Acceptable Use Policy for
Galaxybackbone Services
in the MDAs
Version 2.0
Confidentiality
No part of this document may be disclosed verbally or in writing, including
by reproduction, to any third party without the prior written consent of
Galaxy Backbone Ltd. This document, its associated appendices and any
attachments remain the property of Galaxy Backbone Ltd and shall be
returned upon request.
Page 1 of 11
Table of Contents
1. PURPOSE ...................................................................................... 3
2. DEFINITION. .................................................................................. 3
3. PROHIBITED USE AND CONTENT ................................................4
4. MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT ............................................8
5. PRIVACY OF INFORMATION. .......................................................9
6. SECURITY. .....................................................................................9
7. DISCLAIMER. .............................................................................. 10
8. MODIFICATIONS TO THE AUP. .................................................. 10
Page 2 of 11
1.
PURPOSE
This ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY ("AUP") describes acceptable use of
and access to the Services offered by Galaxy Backbone (GB), an
Information and Communications Technology Services Provider to
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal
Government of Nigeria.
The purpose of this AUP is to ensure appropriate, responsible, ethical
and legal access and use of the Internet, and other electronic or
communication services by authorized Users of the services.
The examples described in this AUP are not exhaustive and may be
modified at any time by posting a revised version on the GB Website.
By using the Services or accessing the GB Site, you agree to the latest
version of this Policy. If you violate the Policy or authorize or help
others to do so, GB may suspend or terminate your use of the
Services.
2.
DEFINITION.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
Acceptable Use: The use of Internet, and other electronic or
communication services must be consistent with the objectives
of the Federal Government. The use must also be consistent
with the terms of this AUP.
Prohibited Use: Any use or act that violates appropriate laws
and this AUP.
Interfering Device: This includes any device or object which if
used or engaged, interferes with the connection process for
other Users. Such objects include any electronic communication
device such as digital cameras, radios, , or other electronic
equipment or devices.
Electronic Communication Device: This includes laptop and
hand-held computers, telephones, “smart phones”, camera
telephones, two-way radios or video broadcasting devices,
pagers, and any other device that allows a person to record
and/or transmit on either a real time or delayed basis, sound,
video or still images, motion pictures, whether in a digital or
other format, text, or other information.
Page 3 of 11
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
3.
Hosted Platform: This includes all our Hosted/Cloud Based
service offerings, especially our PaaS (Platform As A Service)
and SaaS (Software As A Service)
Customer: This refers to all Connectivity, Hosted and
Professional Services customers (the “customer,” “user,”
“you,” or “your” “Government Employee”) and all others who
use any Service provided by GB, and must comply with this AUP.
Administrator: The onsite individual or group of individuals
responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and
software systems that make up a computer network including
the maintenance and monitoring of active data network or
converged infrastructure and related network equipment. The
Administrator will receive training and support from GB as
applicable.
Services: These are benefits GB deliver or agree to deliver to a
customer based on Service Level Agreements.
PROHIBITED USE AND CONTENT
The customer may not upload Content or use the Services in a manner
that GB believes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Violates any local, state, national, foreign, or international
statute, regulation, rule, order, treaty, or other law (each a
"Law"), including, but not limited to, the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act, or those Laws concerning child pornography and
illegal gambling;
Is abusive, deceptive, pornographic, obscene, defamatory,
slanderous, offensive, invasive of privacy, or otherwise
objectionable, including content that constitutes child
pornography, relates to bestiality, or depicts both consensual
and non-consensual sex acts or otherwise inappropriate. .
Violates or otherwise encroaches on the rights of others,
including, but not limited to, infringing or misappropriating any
intellectual property or proprietary right of another;
Advocates or induces illegal activity. Especially but not limited
to activities that may be harmful to others, GB’s operations or
reputation, including offering or disseminating fraudulent
Page 4 of 11
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
goods, services, schemes, or promotions (e.g. phishing, or
pharming), or engaging in other deceptive practices.
Stalks, harasses, or harms anyone, including minors
Impersonates any person or entity or otherwise misrepresents
Customer's affiliation with a person or entity;
Modifies, alters, tampers with, repairs, or otherwise creates
derivative works of any software included in the Services
(except to the extent software included in the Services is
provided to Customer under a separate license that expressly
permits the creation of derivative works);
Accesses or uses the Services in a way intended to avoid
incurring fees or exceeding usage limits or quotas;
Interferes with or disrupts the Services or servers or networks
connected to the Services;
Uses any high volume automated means (including robots,
spiders, scripts or similar data gathering or extraction methods)
to access the Services or any other accounts, computer
systems, or networks connected to the Services (each a
"System");
Attempts to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the
Services or any System, whether through hacking, password
mining, or any other means;
Violates the security or integrity of a System, including, but not
limited to:

Accessing or using any System without permission,
including attempts to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability
of a System or to breach any security or authentication
measures used by a System;

Monitoring data or traffic on a System without
permission;

Forging packet or email headers, or any part of a message
describing its origin or route;

Uploading Content that contains viruses, worms, corrupt
files, Trojan horses, or other forms of corruptive code, or
any other content that may compromise the Services; or

Hacking, destabilizing, or adapting the Services, or
altering another website to falsely imply it is affiliated
with the Services;
Page 5 of 11
14
15
16
17
18.
19.
Connects to any users, hosts, or networks where Customer does
not have permission to communicate with such users, hosts, or
networks, including, but not limited to:

Monitoring or crawling a System so that such System is
impaired or disrupted;

Conducting denial of service attacks;

Intentionally interfering with the proper functioning of
any System, including any deliberate attempt to overload
a system by any means;

Operating network services like open proxies, open mail
relays, or open recursive domain name servers; or

Using means (manual or electronic) to avoid any use
limitations placed on a System, such as access and storage
restrictions;

Forging TCP-IP packet headers, e-mail headers, or any part
of a message describing its origin or route.
Distributes, publishes, sends, or facilitates unsolicited mass emailings, promotions, advertising, or solicitations, including
commercial advertising and informational announcements
including using the Internet for personal financial gain, personal
business and product advertisement, or personal use for
religious or political lobbying;
Alters or obscures mail headers or assume a sender's identity
without the sender's explicit permission; or
Collects replies to messages if those messages violate this AUP.
GB has the sole discretion to determine whether Content or
Customer's use of the Services is prohibited.
Use of games, Internet games, chat rooms, blogs, social
networking sites and instant messaging not specifically assigned
or authorized for use by an administrator. Government
employees and patrons must not use games, Internet games,
chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, and instant
messaging that is not directly related to their work or work
assignment. If such sites are blocked, access can be requested
for appropriate, core-aligned uses.
Providing personal addresses, phone numbers, and other
private information whether that information belongs to the
User or any other individual unless it is related to their work or
specifically authorized for release. Additionally, all Government
employees are subject to and must comply with all privacy laws
Page 6 of 11
20.
21.
22.
23.
and regulations. The unauthorized disclosure of private or
protected information may result in disciplinary action and
referral for criminal prosecution.
Wasting valuable network resources such as playing online
games or watching movies online.
Restrict access to all private mail servers (Yahoo, Hotmail,
Gmail, etc) on the Government IT Infrastructure shal be
restricted within official work hours, from 8:00am to 5:00pm
Downloading music or video files or any other files that will
infringe on copyright laws or is not directly related to
Government work or position assignment.
Posting personal communications without the original author's
consent. All content that is provided to GB or actions that are
performed via Customer's account, whether provided or
performed by Customer's employees, Customer's contractors,
or Customer's customers and end users, are the sole
responsibility of Customer.
The Customer agrees not to, and not to allow third parties (including
End Users, vendors and contractors) to use the Services:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
to violate, or encourage the violation of, the legal rights of
others (for example, this may include allowing End Users to
infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of
others in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act);
to engage in, promote or encourage illegal activity;
for any unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory or fraudulent
purpose (for example, this may include phishing, creating a
pyramid scheme or mirroring a website);
to intentionally distribute viruses, worms, Trojan horses,
corrupted files, hoaxes, or other items of a destructive or
deceptive nature;
to interfere with the use of the Services, or the equipment(s)
used by Gb to provide the Services to her customers, or other
authorized users;
to disable, interfere with or circumvent any aspect of the
Services;
to generate, distribute, publish, send, or facilitate the sending of
unsolicited mass e-mail or other messages, promotions,
advertising, or solicitations (like “spam”), including commercial
Page 7 of 11
8.
9.
10.
4.
advertising and informational announcements. You will not alter
or obscure mail headers or assume a sender’s identity without
the sender’s explicit permission.
to inundate a target with communications requests so the
target either cannot respond to legitimate traffic or responds so
slowly that it becomes ineffective.
to interfere with the proper functioning of any
System/Network, including any deliberate attempt to overload a
System/Network by mail bombing, news bombing, broadcast
attacks, or flooding techniques.
to operating network services like open proxies, open mail
relays, or open recursive domain name servers.
MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT
While not obligated to perform investigations, GB reserves the right,
to investigate any violation of this AUP or misuse of the Services, GB
may:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Investigate violations of this AUP or misuse of the Services;
Investigate and help prevent security threats, fraud, or other
illegal, malicious, or inappropriate activity;
Remove, disable access to, or modify any Content or resource
that GB believes violates this AUP or any other agreement GB
has with Customer for use of the Services; or
Suspend or terminate provision of Services to customer for uses
that violate this AUP or any other agreement GB has with
Customer for use of the Services.
GB may report any activity that we suspect violates any law or
regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or
other appropriate third parties. Our 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.
Page 8 of 11
5.
PRIVACY OF INFORMATION.
If a User accesses a particular site on the Internet, it is likely that
someone knows the connections that the User is making, knows
about the computer system the User is using and what the User
looked at while on the system. Frequently, these sites maintain
records that can be subpoenaed to identify what the User has been
viewing and downloading on the Internet. In addition, GB reserves the
right to monitor whatever a User does on the network and to make
sure the network functions properly. A User has no expectation of
privacy as to his or her communications or the uses made of the
Internet.
6.
SECURITY.
1.
2.
3.
4.
If a security problem is identified, the User must notify the
administrator, who will thereafter notify GB. Do not
demonstrate the problem to other Users. Users may not use
the Internet to discuss or disseminate information regarding
security problems or how to gain unauthorized access to sites,
servers, files, etc.
Any passwords issued to a User must not be shared with or
disclosed to other Users without specific authorization from the
administrator at GB. Users are encouraged to change their
passwords frequently. Should a user divulge their passwords to
any unauthorized person(s), GB cannot guarantee the
protection of such users’ data or information.
Do not leave your workstation without logging out of the
network or "locking down" the workstation.
You must immediately report any of the following to the
administrator, who will thereafter notify GB as soon as possible:

If you receive or obtain information to which you are not
entitled;

If you know of any inappropriate use of the network by
others;

If you believe the filtering software is not filtering a site or
sites that should be filtered under this policy.
Page 9 of 11
7.
DISCLAIMER.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
8.
GB makes no guarantee of the completeness or accuracy of any
information provided on the network. It makes no promise or
warranty to maintain or update its network or the information
contained or made available to the public, its employees, and
Users. GB may suspend or discontinue these services at
anytime. The User assumes the risk of verifying any materials
used or relied on.
GB disclaims any express or implied warranty in providing its
computer system, provided services and any materials,
information, graphics, or processes contained therein. It makes
no warranty, express or implied, nor assumes any responsibility
regarding the use of its network or its contents for its accuracy,
completeness, currency, its use of any general or particular
purpose, or that such items or use of such items would not
violate or infringe on the rights of others. Access to the GB
network is provided on a strictly "as is” basis.
The GB network resources may contain hypertext or other links
to Internet or computer sites not owned or controlled by GB
that may be of interest. GB cannot supervise or control the
content of these other sites. Any information, endorsements of
products or services, materials or personal opinions appearing
on such external sites are not controlled, sponsored or
approved by GB.
GB specifically disavows legal responsibility for what a User may
find on another external site or for personal opinions of
individuals posted on any site, whether or not operated by GB.
A User assumes the risk of use or reliance on any information
obtained through the network.
GB will not be responsible for any damages a User suffers while
on the system, including loss of data resulting from delays, nondeliveries, mis-deliveries or service interruptions caused by
negligence, errors, or omissions.
MODIFICATIONS TO THE AUP.
GB may, in its discretion, modify this AUP from time to time. GB will
post
notice
of
such
changes
on
her
website;
Page 10 of 11
www.galaxybackbone.com.ng. If any Customer objects to any such
changes, said Customer's sole recourse shall be to cease using the
Services. Continued use of the Services following notice of any such
changes shall indicate Customer's acknowledgement of such changes
and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such
changes.
Page 11 of 11