END USER ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
Medicine Park Telephone Company, Oklahoma Western Telephone Company, Border 2 Border Communications, Tatum Telephone Company, Electra Telephone Company, Texhoma Fiber, Wichita Online and Southern Plains Cable, (each a “Provider”) have a goal is to provide their respective customers with the best local exchange telephone, high speed Internet service and/or multichannel video services possible. To help accomplish this goal, the companies have adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (the “Policy”). This Policy outlines acceptable use of Provider’s Internet access services (the “Service”). This Policy is in addition to any restrictions contained in the Provider’s Agreement for Services (the “Subscriber Agreement”). All capitalized terms used in this Policy that are not defined here have the meanings given to them in the Subscriber Agreement.
What obligations do I have under this Policy?
All Provider Internet customers and all others who use the Service (the “customer,” “user,” “you,” or “your”) must comply with this Policy. Your failure to comply with this Policy could result in the suspension or termination of your Service. If you do not agree to comply with this Policy, you must immediately stop all use of the Service and notify Provider so that it can discontinue your service. Your continued use of the Service will evidence your acknowledgement of and agreement to comply with this Policy.
How will I know when Provider changes this Policy and how do I report violations of it?
Provider may revise this Policy from time to time by posting a new version on the website at http://www.hillcom.net or any successor URL(s) (the “Provider Website”). Provider will use reasonable efforts to make customers aware of any changes to this Policy, which may include sending email announcements or posting information on the Provider website. Revised versions of this Policy are effective immediately upon posting. Accordingly, customers of the Provider Internet Service should read any Provider announcements they receive and regularly visit the Provider Website and review this Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. You can send questions regarding this Policy to, and report violations of it at, http://www.hillcom.net/contact/.
- Prohibited Uses and Activities
What uses and activities does Provider prohibit?
In general, the Policy prohibits uses and activities involving the Service that are illegal, infringe
upon the rights of others, or interfere with or diminish the use and enjoyment of the Service by others.
For example, these prohibited uses and activities include, but are not limited to, using the
Service, Customer Equipment, or the Provider Equipment, either individually or in combination
with one another, to:
Conduct and information restrictions
- undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes, but is not limited to, posting,
storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material which is libelous, obscene,
unlawful, threatening or defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of any
person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a
criminal offense, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal, or non-U.S. law, order, or
regulation; - post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material which a reasonable person
could deem to be unlawful; - upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works of, or distribute in any way
information, software or other material obtained through the Service or otherwise that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining any required permission of the owner; - transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages commonly known as “spam;”
- send very large numbers of copies of the same or substantially similar messages, empty
messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or send very large messages or
files that disrupts a server, account, blog, newsgroup, chat, or similar service; - initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal scheme;
- participate in the collection of very large numbers of email addresses, screen names, or other
identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice sometimes known as spidering or
harvesting, or participate in the use of software (including “spyware”) designed to facilitate this
activity; - collect responses from unsolicited bulk messages;
- falsify, alter, or remove message headers;
- falsify references to Provider or its network, by name or other identifier, in messages;
- impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address falsification, forge anyone else’s
digital or manual signature, or perform any other similar fraudulent activity (for example,
“phishing”); - violate the rules, regulations, terms of service, or policies applicable to any network, server,
computer database, service, application, system, or Website that you access or use;
Technical restrictions
- access any other person’s computer or computer system, network, software, or data without his
or her knowledge and consent; breach the security of another user or system; or attempt to
circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts without express permission to do so; - use or distribute tools or devices designed or used for compromising security or whose use is
otherwise unauthorized, such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers,
keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs. Unauthorized port scanning is strictly prohibited; - copy, distribute, or sublicense any proprietary software provided in connection with the Service by Provider or any third party, except that you may make one copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
- distribute programs that make unauthorized changes to software (cracks);
- use or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from the Premises that provide network
content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises local area network (“Premises
LAN”), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited
equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, email, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy
services and servers; - use or run programs from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to
anyone outside of your Premises LAN, except for personal and non-commercial residential use; - service, alter, modify, or tamper with the Provider Equipment or Service or permit any other
person to do the same who is not authorized by Provider;
Network and usage restrictions
- restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person, regardless of intent,
purpose or knowledge, to use or enjoy the Service (except for tools for safety and security
functions such as parental controls, for example), including, without limitation, posting or
transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others’ ability to use, send, or retrieve information; - restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a performance degradation,
regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to the Service or any Provider (or Provider supplier) host, server, backbone network, node or service, or otherwise cause a performance degradation to any Provider (or Provider supplier) facilities used to deliver the Service; - resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside the Premises the ability to use
the Service (for example, through Wi-Fi or other methods of networking), in whole or in part,
directly or indirectly. The Service is for personal and non-commercial residential use only and you agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider or for any business
enterprise or purpose (whether or not for profit); - connect the Provider Equipment to any computer outside of your Premises;
- interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to any user, host or network,
including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abusing operator privileges, and attempts to “crash” a host; and - accessing and using the Service with anything other than a dynamic Internet Protocol (“IP”)
address that adheres to the dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”). You may not configure the Service or any related equipment to access or use a static IP address or use any protocol other than DHCP unless you are subject to a Service plan that expressly permits you to do so.
- Customer Conduct and Features of the Service
What obligations do I have under this Policy?
In addition to being responsible for your own compliance with this Policy, you are also responsible for any use or misuse of the Service that violates this Policy, even if it was committed by a friend, family member, or guest with access to your Service account. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not use your account to gain unauthorized access to the Service by, for example, strictly maintaining the confidentiality of your Service login and password. In all cases, you are solely responsible for the security of any device you choose to connect to the Service, including any data stored or shared on that device. Provider recommends against enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict compliance with all security recommendations and features provided by Provider and the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer sharing devices. Any files or devices you choose to make available for shared access on a home LAN, for example, should be protected with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.
It is also your responsibility to secure the Customer Equipment and any other Premises equipment or programs not provided by Provider that connect to the Service from external threats such as viruses, spam, bot nets, and other methods of intrusion.
How does Provider address inappropriate content and transmissions?
Provider reserves the right to refuse to transmit or post, and to remove or block, any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be in violation of Sections I or II of this Policy, or otherwise harmful to Provider’s network or customers using the Service, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful so long as it violates this Policy. Neither Provider nor any of its affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to monitor transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to, email, file transfer, blog, newsgroup, and instant message transmissions as well as materials available on the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features) made on the Service. However, Provider and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents have the right to monitor these transmissions and postings from
time to time for violations of this Policy and to disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with this Policy, the Subscriber Agreement, and applicable law.
What requirements apply to electronic mail?
The Service may not be used to communicate or distribute email or other forms of communications in violation of Section I of this Policy. As described below in Section III of this Policy, Provider uses reasonable network management tools and techniques to protect customers from receiving spam and from sending spam (often without their knowledge over an infected computer).
Provider is not responsible for deleting or forwarding any email sent to the wrong email address by you or by someone else trying to send email to you. Provider is also not responsible for forwarding email sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. This email will be returned to the sender, ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at Provider’s sole discretion. In the event that Provider believes in its sole discretion that any subscriber name, account name, or email address (collectively, an “identifier”) on the Service may be used for, or is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent, or other improper or illegal purpose, Provider (i) reserves the right to block access to and prevent the use of any of these identifiers and (ii) may at any time require any customer to change his or her identifier. In addition, Provider may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Service for Provider’s own purposes. In the event that a Service account is terminated for any reason, all email associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently deleted as well.
What requirements apply to instant, video, and audio messages?
Each user is responsible for the contents of his or her instant, video, and audio messages and the consequences of any of these messages. Provider assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery, deletion, or failure to store these messages. In the event that a Service account is terminated for any reason, all instant, video, and audio messages associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently deleted as well.
What requirements apply to personal web pages and file storage?
As part of the Service, Provider provides access to personal Web pages and storage space through the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage features (collectively, the “Personal Web Features”). You are solely responsible for any information that you or others publish or store on the Personal Web Features. You are also responsible for ensuring that all content made available through the Personal Web Features is appropriate for those who may have access to it. For example, you must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving or accessing inappropriate content. Provider reserves the right to remove, block, or refuse to post or store any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be in violation of Section I of this Policy. For purposes of this Policy, “material” refers to all forms of communications including text, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images, drawings, logos), executable programs and scripts, video recordings, and audio recordings. Provider may remove or block content contained on your Personal Web Features and terminate your Personal Web Features and/or your use of the Service if we determine that you have violated the terms of this Policy.
III. Network Management and Limitations on Data Consumption
Why does Provider manage its network?
Provider manages its network to deliver the best possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers. High-speed bandwidth and network resources are not unlimited. Managing the network is essential as Provider works to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of its customers. The company uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards. Provider tries to use tools and technologies that are minimally intrusive and, in its independent judgment guided by industry experience, among the best in class. Of course, the company’s network management practices will change and evolve along with the uses of the Internet and the challenges and threats on the Internet.
The need to engage in network management is not limited to Provider. In fact, all large Internet service providers manage their networks. Many of them use the same or similar tools that Provider does. If the company didn’t manage its network, its customers would be subject to the negative effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other risks and degradations of service. By engaging in responsible network management including enforcement of this Policy, Provider can deliver the best possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers.
How does Provider manage its network?
Provider uses various tools and techniques to manage its network, deliver the Service, and ensure compliance with this Policy and the Subscriber Agreement. These tools and techniques are dynamic, like the network and its usage, and can and do change frequently. For example, these network management activities may include (i) identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customer email accounts, (ii) detecting malicious Internet traffic and preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, (iii) temporarily lowering the priority of traffic for users who are the top contributors to current network congestion, and (iv) using other tools and techniques that Provider may be required to implement in order to meet its goal of delivering the best possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers.
Are there restrictions on data consumption that apply to the Service?
The Service is for personal and non-commercial residential use only. Therefore, Provider reserves the right to suspend or terminate Service accounts where data consumption is not characteristic of a typical residential user of the Service as determined by the company in its sole discretion. Provider has established a monthly data consumption threshold per Provider Internet account of 50 Gigabytes (“GB”). Use of the Service in excess of 50 GB per month is excessive use and is a violation of the Policy. Common activities that may cause excessive data consumption in violation of this Policy include, but are not limited to, numerous or continuous bulk transfers of files and other high capacity traffic using (i) file transfer protocol (“FTP”), (ii) peer-to-peer applications, (iii) newsgroups, and (iv) streaming of content hosted by other entities. You must also ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any other person’s use of the Service, nor represent (as determined by Provider in its sole discretion) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, you must ensure that your use of the Service does not limit or interfere with Provider’s ability to deliver and monitor the Service or any part of its network. If you use the Service in violation of the restrictions referenced above, that is a violation of this Policy. In these cases, Provider may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate your Service account or request that you subscribe to a version of the Service (such as a commercial grade Internet service, if appropriate) if you wish to continue to use the Service at higher data consumption levels. Provider may also provide versions of the Service with different speed and data consumption limitations, among other characteristics, subject to applicable Service plans. Provider’s determination of the data consumption for Service accounts is final.
- Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy
What happens if you violate this Policy?
Provider reserves the right immediately to suspend or terminate your Service account and terminate the Subscriber Agreement if you violate the terms of this Policy or the Subscriber Agreement.
How does Provider enforce this Policy?
Provider does not routinely monitor the activity of individual Service accounts for violations of this Policy, except for determining aggregate data consumption in connection with the data consumption provisions of this Policy. However, in the company’s efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, it will respond appropriately if it becomes aware of inappropriate use of the Service. Provider has no obligation to monitor the Service and/or the network. However, Provider and its suppliers reserve the right at any time to monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions, and content in order to, among other things, operate the Service; identify violations of this Policy; and/or protect the network, the Service and Provider users.
Provider prefers to inform customers of inappropriate activities and give them a reasonable period of time in which to take corrective action. Provider also prefers to have customers directly resolve any disputes or disagreements they may have with others, whether customers or not, without Provider’s intervention. However, if the Service is used in a way that Provider or its suppliers, in their sole discretion, believe violates this Policy, Provider or its suppliers may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate under the circumstances with or without notice. These actions include, but are not limited to, temporary or permanent removal of content, cancellation of newsgroup posts, filtering of Internet transmissions, and the immediate
suspension or termination of all or any portion of the Service (including but not limited to newsgroups). Neither Provider nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will have any liability for any of these responsive actions. These actions are not Provider’s exclusive remedies and Provider may take any other legal or technical actions it deems appropriate with or without notice.
Provider reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this Policy, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on Provider’s servers and network. During an investigation, Provider may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove or block material that potentially violates this Policy. You expressly authorize and consent to Provider and its suppliers cooperating with (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected legal violations, and (ii) and system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy. Upon termination of your Service account, Provider is authorized to delete any files, programs, data, email and other messages associated with your account (and any secondary accounts).
The failure of Provider or its suppliers to enforce this Policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that if any portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Provider and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) resulting from any violation of this Policy. Your indemnification will survive any termination of the Subscriber Agreement.
- Copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Act Requirements
What is Provider’s DMCA policy?
Provider is committed to complying with U.S. copyright and related laws and requires all customers and users of the Service to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any material or content on, or disseminate any material or content over, the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights granted by U.S. copyright law. Owners of copyrighted works who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may take advantage of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) to report alleged infringements. It is Provider’s policy in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws to reserve the right to terminate the Service provided to any customer or user who is either found to infringe third party copyright or other intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers, or who Provider, in its sole discretion, believes is infringing these rights. Provider may terminate the Service at any time with or without notice for any affected customer or user.
How do copyright owners report alleged infringements to Provider?
Copyright owners may report alleged infringements of their works that are stored on the Service or the Personal Web Features by sending Provider’s authorized agent a notification of claimed infringement that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA. Upon Provider’s receipt of a satisfactory notice of claimed infringement for these works, Provider will respond expeditiously to either directly or indirectly (i) remove the allegedly infringing work(s) stored on the Service or the Personal Web Features or (ii) disable access to the work(s). Provider will also notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the removal or disabling of access to the work(s).
Copyright owners may send Comcast a notification of claimed infringement to report alleged infringements of their works under the DMCA to:
DMCA Notifications
Hilliary Communications, LLC
One Big Rock Road
Medicine Park, OK 73557 U.S.A.
Phone: 580-529-2700
Fax: 580-529-5225
Email: dmca@hillcom.net
Copyright owners may use their own notification of claimed infringement form that satisfies the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Under the DMCA, anyone who knowingly makes misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright infringement may be liable to Provider, the alleged infringer, and the affected copyright owner for any damages incurred in connection with the removal, blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.
What can customers do if they receive a notification of alleged infringement?
If you receive a notification of alleged infringement as described above, and you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then you may send a counter notification to Provider. Upon Provider’s receipt of a counter notification that satisfies the requirements of DMCA, Provider will provide a copy of the counter notification to the person who sent the original notification of claimed infringement and will follow the DMCA’s procedures with respect to a received counter notification. In all events, you expressly agree that Provider will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.
If a notification of claimed infringement has been filed against you, you can file a counter notification with Provider’s designated agent using the contact information shown above. All counter notifications must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Customer’s service is subject to termination in accordance with Provider’s policy, for repeated notices of claimed infringement by Copyright owners.
Revised and effective: March 1, 2018
Privacy Notice
Effective Date: March 1, 2018
This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices for Hilliary Communications and our website; http://www.hillcom.net. This privacy notice applies solely to information collected by this website, except where stated otherwise. It will notify you of the following:
- What information we collect;
- With whom it is shared;
- How it can be corrected;
- How it is secured;
- How policy changes will be communicated; and
- How to address concerns over misuse of personal data.
Information Collection
We are the sole owners of the information collected from you such as personal information that identifies you or can reasonably be used to identify you. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you, including but not limited to the following:
- Account information, including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, service-related details such as payment data, security codes, service history and other similar information;
- Network performance & usage information which tells us how you use our network, our products and our services and how well our equipment and network is performing;
- Web browsing and application information which tells us about the websites you visit and the applications you use on our network;
- Location information which tells us where your service is located as well as your ZIP code and street address;
- TV viewing information which tells us about which programs you watch and record and similar information about how you use our video services and applications.
Use of Information
We will use information collected from you to provide services and improve your customer experience, send you bills, respond to your questions, address network integrity, help in fraud prevention and network and device security issues, do research and analysis to maintain, protect, develop, and improve our network and services, let you know about service updates, content, offers and promotions that may be of interest to you, improve entertainment options, deliver relevant advertising, create external marketing and analytics reports, and assist in the prevention and investigation of illegal activities and violations of our terms of service or acceptable use policy.
Sharing of Information
We will not sell or rent this information to anyone. Some examples of who we share your personal information with are:
- Our affiliates, subsidiaries and parent company in order to give you the best customer experience and to help you get everything we have to offer;
- Other non-affiliated companies the perform services on your behalf only as needed for them to preform those services. We require them to protect your information consistent with our policy.
- Other companies and entities as necessary to:
- Respond to 911 requests and other emergencies;
- Comply with court orders and other legal process;
- Assist with identity verification, and preventing fraud and identity theft;
- Enforce our agreements and property rights;
- And to obtain payment for products and service including the transfer or sale of delinquent accounts to third parties for collection.
Online Privacy for Children
We do not knowingly collection personally identifying information from anyone under the age of 13 unless we first obtain permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian.
Your Access to and Control Over Information
You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the email address or phone number provided on our website:
- See what data we have about you, if any.
- Change/correct any data we have about you.
- Have us delete any data we have about you.
- Express any concern you have about our use of your data
Registration
In order to use our services and our website, a user may first be required to complete a registration form. During registration a user is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact you about the products/services on our site in which you have expressed interest. At your option, you may also provide demographic information (such as gender or age) about yourself, but it is not required.
Orders
We request information from you on our order form. To purchase services and/or products from us, you must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we’ll use this information to contact you.
Sharing
We share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes beyond filling your order. We partner with another party to provide specific services. When the user signs up for these services, we will share names, or other contact information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services. These parties are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.
Security
We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline. Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a closed lock icon at the bottom of your web browser or looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page. While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (e.g. billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers on which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
Cookies
We use “cookies” on this site. A cookie is a piece of data stored on a site visitor’s hard drive to help us improve your access to our site and identify repeat visitors to our site. For instance, when we use a cookie to identify you, you would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their experience on our site. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site. Some of our business partners may use cookies on our site (e.g., advertisers). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies.
Links
This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.
Surveys
From time-to-time our site requests information via surveys. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you may choose whether or not to participate and therefore disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.
Notification of Changes
Whenever material changes are made to the privacy notice you will be notified by email and by direct mail to the mailing address you provided when you purchased goods and/or services.
If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via telephone at 1-877-77FIBER or via email at privacy@hillcom.net