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Web Server Service Terms 1.Web Server Service Terms and Conditions Agreement and Operating Policy. WHC Web Server services are provided by Website Hosting Canada ("WHC" or "we") to you ("Subscriber" or "you"), subject to the terms of this Agreement and WHC operating policy, which is incorporated herein and referred to as the "Operating Policy" or "GPO" and shall be collectively referred to as "TAC." The TAC comprises the entire agreement between WHC and you, and supersedes any prior agreements between you and WHC with respect to the subject matter of the TAC. WHC may revise the TAC at any time, and such revision shall be effective ten (10) days after notice of the proposed revision is posted on the WHC customer control panel newsletter under support or is sent to customer via e-mail to the address we have on file in our customer database. You agree to review the TAC periodically to be aware of such revisions. If any such revision is unacceptable to you, you may terminate your contract for service with WHC as provided in Section 9 below. Your continued use of WHC following the Effective Date of any such revision to the TAC shall be conclusively deemed as your acceptance of all such revisions. 2. Account Info. YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. You are entirely liable for all activities conducted on or through your Web Site. You agree to provide WHC with accurate, complete, and updated registration information, and to notify us promptly of any changes in such information. These changes in your account information, including current e-mail address, can be made on-line at through your control panel. It is your responsibility to keep your information current with us. All invoices and important notices are sent via e-mail and not receiving these documents due to an invalid e-mail address will not be deemed a valid excuse for any reason. Failure to provide WHC with accurate, complete, or updated information shall constitute a breach of this Agreement and unauthorized access to any of the WHC servers, and may result in immediate termination of your account and subject you to civil and/or criminal liability. You may not select or use a domain name of another person (unless it is also your name), a name in violation of the intellectual property rights of a third party, or a domain name that WHC deems offensive or otherwise inappropriate. Additionally, you may not use your domain name in violation of the TAC or in ways deemed inappropriate by WHC (e.g. employing misleading advertising or unfair or deceptive acts or practices) 3. Charges. Current rates and charges for WHC services may be obtained from the WHC Web Site or any Account Representative. WHC reserves the right to change its fees and billing methods at any time effective thirty (30) days after an online posting on the WHC Web Site and an electronic mail notice to you. If any such change is unacceptable to you, you may terminate your Subscription as provided in Section 9 below. Your continued use of WHC services following the effective date shall be deemed acceptance of such change. Your monthly Subscription fee is payable in advance and is not refundable in whole or part. You are responsible for all charges associated with connecting to WHC server. You agree that any telephone charges or local dial up charges incurred are your responsibility. 4. Rights and Responsibilities. (a) Content. WHC does not prescreen Content of subscribers’ Web Sites as a matter of policy, but WHC shall have the right, but not the obligation, to remove Content which is deemed in its discretion harmful, offensive, or otherwise in violation of the TAC. (b) Rights. You acknowledge that (i) WHC permits access to Content that is protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary (including intellectual property) rights ("Rights"), and (ii) that these Rights are valid and protected in all media existing now or later developed and (iii) except as is explicitly provided otherwise, your use of Content shall be governed by applicable copyright and other intellectual property laws. (See GPO for details.) You agree that you may upload to the WHC servers only Content that is not subject to any Rights, or Content in which any holder of Rights has given express authorization for distribution, display or storage on WHC. You represent that you have the right to upload any files that you upload. (c) Conduct and Communication. WHC may elect at its sole discretion to monitor some, all or none of the activities of Subscribers for adherence to the TAC. You agree to use WHC only for lawful purposes. Any conduct by a Subscriber that in WHC's sole discretion restricts or inhibits any other Subscriber, person or entity from using or enjoying WHC or another service will not be permitted and shall entitle WHC to immediately terminate Subscribership without notice. (See the GPO for examples of prohibited conduct). For WHC policy on Subscriber privacy, refer to Section 7 of the GPO. WHC reserves the right to protect its Subscribers and the WHC service from offensive e-mail communication including but not limited to the right to block mass e-mail solicitations (i.e. junkmail.)
5. International C&S/Internet. (a) International Areas. You acknowledge that your use of WHC allows access to Content originating from subscribers, ICPs and other third parties located in countries other than the United States or Canada ("International C&S"). Your access to and use of the International C&S will be governed (in addition to this Agreement) by separate terms and operating policies which conform to appropriate national laws and customs. (b) WHC retains the right but not the obligation, in its sole discretion and without prior notice or liability, to limit the distribution within the WHC Service of emailers' unauthorized mass e-mail solicitations. 6. WHC Software/Screen Name Licenses. WHC grants you a non-exclusive, limited license to use the software through which you access WHC ("WHC Software") only for use in connecting to your WHC server from authorized locations in accordance with this Agreement. 7. NO WARRANTY. Subscriber EXPRESSLY AGREES THAT USE OF WHC, WHC SOFTWARE, WHC E-MAIL SERVICES AND IS AT Subscriber's SOLE RISK. WHC, WHC E-MAIL SERVICES AND WHC SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, UNLESS SUCH WARRANTIES ARE LEGALLY INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION. WHC's ENTIRE LIABILITY AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY WITH RESPECT TO USE OF WHC . WHC's LIABILITY TO YOU FOR BREACH OF THIS AGREEMENT IS LIMITED SOLELY TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO ACCESS AND USE WHC. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR PROVINCES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH STATES OR PROVINCES, WHC's LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. 8. Indemnification. Upon request of WHC, Subscriber agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless WHC, its affiliated companies, licensees, telecommunications providers, and ICPs from all liabilities, claims and expenses, including attorney's fees, arising from breach of the TAC by use of, or in connection with, the transmission by or through Subscriber's Master Account or Sub-Accounts of any Content on WHC. WHC reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by Subscriber here under, and in such event, Subscriber shall have no further obligation to provide indemnification for such matter. 9. Termination.
Either Subscriber or WHC may terminate Subscribership at any time.
Subscribers MUST use the on-line form located at http://www.webecommercehosting.com/cancellation.htm.
This form generates a request confirmation number with the day and
time of the request. A Subscriber cannot simply send the request
via e-mail. Subscriber's only right and sole remedy with respect
to any dissatisfaction with any: 10. Law. To the extent of any conflict between this agreement and the GPO, this agreement shall take precedence. Should any part of the TAC be held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible to reflect the original intentions of the parties and the remaining portions remain in full force and effect. The TAC and your Subscribership shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta, excluding its conflicts of law rules. Subscriber expressly agrees that exclusive jurisdiction for any claim or dispute resides in the courts of the Province of Alberta. Subscriber further agrees and expressly consents to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the Province of Alberta in connection with any dispute or claim involving WHC. 11. Support. We at WHC pride ourselves on having one of the most comprehensive online support department on the net. We have many areas devoted to Subscriber education on using the WHC Server and information on the Net in general. Our technical support staff is available over 24 hours a day everyday. WHC support consists of questions/problems pertaining to the WHC virtual servers, Web Site Manager software, and policies and other WHC related questions/problems. In addition, we fully support all scripts uploaded and installed by WHC. Once modifications are made to these scripts by Subscribers (this does not include variable changes), we can no longer guarantee accurate support. Although we cannot guarantee it, we try to help customers with general questions regarding HTML, CGI programming and other general areas of the Internet. We do not provide technical support for any third party software (i.e. scripts downloaded from the Internet) including Perl scripts, Java scripts, or Microsoft Frontpage. For help in this area, contact the creator or distributor of the software. Our System Administrators can assist dedicated server customers with software installation/updates by answering questions. Once these type of software modifications are made to the system by the customer, we can no longer guarantee accurate support for the software. 12. Installing
third party software. Our servers are very flexible and powerful
machines. We allow Subscribers to install third party software (database
programs, cgi scripts, etc.) providing the following conditions
are met: 13. Allowed disk space. Each option we offer has a specified amount of allowed disk space. We do NOT put hard limits on Subscribers servers (i.e. if a Subscriber reaches his/her limit, the server would not allow anymore files to be created). Hard limits can cause some programs to malfunction and possibly damage the Subscribers data. Instead, we monitor the server space daily and notify via e-mail any Subscriber who is over his/her allowed limit. We adjust the monthly service charge accordingly based on the additional space used. If the extra space used is not intentional (large e-mail, runaway script, etc.), the Subscriber must delete the additional files and notify us of the error within 24 hours of the e-mail notification to avoid the additional space charges. 14. Data transfer rates. Data transfer is the amount of data that is exchanged between the server and the requesting terminal. We allow each web site up to 1(one) gigabyte of data per day (1024 megabytes). This data includes Web server traffic, FTP traffic, SMTP/POP traffic and any other traffic generating program. The WHC stats only report on Web generated traffic. Sites with over 1 gig per day must either move to a dedicated server or switch to another provider who allows more data transfer. WHC reserves the right to disable a virtual server if the data transfer is in excess of their limit. A web site cannot be split among multiple virtual servers to allow for more data transfer.
1. General A. These Operating Policy ("Operating Policy" or "GPO") set forth how Website Hosting Canada. (WHC) will operate the WHC brand interactive service and how authorized subscribers may use WHC. These GPO also explain many practical aspects of using WHC. Please read this document carefully and refer to it as often as necessary. You should also read and refer to the Web Server Service Terms and Conditions Agreement (the "TAC"). This document, and the TAC (which were available when you first sign on to the WSM), are all of the applicable WHC rules ("WHC Rules"), and comprise the entire agreement between you and WHC with respect to WHC. You can view the TAC or this GPO on WHC at any time. Unless the context requires otherwise, terms used in the GPO have the meanings given in the TAC. B. We believe that our WHC Rules will enhance WHC efforts to make WHC informative, entertaining and enjoyable for everyone.. We have tried to explain clearly our WHC Rules, but if any aspect of the WHC Rules are unclear, we welcome your comments. We hope that our WHC Rules will foster an online community where there is both free exchange of ideas and information, and respect for individual and community rights. 2. Using WHC A. Your WHC Account. (i) YOU MUST BE AT LEAST EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE TO REGISTER FOR WHC AND OBTAIN A Subscriber's MASTER ACCOUNT; HOWEVER, A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MAY AUTHORIZE A MINOR TO USE HIS/HER MASTER ACCOUNT(S) UNDER ADULT SUPERVISION. In cases where you have authorized another individual, including a minor, to use your account, you recognize that you are fully responsible for the online conduct of such user, and for controlling the user's access to and use of WHC, and for the consequences of any misuse, and that the holder of the Subscriber's Master Account(s) is entirely responsible for activities conducted through those accounts (see Section 2 of the TAC). (ii) You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and are liable for any harm resulting from disclosing or allowing disclosure of any password or from use by any person of your password to gain access to the Subscriber's Master Account(s) or any Sub-Accounts. Therefore, for security purposes, we recommend that you change your password often. (You can do this by entering the "Change Your Information" section in the Customers Only area.) At no time should a Subscriber ever respond to an online request for a password. Employees or representatives of WHC will never ask for a Subscriber's password online. YOU ARE FULLY LIABLE FOR ALL CHARGES UNDER YOUR MASTER ACCOUNT AND/OR SUB-ACCOUNTS, INCLUDING ANY UNAUTHORIZED CHARGES TO THOSE ACCOUNTS. (iii) Current rates for using WHC services may be obtained by e-mailing WHC Customer Service at internet@webecommerehosting.com. Such rates are expressed net of, and Subscriber shall pay in addition to them, all sales, use, value-added, personal property or other governmental tax or levy imposed on the goods or services billed to his/her Master Account(s), other than taxes based on net income or profits of WHC. If the payment method for your Subscribership is by credit card and payment is not received by WHC from the card issuer or its agents, you agree to pay all amounts due upon demand by WHC. Your card issuers agreement governs your use of your designated card in connection with WHC, and you must refer to such agreement and not this Agreement with respect to your rights and liabilities as a cardholder. You agree that WHC may, at its option, accumulate charges incurred during your billing cycle and submit them as one or more aggregate charges during or at the end of each cycle for EFT from your checking account or credit card as applicable, meaning that accumulated charges may appear on the statement you receive from your bank or card issuer. Further, you agree that WHC may delay obtaining authorization from your card issuer until submission of the accumulated charges. If WHC does not receive the full amount of your WHC account balance within thirty (30) days of the invoice date, an additional 1.5% (or the highest amount allowed by law, whichever is lower) per month late charge will be added to your bill and shall immediately become due and payable. Subscriber shall also be liable for all attorney and collection fees arising from WHC efforts to collect any unpaid balance of your Master Account(s). Unless you notify WHC of any discrepancies within 90 days after they first appear on your account statement, they will be deemed acceptable by you for all purposes, including resolution of inquiries made by your card issuer. You release WHC from all liabilities and claim of loss resulting from any GPO or discrepancy that is not reported to WHC within 90 days of its publication.
B. Online Conduct. (a) Any conduct by you that in WHC's discretion restricts or inhibits any other Subscriber from using or enjoying WHC will not be permitted and may result in termination of Subscribership. You agree to use WHC only for lawful purposes. You may not use WHC to: (1) harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort upon another Subscriber or user of WHC or other person or entity, (2) post or transmit sexually explicit images or other content which is deemed by WHC to be offensive, (3) transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable Content, (4) impersonate any person, including but not limited to, an WHC official or an ICP, forum leader, guide or host, or communicate under a false name or a name that you are not entitled or authorized to use, (5) post or transmit chain letters or pyramid schemes, (6) post or transmit any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, or other forms of solicitation to other Subscribers, individuals or entities, except in those areas (e.g., the classified areas) that are designated for such a purpose, (7) violate any operating rule, policy or guideline of any other interactive service, including but not limited to the operating policies of the International Areas, or (9) intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, provincial, national or international law, including but not limited to any regulations having the force of law. (i) Offensive Communication. WHC is a community-oriented service composed of many different communities of people. Our goal is to provide an interesting, stimulating and fun place for all Subscribers. Using vulgar, abusive or hateful language undermines this goal and is not allowed. Please use your best judgment and be respectful of other Subscribers. Remember, there may be children online. If you use vulgar, or abusive language online, even if masked by symbols or other characters, you may, in some cases be terminated immediately. A warning indicates that your language is not in compliance with the TAC or GPO. Should you receive such a warning, take the time to read the WHC Rules again, comprising the TAC and these GPO which you will find posted in the Subscriber Services area. (ii) Harassment. When a Subscriber targets another individual or entity to cause distress, embarrassment, unwanted attention, or other discomfort, this is harassment. WHC does not condone harassment in any form and may suspend or terminate the accounts of any Subscriber who harasses others. You may have a disagreement with someone's point of view - we encourage lively discussion in our chat rooms and message boards but personal attacks, or attacks based on a person's race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disablement or other such affiliation, are prohibited. If you have a disagreement with someone's point of view, address the subject, not the person. (Iii) Graphic Files. WHC specifically prohibits the transfer or posting on WHC of sexually explicit images or other content deemed offensive by WHC. (iv) Impersonation. This can involve the portrayal of another person or entity, such as the impersonation of WHC staff or an ICP, authorized Guide or Host, or communication under a false name or a name that you are not authorized to use. Subscribers must avoid the portrayal of WHC personnel or others persons in all forms of online communication, including, but not limited to, screen names, Subscriber profiles, chat dialogue and message postings. (v) Room Disruption. This includes purposefully interfering with the normal flow of dialogue in a chat room. Room disruption may occur by repeatedly interrupting conversation between Subscribers, or by acting in such a way as to antagonize, harass or create hostility in a chat room or bulletin board. (vi) Chain Letters and Pyramid Schemes. Transmission of chain letters and pyramid schemes of any kind is not allowed on WHC. This material places an unnecessary load on our electronic mail ("e-mail") system and is considered a nuisance by many Subscribers. Certain chain letters and pyramid schemes are illegal. Letters or messages that offer a product or service based on the structure of a chain letter are also of questionable legality. At minimum, they are a waste of resources and are not permitted on WHC. (vii) Advertising, Solicitation and Name Harvesting. We are proud to have a strict "anti-spamming" policy. It is a definite violation of WHC policy and is cause for immediate termination. You may not use WHC to send unsolicited advertising, promotional material, or other forms of solicitation to any other WHC Subscribers except in those specified areas that are designated for such a purpose (e.g., the classified area) unless you receive the express permission of the Subscriber. You may not use WHC to collect or "harvest" screen names of other Subscribers without the express prior permission of the Subscriber. WHC reserves the right to block or filter mass e-mail solicitations on or through WHC. In addition, you a) may not use your WHC POP account to send such solicitations b) may not use your domain name or IP address, any sites (names, URL's or IP addresses) belonging to WHC, or the WHC name in any postings or e-mail solicitations you choose to participate in anywhere on the Internet. The use of "ghost sites" (web pages setup on ISPs that allow spamming, that directly or indirectly reference customers to domains or IP addresses hosted by WHC) in mass e-mailings are also prohibited. WHC customers may not participate in advertising or promoting bulk e-mail software or services of any kind. Customer / Account Executive accounts associated with spamming in any way may, at WHC's discretion, be terminated as per termination clause above.
C. Content. You recognize that communication over WHC often occurs in real-time, or is posted on one of the WHC message boards or libraries, and WHC cannot, and does not intend to, screen communication in advance. Moreover, because WHC encourages open and candid communication, it cannot determine in advance the accuracy, or conformance to the WHC Rules, of Content transmitted on WHC WHC is not responsible for screening, policing, editing, or monitoring such Content. If notified of Content which is alleged not to conform to the WHC Rules, WHC may investigate the allegation and determine in good faith and in its sole discretion whether to remove or request the removal of such Content from WHC WHC shall have no liability or responsibility to you in respect of its performance or nonperformance by WHC of such activities, as long as it has acted in good faith. All Content is protected by copyright pursuant to U.S., international conventions, and other copyright laws as a collective work and/or compilation, and WHC owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such Content. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided below), create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display or in any way exploit, any of the Content, in whole or in part; provided that if no specific restrictions are applied directly or indirectly in relation to a particular item of Content, you may make a reasonable number of copies of such item, including copyright material, provided that the copies are made and used only for your personal use and that you ensure that any notices contained in the Content such as all copyright, trademark, and other proprietary rights notices are reproduced in an unmodified form in all such copies. You may upload to WHC software files and message boards or otherwise transmit on or through WHC only Content that is not subject to any copyright or other proprietary rights protection (collectively, "Public Domain Content"), or Content in respect of which the holder of any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights ("Rights") has given express authorization for distribution on WHC without any restriction whatsoever, and in respect of which any moral rights of any person or entity have been completely and irrevocably waived. Any copyright Content submitted with the consent of a copyright owner other than you should contain a phrase such as "Copyright owned by [name of the owner]; Used by Permission." The unauthorized submission of copyright or Content which is otherwise subject of any third party Rights constitutes a breach of the WHC Rules and may also render you liable to the holder of such Rights. Subscriber, you, not WHC or its affiliates or independent contractors (such as "ICPs"), are exclusively responsible for any liability resulting from infringement of Rights arising from such submission or transmission. By submitting Content to any "Public Area" (Public Area(s) are those areas of WHC that are generally accessible to other Subscribers, such as public chat rooms, message boards, and file uploads) you are deemed automatically to grant and/or warrant that the holder of any Rights or Moral Rights in such Content has completely and effectively waived all such "moral rights" and expressly, validly and irrevocably granted to you the right to grant WHC the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right (including any moral rights) and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display the Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or hereafter developed for the full term of any Rights that may exist in such Content. You also permit any Subscriber to access, view, store and reproduce the Content for personal use. Subject to the foregoing, the owner of Content placed on WHC retains any and all rights which may exist in such Content. The export control laws of Canada, the United States and other jurisdictions regulate the export and re-export of certain technology. This includes the electronic transmission of certain information and software to particular foreign countries and foreign nationals. You agree to abide by these laws including but not limited to the United States Export Administration Act, Arms Export Control Act and their implementing regulations and not to transfer, by electronic transmission or otherwise, any Content derived from WHC which is governed by or regulated under such laws to a national or a destination prohibited or restricted under such laws without first obtaining any required governmental authorization. You further agree not to upload to WHC any data or software that cannot be exported without prior written government authorization, including, but not limited to, certain types of encryption software. This assurance and commitment shall survive termination of the Agreement. In addition, because US export control laws currently prohibit nationals of Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Syria from gaining access to certain Content on WHC, nationals of these countries currently may not legally use WHC servers. Backups. Daily backups are made by WHC on backup hard drives that exist on the same machine as the data. This backup system is unique in that users have full access to recover their files through their site management tool or through FTP. The daily backup process starts from 2:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. EST everyday. ALL the data backed up is below the customers /opt2/[username] directory. ALL anonymous FTP and mail files are not backed up by WHC Each user is strongly encouraged to keep a current local copy of his/her site in the event of unrecoverable data. WHC is not responsible for files that cannot be recovered due to corrupt data, fires, or any other disaster.
D. Internet Access and Conduct. The Internet is not owned, or operated by, or in any way affiliated with, WHC or any of its affiliates; it is a separate, independent network of computers and is not part of WHC Your use of the Internet is solely at your own risk. When using the Internet and all of its components, Subscribers must conduct themselves responsibly according to the Internet's own particular code of conduct. Participating successfully on the Internet is really a matter of common sense. Although WHC does not control the Internet, your conduct on the Internet when using your WHC account is subject to the WHC Rules. Because WHC wants to be a good Internet citizen, it prohibits Subscribers from engaging in certain conduct on the Internet through or by means of WHC including the following: (i) Chain Letters. Chain letters are prohibited on WHC and are inappropriate on the Internet. Posting a chain letter to an Internet newsgroups (or via e-mail on the Internet) may result in your WHC account being terminated. (Ii) Other Inappropriate Posts. Each Bulletin Board on the Internet focuses on a particular set of topics and posts not related to these topics are not welcomed by the participants. We suggest that all Subscribers become familiar with the guidelines, themes, and culture of the specific newsgroups and mailing list in which they wish to participate. Posting or distributing patently inappropriate material on the Internet (i.e. spamming or mail bombing) will result in suspension or termination of your WHC Master Account and Sub-Accounts. (Iii) Copyright and Proprietary Materials. Transmitting to the Internet copyright or other material of any kind which is subject to the Rights of any person or entity without the express permission of the Rights holder is prohibited and will result in termination of your Subscribership and possible civil and/or criminal liability. (Iv) WHC reserves the right to suspend or terminate at its discretion Subscribers' WHC Master Accounts and Sub-Accounts or to require the removal of links or other content on or through Subscribers' homepages or personal Internet sites if providing such content or links causes undue strain on any WHC server either through excessive hits or by excessive bandwidth. You understand that except for Content, products or services expressly available at WHC Web site, neither WHC, nor any of its affiliates or telecommunications providers, controls, provides, operates or is responsible for any Content, goods or services available on the Internet. All such Content, goods and services are made accessible on the Internet by independent third parties and are not part of WHC or controlled by WHC WHC neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such Content, goods or services. WHC does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, usefulness, quality or availability of any Content, goods or services available on the Internet, which are the sole responsibility of such independent third parties, and your use thereof is solely at your own risk. Neither WHC nor its affiliates or telecommunications providers shall be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage caused or alleged to have been caused by your use of or reliance on any Content, goods or services available on the Internet or your inability to access the Internet or any site on the Internet. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall apply with equal force even where WHC features or displays a link with any particular Web site. You should be aware that the Internet contains Content, goods and services that you may find obscene, improper, hurtful or otherwise offensive and that may not be suitable for certain Subscribers or for minors who are accessing the Internet through a Sub-Account or Master Account of yours. WHC does not have the capability or right to monitor, or review, or restrict any Content, goods or services made available by third parties on the Internet, nor to edit or remove any such questionable Content after posting on the Internet. In addition, you should be aware that the Internet provides access to users who are not part of WHC and whose conduct and communication may also be found to be harmful or offensive to Subscribers or which would otherwise breach the WHC Rules if they were subject to it. Since such users are not Subscribers of WHC, WHC does not have the right or capability to restrict or review their conduct or communication. Accordingly, WHC and its affiliates specifically disclaim any responsibility for (and under no circumstances be liable for) any conduct, Content, goods and services available on or through the Internet (including without limitation any part of the Web). You should be aware that much of the Content available on the Internet is protected by copyright, trademarks, trade secrets and other Rights of the independent third parties or their licensers who make such Content available on the Internet. Subscribers' use of such Content will be subject to the specific restrictions placed on such Content by the owners or licensers of the Rights in such Content and all applicable laws and regulations. 3. Public Communication WHC offers Subscribers the capability to communicate in Public Areas generally accessible to other Subscribers or to communicate privately with another Subscriber. Public Areas are those features that are generally accessible to other Subscribers, such as, but not limited to, chat rooms, online forums, and message boards. WHC will maintain WHC Public Areas as an open forum for discussion of a wide range of issues and expression of diverse viewpoints. WHC will administer standards of online conduct according to the WHC Rules for the enjoyment of all its Subscribers. While WHC will endeavor to monitor the Public Areas to ensure that online standards are being maintained, WHC has neither the practical capability, nor does it intend, to act in the role of "Big Brother" by screening public communication in advance. WHC reserves the right to prohibit conduct, communication, or Content on WHC which it deems in its discretion to be harmful to any Subscriber, the communities which comprise WHC, WHC and third-parties' rights, or to violate applicable law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, neither WHC nor its ICPs have the practical ability to restrict conduct, communication or Content which might violate the WHC Rules prior to transmission on WHC, nor can they ensure prompt editing or removal of actually or potentially violating Content after online posting. Accordingly, you acknowledge that neither WHC nor any ICP shall assume or have any liability for any action or inaction by WHC or any ICP with respect to conduct, communication or Content on WHC 4. Customer Service Communication Please refer to Section 6D for WHC policy on monitoring or disclosing private communication. In order to ensure quality customer service, WHC may monitor Subscriber communication with WHC customer service employees, including WHC Sales and Service, Tech Support and Community Action personnel.
5. Privacy Policy A. General Because protecting your privacy is very important to WHC, we have adopted the following policies to safeguard your personal information and are committed to protecting its confidentiality. We will limit the collection and use of personal information or "Individual Information" (as defined below) to what is necessary to administer our business, provide you with the highest quality service, and offer you opportunities we think will be of interest. We will NOT disclose any Individual Information except in limited circumstances as specifically provided below. Individual Information means any information, data or records which relate to your WHC Subscribership or use of WHC and identifies you or your individual Subscriber account. There are three types of Individual Information: (1) "Subscriber Identity and Billing Information," such as your name, street address, telephone number and billing information, and any screen names associated with your account; (2) "Navigational and Transactional Information," such as information about where you go or what you buy through WHC; and (3) "Private Communications Content," such as the contents of e-mail, or private chat room or instant message communications. E. Collection and Storage. (i) Subscriber Identity and Billing Information. We maintain the following types of Subscriber Identity and Billing Information: your name, street address, telephone numbers, length of Subscribership, and payment information. We may also keep information on your communications with our Customer Service or Tech Support, and general account history, such as accumulated usage time, or written complaints relating to your account. (Ii) Navigational and Transactional Information. We may collect and store certain Navigational and Transactional Information, such as data on the choices you make among the range of available services or merchandise and the times and ways you use WHC (Iii) Private Communications Content. The WHC computer system does not record or retain any chat room communications, instant message communications, or records of with whom you communicate in chat rooms or instant messages. The WHC e-mail system retains the contents of private e-mail communications for a limited period only. Once read, e-mail is permanently deleted from the system. E-mail that is sent, but not read, is permanently deleted from the system after about thirty days. (Consequently, if you wish to keep copies of any communications, you should store such communications on your personal computer hard drive or in print form.) F. Use. WHC safeguards its Subscribers' Individual Information from unauthorized access and only authorized employees or agents who need to carry out legitimate business functions are permitted access to Subscribers' Individual Information. Employees who violate WHC privacy policies are subject to disciplinary actions, including termination where appropriate. You acknowledge that private communications directed at a person or entity, including WHC, may be used or disclosed by the intended recipient(s) without restrictions relating to privacy or confidentiality. G. Disclosure. Because WHC considers the Individual Information we maintain to be confidential, our policy is to not disclose Individual Information to third parties without prior consent (which may be oral or electronic), or unless specifically provided below. WHC reserves the right to use agents, who are bound by strict confidentiality guidelines, to perform storage and processing functions. It is our policy not to disclose to third parties Subscriber Identity information that links a Subscriber's screen name(s) with a Subscriber's actual name, unless required to do so by law or legal process served on WHC (e.g., subpoena). WHC reserves the right to make exceptions to this policy in exceptional circumstances (such as a bomb or suicide threat, or instances of suspected illegal activity) on a case-by-case basis and at WHC sole discretion. WHC intends to abide by applicable laws governing the disclosure to governmental entities of Subscribers' Individual Information and other records. When responding to legal process served on WHC by non-government entities, unless otherwise ordered, WHC current policy is to make reasonable efforts to notify affected Subscriber(s) in advance of releasing the information in order to provide Subscriber(s) an opportunity to pursue any available legal protection. (Ii) Navigational and Transactional Information. WHC will not disclose to third parties Navigational or Transactional Information (e.g. where you go or what you buy on or through WHC), except to comply with applicable law or valid legal process (e.g., search warrant or court order). (iii) Private Communications Content. WHC does not access or disclose the contents of private communications (e.g., e-mail, instant messages, Subscriber-created private rooms), unless it in good faith believes that such action is necessary (a) to comply with applicable law or valid legal process (e.g., search warrant or court order), (b) to protect the rights or property of WHC, or (c) in emergencies when WHC believes that physical safety is at risk. WHC reserves the right to treat as public, any private chat room whose directory or room name is published or becomes generally known or available. H. Legal Notices Thank you for reading the WHC TAC and for referring to it for any updates. We believe that your familiarity with these Rules will greatly enhance your experience on the WHC service and will make WHC an informative, entertaining, and fun place for all our Subscribers. We have tried to explain clearly our terms, but if any aspect remains unclear, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our aim is for WHC TAC to foster an online community where there is both free exchange of ideas and information, and respect for individual and community rights. We hope you will enjoy your time with WHC as much as we do!
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