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Broadband Acceptable Use Policy

General Policy

All information transiting the Highland Telephone Cooperative (HTC) Broadband Services network is unrestricted unless it is listed as unacceptable under this policy.

It is the policy of HTC to provide its subscribers electronic access to the broadest possible number of organizations connected to the Internet. This is accomplished through connectivity to one or more state, multi-state, regional or national backbone networks. All information that exits the HTC network and traverses the numerous other networks, to which HTC is directly or indirectly connected, must conform to the acceptable use policies governing those networks.

Privacy Policy

It is the responsibility of all individual subscribers or subscriber organizations to: respect the privacy of other subscribers and not to seek information pertaining to other subscribers without their explicit permission. This includes but is not limited to personal data, passwords, access to confidential files, or modification of files belonging to other subscribers. use the network service in a manner that is consistent with ethical practice and accepted community standards.

Copyright Policy

It is the responsibility of all individual subscribers or subscriber organizations to respect the legal protection provided by copyright and license to programs, data, and other information that may be accessible over the HTC Broadband network.

Unacceptable Use Policy

It is not acceptable to use the HTC Broadband network services or facilities for any purpose:

  • Which would violate any applicable laws or regulations
  • Where the meaning of the message or the content of a file would likely be highly offensive to the recipient or recipients
  • Which make unauthorized entry into other computational, information storage, or communications devices or resources
  • Which propagate computer worms, viruses or transmissions of any type which cause disruption to disable or otherwise impede the recipient’s facilities or equipment
  • To make distribution of unsolicited advertising/bulk email/spam
    which causes disruption of our service or any other entities service due to facilities overload (flaming, bulk e-mail/spam, web server disruption, etc.)
  • It is not permissible to operate a server of any kind (web, email, ftp, gaming, news, streaming media, etc.) over any type of connection without prior arrangement and written permission from HTC.

Unlimited Use Policy

It is not the intent nor should it be expected that “unlimited” service will entitle the subscriber to a continuous, 24 hour per day connection to the Internet.

Extended Service Outage Reimbursement Policy

While HTC strives to provide reliable Internet access, we also recognize that equipment can fail. In the event that we cannot provide access to the Internet because of a failure within our equipment, we will provide prorated reimbursement to our “unlimited access” subscribers in the form of a credit. The following conditions apply:

  • An outage must be the result of a failure within our equipment as opposed to the Internet in general. “Our equipment” is defined to mean that communications equipment used to provide access to the Internet which we own and have direct control over. The subscriber’s equipment and other equipment and facilities that we may utilize but do not own are excluded.
  • An outage must extend for a period of time greater than 48 hours.
  • An outage does not include unavailability of service due to 100% utilization of our facilities by other subscribers.
  • The amount of reimbursement will be prorated and determined by HTC. It will be based on the number of days access was unavailable and the total number of days in the month in which the outage occurred. For example, a 3 day outage that occurred during a month that was 30 days long would result in a 10% credit of the monthly subscription fee.
  • The amount of reimbursement is not to exceed the subscription fee for 1 month of service.
  • Any other real or perceived loss incurred by the subscriber as the result of an outage is the responsibility of the subscriber.

Responsibility

All subscribers of the HTC Broadband Service, whether organization or individuals, are responsible for publicizing this Acceptable Use Policy at their locations. The ultimate responsibility for assuring the acceptability of use according to this policy is with the individual end-user whose signature appears on the Contract for Agreement for Broadband Access.

Enforcement

The HTC Board of Directors or its designee will review alleged violations of this policy on a case-by-case basis. A violation may result in denying the user access to the network, termination of access to all services, and forfeiture of all fees paid. Evidence of illegal activities will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

Policy Modifications

HTC reserves the right to modify this policy at any time. Subscribers are encouraged to visit our Home Page for updated information.