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MetTech Hosting Services

Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Use

1. Introduction

In consideration for a fee, MetTech provides to its clients several information technology and Internet marketing related services, hereinafter, referred to as the service. As a provider of these services, MetTech enables its clients to acquire and disseminate information, buy and sell products/services, send and receive email, and participate in other legal Internet related activities. As a provider of such services, we have a responsibility and an obligation to our clients, the public, and ourselves. In order to protect and maintain the integrity of our services, equipment, client commitments, and our reputation the following AUP/TOU (Acceptable Use Policy/Terms of Use) has been implemented and will be strictly enforced.

2. General

Your use of MetTech services constitutes acceptance of our offer and agreement to this AUP. This AUP may be revised from time to time and a user's continued use of the service after revisions are published on MetTech's website will constitute user's acceptance of any new or additional terms of the AUP.

3. Coverage

These terms apply to you, your employees, associates, agents, affiliates, contractors, and/or customers. Any violation of this policy by anyone using your account, will be treated as a violation by you.

4. Security

a)You agree not to access or attempt to access private areas of the network.
b)You agree not to access or attempt to access an account, message, or file that does not belong to you unless you have the proper authorization to do so.
c)You agree to keep your user name and password secure to prevent any unauthorized person(s) from accessing your account.
d)You agree to notify MetTech as soon as you become aware of an unauthorized use of your account and/or by any breach or attempted breach of security.

5. Legal Compliance

Client promises and covenants at all times to operate in a lawful and ethical manner. The Client acknowledges to having read, and understands the Acceptable Use Policy and agrees to abide by said policy. Client shall comply with all federal, state, and any other statutes, regulations, or other applicable requirements imposed by any lawful authority concerning the operation of the business, including, but not limited to, all managerial decisions, expenditures, and activities involving payment of all income and taxes, and also acknowledges they are legally competent to enter in a contract in the jurisdiction in which they reside. Although the Client may be assisted in becoming aware of applicable laws, rules, and requirements, the sole responsibility to conduct an independent business lawfully in any jurisdiction rests with the Client. Therefore, MetTech is released from all liability for any of the Client's actions and/or omissions.

6. Taxes

The Client agrees to assume full responsibility for the payment of all sales, use, property, excise, duties, or other taxes due upon sale of products and services related to order transactions from clients' buyers using the service.

7. Import/Export

The Client agrees that he/she/they will not import/export any of the products or services listed for sale on the service without the appropriate United States and foreign government licenses/approvals.

8. Indemnification

Client agrees to indemnify MetTech (including its respective officers, directors, agents, affiliates, contractors, and employees) against and hold harmless from all costs, expenses, and liabilities arising from or related to clients' use of service.

9. Liability

You agree that the use of the Service is at your own risk. Except for information, products, or services clearly identified as being supplied by MetTech, neither MetTech nor any of its affiliates controls provides, operates, or is in any way responsible for any information, products, or services accessible through the Service. MetTech neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy of third-party materials(s), and you agree that MetTech is not responsible for any loss or damage caused by your use of, or reliance on, such materials.
You agree to be liable for any damages or loss of service that results in damages to MetTech as a result of any spamming or other violations. These damages include, but are not limited to, system shut down, retaliatory attacks or data flooding. You agree that MetTech may pursue any such claims against you in the appropriate court in the state of Michigan. You agree that in no event will MetTech have financial liability to you in excess of the dollar amount remaining on your current service period.

10. Suspension/Termination

MetTech, at its sole option, may suspend or terminate your account with or without prior notice, for violation of this AUP or non-payment. Suspension results in taking your website offline. The files remain on the server. Termination results in removal of your files. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

11. Consequences of Suspension/Termination

Suspension or termination does not remove your liability for any charges due MetTech. Billing continues during suspension time, it is not suspended with your website. No credits will be issued.
Upon suspension you will be notified by email of the suspension, the reason why your site was suspended, remedies that will release the suspension, and a deadline to implement the remedies. Failure to implement a compliant remedy will result in termination.
If we terminate your website, initially, all funds received from you will be retained as liquidated damages. You may owe additional fees such as clean-up charges, damages, etc. Once all damages have been determined and paid for, any remaining funds will be mailed to you.

12. Prices and Charges

MetTech charges for the Service are set at the time the service is ordered.

Unsolicited Bulk E-mail (spam) cleanup: $400 + $5 per message sent + $75 per complaint received by MetTech.

Damages to Network: Charges for restoration of the network will be billed at the prevailing rates at the time of occurrence.

Returned Checks: Any checks returned by the issuing institution will be charged a returned-check fee of $29.

Failure to Pay: If you fail to pay for your account for 10 days after the date of the invoice, MetTech may without further notice terminate your account. Termination does not remove your responsibility to pay all fees incurred up to the date that your account was terminated. Client agrees to pay any fees or costs in collecting past-due amounts, including costs of attorneys or a collection bureau.

13. Prohibited Content/Activities

1. Illegal Uses: MetTech services may not be used for, or in support of, illegal activities of any kind. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.
2. Harm to Minors: Use of MetTech services to harm or to attempt to harm minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography is strictly prohibited. Any account found to contain or linking to such content will be terminated immediately. Any implication of underage content or misleading information perceived to be harmful to minors will result in the same penalties. All violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
3. Harm to Minors: Use of MetTech services to harm or to attempt to harm minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography is strictly prohibited. Any account found to contain or linking to such content will be terminated immediately. Any implication of underage content or misleading information perceived to be harmful to minors will result in the same penalties. All violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
4. Adult Sites/Pornography: adult-oriented material/content, sexually explicit, or sexually related content, including links and/or link trails to sites that provide the same are strictly prohibited. Any account found to contain or linking to such content will be terminated immediately. MetTech reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine what constitutes "adult-oriented material", "adult content", "sexually explicit", or "sexually related".
5. Terrorism: Any site that displays, promotes, or advocates terrorism, solicits or attempts to solicit funds, recruits, or other assets for terrorism will be immediately terminated. All violations will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
6. Hate Related/Propaganda: This type of content includes, but is not limited to content that:
   1. Victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates any individual or group on the basis of religion, gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, or any other prejudicial reason.
   2. Is unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another's privacy, or tortuous
   3. Promotes, endorses, encourages, suggests, or incites (whether directly, by implication, insinuation, or by presentation) violence, physical harm, or injury to any person(s) or group(s) or destruction of property.
7. Copyright/Trademark/Intellectual Property rights violations (see Paragraph 13a).
8. SPAM: Transmitting any unsolicited commercial or unsolicited bulk email is expressly prohibited. Violators will be liable for additional charges as described in Paragraph twelve (12), as well as being subject to account termination.
9. Hacker Programs or Archives
10. Warez Sites and Pirated Software
11. Harmful Files: including, but not limited to spyware, malware, viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, time bombs, or any other files that may damage or impair the operation of another's computer or MetTech servers.
12. Network Distributions and Unfriendly activity: You may not use the MetTech service in any way that will affect the ability of others to use the service, the Internet, or their own systems. This includes, but is not limited to syn flood attacks, email/news bombing, denial-of-service attacks, etc.
13. Network Performance: MetTech accounts operate on shared resources. Fees are based on a set amount of allocated resources. Abuse of these shared resources by one client has a negative impact on all other clients. Misuse of network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy. If you need additional resources, please inquire about an upgrade.
14. Forgery or impersonation: Using any method to disguise the sender's identity or location such as adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information, addresses, or other identification in website pages or email. Note: The use of anonymous remailers or nicknames does not constitute impersonation.
15. Privacy: If you use the service to cause any executable code(s) or script (hereafter referred to as code) to be installed on any user's computer, it must meet the following criteria:
    1. Informed Consent
       1. Clearly advises the user an installation is about to take place and gives the user the option prior to installation to decline the installation. If the user declines the installation, the code must not install.
       2. Clearly and conspicuously informs the user what the code does and what private information is disclosed, for what reason, and to whom it is disclosed, if any.
       3. Must fully disclose what the code does. For example: A toolbar download that claims to improve download speeds, but also is tracking the user's activity and information, and then transmitting this data for the purpose of selling this information to companies for marketing purposes. The code disclosure must inform the user of this prior to installation! Simply stating the code will improve download speeds is not sufficient.
16. Must not be self-replicating.
17. Must not do damage to the user's computer.
18. Includes a working user-friendly uninstall feature. The uninstall feature must allow for the user to uninstall the code at will, without contacting a third party, and remove all of the code.
19. Note: This section does not include code that makes "calls" to open and/or run a program that is already installed on the user's computer.

14. Warranty

METTECH MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTITIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PATICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE SERVICE, OR ANY OTHER SOFTWARE AND/OR MATERIAL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICE.
METTECH DOES NOT WARRANT THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SERVICE WILL MEET THE CLIENT'S EXPECTATIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SITE TRAFFIC OR RESULTING BUSINESS. IN NO EVENT WILL METTECH BE LIABLE TO THE CLIENT OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY PERCEIVED LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE OPERATION OF OR INABILITY TO OPERATE THE SERVICE.
THE SERVICE AND SOFTWARE PROVIDED ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. METTECH DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THEY WILL BE ERROR-FREE AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. METTECH DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SECURITY OR BACK-UP OF ANY OF YOUR DATA THAT MAY BE STORED ON THIS SERVICE.

15. Governing Law

This agreement shall be deemed to have been entered into and shall be interpreted and governed in all respects by the laws of the state of Michigan, as they apply to contracts between residents of the state of Michigan. Except as otherwise provided, all rights of the parties are cumulative and in addition to any rights that a party may have in law or in equity. Any suit or proceeding in connection herewith may be brought only in the Circuit Court in Branch County, Michigan or Federal Court of the Western District of Michigan. Client hereby agrees to the jurisdiction of such courts and agrees to accept service by certified mail in any such proceedings.

16. Severability and Waiver

Should any provision of this agreement be found by a court of law to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, the legality, validity, and enforceability of the remaining provisions of the agreement shall not be affected or impaired.