Acceptable Use Policy

Acceptable Use Policy (“Policy”) describes activities that are not allowed on the GCX Network in order to ensure the rightful and responsible use of GCX’s network, equipment, systems, services, web sites and products (collectively, the “Services”) by its customers, its customers’ employees, any individual using the services and other users of the GCX Services (collectively, “Users”), and to facilitate GCX in providing safe, secure, useful, reliable, informative and productive Services to our Users.

By using the Services, each User agrees and acknowledges that it (1) has carefully read and understood each and every clause and the legal implications thereof, (2) accepts the obligations and limitations set forth herein, and (3) agrees to and    consents to abide by the terms of the Policy.

The Users only use the Services in the context of an existing contractual relationship between GCX and its customers. The contractual relationship between GCX and its customers is also governed by further legal agreements between GCX and the customer. As far as it can be reasonably expected, the individual Users are responsible to inform themselves about the contents of such further agreement insofar as these further agreements might be relevant for the interpretation of this Acceptable Use Policy. For example, how the individual user may use the Services will largely depend on the agreements between GCX and the customer. In case of conflict between this Policy and a legal agreement between GCX and User the executed legal agreement takes precedence.

You may not use the Services to engage in, foster, or promote illegal, abusive, or irresponsible behaviour.

The User is responsible for violations of this Policy by anyone using the Services with its permission, e.g. employees, or on an unauthorized basis as a result of the User’s failure to use reasonable security precautions. The User must use reasonable efforts to secure any device or network within its control against being used in breach of the applicable laws against spam and unsolicited email, including where appropriate by the installation of antivirus software, firewall software and operating system and application software patches and updates. GCX’s right to suspend or terminate the Service applies even if a breach is committed unintentionally or without the User’s authorization, including through a Trojan horse or virus.

GCX reserves the right to modify and amend this Policy at its discretion from time to time if the modifications and amendments in question are reasonable and the interests of the User are adequately taken into account. The modified or amended acceptable use policy will be posted on our website: www.globalcloudxchange.com.

CONSEQUENCE OF BREACH OF POLICY

If GCX becomes aware of a violation of the Policy, GCX may take appropriate steps to ensure compliance. As a result of a Policy violation by a User, which GCX shall determine at its discretion, GCX may in particular (1) suspend and/or terminate the Service to which such violation relates; (2) block or delete relevant content; (3) conduct an inquiry into the activity; or (4) involve/cooperate with law enforcement.  Any suspension of the Service for violation of the Policy shall be to the extent that GCX determines, at its sole discretion, to be reasonably practical under the circumstances to address the underlying violation.  GCX will attempt to notify the customer whenever possible prior to suspension/termination of the Service.  However, GCX may suspend or terminate the Service without notice, if GCX becomes aware of any prohibited conduct (see section below) under the Policy.  Suspension or termination may result in imposition of a ban on the User, including without limitation, blacklisting of the User website, IP address, subnets, or routes.   Furthermore, GCX may take such steps as GCX, in its sole discretion, deems to be reasonably necessary to prevent any or any continuous violations by User. GCX shall not be liable to such User or any third party for any damages of any nature which arise from GCX exercising its rights under this Policy.

Prohibited Conduct

The User must not use the Services in a manner that is inconsistent with the intended purpose of such Services.  Moreover, Users shall not use the GCX Services in a manner that: (1) is in violation of any applicable law or regulation, including export or encryption laws or regulations; or (2) may adversely affect the Services or the network of other GCX customers; or (3) may expose GCX to any criminal or civil liability; or (4) may cause harm to human life or physical or environmental damage.

IMPROPER CONTENT

Users shall not use the Services to transmit, distribute or store material that (1) in the reasonable opinion of GCX is unsuitable in any way, or (2)  is obscene (including without limitation any form of pornography), defamatory, libelous, threatening, abusive, hateful, or containing excessive violence, or which encourages any of the aforesaid.  User shall not use the Services to transport such types of traffic (such as real-time VoIP, video conferencing, or encrypted traffic) which violate any order, notifications or local laws and/or are prohibited in those countries or states in or to which the Services are connected

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

Materials transmitted through or by use of the Services may be subject to protection under privacy laws, or by virtue of Intellectual Property rights, including without limitation copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary rights, whether registered or not.  Users shall not use the  Services in any manner that would violate, infringe, or otherwise breach any such rights or the laws from which they stem.  If a User uses a domain name in connection with any of the Services, it shall ensure that use of such domain name shall not violate any third party’s trademark, service mark, or other Intellectual Property rights.

HARMFUL CONTENT

User shall not use  the  Services to transmit,  send or store any material that may interfere with, interrupt, or cause injury or harm to GCX and/or to any third party network, system, service, or web sites.  Such prohibited harmful content includes, without limitation, (1) viruses, worms,  Trojan horses, spamming, mail-bombing, unauthorized system penetration, web page defacement, or unwanted emails, and/or (2) any attachments, media files, maps, or other methods having the capability to remotely control or paralyze computers systems .  This part of the Policy shall also extend to any activities of the User that disrupt the use of or interfere with the ability of other parties to effectively use: (a) the GCX network, or (b) any connected network, or (c) any service, or (d) any communication devices, or (e) any equipment, of GCX or of its own customers.

FRAUDULENT/ INACCURATE INFORMATION

Users shall not use the Services to convey or distribute materials containing (1) sham offers for goods or services, or (2) advertising, promotional, or  marketing data that contain untrue, deceptive, or misleading statements, claims, representations or warranties.  In addition, Users are forbidden from submitting any false or inaccurate data on any order form, contract or online order form, including any fraudulent use of credit or any other transaction cards or instruments.

TRAFFIC INTERCEPTION AND MANIPULATION

Users shall not, either directly or indirectly through a third party, use the Services in any way to intercept, decrypt/decode, inspect, store, or analyse or manipulate any packet headers, packet contents or any data streams or traffic, wholly or  partly, which passes through the interconnection points between the User and GCX.  Without limitation, the prohibitions contained in this section of the Policy shall extend to any attempt to (1) reverse engineering protocols or packets, or (2) phishing, or (3) capture of any customer sensitive information or private data (such as passwords, email addresses, account or transaction information, emails or other messages), or (4) collecting email addresses, or (5) tracking end users/people, or (6) spoofing or spamming, or (7) planting malicious code, worms, viruses or Trojans, or (8) introducing false, or misleading routing advertisements, or (9) terminating sessions of user other than its own users, or (10) initiating any kind of security or spam attacks.

EMAIL, BLOGS AND UNSOLICITED MESSAGES

The Services shall not be used to convey or transmit unsolicited mails or messages including , without limitation (1) unsolicited bulk e-mail, (2) blogs or any messages, or chat rooms/messages, where such messages could reasonably be expected to provoke complaints, (3) irrelevant posts on USENET, (4) irrelevant posts on blog sites,.  Further, Users are forbidden from using the service of another provider to send spam in order to promote a site hosted on or connected to the Services.  In addition, Users shall not use the Services in order to: (a) send or post messages which are excessive and/or intended to harass or annoy others, or (b) continue to send or post messages to a recipient that has indicated that he/she does not wish to receive them, or (c) send messages with forged TCP/IP packet header or message header information, or (d) send malicious messages, including, but not limited to, “mail-bombing”, “blog bombing”, “USENET bombing”, or any other means the effect of which is to flood the target computer or communication equipment, or (e) send , receive, post, publish or transmit any messages in a manner or a format, that violates the use policies of any other service provider, or (f) use an e-mail box exclusively as a storage space for data.

OTHER PARTY SERVICES

By using  the Services, User may have access to search engines, other websites, subscription web services, chat areas, bulletin boards, blogs, social networking sites, peer-to-peer services, USENET, or other services that are governed by certain rules, guidelines or agreements for their use.  Users must also abide to any such third party rules, guidelines, or agreements in relation to any use of the Services.

INAPPROPRIATE ACTIONS

User shall not in relation to the Services attempt to alter the network infrastructure or any interconnection points in any way; and in particular shall not attempt any alteration which might result in or cause any damage, harm or degradation to the performance of the Service.  In addition, User shall neither examine nor manipulate any data of GCX or of its customers.  Furthermore, Users are forbidden from (1) accessing illegally or without authorization the computers, communication equipment, accounts, or networks of any other party, or (2) penetrating or attempting to penetrate any security measures  (including ‘hacking’ or stealing of any information), or (3) ‘denial of service’ attacks, or (4) publishing any confidential information shared with the User by GCX, or (5) any other activity which may (a) cause any damage or injury to the GCX network or any Services, or (b) affect the reputation of GCX or its customers.  Users are also prohibited from any activity intended to attempt any security violations, including, but not limited to, any form of scanning, probing, other testing, or gathering of information by whatever means.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTENT

GCX takes no responsibility for any material created or transmitted on or through the  Services.  GCX is not required to monitor private electronic mail messages or content sent or received by User; but GCX reserves the right to do so to the extent lawful especially for purposes of enforcing this Policy.  GCX does not have, nor will it  exercise any editorial control over such material.

USERS LIABILITY AND INDEMNIFICATION

User shall indemnify GCX for any violation of or failure to comply with  the Policy which results in (1) any loss by GCX, or (2) the bringing of any claim against GCX by a third party . Accordingly, in the event  that GCX is sued as a result of  the acts or omissions of a User, then the latter User will pay any damages awarded against GCX, including any costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.

EXCLUSIONS

Legal Interception. Except in accordance with applicable laws, an appropriate court order or similar action of any competent governmental agency, no collection, analysis, or storage of any packet headers, packets or data streams, passing through the Interconnection point between User and GCX is permitted.

Closed User Group Services.  Subject to applicable (esp. data protection) laws, User shall however be permitted to capture, analyze, store, process or manipulate own packets, headers or data streams within closed user group services, such as VPNs or point-to-point network connectivity provided by GCX to the User.

Analyse Traffic.  Subject to applicable (esp. data protection) laws User shall be permitted to monitor traffic statistics solely for the purposes of operating its own network and in relation to projecting future capacity needs; provided that, User (a) shall keep all such data it monitors or captures confidential, and (b) shall not disclose any such materials to third parties.

Disclosure. If GCX is legally required to permit any relevant authority to inspect User content or traffic, GCX can do so; provided however that, where possible without breaching any legal or regulatory requirement, we give reasonable prior notice of such requirement.

GCX may, without notice, report to the appropriate authorities any conduct that GCX reasonably believes to violate applicable law, and – to the extent allowed by applicable laws – provide any information GCX has about the User or the User’s traffic and cooperate in response to a formal request from a law enforcement or regulatory agency investigating any such activity, or in response to a formal request in a civil action that on its face meets the requirements for such a request.

NOTE: Violations of this AUP may be reported at the following link:  abuse@globalcloudxchange.com

Last modified on 5 November 2015