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County of Santa Clara Acceptable Use Policy

1. Acceptable use

Purpose of Policy

The County recognizes that checks and balances are essential to mitigate the subjectivity of acceptable use, and will take measures to ensure fairness when dealing with cases of inappropriate use. The County of Santa Clara’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is intended to help protect our customers, and the Internet community, from the inappropriate use of the Internet. A customer's use of the County of Santa Clara’s website constitutes acceptance of this AUP. We reserve the right to revise and update this AUP from time to time. The following sections of our acceptable use policy explain:

  1. Use Violations and Descriptions
  2. Email
  3. Content Submission
  4. Third Party Information
  5. Reporting Inappropriate Use
  6. Consequences of Inappropriate Use

2. Use Violations and Descriptions

2.1. Impersonation/Forgery:

Adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of anonymous remailers and nicknames does not constitute impersonation. Using deliberately misleading headers in news postings in order to avoid spam e-mail address collectors is allowed provided appropriate contact information is contained in the body of the posting.

2.2. Privacy Violations

You may not attempt to gain access to any electronic systems, networks or data, without proper consent.

2.3. Threats

Verbal or written threats of bodily harm or destruction of property made through email, online communities, or uploaded files or links are prohibited.

2.4. Harassment

Harassing activity toward any individual or group for any reason, including but not limited to race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, is prohibited.

2.5. Illegal Use

The use of the County portal for illegal purposes is prohibited.

2.6. Network Disruptions

Any activities that adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use the County’s portal are prohibited. This includes "denial of service" (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user, the known propagation or downloading of viruses, and all forms of hacking.

Interference with or disruption of other network users, network services or network equipment is prohibited.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your network is configured in a secure manner. You may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use your network for illegal or inappropriate actions. You may not permit your network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use your network in an illegal or inappropriate manner.

3. E-mail

Directly or indirectly sending viruses, hoaxes, chain letters, advertisements, unsolicited commercial e-mail, or large volumes of unsolicited e-mail, whether or not that e-mail is commercial in nature, is strictly prohibited

4. Content Submission

Content submissions become property of Santa Clara County, which the County may use at its discretion to the extent permissible by law.

5. Third Party Information

In general, information presented on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by law. However, the County does make use of copyrighted data (e.g., photographs), which may require additional permissions prior to your use. In order to use any information on this website not owned or created by the County, you must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources.

6. Reporting Inappropriate Use

The County of Santa Clara asks that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP should direct any relevant information to the following address: [email protected].

7. Consequences of Inappropriate Use

The County of Santa Clara may take any one or more of the following actions in response to inappropriate use:

  • Issue written or verbal warnings;
  • Suspend the customer's posting privileges; or
  • Report the offender(s) to the appropriate legal authorities.