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Disclaimer
Acceptable Use Policy
As a provider of information over the Internet, Health Insurance
Preferred (“HIP”) offers its customers/subscribers, and their
customers and users, the means to acquire and disseminate a
wealth of public, private, commercial, and non-commercial
information. HIP respects the position that the Internet provides
a forum for free and open discussion and dissemination of
information; however, when there are competing interests at
issue, HIP reserves the right to take certain preventive or
corrective actions. In order to protect these competing
interests, HIP has developed an Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP"),
which supplements and explains certain terms of each customer's
respective service agreement and is intended as a guide to the
customer's rights and obligations when utilizing HIP's services.
This AUP will be revised from time to time. A customer's use of
HIP's services after changes to the AUP are posted on HIP's Web
site, www.ameri-choice.com, will constitute the customer's
acceptance of any new or additional terms of the AUP that result
from those changes.
An important aspect of the Internet is that no one party owns or
controls it. This fact accounts for much of the Internet's
openness and value, but it also places a high premium on the
judgment and responsibility of those who use the Internet, both
in the information they acquire and in the information they
disseminate to others. When subscribers obtain information
through the Internet, they must keep in mind that HIP cannot
monitor, verify, warrant, or vouch for the accuracy and quality
of the information that subscribers may acquire. For this reason,
the subscriber must exercise his or her best judgment in relying
on information obtained from the Internet, and also should be
aware that some material posted to the Internet is sexually
explicit or otherwise offensive. Because HIP cannot monitor or
censor the Internet, and will not attempt to do so, HIP cannot
accept any responsibility for injury to its subscribers that
results from inaccurate, unsuitable, offensive, or illegal
Internet communications.
When subscribers disseminate information through the Internet,
they also must keep in mind that HIP does not review, edit,
censor, or take responsibility for any information its
subscribers may create. When users place information on the
Internet, they have the same liability as other authors for
copyright infringement, defamation, and other harmful speech.
Also, because the information they create is carried over HIP's
network and may reach a large number of people, including both
subscribers and non-subscribers of HIP, subscribers' postings to
the Internet may affect other subscribers and may harm HIP's
goodwill, business reputation, and operations. For these reasons,
subscribers violate HIP policy and the service agreement when
they, their customers, affiliates, or subsidiaries engage in the
following prohibited activities:
Spamming -- Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages
over the Internet. It is harmful not only because of its negative
impact on consumer attitudes toward HIP, but also because it can
overload HIP's network and disrupt service to HIP subscribers.
Also, maintaining an open SMTP email relay is prohibited. When a
complaint is received, HIP has the discretion to determine from
the evidence whether the email recipients were from an "opt-in"
email list. A person that transmits an electronic mail
advertisement shall include in such transmission:
(a) The person's name and complete residence or business address
and the electronic mail address of the person transmitting the
electronic mail advertisement;
(b) A notice that the recipient may decline to receive from the
person transmitting or causing to be transmitted the electronic
mail advertisement any additional electronic mail advertisements
and a detailed procedure for declining to receive any additional
electronic mail advertisements at no cost. The notice shall be of
the same size of type as the majority of the text of the message
and shall not require that the recipient provide any information
other than the receiving address.
(c) If the recipient of an electronic mail advertisement uses the
procedure contained in the notice described in (b) of this
section to decline to receive any additional electronic mail
advertisements, the person that transmitted or caused to be
transmitted the original electronic mail advertisement, within a
reasonable period of time, shall cease transmitting or causing to
be transmitted to the receiving address any additional electronic
mail advertisements.
Intellectual property violations -- Engaging in any activity that
infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of
others, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade
secrets, software piracy, and patents held by individuals,
corporations, or other entities. Also, engaging in activity that
violates privacy, publicity, or other personal rights of others.
HIP is required by law to remove or block access to customer
content upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright
infringement. It is also HIP's policy to terminate the privileges
of customers who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
Obscene speech or materials -- Using HIP's network to advertise,
transmit, store, post, display, or otherwise make available child
pornography or obscene speech or material. HIP is required by law
to notify law enforcement agencies when it becomes aware of the
presence of child pornography on or being transmitted through
HIP's network.
Defamatory or abusive language -- Using HIP's network as a means
to transmit or post defamatory, harassing, abusive, or
threatening language.
Forging of headers -- Forging or misrepresenting message headers,
whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the
message.
Illegal or unauthorized access to other computers or networks --
Accessing illegally or without authorization computers, accounts,
or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to
penetrate security measures of another individual's system (often
known as "hacking"). Also, any activity that might be used as a
precursor to an attempted system penetration (i.e., port scan,
stealth scan, or other information gathering activity).
Distribution of Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses, or other
destructive activities -- Distributing information regarding the
creation of and sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses,
pinging, flooding, mailbombing, or denial of service attacks.
Also, activities that disrupt the use of or interfere with the
ability of others to effectively use the network or any connected
network, system, service, or equipment.
Facilitating a violation of this AUP -- Advertising,
transmitting, or otherwise making available any software,
program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP,
which includes the facilitation of the means to spam, initiation
of pinging, flooding, mailbombing, denial of service attacks, and
piracy of software.
Export control violations -- Exporting encryption software over
the Internet or otherwise, to points outside the United States.
Usenet groups -- HIP reserves the right not to accept postings
from newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content
of the newsgroup violates the AUP.
Other illegal activities -- Engaging in activities that are
determined to be illegal, including advertising, transmitting, or
otherwise making available ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes,
fraudulently charging credit cards, and pirating software.
Other activities -- Engaging in activities, whether lawful or
unlawful, that HIP determines to be harmful to its subscribers,
operations, and reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.
Responsibility for avoiding the harmful activities described
rests primarily with the subscriber. HIP will not, as an ordinary
practice, monitor the communications of its subscribers to ensure
that they comply with HIP policy or applicable law. When HIP
becomes aware of harmful activities, however, it may take any
action to stop the harmful activity, including but not limited
to, removing information, shutting down a Web site, implementing
screening software designed to block offending transmissions,
denying access to the Internet, or take any other action it deems
appropriate.
HIP is aware that many of its subscribers are also providers of
Internet services, and that information reaching HIP's facilities
from those subscribers may have originated from a customer of the
subscriber or from another third-party. HIP does not require its
subscribers who offer Internet services to monitor or censor
transmissions or Web sites created by customers of its
subscribers. HIP reserves the right to take action directly
against a customer of a subscriber. Also, HIP may take action
against the HIP subscriber due to activities of a customer of the
subscriber, even though the action may affect other customers of
the subscriber. Similarly, HIP anticipates that subscribers who
offer Internet services will cooperate with HIP in any corrective
or preventive action that HIP deems necessary. Failure to
cooperate with such corrective or preventive measures is a
violation of HIP policy.
HIP is concerned with the privacy of on-line communications and
Web sites. In general, the Internet is neither more nor less
secure than other means of communication, including mail,
facsimile, and voice telephone service, all of which can be
intercepted and otherwise compromised. As a matter of prudence,
however, HIP urges its subscribers to assume that all of their
on-line communications are insecure. HIP cannot take any
responsibility for the security of information transmitted over
HIP's facilities.
HIP will not intentionally monitor private electronic mail
messages sent or received by its subscribers unless required to
do so by law, governmental authority, or when public safety is at
stake. HIP may, however, monitor its service electronically to
determine that its facilities are operating satisfactorily. Also,
HIP may disclose information, including but not limited to,
information concerning a subscriber, a transmission made using
our network, or a Web site, in order to comply with a court
order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, statute,
regulation, or governmental request. HIP assumes no obligation to
inform the subscriber that subscriber information has been
provided and in some cases may be prohibited by law from giving
such notice. HIP may disclose subscriber information or
information transmitted over its network where necessary to
protect HIP and others from harm, or where such disclosure is
necessary to the proper operation of the system.
HIP expects that its subscribers who provide Internet services to
others will comply fully with all applicable laws concerning the
privacy of on-line communications. A subscriber's failure to
comply with those laws will violate HIP policy. Finally, HIP
wishes to emphasize that in signing the service agreement,
subscribers indemnify and hold HIP harmless, for any violation of
the service agreement, law, or HIP policy that results in loss to
HIP or the bringing of any claim against HIP by any third-party.
This means that if HIP is sued because of a subscriber's
activity, or the activity of a customer of a subscriber, the
subscriber will be responsible for any damages awarded, plus
costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.
We hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the obligations of
Internet users, including HIP and its subscribers, as responsible
members of the Internet. Any complaints about a subscriber's
violation of this AUP should be sent to abuse@healthinsurancepreferred.com.
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Privacy Policy
HIP Incorporated respects the privacy of users who visit each of
the sites within the HIP network. No effort is made to identify
individuals without their knowledge. The following policies are
in effect for all of the Web pages owned and operated by HIP.
(The HIP Network includes all sites constructed and/or hosted by
HIP)
When a visitor requests pages at any HIP site, our Web servers
automatically recognize the browser's domain name, and IP
address. Our servers do not record e-mail addresses. We collect
the domain names and IP addresses in order to aggregate
information on what pages users access or visit. This information
is collected solely for statistical purposes and is not used to
identify individuals.
From time to time, our clients may ask users to provide their
e-mail address or mailing address for the purpose of a survey or
to provide additional services. Whenever the identity of a
visitor is recorded, we will clearly indicate the purpose of the
request before the information is requested. If you choose to
supply your postal address in an online form, you may receive
mailings from other reputable companies.
From time to time, HIP or its client sites may send a cookie to
your computer. This information is collected for statistical
purposes and site functionality and is not used to identify
individuals.
Opt-in e-mail Privacy Policy
HIP maintains a strict "no spam" policy. Your e-mail address will
not be sold to a third party if you sign up for one of our
e-newsletters or discussion lists.
If you sign up for an e-mail newsletter or discussion list at an
HIP site, you will receive only the e-mail newsletter or
discussion list you have requested. You may receive on occasion
an offer to sign up for a new newsletter or discussion list, but
you will not receive additional newsletters or discussion list
mailings unless you specifically request them.
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We
Specialize in the Health Insurance Needs of the Self
Employed Nationwide.
