Effective Date: February 28, 2022
This TSYS Acceptable Use Policy for Messaging Services (“AUP”) applies to all services pursuant to which Total System Services LLC (“TSYS”, “we”, or “us” as applicable), whether directly or using a third party service provider, sends messages to individuals or entities on your behalf (such messaging services being the “Messaging Services” as used herein).
In the event of a conflict between the terms of this AUP and the terms of the agreement with us governing your use of our Messaging Services (the “Agreement”), the terms and conditions of this AUP apply, but only to the extent of such conflict. Capitalized terms used herein but not defined herein have the meanings set forth in the Agreement, and all references to “include”, “includes”, and “including” shall be deemed to be followed by “without limitation”.
No Illegal, Harmful, or Offensive Use or Content
You are solely responsible for your Content. You may not use the Messaging Services, and shall not instruct TSYS to send any messages using the Messaging Services, (i) to engage in or encourage any activity that is illegal, harmful, fraudulent, infringing or offensive use, or abusive activities or (ii) to transmit, store, display, distribute or otherwise make available Content that is illegal, harmful, fraudulent, infringing or offensive. For purpose of this AUP, “Content” means (a) content exchanged by means of use of the Messaging Services, such as text, message bodies, voice and voice media, images and sound; (b) messaging data sent, such as sender, recipient, and copy recipient identification information (first and last name), contact information (address, telephone number (fixed and mobile), email address, fax number, employment information (job title); and (c) any other data that you choose to include within the body of an email or other communication. Prohibited activities and prohibited
Content include:
- Illegal, Harmful or Fraudulent Activities. Any activities that are illegal, deceptive, that violate the rights of others, or that may be harmful to others, our operations or reputation (or those of our third party service providers supporting the Messaging Services), including disseminating, promoting or facilitating pornography; offering or disseminating fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions (including misinformation about any of the foregoing); make-money-fast schemes; ponzi and pyramid schemes; phishing or pharming; and advertising or promoting prescription medication that cannot legally be sold over-the-counter.
- Infringing Content. Content that infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property or proprietary rights of others.
- Offensive Content. Content that is illegal, fraudulent, libelous, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, abusive, invasive of privacy, or otherwise malicious or harmful speech or acts to any person or entity, including hate speech, pornography, cannabis-related Content, confirmed criminal misinformation, and any other Content that TSYS or its third party provider reasonably believes degrades, intimidates, incites violence against, encourages prejudicial action against anyone based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, geographic location or other protected category, or otherwise imposes a threat to the public.
- Harmful Content. Content or other computer technology that may damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept, or expropriate any system, program, or data, including viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, or cancelbots.
- Denial of Service Attacks or Related Conduct. Launching or facilitating a denial of service attack on TSYS services or the TSYS system or any other conduct that materially and adversely impacts the availability, reliability, or stability of the Messaging Services or other TSYS services.
Compliance with Applicable Laws
Without limiting your compliance obligations under the Agreement, you shall not use the Messaging Services or direct TSYS to send messages using the Messaging Services in a manner that violates any laws, rules, regulations, or governmental orders applicable in jurisdictions in which your applications are used, including those relating to individual privacy or the distribution of email and other one-to-one communications, or requiring consent to be obtained prior to transmitting, recording, collecting, or monitoring data or communications.
No Unsolicited Messaging
You are solely responsible for the selection and identification of recipient phone numbers and/or addresses to which you direct TSYS to send messages via the Messaging Services. You may not use the Messaging Services to distribute, publish, send or facilitate the sending of unsolicited, unwanted or harassing communications (commercial or otherwise).
No Harvesting
- You may not use the Messaging Services to harvest or otherwise collect information about individuals, including email addresses or phone numbers, without their explicit consent or under false pretenses.
No Unauthorized Access
No attempt shall be made to gain unauthorized access to the Messaging Services.
No Benchmarking
You may not perform benchmarks or comparative tests or evaluations of the Messaging Services.
No Misleading Identity
In messages sent using the Messaging Services, you may not create a false identity or forged email address or header, or phone number, or otherwise attempt to mislead others as to the identity of the sender or the origin of a message or email.
No Emergency Services
You may not use the Messaging Services in any way that allows a user or recipient to connect with emergency services personnel or public safety answering points such as 911 or E911 services.
No Evasion Measures
In messages sent using the Messaging Services, you may not use Content or measures intended to evade mechanisms, filters, and detection capabilities designed to identify unwanted messages, including snowshoeing (spreading similar or identical messages across many phone numbers with the intent or effect of evading filters), intentionally misspelled words, or non-standard opt-out phrases created with the intent to evade filters.
Service-Specific Terms for Text Messaging
You may not charge recipients for receiving notifications by SMS unless you have obtained the recipient’s express consent. You must advise recipients receiving SMS notifications that wireless carriers may charge the recipient to receive notifications by SMS. Through your use of the text messaging component of the Messaging Services you shall not, and will not instruct TSYS to:
- Transmit any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms or any other malicious, harmful, or deleterious programs.
- Materially violate or facilitate the material violation of any local or foreign law, rule, regulation or order, including laws regarding the transmission of data or software.
- Transmit material that contains sensitive financial or identifying information (such as social security numbers).
- Resell, sublicense or timeshare the Messaging Services or use them on behalf of anonymous or other third parties.
Service-Specific Terms for Email Messaging
We may throttle, suspend or terminate your access to the email channel, or block or decline to send and/or receive any email, if we determine or our third party service provider determines that:
- scans reveal abusive or low quality email (such as “spam”),
- email bounces back to us or we receive abuse complaints (including complaints from third parties) in connection with your email,
- the source or ReturnPath email address you have provided us for “address bounces” or complaints is not successfully receiving email,
- your emails or your Content include an attachment in a format that we do not support, or
- your Content poses a risk of deliverability issues or third-party complaints that would negatively affect performance of email Messaging Services or TSYS’ or its third party provider’s business reputation, such as emails related to work-at-home hoaxes, get rich quick schemes, or make money online schemes; gambling services; credit repair and get-out-of debt opportunities; and cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an Initial Coin Offering.
You shall not use the Messaging Services to distribute, publish, send, or facilitate the sending of unsolicited mass e-mail messages, promotions, advertising, or solicitations (like “spam”), including commercial advertising and informational announcements. You will not instruct TSYS to alter or obscure mail headers and you will not assume a sender’s identity without the sender’s explicit permission. You will not collect replies to email messages sent from another internet service provider if those messages violate this AUP or the acceptable use policy of that provider.
You may not use the Messaging Services for email messages (a) using non-permission based email lists (i.e., lists in which each recipient has not explicitly granted permission to receive emails from you by affirmatively opting-in to receive those emails); (b) using purchased or rented email lists; (c) using third party email addresses, domain names, or mail servers without proper permission; (d) sending emails to non-specific addresses (e.g., [email protected] or [email protected]); (e) sending emails that result in an unacceptable number of spam or unsolicited commercial email complaints (even if the emails themselves are not actually spam or unsolicited commercial email); (f) disguising the origin or subject matter of any email or falsifying or manipulating the originating email address, subject line, headers, or transmission path information for any email; (g) failing to include in each email your valid physical mailing address, a link to that information, or other way to contact you; (h) including “junk mail,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” incentives (e.g., coupons, discounts, awards, or other incentives) or other material in any email that encourages a recipient to forward the email to another recipient; and (i) using any tracking technologies (e.g., tracking pixels or cookies) in emails sent to a recipient prior to obtaining consent from that recipient to the extent and in the manner required by applicable law or regulation .
Our Monitoring and Enforcement
We and our third party message distribution providers reserve the right, but do not assume the obligation, to investigate any violation of this AUP or misuse of the Messaging Services. We or they may (i) remove, disable access to, or modify any content or resource that violates this AUP or any other agreement we have with you for use of the Messaging Services.
We and/or our third party message distribution providers may report any activity that we or they suspect violates any law or regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or other appropriate third parties. That reporting may include disclosing appropriate customer information. We also may cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies, regulators, or other appropriate third parties to help with the investigation and prosecution of illegal conduct by providing network and systems information related to alleged violations of this AUP.
Reporting of Violations of this AUP
If you become aware of any violation of this AUP, you will immediately notify us and provide us with assistance, as requested, to stop or remedy the violation.