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Verizon Online - Web Site Use Agreement

Terms of Service
 Web Site Use Agreement
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Web Site Use Agreement

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT CAREFULLY.

VERIZON ONLINE WEB SITE USE AGREEMENT

This Web Site Use Agreement ("Agreement") is entered into by you, Verizon Internet Services Inc. and GTE.Net LLC d/b/a Verizon Internet Solutions (Verizon Internet Services and GTE.Net are collectively referred to herein as "Verizon Online" or "VOL") The Verizon Online Web Site http://start.verizon.net is comprised of various web sites, web pages, tools, information, software, content, software, and features (collectively, "VOL Web Site") operated by Verizon Online.

This Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions under which you use the VOL Web Site and under which VOL agrees to your use of the VOL Web Site. By using the VOL Web Site, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. This Agreement includes VOL's Acceptable Use Policy (which is attached hereto as Attachment A), VOL's Privacy Policy (which is available at http://www2.verizon.net/policies/privacy.asp and incorporated herein by reference), and any notices regarding the VOL Web Site (all of which are available for review at http://www2.verizon.net/policies/, and are incorporated herein by reference). You may also receive a copy of this Agreement by writing us at: Verizon Online, 400 Foxcroft Avenue, Martinsburg WV 25401, Attention: Web Site Use Agreement.

If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, you must immediately stop your use of the VOL Web Site.

1. SCOPE OF VOL WEB SITE
VOL makes the VOL Web Site available to users at no charge. The features of the VOL Web Site may include but are not limited to, access to email services (through VOL or other email providers), search capabilities, account management tools, connections to certain content (news, weather and sports, for example), an MP3 player, certain diagnostic tools for troubleshooting and certain games. The VOL Web Site is intended solely for your private and personal use on your computer. Any other use or any attempt to use the VOL Web Site for commercial or other purposes is strictly prohibited.

2. REGISTERED USERS
You agree that the information you provide during the VOL Web Site registration is accurate and that you are 13 years of age or older.

3. NO WARRANTY
VOL (AND ITS THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS AND LICENSORS) PROVIDE THE VOL WEB SITE ON AN "AS IS," AS AVAILABLE, BASIS, WITH ALL FAULTS, AND HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, NON-INFRINGEMENT, NON-INTERFERENCE, COMPATIBILITY OF SOFTWARE PROGRAMS, INTEGRATION, OR THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH MAY ARISE BY COURSE OF DEALING, OR COURSE OF TRADE. ALSO, THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF LACK OF VIRUSES OR OTHER DISABLING CODE OR CONDITION, LACK OF NEGLIGENCE OR LACK OF WORKMANLIKE EFFORT. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE, QUALITY, ACCURACY, EFFORT, OR PERFORMANCE OF THE VOL WEB SITE IS WITH YOU. IN ADDITION, VOL DOES NOT WARRANT THE SECURITY OF THE VOL WEB SITE OR, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, CONTENT, AND FEATURES AVAILABLE THROUGH IT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, PROVIDED PROPERLY OR COMPLETELY, OR BE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS PER DAY, 7 DAYS PER WEEK. VOL IN ITS DISCRETION MAY PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR THE VOL WEB SITE.

4. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
IN NO EVENT WILL VOL BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR (i) ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE AVAILABILITY, USE, RELIANCE ON, PERFORMANCE OF THE VOL WEB SITE, PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE THE VOL WEB SITE, LOSS OF DATA, YOUR ACCESS OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE VOL WEB SITE OR YOUR USE AND RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OR CONTENT AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE VOL WEB SITE, INCLUDING VIRUSES ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN OBTAINED, OR INVASION OF PRIVACY FROM OR THROUGH THE VOL WEB SITE, EVEN IF VOL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE; OR (ii) ANY CLAIM ATTRIBUTABLE TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER DYSFUNCTION IN, OR DESTRUCTIVE PROPERTIES OF, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE VOL WEB SITE. SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES. IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS, VOL'S LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

5. RIGHT TO CHANGE, MODIFY OR TERMINATE VOL WEB SITE
Without prejudice to any other rights that VOL may have, VOL reserves the right and sole discretion to change, limit, terminate, modify at any time, temporarily or permanently cease to provide the VOL Web Site or any part thereof to any user or group of users, without prior notice and for any reason or no reason. In the event you or VOL terminate this Agreement, you must immediately stop using the VOL Web Site.

6. CHANGES TO AGREEMENT
VOL reserves the right, from time to time, to amend or change this Agreement (including any of the policies which may be applicable to your use of the VOL Web Site) by posting such revisions to the VOL's Guidelines and Policies page located at http://www.verizon.net/policies/. You agree to visit this web site periodically to be aware of and review any such revisions. Changes to this Agreement shall be effective upon posting. By continuing to use the VOL Web Site after revisions are in posted, you accept the revisions and agree to abide by them.

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
All title and intellectual property rights (including without limitation, copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets) in and to the VOL Web Site (including but not limited to, related software and including but not limited to any images, photographs, animations, video, audio, music, text and "applets," incorporated into the software, and any copies of the software), are owned by VOL, its affiliates or suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the information and content which may be accessed through use of the VOL Web Site are the property of the respective content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties. This Agreement does not grant you any rights to use such content, nor does it grant any rights to the VOL Web Site other than the right to use the VOL Web Site according to the terms of the Agreement.

8. INDEMNIFICATION
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless VOL and its officers, directors, employees, agents and suppliers from and against all liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, related to or arising from: (a) any violation of this Agreement by you (or any parties who use your computer, with or without your permission, to access the VOL Web Site); (b) the use of the VOL Web Site or the Internet or the placement or transmission of any message, information, software or other materials on the Internet by you (or any parties who use your computer to access the VOL Web Site, with or without your permission); (c) negligent acts, errors, or omissions by you (or any parties who use your computer to access the VOL Web Site, with or without your permission); (d) injuries to or death of any person and for damages to or loss of any property, which may in any way arise out of or result from or in connection with this Agreement, except to the extent that such liabilities arise from the active negligence or willful misconduct of the other party; or (e) claims for infringement of any intellectual property rights arising from the use of the VOL Web Site or the Internet.

9. MANAGEMENT OF YOUR DATA
You are solely responsible for obtaining, installing, and maintaining suitable equipment and software, including any necessary system or software upgrades, patches or other fixes, which are or may become necessary to access the VOL Web Site. Minimum systems requirements apply to the use of the VOL Web Site and it is your responsibility to ensure your computer system complies with these requirements. You are responsible for management of your information, including but not limited to back-up and restoration of data, erasing data from disk space you control and changing data on your router. You are also responsible for development and maintenance of any security procedures you deem appropriate, such as logon security and encryption of data, user ID and password on your router and firewalls, to protect your information. VOL is not responsible for back-up and restoration of your information or for any loss of or disablement of access to your information, including without limitation, email and address book information. In addition, you agree that information required by the Web Site software (including any personalization information) and other identifying information requested by VOL or its portal supplier may be placed in our user directory.

10. LIMITATIONS ON USE

a. The Internet is an international computer network of both government and non-government inter-operable packet switched data networks. The Internet is not owned, operated or managed by, or in any way affiliated with VOL, and VOL is not responsible for and has no control over the information or materials accessible via the Internet through use of the VOL Web Site.

b. You agree and acknowledge that through your use of the VOL Web Site, you may have access to information which may be sexually explicit, obscene or offensive, or otherwise unsuitable or objectionable, especially for children under the age of eighteen (18) years old. You agree to supervise usage of the VOL Web Site by any minors who use the VOL Web Site. VOL is not responsible for access by any users, neither you nor minors, to objectionable or offensive information or data. You agree that your use of the VOL Web Site and the Internet, without limitation, is your sole responsibility, is solely at your own risk and is subject to all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations.

c. You agree that the reliability, availability and performance of resources accessed through the Internet or other services connected or linked to the VOL Web Site are beyond VOL's control and are not in any way warranted or supported by VOL. You agree that VOL cannot and does not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading through the VOL Web Site will be free of viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other code that manifests contaminating or destructive properties.

d. You agree that the Internet is not a secure network and that third parties may be able to intercept, access, use or corrupt the information you transmit over the Internet. VOL is not responsible for invalid destinations, transmission errors, or corruption, interception or security of your data.

e. You understand and agree that VOL does not warrant the VOL Web Site to be uninterrupted or error-free. You further understand and agree that VOL has no control over third party networks or web sites that you may access in the course of your use of the VOL Web Site, and that delays and disruptions of other network transmissions are completely beyond the control of VOL.

f. You agree that VOL assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, quality completeness, usefulness or value of any content, data, documents, graphics, images, information, advice, or opinion contained in any emails, message boards, chat rooms or community services, or in any other public services, and does not endorse any advice or opinion contained therein. VOL does not monitor or control such services, although we reserve the right to do so. VOL may take any action we deem appropriate, in our sole discretion, to maintain the high quality of our VOL Web Site and to protect others and ourselves.

11. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

a. If any part of this document is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed in a manner consistent with applicable law to reflect, as nearly as possible, the original intentions of the parties, and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect.

b. By transmitting, uploading, posting or submitting any information or material using the Web site Tools, you (i) represent that such information is not confidential, secret or proprietary information belonging to someone else; and (ii) warrant that no other party has rights to the information and that your transmission, posting, uploading or submission of the information does not violate any copyright or other laws.

c. The VOL Web Site contains third party links and it is provided by VOL only as a convenience to its users. Any web sites linked to or from the VOL Web Site are not reviewed, controlled, or examined by VOL and VOL is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. The inclusion of any linked sites or content from the VOL Web Site does not imply endorsement of the linked site or content by VOL. In no event shall VOL be liable to anyone for any damage arising from or caused, directly or indirectly, by the creation or use of a third party's web site, or the information or material accessed through such web sites.

d. The terms of this Agreement apply only to your use of the VOL Web Site and do not apply to your use of any other VOL product or service. The terms and conditions applicable to such other VOL products or services shall apply to and govern your rights and obligations (and ours) with respect to your use of such other products or services.

e. You and VOL agree that the substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without reference to its principles of conflicts of laws, will be applied to govern, construe and enforce all of the rights and duties of the parties arising from or relating in any way to the subject matter of this Agreement. YOU AND VOL CONSENT TO THE EXCLUSIVE PERSONAL JURISDICTION OF AND VENUE IN A COURT LOCATED IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, FOR ANY SUITS OR CAUSES OF ACTION CONNECTED IN ANY WAY, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT OR TO THE VOL WEB SITE. Except as otherwise required by law, including Virginia laws relating to consumer transactions, any cause of action or claim you may have with respect to the VOL Web Site must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises or such claim or cause of action is barred.

f. Use, duplication or disclosure by any Government entity is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraphs (a) through (d) of the Commercial Computer-Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227-19 when applicable, or in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause of DFARS 252.227-7013, and in similar clauses in the NASA FAR Supplement. Contractor/manufacturer is either Verizon Internet Services Inc., 1880 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20191 or GTE.Net LLC d/b/a Verizon Internet Solutions, 4055 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Grapevine, Texas 76051.

g. For your reference, you may refer to the copy of this Agreement that can be found on the link "Policies and Terms of Service" located on VOL's home page. You may also receive a copy of this Agreement by writing us at: Verizon Internet Services Inc., c/o Contracts Group, 1880 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20191.

h. This Agreement, including all Attachments hereto, which are fully incorporated into this Agreement, and also including all policies and notices incorporated into this Agreement by reference, constitutes the entire agreement between you and VOL with respect to the subject matter hereto and supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous agreements whether written or oral. You agree not to assign or otherwise transfer this Agreement in whole or in part; any attempt to do so shall be void. This Agreement may be revised by VOL as set forth in Paragraph 6, "Changes to Agreement", above. Any terms varying from this Agreement in any written or electronic communication from you are void.

ATTACHMENT A

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

1. This is Verizon's policy on the acceptable use of the Service. It is designed to help protect the Service, Verizon's customers and the Internet community, from irresponsible or illegal activities.

2. Verizon reserves the right to deny Service to you, or immediately to terminate your Service for material breach, if your use of the Service or your use of an alias or the aliases of additional users on your account, whether explicitly or implicitly, and in the sole discretion of Verizon: (a) is obscene, indecent, pornographic, sadistic, cruel or racist in nature, or of a sexually explicit or graphic nature; (b) espouses, promotes or incites bigotry, hatred or racism; (c) might be legally actionable for any reason, (d) is objectionable for any reason, or (e) in any manner violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy.

3. You may NOT use the Service as follows: (a) for any unlawful, improper or illegal purpose or activity; (b) to post or transmit information or communications that, whether explicitly stated, implied, or suggested through use of symbols, are obscene, indecent, pornographic, sadistic, cruel, or racist in content, or of a sexually explicit or graphic nature; or which espouses, promotes or incites bigotry, hatred or racism; or which might be legally actionable for any reason; (c) to access or attempt to access the accounts of others, to spoof or attempt to spoof the URL or DNS or IP addresses of Verizon or any other entity, or to attempt to penetrate or penetrate security measures of Verizon or other entities' systems ("hacking") whether or not the intrusion results in corruption or loss of data; (d) to bombard individuals or newsgroups with uninvited communications, data or information, or other similar activities, including but not limited to "spamming", "flaming" or denial or distributed denial of service attacks; (e) to transmit unsolicited voluminous emails (for example, spamming) or to intercept, interfere with or redirect email intended for third parties using the Service; (f) to introduce viruses, worms, harmful code and/or Trojan horses on the Internet; (g) to post information on newsgroups which is not in the topic area or charter (e.g. off-topic posting) of the newsgroup; (h) to interfere with another person's usage or enjoyment of the Internet or this Service; (i) to post or transmit information or communications that are defamatory, fraudulent, obscene or deceptive, including but not limited to scams such as "make-money-fast" schemes or "pyramid/chain" letters; (j) to damage the name or reputation of Verizon, its parent, affiliates and subsidiaries, or any third parties; (k) to transmit confidential or proprietary information, except solely at your own risk; (l) to violate Verizon's or any third party's copyright, trademark, proprietary or other intellectual property rights, including trade secret rights; (m) to use more than one IP address obtained from Verizon; (n) to generate excessive amounts (as determined by Verizon in its sole discretion) of Internet traffic, or to disrupt net user groups or email use by others; (o) to engage in activities designed to or having the effect of degrading or denying Service to Verizon users or others (including activities that compromise a server, router, circuit, software or other Internet component ; (p) to use any name or mark of Verizon, its parent, affiliates or subsidiaries, as a hypertext link to any Web site or in any advertising publicity or other commercial manner; (q) to use the Service to operate a commercial server or to operate a non-commercial server in a manner that interferes with the network or other users' use of the Service; (r) to use the Service or the Internet in a manner intended to threaten, harass, intimidate; (s) to cause the screen to "scroll" faster than other subscribers or users are able to type to it, or any action that has a similar disruptive effect, on or through the Service; (t) to use the Service to disrupt the normal flow of online dialogue, (u) to use the Service to violate any operating rule, policy or guideline of any other online services provider or interactive service; (v) to attempt to subvert or to aid third parties to subvert, the security of any computer facility or system connected to the Internet; (w) to impersonate any Verizon employee or official or other person or use a false name while using the Service or implying an association with Verizon; (x) to install "auto-responders," "cancel-bots" or similar automated or manual routines which generate excessive amounts of net traffic, or disrupt net user groups or email use by others; (y) to make false or unverified complaints against any Verizon subscriber, or otherwise abusing any of Verizon's complaint response procedures; (z) to use software or any other device that would allow your account to stay logged on while you are not actively using the Service, unless you are a DSL customer; (aa) to export software or any information in violation of US export laws; (bb) to use the Service in contravention of the limitations of the pricing plan you have chosen; (cc) for DSL customers who use static IP address, to use an IP address other than the one assigned by Verizon; (dd) for customer who have been assigned a dynamic IP address to use such IP address to circumvent the changing of IP addresses assigned by the Service or (ee) to open connections to more than one Verizon Usenet news service at a time.

Usenet Policy and Posting Restrictions: Usenet comprises a system of bulletin boards called newsgroups. Usenet access is provided to Internet access customers of Verizon through the Verizon network. Verizon Usenet may not be accessed via any other network. You may open no more than five simultaneous connections to newsgroups at any one time. You may not rapidly open and close or create connections for users other than yourself (our Subscriber). Verizon will carry newsgroups at their sole discretion. Requests to add a newsgroup, from any source, will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and added at Verizon's sole discretion. You must familiarize yourself with the subjects and established guidelines and restrictions of any newsgroup in which you participate and we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate your Service in the event you violate newsgroup guidelines or restrictions.

4. Copyright Infringement/Repeat Infringer Policy. Verizon respects the intellectual property rights of third parties, including those granted under the US copyright laws, and the interests of its subscribers and content providers on the Internet. You may not store material of any type or in any format on, or disseminate such material over, Verizon's systems or servers in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights granted under the US copyright laws. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, it is the policy of Verizon to terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the Service provided to any subscriber or account holder who is deemed to infringe third party intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers. Appropriate circumstances may exist where (i) a Subscriber or account holder has been found by a court of competent jurisdiction to have infringed the copyrights of a third party on two or more occasions, i.e., a repeat infringer, (ii) where a valid, effective and uncontested notice has been provided to Verizon alleging facts which are a violation by the Subscriber or account holder of Verizon's Copyright Policy prohibiting infringing activity involving Verizon systems or servers, or (iii) in other cases of repeated flagrant abuse of access to the Internet (e.g., willful commercial piracy or malicious attempts to destroy the value of copyrighted works). In addition, Verizon expressly reserves the right to terminate or suspend the Service of any Subscriber or account holder if Verizon, in its sole judgment, believes that circumstances relating to the infringement of third party intellectual property rights warrant such action. These policies are in addition to and do not affect or modify any other rights Verizon may have under law or contract. If you believe that copyrighted material has been used in violation of this policy or otherwise been made available on the Service in a manner that is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law, please follow the instructions for contacting Verizon's designated Copyright Agent as set forth in Verizon's Copyright Policy located at http://www.verizon.com/copy.html.

5. You shall comply with all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations, including those related to data privacy, international communications, and exportation or technical or personal data. You represent that you are not a specifically designated individual or entity under any US embargo or otherwise the subject, either directly or indirectly (by affiliation, or any other connection with another party) to any order issued by any agency of the US Government limiting, barring, revoking or denying, in whole or in part your US export privileges. You agree to notify Verizon if you become subject to any such order.

6. You shall not delete any proprietary designations, legal notices or other identifiers belonging to third parties from any information obtained or sent using the Service and shall not impersonate any person or use a false name while using the Service. You agree to obtain all required permissions if you use the Service to receive, upload, download, display, distribute, or execute Software or perform other works protected by intellectual property laws including copyright, trademark, trade secret and patent laws. You agree to cooperate with Verizon and provide requested information in connection with all security and use matters. You agree to notify Verizon promptly if you suspect unauthorized use of the Service or of your UserID. You remain liable for unauthorized use until your notification to Verizon at security@verizon.net. You agree that your name, UserID, and other identifying information may be placed in our user directory.

7. Verizon reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrong. Such cooperation may include, but not be limited to, provision of account or user information or email as well as monitoring of the Verizon network.

8. Verizon may, but is not required to, monitor your compliance, or the compliance of other subscribers, with the terms, conditions or policies of this Agreement.