated Copyright Agent at the address below. The notice must include the following information as required by the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. 512 (c)(3)). In addition, the notice should include the basis for the Party’s belief that IRIS is not merely providing transitory digital communications under 17 U.S.C. 512 (a) of the DMCA:

  • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if a single notification covers multiple copyrighted works at a single online site, a representative list of such works at that site.
  • Identification of the material that is claims to be infringed or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the Service provided to locate the material.
  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit the Service provider to contact the complaining Party, such as address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining Party may be contacted.
  • A statement that the complaining Party has a good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining Party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

The Designated Copyright Agent for IRIS may be reached as follows:

IRIS NETWORKS
211 Commerce Street, Suite 610
Nashville, TN. 37201
Attention: Designated Copyright Agent

By e-mail:  accounting@irisnetworksusa.com 

If a Customer believes a copyright infringement notice has been wrongly filed against them because of a mistake or a misidentification of the material, the Customer may file a counter notification with our Designated Copyright Agent at the address noted above. The counter notification must provide the following information:

  • Physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
  • Identification of the material removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before removal or access to it was disabled.
  • A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
  • The subscriber’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located.  If the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the provider may be found, the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification or an agent of such person.

Last Updated October 9, 2023