Introduction
Citizens is pleased to be your complete communications and entertainment provider. Citizens (“Provider”) Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) is an extension of our mission to provide you with quality service, excellent support and advanced technology. This AUP applies to all Citizens family of services, companies, partners, and subsidiaries. This AUP has been designed to encourage the responsible use of Citizens’ networks, systems, services, websites and products by our customers (“You”) and other users of Citizens services, and to enable us to provide users with secure, reliable and productive services. As a condition to Citizens providing you with access to the service you are required to enter into a customer service agreement and to comply with the requirements of this AUP. By entering into the agreement, establishing an account with the provider, or by using the service, you signify your agreement to the terms, conditions and notices of this policy. If you are unsure whether any contemplated use or action is permitted, please contact Citizens. This AUP should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy, and other applicable policies.
By using Citizens’ service, you agree to abide by, and require others using the service via your account to abide by the terms of this AUP. You should consult this document regularly to ensure that your activities conform to the most recent version. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms, you should immediately consult Citizens.
Account Suspension, Cancellation, or Termination
As a provider of voice services, web hosting, Internet, e-commerce, domains and other services and products, Citizens must comply with certain laws and regulations. Your violation of this AUP may result in the immediate suspension, cancellation or termination of either your access to the service and/or your Citizens account without notice. Upon termination Citizens has the right to delete all data files, or other information stored on Citizens storage devices. If such a suspension is to last for more than thirty days, Citizens will notify you as to the reason. Reconnect fees may apply.
Prohibited Activities
Citizens’ services must be used in a manner that is consistent with the intended purpose of the Provider and may be used only for lawful purposes. You may not use Citizens services in order to conduct illegal robocalls, transmit, distribute or store material: in violations of any applicable local, state, federal or international law, order or regulation, including export or encryption laws or regulations; that may diversely affect Citizens or other Citizens customers; or that may expose Citizens to criminal or civil liability.
International Use.
Citizens makes no representation that materials available on this site or any other through the service are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who access this site or any site hosted by Citizens from other locations are responsible for compliance with local law.
Inappropriate Content.
You may not use Citizens services to conduct illegal robocalls, transmit distribute or store material that is inappropriate, as reasonably determined by the Provider, or material that is obscene (including but not limited to child pornography), defamatory, libelous, threatening, abusive, hateful, or excessively violent.
Harmful Content.
You may not use Citizens services to transmit, distribute or store material that may be harmful to or interfere with the ability of any other user to use or enjoy the equipment or the service, including, without limitation, by posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful feature.
Intellectual Property Infringement.
You acknowledge and agree that copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, trade secrets, and other proprietary rights and laws protect all content and materials available on this site or through Citizens service. Nothing on any Citizens website shall be interpreted or implied in such a way as conferring any license or right to any intellectual property rights or license to any intellectual property, content, technology, system, process, or related material belonging to Citizens by virtue of it being displayed or made accessible on any Citizens website. You may not use Citizens services to post, copy, transmit, or disseminate any content that infringes the patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademark, or propriety rights of any party. Citizens assumes no responsibility, and you assume all regarding the determination of whether material is in the public domain, or may otherwise be used by you for such purposes. Citizens’ name, logo, other related names, design marks, product names, feature names and related logos, may be used only with the express written permission of Citizens. Citizens and its service providers claim copyright interests in all original content or works provided by Citizens or its service providers on Citizens’ websites and on Citizens’ service providers’ websites. If any pages, information or content is copied, it may only be copied for non-commercial uses and Citizens or its service providers shall, in any event, retain all copyright and other proprietary interests therein. Citizens’ is registered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)3, if you believe that a web page hosted by Citizens is violating your rights under U.S. copyright law, you may file a complaint with Citizens’ designated agent. Please contact DMCA@citizens.coop for information necessary to file your complaint with Citizens.
User Content.
You are solely responsible for any information that you publish on the web or other Internet services. You must ensure that the recipient of the content is appropriate and must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving inappropriate content. Citizens reserves the right to reuse to post or to remove any information or materials from the service, in whole or in part, that it, in Citizens’ sole discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable.
Fraudulent/Misleading Content.
You may not use Citizens services to conduct illegal robocalls, transmit or distribute material containing fraudulent offers for goods or services, or any advertising or promotional material that contains false, deceptive, or misleading statements, claims, or representations. In addition, you are prohibited from submitting any false or inaccurate data on any order form, contract, or online application, including the fraudulent use of credit cards.
Commercial Use.
You may not resell or otherwise charge others to use Citizens services. You agree not to use Citizens services for operation as an Internet service provider, or for any other business enterprise, including, without limitation, IP address translation or similar facilities intended to provide additional access to Citizens service.
Servers.
You may not operate, or allow others to operate, servers of any type or any other device, equipment, and/or software providing server-like functionality in connection with the service, unless expressly authorized by Citizens.
Misuse of Service.
You are responsible for any misuse of Citizens service that occurs through your account. You must therefore take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access or misuse the service. No more than one login session can be active at a time by the user, unless expressly authorized by Citizens.
Security.
You are solely responsible for the security of any device connected to the service, including any data stored on that device. Citizens’ recommends that you take appropriate security precautions for any systems connected to the service. We recommend the use of a firewall or other security devices to protect your equipment. You are responsible for securing any wireless (WiFi) networks connected to your Citizens service. Any wireless network installed by the customer or a Citizens representative that is unsecured or “open” and connected to the Citizens network will be deemed to be operating as an ISP and subject to the prohibition as mentioned in the Commercial Use section of this AUP.
Third Party Rules; USENET.
You have access through Citizens services to search engines, subscription web services, chat areas, bulletin boards, web pages, USENET, or other services that promulgate rules, guidelines or agreements to govern their use. Users must adhere to any such rules, guidelines, or agreements.
Inappropriate Actions.
You may not use Citizens services to conduct activities that may be harmful to or interfere with Citizens services or any third party’s networks, systems, services, or websites, including, but not limited to, flooding, mail bombing, or denial of service attacks. You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of Citizens services or the computers, accounts, or networks of another party. You are also prohibited from any activity considered a precursor to attempted security violations, including, but not limited to, any form of scanning, probing, or other testing or information gathering activity. Inappropriate activity may result in civil or criminal liability. Citizens will investigate such activity, and may involve and cooperate with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users involved in such activity.
Please Note: The transmission of illegal robocalls, unsolicited bulk e-mail, including the transmission of counterfeit e-mail, may result in civil and criminal penalties against the sender, including those provided by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030 et seq.); the Virginia Computer Crimes Act (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-152.2 et seq.) (amended effective July 1, 1999); the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act (Wash. Rev. Code Chapter 19.190 et seq.); and other applicable statutes and regulations. Your participation in online communication accessed through the service is not edited, censored or otherwise controlled by the Provider. However, Citizens reserves the right to monitor content on this site, which is transmitted or accessed through the Service, and to remove content, disable sites, or suspend or terminate the service if Citizens, in its discretion, determines such content or user practices are harmful, offensive, or otherwise in violation of this Policy.
Responsibility of Content.
Citizens’ takes no responsibility for any material created or accessible on or through their services. Citizens’ is not obligated to monitor such material, but reserves the right to do so. Citizens will not exercise any editorial control over such material. In the event that Citizens becomes aware that any such material may violate this AUP and/or expose Citizens to civil or criminal liability, Citizens reserves the right to block access to such material and suspend or terminate any user creating, storing or disseminating such material. Citizens’ further reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and third parties in the investigation of alleged wrongdoing, including disclosing the identity of the user that Citizens’ deems responsible for the wrongdoing.
Reporting Violations.
For any questions regarding this Acceptable Use Policy, complaints of violations, or cancellation notices, please contact Citizens at one of the following:
Email: abuse@swva.net
Phone: 800-941-0426
Mail: P.O. Box 137, Floyd, VA 24091
6/21/2021