Acceptable Use

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs use of  broadband internet and voice services provided by Foothills  County (the "Service" or "Services") and any devices and/or equipment provided by Foothills County (the “County”) that may be used to support the Service, including without limitation, any equipment or software used in conjunction with the Service which is loaned to subscriber from the County for subscriber's use solely in connection with the Service (collectively, the "Equipment").

This AUP applies to all users of the Services, whether a user that holds a subscription to the Services or an employee, customer or third party accessing the Services via or on behalf of such a user, and to all components of the Services and the Equipment that may used or accessed by a user. All subscribers are solely responsible for use of their subscription to the Services and/or account with the County, regardless of if such use occurred without the subscriber’s consent or knowledge.

If the County believes, in its sole discretion, that a violation of this AUP (direct, or indirect, including violations by a third party) has occurred, it may take responsive action. The County is entitled to remove offending material, establish immediate or temporary filtering, deny access to the Service, suspend or terminate the Service, or take any other appropriate action, as determined by the County, in addition to any remedies provided by any agreement to provide the Services.

The County may investigate incidents involving violations of this AUP, and such violations may subject the user to civil or criminal liability. In the event of a criminal violation the County will co-operate fully with law enforcement.

The County may amend this AUP at its sole discretion. The continued use of the Services after an amended or updated AUP has been posted here will be deemed as acceptance of the amended AUP.

Illegal/Criminal Activity

The Services must not be used for any activity that violates any local, provincial, federal, international law or legislation, nor any other applicable law or regulation, including without limitation the distribution or storage of materials that are contrary to any applicable law or regulation. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to:

• Infringing copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, patents or any other type of intellectual property right;
• Posting or transmitting any material or content that threatens, advocates, promotes or otherwise encourages violence or which provides instruction, information or assistance in causing or carrying out such violence;
• Posting or transmitting any content or material that is intended, or may be seen as intending to, harass, intimidate, threaten, humiliate or degrade other individuals, or contain defamatory references o depictions to other users or individuals;
• Posting or transmitting offensive content or material including obscene, lewd, lascivious, pornographic, indecent, hateful, defamatory or otherwise objectionable material; and/or
• Violating the personal privacy of another individual.

Security Violations

The Services must not be used to breach the security of any account, network, service, or other system of the County, or to gain unauthorized access to another network or system. Other security breaches include, but are not limited to:

• Attempting to gain access to any other person's computer, software or data, without their knowledge or consent;
• Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account ("cracking" or "hacking");
• Interfering with service to any user, host or network (referred to as "denial of service attacks") including, but not limited to, mail bombing, flooding of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service and attempts to crash a host; and/or
• Using or distributing tools designed to compromise security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools.

Email Violations

The Services must not be used by any user  to send messages (including fax and voice traffic) that have the effect of preventing fair and proportionate use the Services by others. Other email violations include, but are not limited to:

• Advertising, transmitting, or in any way providing any software, program, product, or service that facilitates a violation of this AUP or is designed to violate the AUP or the Acceptable Use Policy of any other Internet Service Provider;
• Sending unsolicited bulk messages, including, commercial advertising, unsolicited commercial messages, chain letters, charity requests, petitions for signatures and political or religious messages;
• Sending messages to any user who does not wish to receive it, either to a County account holder or otherwise;
• Spamming, whereby the user sends numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages to many account holders, or sending large or multiple files or messages to a single user with malicious intent;
• Spamming indirectly through the use of other service providers or transmitting email or content through other service providers in a way which implies or indicates in any way that the County was involved in the transmission of such email or content;
• Altering the headers of email messages for the purpose of concealing the recipient's or sender's identity, or any other illegitimate purpose;
• Operating an unsecured email relay;
• Posting binary files to non-binary newsgroups; and/or
• Attempting to evade filters of spamming

The user hereby agrees to indemnify and hold the County harmless against any and all losses, liability, claims, damages, judgments, expenses and costs, of any kind whatsoever, including legal fees and disbursements, suffered or incurred by the County arising from claims of any third party on any basis whatsoever and arising from or in connection with any event, including but not limited to:

• use of the Services by user, or its customers, personnel or any third party authorized by user;
• user’s data, equipment, computer network and other facilities;
• the negligence or willful misconduct of user, its customers, personnel, or any third party authorized by user in connection with use of the Services;
• claims made by user against any third party who in turn claims contribution or indemnity from the County; and
• claims by any third party for libel, slander, passing off or infringement of copyright, trademark or patent or other intellectual property right, illegal, improper or unauthorized use of the Services arising from the content of the video, voice or data carried by user, or its customers or personnel or otherwise via the user’s account.

Upon receiving notice, the user must immediately notify the County of any claim or potential claim involving its use of the Services. Failure to do so gives the County the right to defend such claim at the user's sole cost.

The County makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including without limitation implied warranties of merchantability or fitness of the Services for a particular purpose. The County takes no responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive or other damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, loss of use, data, information or profits from delays, non-deliveries, mid-deliveries, or service interruptions, arising out of, or in connection with, the user’s  use or access of the Services.

The County may co-operate with other Internet Service Providers to discourage and resist any abuse of online procedure and policies. In the event that the County learns that the user is using other networks in an unacceptable way, the County reserves the right to take corrective action against the user.

The County is not responsible for, and shall not be held liable for any damages resultant of any conduct, content, communications, goods and services available on or through the Services.

The County may at all times monitor the performance of the Services electronically with the goal of ensuring proper  operation.

The user acknowledges that the County has the right, but not the obligation, to monitor or disclose the contents of private communications that may be created, transmitted or exchanged using the Services if the County, in its sole discretion, reasonably believes that such action is necessary:

• To comply with applicable law or valid legal processes;
• To protect the County’s rights or property;
• In emergencies where a person's physical safety is compromised; and/or
• To enforce the terms of this AUP.

The County is not obliged to inform the user  that such information has been disclosed or will be disclosed.

If the user has any question or complaint regarding this AUP, please contact inquiries@foothillsfibre.ca.

Uses and Restrictions

User may only use the Service from the user’s equipment located at the user’s service location.  The Services are only to be used for normal business calling purposes such as person to person conversations or voice messages.

User is solely responsible for use of the Service provided to it by the County, regardless if such use occurred without the user's consent or knowledge.

User may not use the Service for:

• Data, fax, internet access, a call centre, callback, call sell (telemarketing), auto dialer, bulk faxing or debit card services;
• Chat lines, multi-party lines, long-distance calls made using call forwarding and three-way calling features, or party lines or calls to pay-per-call services which impose unusually high costs on the County;
• Illegal, fraudulent or improper purposes, criminal offences, intellectual property infringement, harassment (including annoying or offensive calls/transmissions);
• Any purpose intended to cause interference with the County’s network operations or the Services, including the fair and proportionate use of the Services by others, as determined by the County, in its sole discretion, from time to time;
• Sustained and excessive use of the Service in a manner which is materially inconsistent with average small home office/business usage patterns to make unlimited long distance calls directed to or within certain high cost of service areas, as determined and designated as such by the County, in its sole discretion, from time to time; and/or
• Any activity that violates any local, provincial, federal, international or other applicable law or regulation.

USER IS REQUIRED TO CONTACT THE COUNTY BEFORE USING ANY MEDICAL MONITORING DEVICES THROUGH THE SERVICE.

Service Interruptions

The County does not warrant uninterrupted use of the Service. User  is responsible to ensure that any user- provided equipment used with the Service is compatible with the Equipment and the Service. Most importantly, some equipment may not operate if there is a power failure, resulting in user losing the ability to use the Service, including access to 9-1-1 emergency services until the power is restored. A power failure or disruption in the Service may require the County to reset or reconfigure the Equipment prior to user being able to utilize the Service.

Re-Sold Service

Where re-sold telephone service is being provided to user by the County, as all or part of the Service: (i) maintenance for the local and long distance telephone service may be provided by parties other than the County; and (ii) all local and long distance telephone services may be subject to the terms and conditions imposed by the primary service provider (including applicable tariffs) with respect to the Service. The County reserves the right to provide re-sold local phone service as a County local service.

Automatic-Dialing Announcing Devices

The use of Automatic Dialing Announcing Devices ("ADAD") to make unsolicited calls for the purpose of solicitation, or to place calls to emergency lines or healthcare facilities is strictly prohibited. If user violates these restrictions, or those posted or imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the County may terminate the Service immediately.

The same restrictions that apply to ADAD apply to unsolicited voice and facsimile calls made for the purposes of solicitation. Users placing unsolicited voice or facsimile calls to solicit are to ensure that an individual's request not to be called again is respected. The individual's name and telephone number must be removed from calling lists within 30 days of receipt of the request.

Directory Service

User’s name, address and telephone number(s) will be published in the telephone directory for users area unless subscriber contacts the County to advise it does not wish its information to be published in the telephone directory.

Provision of 9-1-1 Access

User may use the Service to receive access to emergency services through the 9-1-1 service provider. The then-applicable emergency 9-1-1 administration fee may be billed by the County each month as part of user’s monthly subscription or charge for the Service.

User acknowledges and understands that emergency 9-1-1 service will not be accessible during any suspension or interruption of the Service, including as a result of a system outage or power failure.

Credit and Security Deposit

The County reserves the right to examine the credit records of the user at any time, whether before or after providing the Services.

Liability

The County shall not be liable for:

• Any interruption or unavailability of the Services, including, without limitation, any interruption or unavailability of emergency 9-1-1 service;
• Any act or omission of any third party including, but not limited to, any other local telephone company, any connecting carrier or underlying carrier or other provider of connections, facilities or services;
• User conduct, acts or omissions;
• The County’s failure, for any reason, to activate the Services on the activation date requested; and/or
• Any defacement of, or damage to, user premises resulting from the attachment of any instruments, apparatus or associated wiring and/or the Equipment furnished by the County, or removal thereof, when such defacement or damage is not wholly caused by the County’s gross negligence.

Telephone Numbers

The County reserves the right to modify or change telephone numbers, if such change is required by the Canadian Numbering Association or any other governing body responsible for regulating telephone numbers in Canada. In the event the County is required to modify or change any telephone number, the County will not be liable to compensate user for any costs resulting from such changes.

Security Codes

User is solely responsible to maintain the confidentiality of any security codes for user’s voice mail or other accounts.

Equipment Installation, Maintenance and Return Responsibilities

The County may install the Equipment within or on the user’s premises. The Equipment supplied by the County to user is to be used solely for use of the Service and will at all times remain the property of the County.

User is responsible to supply, at its sole cost and expense, all telephones required for user's use of the Service, all medical and security monitoring devices, fax machines, and any wiring inside user's premises which is required to connect to the Service. The County has no obligation to maintain or repair any facilities or equipment owned by user. It is user's responsibility to ensure that any user-supplied equipment is compatible with the Equipment and Service provided by the County, and user will be solely responsible if its equipment interferes with or causes the Service to fail for any reason whatsoever.

Subscriber Relocation

If user relocates its office within the County’s serving area and user wishes to transfer the Service, including user's current telephone number(s), to the new premises, user must give a minimum of thirty (30) business days advance notice to the County’s subscriber service department. User may only transfer telephone number(s) within the same rate center. The ability to transfer the Service to user's new premises is dependent on the availability of the Service at the new location and access to the building. If sufficient advance notice is not received, the County may not be able to provide the Service on the date of subscriber relocation.

The County is a public body within the meaning of and subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Alberta), and the regulations made thereunder, as such legislation may be amended, re-enacted, replaced, substituted or succeeded from time to time (collectively, "FOIP").

If the County receives a request for information under FOIP that includes information provided by any other party (including, without limitation, information provided by or relating to the user), the County will respond to such request in accordance with FOIP including giving such party notice of the request and allowing for it to provide its views on the disclosure of the requested information. The party will have twenty (20) calendar days to respond to such notice, failing which, the County will proceed to process the request for information in accordance with FOIP.

If the County's response to a request under FOIP is appealed to the Alberta Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, in accordance with the provisions of FOIP, the applicable party shall have the burden of proof as to exemption from disclosure as set out under FOIP, and the applicable party shall be responsible for all costs of such appeal and all costs related to its confidentiality requirements.