Acceptable Use Policy
1. Introduction
1.1 This Acceptable Use Policy (as updated from time to time) is incorporated into our Agreement pursuant to the Terms and Conditions. It governs how the Customer and Authorised Affiliates may access and use the Services.
1.2 Defined terms in this Acceptable Use Policy shall have the meaning given in the Terms and Conditions the same rules of interpretation apply. In addition, in this Acceptable Use Policy the following definitions have the meanings given below:
| AIT | means any situation where Transactions: are sent, generated and/or simulated for the direct or indirect benefit of any entity (including a natural person) operation, or as a result of any activity by or on behalf of such entity; and result in a pattern which is disproportionate to the overall amount and/or extent of Transactions which would be expected from good faith usage or acceptable and reasonable commercial practice and shall include, without limitation: any situation where any member of the public (including partnerships, companies and corporations) is misled into sending or receiving Transactions by such party; any breach of any relevant law or of any then current industry ruling, regulation, convention, policy guidance or statement of principle; or any activity which has the effect, intended effect or likely effect of preventing the billing system from capturing any necessary billing information or causing incorrect billing by the billing system. |
| Smishing | means smishing, phishing and vishing as are in common usage in the mobile telecommunications industry and where “Smishing” is used in this Acceptable Use Policy it shall have those common industry meanings. |
| Terms and Conditions | means the terms and conditions for the Services entered into between the parties; and |
| Virus | means any virus, disabling code (including code intended to limit or prevent any use any software or system) or other malicious software (including malware, trojan horses, ransomware and spyware). |
1.3 The Customer and Authorised Affiliates are only permitted to use and access the Services for the Permitted Purpose as defined in our Agreement and in accordance with its terms. Use of the Services (or any part) in any other way, including in contravention of any restriction on use set out in this Acceptable Use Policy, is not permitted. If any person does not agree with the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy, they may not use the Services.
1.4 The Supplier shall be permitted to make changes to this Acceptable Use Policy at any time to ensure compliance with any Applicable Law and any Network Operator terms and conditions.
2. Restrictions on use
2.1 As a condition of use of the Services, the Customer (on its own behalf and on behalf of Authorised Affiliates and Authorised Users) and each Authorised User agrees not to use the Services nor permit them to be used:
- for any purpose which:
- is unlawful under any applicable law or regulation;
- does not comply with any direction of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) or any other applicable regulatory body;
- puts the Supplier in breach of its agreements with any Network Operators; or
- is prohibited by this Acceptable Use Policy or our Agreement;
- in any way which is contrary to restrictions imposed by Network Operators;
- to commit any act of fraud including (without limitation) AIT;
- to distribute any Virus;
- for purposes of promoting unsolicited advertising or sending spam;
- to simulate communications from the Supplier or another service or entity in order to collect identity information, authentication credentials, or other information (‘phishing’) or any other form of Smishing;
- in any manner that disrupts the operations, business, equipment, websites or systems of the Supplier or any other person or entity (including any denial of service and similar attacks);
- in any manner that harms or may endanger minors or any other person;
- in connection with any service, use or purpose where the failure of the Services (or any part) may endanger the health or life of any person or cause damage or loss to any tangible property or the environment;
- to promote any unlawful activity;
- to represent or suggest that the Supplier endorses any other business, product or service unless the Supplier has separately agreed to do so in writing;
- to gain unauthorised access to or use of any computers, data, systems, accounts or networks of any person;
- in any manner which may impair any other person’s use of the Services or use of any other services provided by the Supplier to any other person;
- to attempt to circumvent any security controls or mechanisms;
- to attempt to circumvent any password or user authentication methods of any person;
- in any manner inconsistent with our Agreement or with the relevant User Manual or other instructions provided by the Supplier from time to time; or
- in any manner which does not comply with the provisions relating to Intellectual Property Rights contained in our Agreement.
2.2 The Customer (on its own behalf and on behalf of Authorised Affiliates and Authorised Users) and each Authorised User agrees that it shall not operate, without the prior written consent of the Supplier, whether directly through a third party, any device to route or re-route any Transaction or the Service on, from or to the networks used by the Supplier in providing the Services, including without limitation:
- any GSM gateway or boxes;
- any device used to forward or divert Transactions with the intention of reducing any charges associated with that Transaction (except where a device is provided by the Supplier as part of the Services and used by the Customer strictly in accordance with our Agreement and this Acceptable Use Policy); or
- any other form of low quality network routes, grey routes or any methods involving spoofing, to deliver “application to person” Transaction traffic to the networks used by the Supplier in providing the Services.
2.3 The Customer shall not and shall procure that its Authorised Affiliate and Authorised Users shall not directly or indirectly provide the Services to, or allow them to be used by, any third parties. Any use of the Services by a third party in breach of this clause shall be the sole responsibility of the Customer.
2.4 The Customer shall immediately inform the Supplier if it becomes aware of the Services being used in breach of any of the provisions set out in this Acceptable Use Policy or any other provision of our Agreement.
2.5 The Customer shall at all times remain responsible for the use of the Services under its control, including use by third parties (whether fraudulent or invited by the Customer).
2.6 The Customer, its Authorised Affiliates and Authorised Users must at all times treat the Supplier’s employees and representatives with respect and courtesy and must not verbally abuse, harass, threaten or use threatening or upsetting language towards the Supplier’s employees.
3. Customer Data and communication standards
3.1 Any Customer Data or communication made on or using the Services by any person must conform to appropriate and lawful standards of accuracy, decency and lawfulness, which shall be applied in the Supplier’s discretion, acting reasonably. In particular, the Customer warrants and undertakes that any Customer Data and each such communication shall at all times be:
- submitted lawfully and without infringement of any Intellectual Property Rights of any person;
- free of any Virus (at the point of entering the Subscribed Service or Supplier’s systems);
- factually accurate;
- provided with the necessary consent of any third party;
- clear in relation to the pricing of accessing any services promoted;
- identified as a marketing communication if applicable;
- not defamatory or likely to give rise to an allegation of defamation;
- not likely to bring the Supplier or a Network Operator into disrepute;
- not obscene, seditious, vulgar, pornographic, sexually explicit, discriminatory or deceptive;
- not abusive, threatening, offensive, harassing or invasive of privacy;
- not racist, sexist or xenophobic;
- not liable to offend religious sentiments or deeply held beliefs; and
- unlikely to cause offence, embarrassment or annoyance to any person.
3.2 The Customer shall remain responsible for the content of any Customer Data and any other communication made on or using the Services and the Supplier will be under no obligation to monitor, or be in any way liable for, such content.
3.3 The Customer shall ensure that any Transactions containing direct marketing are sent in accordance with the relevant data privacy laws, including the requirement to obtain express consent, notifying the receiver of their option to opt-out and the times during which Transactions can be sent.
4. Email Thresholds and Sending Requirements
4.1 When using our Services for email marketing, the Customer must adhere to the following guidelines and thresholds:
Email sending metrics must remain within the following acceptable levels:
- Bounces: ≤ 5%
- Unsubscribes: ≤ 1.4% (or 1% if unsubscribes > clicks)
- Spam Complaints: ≤ 0.08%
- Blocks: < 20%
4.2 These metrics are calculated based on the number of messages that have bounced, been reported as spam, or been blocked, as applicable.
4.3 The Supplier reserves the right to update the parameters of the acceptable sending thresholds without prior notice.
4.4 Failure to maintain metrics within these thresholds may result in limitations on the Customer’s use of the Services or other actions as outlined in our Agreement.
4.5 In addition to maintaining the above metrics, the Customer must also:
- not acquire or send to third-party mailing lists. Use of contact lists that are bought, rented, or scraped from third parties is prohibited;
- ensure that emails (unless transactional) are only sent to recipients who have granted clear, explicit, and provable consent to receive communication;
- be able to provide proof of consent in the event of an escalated abuse complaint;
- include a clear and functioning unsubscribe link in every marketing email campaign and honour all unsubscribe requests without undue delay;
- ensure that the “From”, “To”, and “Reply-To” fields in all emails accurately identify the sender’s domain name and email address;
- publish and comply with a privacy policy that meets legal requirements and include a link to that policy in the body of each marketing email.
5. IP Address Usage
5.1 IP Address Usage:
- The Customer may only use IP addresses assigned to them by the Supplier in connection with the Services.
- The Customer agrees that if they register a DNS record or zone on Supplier-managed or operated DNS servers or services for a domain of which they are not the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrar’s WHOIS system, that, upon request from the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrar’s WHOIS system, the Supplier may modify, transfer, or delete such records or zones.