Per FCC, we are required to run customer premise speed and latency tests. See this FCC page for more details.

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for Ontario Telephone Company, Inc. and Trumansburg Telephone Company, Inc.

Introduction 

Ontario Telephone Company, Inc., a New York corporation, Trumansburg Telephone Company, Inc., a New York corporation, and their respective affiliates and related entities(collectively, “Ontario Tel,” “we,” “us” or “our”) understand that by using our website, you are entrusting us with private information. As a result, we have crafted this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) with you in mind, so that we can protect your personal data and inform you of your privacy rights.  In this Privacy Policy, we explain our policies and procedures for data collection, use, maintenance, protection, and disclosure when you visit http://www.ontariotel.com and any affiliated pages or mobile applications (collectively, the “Site”). This Privacy Policy applies to the Site and to other online or telephonic means of communication through which we may obtain information from you, including email, text, mobile application, or social media messaging. This policy was last updated as of May 30, 2020.

We will update this policy as we adjust our procedures to protect your information. Before these changes go into effect, we will post the updated policies and procedures here, along with an effective date for the amended Privacy Policy. Once we alter the Privacy Policy, continued use of the Site on or after the effective date is considered consent of the amended Privacy Policy.

Automatically Collected Information

Automatic Information Collection

As is customary for websites, the Site will collect information, including technical and routing information about your computer, without being prompted. We use this information to optimize our Site for our users’ use. If, however, you choose to browse the internet anonymously or opt-out, we will not collect technical or routing information about your device.

Cookies & Web Analytics

Some information, including but not limited to IP addresses, operating systems, browsers, and browsing patterns, is either tracked or collected using “cookies” (which are small data files that a website places on your hard drive for record-keeping purposes) or “web beacons” (which are transparent pixel images that are used in collecting information about website usage). We use these to ensure our content improves and meets your, and other visitors’, needs. While most of the cookies we use will “disappear” when you finish browsing, we also use persistent cookies. Persistent cookies stay on your computer simply to ensure we recognize your device when you revisit our Site.

Please note that there are options on most browsers (including, but not limited to, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer) to disable cookies, but it may impact or limit your use of certain Site functions. To learn more about your ability to manage cookies and web beacons, please consult the privacy features in your browser.

Google Analytics

We may use Google Analytics to collect information about your use of the Site. Google Analytics collects certain information, such as how often you visit the Site, the pages you visit, and the other websites you use prior to visiting the Site. We may use the information received from Google Analytics to improve the Site. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit the website, rather than your name or other identifying information. We do not combine the information collected through the use of Google Analytics with any other information collected from you. Although Google Analytics stores a permanent cookie on your machine to identify you as a unique user the next time you visit the Site, the cookie cannot be used by anyone but Google. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to this site is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use available at http://www.google.com/analytics/tos.html and the Google Privacy Policy available at http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html. You can prevent Google Analytics from recognizing you on return visits to this site by disabling cookies on your browser.

Other Information We Collect

When you create an account on the Site, we may access, request, or collect personal information provided by you, including your name, email address, location, user’s phone or contact book data, user’s inventory of installed apps, and user’s screen recording. This information is only collected when you present it to us, and we may use it for a variety of reasons, as explained in more detail below.

We may also use data insights we attain based on correlation and analytics of your information, which may be used in aggregated and dis-aggregated formats, to obtain trend analytics, or to enhance the Site or provide Site features.

Use of Personally Identifiable Information

We may use (and, where specified, share) your personal information for the following purposes:

Providing Services

We may use personal information to provide you with services that you have ordered or requested. We also use financial/credit card and payment information to process payments made through the Site and may need to share some of this information with delivery services, credit card clearing houses, and other third parties to complete the transaction. We enter into agreements with any such third parties to ensure that they will not further collect, sell, or use your personal information except as necessary to perform the agreed-upon services.

Communication

When you contact us, we may use personal information to reply and provide you with the services or information you requested. We also may use your personal information to collect feedback on our Site and policies.

Site Improvement

We reserve the right to use your personal information and browsing behavior to personalize our Site and improve the overall user experience. We also may use personal information to evaluate responsive rates or gauge the usability of our Site.

Protect content

In order to stop malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity from occurring on our website, we may use identifying information to monitor users’ behavior on the Site. We regret that our attempts to prevent malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal internet activity may cause some users to be suspended from the Site and its features.

Data Rights

If you have concerns about your personal information, we will work with you to review, revise and correct the personal information we have on file.  Contact us via phone at 866-353-7209 or via email at customerservice@ottctel.com to request that we correct any of your personal information.

Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to request and obtain information about, or copies of, the personal information we have regarding you, where said information comes from, the business or commercial purpose for collecting this information, the third parties with whom this information is shared with, and whether our source of information is publicly accessible. Lastly, you may have the right to request information about when we typically delete stored information, or request that information be anonymized or destroyed. Depending on the situation and applicable laws, we may comply with your request to delete your personal information and direct any third parties to delete your personal information as well.

All of our processing is in furtherance of a legitimate business interest under applicable law. We recognize that in certain circumstances a user may withdraw consent if such consumer wishes to do so, and that such consumer maintains a right to his or her own data.

We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets. Should such a sale or transfer occur, we will use reasonable efforts to require that the transferee use personal information provided through this web site in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We do not sell your personal information.

Information Disclosure

We may need to disclose your personal information, as described herein. Most of our disclosures are necessary to complete a transaction or provide the services you have requested. Nonetheless, we may disclose your information if needed to comply with a court order, law, legal proceeding, or request from the government. We also reserve the right to disclose your information if we have the reasonable belief that said disclosure is fundamental to the safety of individuals associated with Ontario Tel or others unaffiliated with the company.

Tracking Disclosure

We do not respond to web browser “do not track” signals or other similar mechanisms.

Children Under the Age of 13

This Site is not designed for children under the age of thirteen, and we do not collect information about children specifically. If you believe that we have inadvertently collected information from a child in that age demographic, please contact us. Our policy is to delete any information collected from a child under the age of 13 as quickly as possible.

Mobile App Privacy

When using our mobile app, we may collect general information about your session as outlined in the sections above. We may also collect information voluntarily supplied by the user.

We do not share any of the information collected by our mobile apps, except where necessary in order to develop or maintain our apps.

Social Media

Our Site includes social media features, such as Facebook and Instagram.  If you interact with any of these features, the feature may collect your IP address and the page you are visiting on the Site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. These social media features may be hosted by us or a third party. To the extent they are hosted by a third party, your interactions with the features are governed by the privacy policies or other policies of the companies providing them, and you should review those privacy policies or other policies to learn about how the information is used and shared.

Electronic Communications

When you send an email to us, you consent to receive reply communications from us or our providers through the same electronic media. We may retain the content of the email, your email address, and our response in order to better service your needs or for legal and regulatory reasons.

Electronic forms of communication such as email, text message, social media messaging, or similar forms of communication are inherently unsecure. Please refrain from submitting sensitive personal information (such as account number or Social Security number) via email or similar methods of communication. We do not request sensitive personal information from anyone in an email. Therefore, if you receive an email that appears to be from us that solicits any such sensitive personal information from you, please do not respond in any way to the suspect email but immediately forward it to us at customerservice@ottctel.com, and then delete the email from your mailbox.

External Links

The Site may contain links to third-party material, including other websites. This material is not affiliated with, or owned by, Ontario Tel and all other websites have their own separate terms and conditions and privacy policies. After you choose to follow the link and leave our Site, we are not responsible for the content of those websites or their privacy policies. You should exercise caution when visiting other sites and familiarize yourself with the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

Third Party Advertisers

Please note that at times, third parties may set cookies or use related technologies or web beacons when you view and/or click their advertising banners, links or other ads. Information from tracking technologies received with third party ads and links may be collected directly by those advertisers and ad service providers and used to cause relevant ads to be displayed to you. For example, these companies may collect and use information about you and your visits to the Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. These advertisements may appear on the Site and on other websites. The advertiser’s privacy policy and/or that of its service provider will govern the use of this information and we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such companies. We encourage you to read these businesses’ privacy policies to learn about how they treat your information. Additionally, some of these companies (like the ad networks) are members of the industry groups, the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance, each of which offers a single location to opt out of their cookies. For more information about third party advertisers and how to prevent them from using your information, we encourage you to visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s consumer web site, at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices, and the Digital Advertising Alliance’s consumer choice page at http://www.aboutads.info.

Security

We utilize standard and reasonable security methods, including technical and physical protections, to prevent the theft, access, alteration, destruction, or disclosure of your information. Our methods are frequently and repeatedly tested and improved. Nonetheless, no communication using the internet is perfectly secure. We will attempt to protect your information, but we cannot guarantee the safety of any information you send to us, and you do so at your own risk

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, or how Ontario Tel protects your personal data, please feel free to contact: customerservice@ottctel.com.

Acceptable Use Policy for Ontario Telephone Company, Inc. and Trumansburg Telephone Company, Inc.

Introduction

Ontario Telephone Company, Inc., a New York corporation, Trumansburg Telephone Company, Inc., a New York corporation, and our respective affiliates and related parties (collectively “OTTC,” “we” or “our”) are at all times committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing use of the Internet, e-mail transmission, text messaging, and other telecommunications and preserving for all of our customers (“Customers” or “you”) the ability to use OTTC’s telecommunications network and the Internet without interference or harassment from other users. The OTTC Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) is designed to help achieve these goals.

BY USING IP SERVICES (AS DEFINED BELOW) CUSTOMER AGREES TO (I) COMPLY WITH THIS AUP AND (II) BE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THIS POLICY BY ALL PERSONS WHO MAY USE THE IP SERVICES IN CONNECTION WITH CUSTOMER’S SERVICES AGREEMENT (AS DEFINED BELOW). OTTC RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR MODIFY THE TERMS OF THE AUP AT ANY TIME, EFFECTIVE WHEN POSTED ON OTTC’S WEB SITE AT https://ottctel.com/. USE OF THE IP SERVICES AFTER CHANGES TO THE AUP ARE POSTED SHALL CONSTITUTE ACCEPTANCE OF ANY CHANGED OR ADDITIONAL TERMS.

Scope of the AUP

The AUP applies to all voice, data, internet and similar services OTTC provides to Customers (collectively “IP Services” and each agreement or other arrangement pursuant to which these IP Services are provided, a “Services Agreement”). In situations where data communications are carried across networks of other telecommunications or Internet Service Providers (“Other Providers”), users of IP Services must also comply to the applicable acceptable use policies of such Other Providers. Failure to comply with such other acceptable use policies is a violation of this AUP. Additionally, failure to adhere to the rules, guidelines or agreements applicable to search engines, subscription Web services, chat areas, bulletin boards, Web pages, USENET, applications, or other services that are accessed via a link from the OTTC-branded website or from a website that contains OTTC-branded content is a violation of this AUP.

Prohibited Activities

General Prohibitions: OTTC prohibits use of the IP Services in any way that is unlawful, harmful to or interferes with use of OTTC’s network or systems, or the network of any Other Providers, interferes with the use or enjoyment of services received by others, infringes intellectual property rights, results in the publication of threatening or offensive material, or constitutes Spam/E-mail/Usenet abuse, a security risk or a violation of privacy.

Unlawful Activities: IP Services shall not be used in connection with any criminal, civil or administrative violation of any applicable local, state, provincial, federal, national or international law, treaty, court order, ordinance, regulation or administrative rule.

Violation of Intellectual Property Rights: IP Services shall not be used to publish, submit/receive, upload/download, post, use, copy or otherwise reproduce, transmit, re-transmit, distribute or store any content/material or to engage in any activity that infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates the intellectual property rights or privacy or publicity rights of OTTC or any individual, group or entity, including but not limited to any rights protected by any copyright, patent, trademark laws, trade secret, trade dress, right of privacy, right of publicity, moral rights or other intellectual property right now known or later recognized by statute, judicial decision or regulation.

Threatening Material or Content: IP Services shall not be used to host, post, transmit, or re-transmit any content or material (or to create a domain name or operate from a domain name), that harasses, or threatens the health or safety of others. In addition, for those IP Services that utilize OTTC provided web hosting, OTTC reserves the right to decline to provide such services if the content is determined by OTTC to be obscene, indecent, hateful, malicious, racist, defamatory, fraudulent, libelous, treasonous, excessively violent or promoting the use of violence or otherwise harmful to others.

Inappropriate Interaction with Minors and Child Pornography: OTTC complies with all applicable laws pertaining to the protection of minors. IP Services shall not be used to publish, submit/receive, upload/download, post, use, copy or otherwise produce, transmit, distribute or store child pornography. Suspected violations of this prohibition may be reported to OTTC at the following e-mail address: alerts@ottctel.com. OTTC shall have the right to report any discovered violation of this prohibition to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and take steps to remove child pornography (or otherwise block access to the content determined to contain child pornography) from its servers.

Spam/E-mail/Usenet Abuse: Violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, or any other applicable law regulating e-mail services or commercial telecommunications activity, constitutes a violation of this AUP. Spam/E-mail or Usenet abuse is prohibited using IP Services. Examples of Spam/E-mail or Usenet abuse include but are not limited to the following activities:

  • sending multiple unsolicited electronic mail messages or “mail-bombing” — to one or more recipient;
  • sending unsolicited electronic messages with petitions for signatures or requests for charitable donations, or sending any chain mail related materials;
  • sending bulk electronic messages without identifying, within the message, a reasonable means of opting out from receiving additional messages from the sender;
  • sending electronic messages, files or other transmissions that exceed contracted for capacity or that create the potential for disruption of the OTTC network or of the networks with which OTTC interconnects, by virtue of quantity, size or otherwise;
  • using another site’s mail server to relay mail without the express permission of that site;
  • using another computer, without authorization, to send multiple e-mail messages or to retransmit e-mail messages for the purpose of misleading recipients as to the origin or to conduct any of the activities prohibited by this AUP;
  • using IP addresses that the Customer does not have a right to use;
  • collecting the responses from unsolicited electronic messages;
  • maintaining a site that is advertised via unsolicited electronic messages, regardless of the origin of the unsolicited electronic messages;
  • using malware, DNS cache poisoning or other means to redirect a user to a website or other service of another entity in order to collect identity information, authentication credentials, or other information from the legitimate users of that entity’s service;
  • sending messages that are harassing or malicious, or otherwise could reasonably be predicted to interfere with another party’s quiet enjoyment of the IP Services or the Internet (e.g., through language, frequency, size or otherwise);
  • using distribution lists containing addresses that include those who have opted out;
  • sending electronic messages that do not accurately identify the sender, the sender’s return address, the e-mail address of origin, or other information contained in the subject line or header;
  • falsifying packet header, sender, or user information whether in whole or in part to mask the identity of the sender, originator or point of origin;
  • using redirect links in unsolicited commercial e-mail to advertise a website or service;
  • posting a message to more than ten (10) online forums or newsgroups, that could reasonably be expected to generate complaints;
  • intercepting, redirecting or otherwise interfering or attempting to interfere with e-mail intended for third parties;
  • knowingly deleting any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in a file that the user mails or sends; and
  • using, distributing, advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP or the AUP of any Other Providers, including, but not limited to, the facilitation of the means to spam.

Security Violations

Customer is responsible for ensuring and maintaining security of its systems and the machines that connect to and use IP Services, including implementation of necessary patches and operating system updates and maintaining adequate programs to protect against threats such as viruses, spam, bot nets, and other methods of intrusion. OTTC shall have no liability in the event that Customer fails to maintain the security of its systems and the machines that connect to and use IP Services.

IP Services may not be used to interfere with, gain unauthorized access to, or otherwise violate the security of OTTC’s (or another party’s) server, network, network access, personal computer or control devices, software or data, or other system, or to attempt to do any of the foregoing. Examples of system or network security violations include but are not limited to:

  • unauthorized monitoring, scanning or probing of network or system or any other action aimed at the unauthorized interception of data or harvesting of e-mail addresses;
  • hacking, attacking, gaining access to, breaching, circumventing or testing the vulnerability of the user authentication or security of any host, network, server, personal computer, network access and control devices, software or data without express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
  • impersonating others or secretly or deceptively obtaining personal information of third parties (phishing, etc.);
  • using any program, file, script, command or transmission of any message or content of any kind, designed to interfere with a terminal session, the access to or use of the Internet or any other means of communication;
  • distributing or using tools designed to compromise security (including but not limited to SNMP tools), including cracking tools, password guessing programs, packet sniffers or network probing tools (except in the case of authorized legitimate network security operations);
  • knowingly uploading or distributing files that contain viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel bots, corrupted files, root kits or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer, network system or other property, or be used to engage in modem or system hi-jacking;
  • engaging in the transmission of pirated software;
  • with respect to dial-up accounts, using any software or device designed to defeat system time-out limits or to allow Customer’s account to stay logged on while Customer is not actively using the IP Services or using such account for the purpose of operating a server of any type;
  • using manual or automated means to avoid any use limitations placed on the IP Services;
  • exporting encryption software over the internet or otherwise in violation of ITAR to points outside the United States;
  • providing guidance, information or assistance with respect to causing damage or security breach to OTTC’s network or systems, or to the network of any other IP Service provider; and
  • failure to take reasonable precautions to help prevent violation(s) of this AUP.

Electronic Mail

If Customer’s IP Services include electronic mail services hosted by OTTC (“Email Services”), OTTC is not responsible for deleting or forwarding any email sent to the wrong email address by Customer or by someone else trying to send email to Customer. OTTC 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 OTTC’s sole discretion. If a Customer email account is terminated for any reason, all email associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) may be permanently deleted as well.

If OTTC believes in its sole discretion that any subscriber name, account name, or email address (collectively, an “identifier”) on the Email Services may be used for, or is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent, or other improper or illegal purpose, OTTC (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, OTTC may at any time reserve any identifiers on the Email Services for its own purposes.

Voice Services

If Customer’s IP Services include telephone or voice services provided by OTTC (“Voice Services”), Customer may not use the Voice Services in any manner that falls outside of reasonable, typical use without OTTC’s written consent, including, but not limited to, mechanized or commercial use of the Voice Services. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to:

  • use of auto-dialers;
  • telemarketing;
  • use of fax machines for fax broadcasting or fax blasting;
  • extensive call forwarding or use of call forwarding or conferencing features to act as a bridge to chat lines or other conferencing facility;
  • operating a call center or conference line;
  • utilization for monitoring services, data transmissions, or transcription services;
  • transmissions or reception of broadcasts over teleconferencing facilities or other means;
  • transmissions or reception of recorded material; or
  • resale to others.

OTTC uses various industry-standard tools and techniques to ensure compliance with this AUP. When a Customer account exhibits calling patterns indicating potentially unacceptable use, such as excessive call volumes or abnormal long distance usage, OTTC may review the calling patterns further. OTTC reserves the right at any time to review calling traffic patterns and volumes to identify, among other things:

  • relative proportion of in-state, out-of-state, or international calling destinations;
  • excessive calls to the same destination telephone number, indicative of an automated call forwarding device or of chat line or conference bridge usage;
  • excessive inbound calls;
  • excessively long calls to any single number;
  • excessive calls made during a month;
  • a high volume of calls terminated and re-initiated consecutively, which in the aggregate result in excessive call lengths during a specific time frame; or
  • other unusual or atypical calling patterns indicative of an attempt to evade OTTC’s enforcement of this AUP.

If the review reveals calling patterns that are indicative of use that is inconsistent with reasonable, typical use as described above, then OTTC may enforce this AUP by taking one or more of the actions indicated below.

OTTC DOES NOT MONITOR THE TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS OF ITS CUSTOMERS IN ORDER TO ENFORCE THE AUP. However, OTTC reserves the right to investigate Customer accounts that it suspects do not comply with this AUP, including by reviewing call traffic patterns and volumes. Such review may be undertaken in order to, among other things, ensure effective operation of the IP Services, identify violations of this AUP, and/or protect the network, the IP Services and OTTC users.

Customer Responsibilities

Customer remains solely and fully responsible for the content of any material posted, hosted, downloaded/uploaded, created, accessed or transmitted using the IP Services. OTTC has no responsibility for any material created on the OTTC network or accessible using IP Services, including content provided on third-party websites linked to the OTTC network. Such third-party website links are provided as Internet navigation tools for informational purposes only, and do not constitute in any way an endorsement by OTTC of the content(s) of such sites.

Customer is responsible for taking prompt corrective action(s) to remedy a violation of AUP and to help prevent similar future violations.

AUP ENFORCEMENT AND NOTICE

CUSTOMER’S FAILURE TO OBSERVE THE GUIDELINES SET FORTH IN THIS AUP MAY RESULT IN OTTC TAKING ACTIONS INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION A WARNING, SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF CUSTOMER’S IP SERVICES AND TERMINATION OF APPLICABLE SERVICES AGREEMENTS AND/OR CONTACTING LAW ENFORCEMENT. WHEN FEASIBLE AND APPROPRIATE, OTTC MAY PROVIDE CUSTOMER WITH A NOTICE OF AN AUP VIOLATION VIA E-MAIL OR OTHERWISE ALLOW THE CUSTOMER TO PROMPTLY CORRECT SUCH VIOLATION.

OTTC RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ACT IMMEDIATELY AND WITHOUT NOTICE TO LIMIT, MODIFY, SUSPEND OR TERMINATE AFFECTED IP SERVICES OR TERMINATE APPLICABLE SERVICES AGREEMENTS IN RESPONSE TO A COURT ORDER OR GOVERNMENT NOTICE THAT CERTAIN CONDUCT MUST BE STOPPED, OR WHEN OTTC DETERMINES, IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, THAT THE CUSTOMER’S USE OF THE AFFECTED IP SERVICES MAY: (I) EXPOSE OTTC TO SANCTIONS, PROSECUTION, CIVIL ACTION OR ANY OTHER LIABILITY; (II) CAUSE HARM TO OR INTERFERE WITH THE INTEGRITY OR NORMAL OPERATIONS OF OTTC’S NETWORK OR NETWORKS WITH WHICH OTTC IS INTERCONNECTED; (III) INTERFERE WITH ANOTHER PERSON’S USE OF IP SERVICES OR THE INTERNET; (IV) VIOLATE ANY APPLICABLE LAW, RULE OR REGULATION; OR (V) OTHERWISE PRESENT A RISK OF HARM TO OTTC OR OTTC CUSTOMERS.

Copyright Infringement & Digital Millennium Copyright Act

DMCA Copyright Notifications

OTTC respects the intellectual property rights of others. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA” found at 17 U.S.C. § 512) provides that owners of copyrighted works who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may report alleged infringements to service providers like OTTC.

Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §§ 512(b)—(d), a copyright holder may send OTTC a notification of claimed copyright infringement which meets the requirements of DMCA section 512(c)(3). OTTC’s Designated Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement as described in DMCA subsection 512(c)(3) is:

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

Specific requirements for proper notification of claimed infringement are set forth in the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)). Valid notification must be a written communication that includes all of the following elements:

  • Signature of copyright owner or person authorized to act on behalf of the owner;
  • Identification of copyrighted work claimed to be infringed;
  • Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party (address, phone number and, if available, email address);
  • A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate, and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right allegedly being infringed.

NOTE: There are substantial penalties for false claims (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) – providing sanctions for material misrepresentations of copyright infringement).

Filing a DMCA counter-notification

If a notice of alleged copyright infringement under the DMCA has been wrongly filed against you, you may submit a counter-notification to the Designated Agent. Specific requirements for a proper counter-notification are set forth in the DMCA (see 17 U.S.C. § 512(g)(3)). A valid counter-notification must be a written communication that includes all of the following elements:

  • A physical or electronic signature;
  • Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;
  • A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification; and
  • Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of federal district court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if your address is outside of the U.S., for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the complainant.

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, we will forward it to the original complainant who submitted the DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement. The original complainant will then have ten (10) days to notify us that it has filed a lawsuit relating to the allegedly infringing material otherwise we will restore the removed material or cease disabling access to it.

Repeat Infringer Policy

In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws, OTTC may terminate IP Services and applicable Services Agreements and impose other sanctions, in the Company’s sole discretion under appropriate circumstances, if Customer is found to be a repeat infringer and/or if Customer’s IP Services are used repeatedly for infringement. We reserve the right to treat any Customer account for whom we receive multiple DMCA notifications from content owners as a repeat infringer.  Pursuant to Section 512 of the DMCA, it is our policy to terminate the account of repeat copyright infringers in appropriate circumstances.  Additionally, OTTC may, in its sole discretion:

  • terminate IP Services or Services Agreements at any time with or without notice to Customer;
  • maintain a DMCA Log;
  • block Customer’s name and email address from uploads;
  • put email addresses from terminated accounts on a banned list; and/or
  • prohibit a banned Customer from reopening a terminated account.

OTTC has no obligation to investigate possible copyright infringements with respect to materials transmitted by Customer or any other users of the IP Services. However, OTTC will process valid notifications of claimed infringement under the DMCA, and continued receipt of infringement notifications for Customer’s account will be used as a factor in determining whether Customer is a repeat infringer. In addition, OTTC may voluntarily participate, on terms acceptable to OTTC, in copyright alert and graduated response programs.

Incident Reporting: Any complaints (other than claims of copyright infringement) regarding violation of this AUP by a Customer (or its user) should be directed to alerts@ottctel.com. Where possible, include details that would assist OTTC in investigating and resolving such complaint (e.g., expanded headers, IP address(s), a copy of the offending transmission and any log files).

Contact Information: Any notification that OTTC sends to its Customer pursuant to this AUP will be sent via e-mail to the e-mail address on file with OTTC, or may be in writing to Customer’s address of record. It is Customer’s responsibility to promptly notify OTTC of any change of contact information.