Terms of Use

VISITING COMPANIONS TERMS OF USE

Last Updated: January 6, 2013

1. GENERAL

Visiting Companions (“VC”) provides services through its websites, programs and computer servers, including but not limited to classified advertising, forums, and email forwarding. (All such services are referred to collectively herein as “Visiting Companions.”) By accessing or using Visiting Companions, you are a “user” and you accept and agree to the terms below (the “Terms of Use” or “TOU”) as a legal contract between you and VC. The TOU include and incorporate additional terms (“guidelines”) applicable to particular categories or services available on Visiting Companions as set forth to users upon access to such categories or services. VC may post changes to the TOU at any time, and any such changes will be applicable to all subsequent access to or use of Visiting Companions.

If you do not accept and agree to all provisions of the TOU, now or in the future, you may reject the TOU by immediately terminating all access and use of Visiting Companions, in which case any continuing access or use of Visiting Companions is unauthorized.

You are also required to comply with, and to ensure compliance with, all laws, ordinances and regulations applicable to your activities on Visiting Companions.

Visiting Companions is intended and designed for users 18 years of age and older, and access or use by anyone younger is not authorized.

The TOU grant you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive license to access Visiting Companions and use Visiting Companions, in whole or in part, including but not limited to VC intellectual property therein, solely in compliance with the TOU.

“VISITING COMPANIONS” and “VC” are copyrighted brands of VC and are protected by United States and international laws. The TOU do not authorize you to use “VISITING COMPANIONS,” “VC” or any similar or related marks for any use pertaining to classified advertising, Internet advertising, social networks, online forums, online communication services or any similar or related use, or any other use that is likely to cause confusion on the part of, to cause mistake by or to deceive the public as to any affiliation, connection, association, origin, sponsorship, approval or endorsement by or with VC.

2. MODERATION

VC has the right, but not the obligation, to regulate content (which includes but is not limited to postings, text, code, images, video, binary files, ads, accounts, account information, flags, emails, messages and any other user communications (“content”)) posted to, stored on or transmitted via Visiting Companions by any user (or any other third party in any manner); to regulate conduct (including but not limited to any authorized or unauthorized access to or use of Visiting Companions) by any user (or any other third party in any manner); and to enforce the TOU, for any reason and in any manner or by any means that VC, in its sole discretion, deems necessary or appropriate (including but not limited to automated and manual screening, blocking, filtering, exclusion from index pages, exclusion from search results, requiring the use of an application programming interface (API), requiring the use of a bulk posting interface, authorization, verification, and the deletion and/or termination of content, accounts and/or all or any use or access). VC may, in its sole discretion and without notice, start, stop or modify any regulation or enforcement measures at any time. VC action or inaction to regulate content or conduct or to enforce against any potential violation of the TOU by any user (or any other third party) does not waive VC’s right to implement or not implement regulation or enforcement measures with respect to any subsequent or similar content, conduct or potential TOU violation.

You also understand and agree that any action or inaction by VC or any of its directors, officers, stockholders, employees, consultants, agents or representatives (collectively, “VC Representatives”) to prevent, restrict, redress or regulate content, or to implement other enforcement measures against any content, conduct or potential TOU violation is undertaken voluntarily and in good faith, and you expressly agree that neither VC nor any VC Representative shall be liable to you or anyone else for any action or inaction to prevent, restrict, redress, or regulate content, or to implement other enforcement measures against any content, conduct or potential violation of the TOU.

Although VC Representatives may moderate content, conduct and TOU compliance on Visiting Companions at VC’s discretion, VC Representatives have no authority to make binding commitments, promises or representations to anyone that they or anyone else on behalf of VC will “take care” of any alleged problem or complaint, or that they or anyone else on behalf of VC will otherwise stop, cure or prevent any problem, content, conduct or purported TOU violation from occurring or recurring. Accordingly, you further agree that any representation (written or verbal) by any VC Representative (or by anyone else acting on behalf of VC or by anyone purportedly acting on behalf of VC) that VC (including but not limited to any VC Representative, anyone else acting on behalf of VC, or anyone purportedly acting on behalf of VC) would or would not prevent, restrict, redress or regulate content (including, without limitation, screen, block, moderate, review, remove, terminate, delete, edit or otherwise stop, cure or exclude any content), or to implement other enforcement measures against any content, conduct or potential or purported TOU violation is superseded by this provision and is nonbinding and unenforceable. Specifically, you agree that VC, VC Representatives and anyone else authorized to act on behalf of VC shall in no circumstance be liable as a result of any representation that VC, a VC Representative or anyone else on behalf of VC would or would not restrict or redress any content, conduct or potential or purported TOU violation. This paragraph may not be modified, waived or released except by a written agreement, dated and signed by VC’s Chief Executive Officer and dated and signed by the individual or entity to whom the modification, waiver or release is granted.

VC also has the right in its sole discretion to limit, modify, interrupt, suspend or discontinue all or any portions of Visiting Companions at any time without notice. VC and VC Representatives shall not be liable for any such limitations, modifications, interruptions, suspensions or discontinuance, or any purported losses, harm or damages arising from or related thereto.

3. CONTENT AND CONDUCT

a. Content

VC does not control, is not responsible for and makes no representations or warranties with respect to any user content. You are solely responsible for your access to, use of and/or reliance on any user content. You must conduct any necessary, appropriate, prudent or judicious investigation, inquiry, research and due diligence with respect to any user content.

You are also responsible for any content that you post or transmit and, if you create an account, you are responsible for all content posted or transmitted through or by use of your account.

Content prohibited from Visiting Companions includes but is not limited to: (1) illegal content; (2) content in facilitation of the creation, advertising, distribution, provision or receipt of illegal goods or services; (3) offensive content (including, without limitation, defamatory, threatening, hateful or pornographic content); (4) content that discloses another’s personal, confidential or proprietary information; (5) false or fraudulent content (including but not limited to false, fraudulent or misleading responses to user ads transmitted via Visiting Companions); (6) malicious content (including, without limitation, malware or spyware); (7) content that offers, promotes, advertises, or provides links to posting or auto-posting products or services, account creation or auto-creation products or services, flagging or auto-flagging products or services, bulk telephone numbers, or any other product or service that if utilized with respect to Visiting Companions would violate these TOU or VC’s other legal rights; and (8) content that offers, promotes, advertises or provides links to unsolicited products or services. Other content prohibitions are set forth in guidelines for particular categories or services on Visiting Companions and all such prohibitions are expressly incorporated into these TOU as stated in section 1 above.

You automatically grant and assign to VC, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant and assign to VC, a perpetual, irrevocable, unlimited, fully paid, fully sub-licensable (through multiple tiers), worldwide license to copy, perform, display, distribute, prepare derivative works from (including, without limitation, incorporating into other works) and otherwise use any content that you post. You also expressly grant and assign to VC all rights and causes of action to prohibit and enforce against any unauthorized copying, performance, display, distribution, use or exploitation of, or creation of derivative works from, any content that you post (including but not limited to any unauthorized downloading, extraction, harvesting, collection or aggregation of content that you post).

You agree to indemnify and hold VC and VC Representatives harmless from and against any third-party claim, cause of action, demand or damages related to or arising out of: (a) content that you post or transmit (including but not limited to content that a third-party deems defamatory or otherwise harmful or offensive); (b) activity that occurs through or by use of your account (including, without limitation, all content posted or transmitted); (c) your use of or reliance on any user content; and (d) your violation of the TOU. This indemnification obligation includes payment of any attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by VC or VC Representatives.

b. Conduct

VC does not control, is not responsible for and makes no representations or warranties with respect to any user or user conduct. You are solely responsible for your interaction with or reliance on any user or user conduct. You must perform any necessary, appropriate, prudent or judicious investigation, inquiry, research and due diligence with respect to any user or user conduct.

You are also responsible for your own conduct and activities on, through or related to Visiting Companions, and, if you create an account on Visiting Companions, you are responsible for all conduct or activities on, through or by use of your account.

You agree to indemnify and hold VC and VC Representatives harmless from and against any third-party claim, cause of action, demand or damages related to or arising out of your own conduct or activities on, through or related to Visiting Companions or VC, and related to or arising out of any conduct or activities on, through or by use of your Visiting Companions account, if any. This indemnification obligation includes payment of any attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by VC or VC Representatives.

4. POSTING AND ACCOUNTS

This section 4 applies to all uses and users of Visiting Companions, unless VC has specifically authorized an exception to a particular term for a particular user in a written agreement. VC has sole and absolute discretion to authorize or deny any exception or exceptions to the terms in this section 4.

a. Postings

Visiting Companions is intended and designed as a local service. A user may post content only to the single specific geographic area offered on Visiting Companions for which that content is most relevant. Content that is equally relevant to multiple (i.e., more than one) geographic areas should not be posted on Visiting Companions.

A user may post content only in the Visiting Companions categories to which it is most relevant, and must not post content to inappropriate categories.

Users may not circumvent any technological measure implemented by VC to restrict the manner in which content may be posted on Visiting Companions or to regulate the manner in which content (including but not limited to email) may be transmitted to other users. This prohibition includes, without limitation, a ban on the use of multiple email addresses (created via an email address generator or otherwise); the use of multiple IP addresses (via proxy servers, modem toggling, or otherwise); CAPTCHA circumvention, automation or outsourcing; multiple and/or fraudulent Visiting Companions accounts, including phone-verified accounts; URL shortening, obfuscation or redirection; use of multiple phone lines or phone forwarding for verification; and content obfuscation via HTML techniques, printing text on images, inserting random text or content “spinning.”

It is expressly prohibited for any third party to post content to Visiting Companions on behalf of another. Users must post content only on their own behalf, and may not permit, enable, induce or encourage any third party to post content for them.

It is expressly prohibited to post content to Visiting Companions using any automated means. Users must post all content personally and manually through all steps of the posting process. It is also expressly prohibited for any user to develop, offer, market, sell, distribute or provide an automated means to perform any step of the posting process (in whole or in part). Any user who develops, offers, markets, sells, distributes or provides an automated means to perform any step of the posting process (in whole or in part) shall be responsible and liable to VC for each instance of access to Visiting Companions (by any user or other third party) using that automated means.

Affiliate marketing is expressly prohibited on Visiting Companions. Users may not post content or communicate with any Visiting Companions user for purposes of affiliate marketing or in connection with any affiliate marketing system, scheme or program in any manner or under any circumstance.

b. Accounts

A user may maintain and use no more than one account, including a telephone or phone-verified account (“PVA”), to post content. A user specifically may not create or use additional accounts for the purpose of circumventing technological restrictions (security measures) in the posting process or otherwise for posting content in violation of the TOU.

A user may create an account, including a PVA, only on his/her own behalf. A user must not permit, enable, induce or encourage others to create accounts or PVAs for him/her. The creation of accounts or PVAs for others is expressly prohibited.

A user must only use his/her own account or PVA, and may not use any account or PVA of another.

The purchase and sale of accounts, including but not limited to PVAs, is expressly prohibited.

A user must create his/her account or PVA personally and manually and may not create accounts or PVAs by any automated means. Without limitation, this includes the obligation that the user personally and manually solves any CAPTCHA challenge in the account creation process. Further, a user must create any PVA using his/her own valid telephone number. The creation of a PVA using a telephone number that is not the user’s own, a telephonic forwarding service or system, or a temporary/disposable telephone number or service is expressly prohibited. The circumvention of any technological restriction or security measure in the account creation or PVA creation process is also expressly prohibited.

 

5. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS AND ACTIVITIES

This section 5 applies to all uses and users of Visiting Companions, unless VC has specifically authorized an exception to a particular term for a particular user in a written agreement. VC has sole and absolute discretion to authorize or deny any exception or exceptions to the terms in this section 5.

To maintain the integrity and functionality of Visiting Companions for its users, access to Visiting Companions and/or activities related to Visiting Companions that are harmful to, inconsistent with or disruptive of Visiting Companions and/or its users’ beneficial use and enjoyment of Visiting Companions are expressly unauthorized and prohibited. For example, without limitation:

The collection of Visiting Companions users’ personal information (including but not limited to email addresses, IP addresses and telephone numbers) is not allowed for any purpose.

Any copying, aggregation, display, distribution, performance or derivative use of Visiting Companions or any content posted on Visiting Companions whether done directly or through intermediaries (including but not limited to by means of spiders, robots, crawlers, scrapers, framing, iframes or RSS feeds) is prohibited. As a limited exception, general purpose Internet search engines and noncommercial public archives will be entitled to access Visiting Companions without individual written agreements executed with VC that specifically authorize an exception to this prohibition if, in all cases and individual instances: (a) they provide a direct hyperlink to the relevant Visiting Companions website, service, forum or content; (b) they access Visiting Companions from a stable IP address using an easily identifiable agent; and (c) they comply with VC’s robots.txt file; provided however, that VC may terminate this limited exception as to any search engine or public archive (or any person or entity relying on this provision to access Visiting Companions without their own written agreement executed with VC), at any time and in its sole discretion, upon written notice, including, without limitation, by email notice.

Any access to or use of Visiting Companions to design, develop, test, update, operate, modify, maintain, support, market, advertise, distribute or otherwise make available any program, application or service (including, without limitation, any device, technology, product, computer program, mobile device application, website, or mechanical or personal service) that enables or provides access to, use of, operation of or interoperation with Visiting Companions (including, without limitation, to access content, post content, cross-post content, re-post content, respond or reply to content, verify content, transmit content, create accounts, verify accounts, use accounts, circumvent and/or automate technological security measures or restrictions) is prohibited. This prohibition specifically applies but is not limited to software, programs, applications and services for use or operation on or by any computer and/or any electronic, wireless and/or mobile device, technology or product that exists now or in the future.

If you access Visiting Companions or copy, display, distribute, perform or create derivative works from Visiting Companions webpages or other VC intellectual property in violation of the TOU or for purposes inconsistent with the TOU, your access, copying, display, distribution, performance or derivative work is unauthorized. Circumvention of any technological restriction or security measure on Visiting Companions or any provision of the TOU that restricts content, conduct, accounts or access is expressly prohibited. For purposes of this paragraph, you agree that cached copies of Visiting Companions webpages on your computer or computer server constitute “copies” under the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101. For purposes of this paragraph, you further agree that CAPTCHAs and telephone verification are “technological measures” that effectively control access to copyright-protected components and rights of VC pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 1201.

Any effort to decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer all or any part of Visiting Companions in order to identify, acquire, copy or emulate any source code or object code is expressly prohibited.

Any activities (including but not limited to posting voluminous content) that are inconsistent with use of Visiting Companions in compliance with the TOU or that may impair or interfere with the integrity, functionality, performance, usefulness, usability, signal-to-noise ratio or quality of all or any part of Visiting Companions in any manner are expressly prohibited.

Any attempt (whether or not successful) to engage in, or to enable, induce, encourage, cause or assist anyone else to engage in, any of the above unauthorized and prohibited access and activities is also expressly prohibited and is a violation of the TOU.

6. USER COMMUNICATIONS, TRANSACTIONS, INTERACTIONS, DISPUTES AND RELATIONS

VC and VC Representatives are not parties to, have no involvement or interest in, make no representations or warranties as to, and have no responsibility or liability with respect to any communications, transactions, interactions, disputes or any relations whatsoever between you and any other user, person or organization (“your interactions with others”). You must conduct any necessary, appropriate, prudent or judicious investigation, inquiry, research or due diligence with respect to your interactions with others.

You agree to indemnify and hold VC and VC Representatives harmless from and against any third-party claim, cause of action, demand or damages related to or arising out of your interactions with others. This indemnification obligation includes payment of any attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by VC or VC Representatives.

7. FEES

VC may charge a fee to post content or for other features, products, services or licenses. You are responsible to VC for any fees applicable to content that you post or other features, products, services or licenses you purchase or that are purchased through your account. You authorize VC, or its designated payment processor, to charge your specified credit card, debit card or other payment method for such fees.

Unless otherwise specified, all fees are in United States dollars and all charges will be made in United States dollars. Any applicable sales or other taxes are additional to the stated fee. Currency exchange settlements and foreign transaction fees are based on your agreement with your credit card or other payment method provider.

Except as required by law, all fees are nonrefundable, including, without limitation, in situations where paid posts are removed by VC or by community flagging. Payments and purchases may not be canceled by the user, except as required by law. However, VC reserves the right to refuse or terminate any purchase or attempted purchase at any time in its sole discretion. You understand and agree that if you authorize a payment transaction with your credit card, debit card or other payment method, but your charge is rejected for any reason, there may be a hold on your use of that transaction amount for several days.

8. DISCLAIMERS

YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF AND RELIANCE ON VISITING COMPANIONS AND CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. VISITING COMPANIONS (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WEBSITES, PROGRAMS, SERVICES, FORUMS AND CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH THE WEBSITES, PROGRAMS, SERVICES AND FORUMS) IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” OR “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS) ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, VC ALSO DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES FOR OR WITH RESPECT TO: (a) THE SECURITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY AND PERFORMANCE OF VISITING COMPANIONS AND CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS; (b) COMPUTER WORMS, VIRUSES, SPYWARE, ADWARE AND ANY OTHER MALWARE, MALICIOUS CODE OR HARMFUL CONTENT OR COMPONENTS ACCESSED, RECEIVED OR DISSEMINATED THROUGH, RELATED TO OR AS A RESULT OF VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS; (c) ANY TRANSACTIONS OR POTENTIAL TRANSACTIONS, GOODS OR SERVICES PROMISED OR EXCHANGED, INFORMATION OR ADVICE OFFERED OR EXCHANGED, OR OTHER CONTENT, INTERACTIONS, REPRESENTATIONS OR COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH, RELATED TO OR AS A RESULT OF USE OF VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ACCESSED THROUGH ANY LINKS ON VISITING COMPANIONS OR IN CONTENT).

THESE DISCLAIMERS SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Some jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing disclaimers as to implied warranties may not apply.

9. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

VC AND THE VC REPRESENTATIVES SHALL UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES BE LIABLE FOR ANY ACCESS TO, USE OF OR RELIANCE ON VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, OR FOR ANY TRANSACTIONS, COMMUNICATIONS, INTERACTIONS, DISPUTES OR RELATIONS BETWEEN YOU AND ANY OTHER PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LIABILITY FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AS WELL AS FOR ANY HARM, INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCURRED BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, STATUTORY, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF VC OR ANY VC REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES). THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY APPLIES REGARDLESS OF, BUT IS NOT RESTRICTED TO, WHETHER THE ALLEGED LIABILITY, HARM, INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGES AROSE FROM AUTHORIZED OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS; ANY INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS; OR ANY REMOVAL, DELETION, LIMITATION, MODIFICATION, INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION, DISCONTINUANCE OR TERMINATION OF VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS.

THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL ALSO APPLY WITH RESPECT TO DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY TRANSACTIONS OR POTENTIAL TRANSACTIONS, GOODS OR SERVICES PROMISED OR EXCHANGED, INFORMATION OR ADVICE OFFERED OR EXCHANGED, OR OTHER CONTENT, INTERACTIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, COMMUNICATIONS OR RELATIONS THROUGH, RELATED TO OR AS A RESULT OF VISITING COMPANIONS OR CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LINKS ON VISITING COMPANIONS AND LINKS IN CONTENT ACCESSED THROUGH VISITING COMPANIONS).

You hereby release VC and each of the VC Representatives, and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, predecessors, assigns, heirs, service providers and suppliers, from all claims, demands and damages of every kind and nature, known and unknown, direct and indirect, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to Visiting Companions or content accessed through Visiting Companions, or any interactions with others arising out of or related to Visiting Companions or content accessed through Visiting Companions, and you expressly waive the provisions of California Civil Code Section 1542 (and any similar laws in other jurisdictions), which provides: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

10. INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

You acknowledge and agree that any violation or breach of the TOU may cause VC immediate and irreparable harm and damages; consequently, notwithstanding any other provision of the TOU or other applicable legal requirements, VC has the right to, and may in its discretion, immediately obtain preliminary injunctive relief (including, without limitation, temporary restraining orders) and seek permanent injunctive relief regarding any violation or breach of the TOU. In addition to any and all other remedies available to VC in law or in equity, VC may seek specific performance of any term in the TOU, including but not limited to by preliminary or permanent injunction.

11. DAMAGES

In addition to any injunctive relief, you agree to pay to VC the total amount of all actual damages (including but not limited to direct, indirect, consequential and incidental damages) caused by any violation of the TOU for which you bear responsibility; EXCEPT you acknowledge that, for certain TOU violations, actual damages would be extremely difficult or impossible to quantify. Consequently, for such TOU violations, you agree to pay liquidated damages to VC as described in the following schedule:

I. $50 per Item of Content

You agree to pay $50 per Item of Content posted or stored on, or transmitted via Visiting Companions either by you or on your behalf:

(a) using any automated means to perform any step of any process for submitting content (in whole or in part); (b) by any means that circumvent any technological measure implemented by VC to restrict the manner in which content may be submitted on Visiting Companions or to regulate the manner in which content (including but not limited to email) may be transmitted to other users; or (c) using Accounts that are created or used in violation of ¶ 4.b.

Liquidated damages under this ¶ I are in addition to Liquidated Damages that may be applicable to the Item of Content pursuant to other sections of this schedule and are agreed to be a reasonable estimate of VC’s actual damages for the Items of Content posted using the means described in this ¶ I in addition to the liquidated damages incurred by VC set forth elsewhere in this schedule. See, among others,  ¶ 4 b.

II. $100 per Item of Content

For the following, you agree to pay $100 per Item of Content:

(a) content that offers, promotes, advertises or provides links to unsolicited products or services (except that the content described in Section IV(g) of this schedule, shall be subject to liquidated damages as provided in Section IV(g)); (b) content that violates guidelines for particular categories or services on Visiting Companions; or (c) content (including but not limited to ads, emails and other communications with Visiting Companions users) for purposes of affiliate marketing or in connection with any affiliate marketing system, scheme or program in any manner and under any circumstance. See, among others, ¶ 4.a.

III. $100 per Account/Instance

For the following, you agree to pay $100 per Account/Instance of Unauthorized Conduct:

(a) if you create, maintain or use at any time more than one Account (including without limitation PVAs) to post content; (b) if you create one or more Accounts for or on behalf of another; (c) if you permit, enable, induce or encourage someone else to create one or more Accounts on your behalf; (d) if you use other users’ Accounts (with or without their knowledge or consent) (including but not limited to your use of any Account you purchase or otherwise do not personally create); (e) for any Account you purchase, offer, market, sell, or distribute; (f) for any Account you create for another; (g) for any Account you create by any automated means; (h) for any Account verified using a telephone number that is not your own personal telephone number; (i) for any telephone number you purchase, offer, market, make available, sell or distribute for the purpose of phone verification; (j) if you use any Accounts created in circumvention of any technological restriction or security measure in the Account creation process; (k)if you create any Accounts in circumvention of any technological restriction or security measure in the Account creation process; (l) for any product, software, or tool (including but not limited to CAPTCHA credits) you acquire, purchase, offer, market, sell, or distribute, that facilitates circumvention of any technological measure implemented by VC to restrict the manner in which content may be posted on Visiting Companions or to regulate the manner in which content may be transmitted to other users; (m) if you collect Visiting Companions users’ personal information (including but not limited to email addresses, IP addresses and telephone numbers) or (n) for any activities (including but not limited to posting voluminous content) that are inconsistent with use of Visiting Companions in compliance with the TOU or that may impair or interfere with the functionality, performance or quality of all or any part of Visiting Companions in any manner.

See, among others, ¶ 4.a. and 4.b.

IV. $1000 per Item of Content

For the following, you agree to pay $1000 per Item of Content:

(a) illegal content; (b) content in facilitation of the creation, advertising, distribution, provision or receipt of illegal goods or services; (c) offensive content (including, without limitation, defamatory, threatening, hateful or pornographic content); (d) content that discloses another’s personal, confidential or proprietary information; (e) false or fraudulent content (including but not limited to false, fraudulent or misleading responses to user ads transmitted via Visiting Companions); (f) malicious content (including, without limitation, malware or spyware); (g) content that offers, promotes, advertises, provides links to or solicits posting or auto-posting products or services, account creation or auto-creation products or services, bulk telephone numbers, or any other product or service that if utilized with respect to Visiting Companions would violate these TOU or VC’s other legal rights.

See, among others, ¶ 3.a.

V. $25,000 per Instance of Unauthorized Conduct

Technology can be misused to facilitate harm to Visiting Companions, its users, and/or VC on a massive scale. For the following, you agree to pay $25,000 per Instance of Unauthorized Conduct:

(a) copying, aggregation, display, distribution or derivative use of Visiting Companions or any content posted on Visiting Companions (including, but not limited to, by means of spiders, robots, crawlers, scrapers, framing, iframes, or RSS feeds); (b) access to or use of Visiting Companions to design, develop, test, update, operate, modify, maintain, support, market, advertise, distribute, or otherwise make available any program, application or service (including, without limitation, any device, technology, product, computer program, mobile device application, website, and mechanical or personal service) that enables or provides access to, use of, operation of, or interoperation with Visiting Companions (including, without limitation, to access content, post content, respond to content, transmit content, create accounts, use accounts or circumvent security measures); or (c) decompiling, disassembling or reverse engineering all or any part of Visiting Companions in order to identify, acquire, copy, or emulate any source code or object code. See, among others, ¶ 5.

VI. Written License

Any conduct or content that is permitted pursuant to a written license agreement with VC shall not be deemed in violation of the TOU as long as the conduct or content is specifically authorized pursuant to the terms of the license agreement.

Furthermore you agree that the amounts of liquidated damages described herein are reasonable estimates of VC’s damages for such violations, and that liquidated damages for violations of the TOU are and will be cumulative.

13. PRIVACY

VC has established a privacy policy covering the collection, use, and disclosure of user information:

Privacy Policy

Visiting Companions has established this privacy policy to explain to you how your information is protected, collected and used, which may be updated by Visiting Companions from time to time. Visiting Companions will provide notice of materially significant changes to this privacy policy by posting notice on the Visiting Companions site.

1. Protecting your privacy

  • We don’t run banner ads, pop ups, pop unders, or any other kind of commercial ads.
  • We don’t share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
  • We don’t engage in cross-marketing or link-referral programs with other sites.
  • We don’t employ tracking devices for marketing purposes (“cookies”, “web beacons,” single-pixel gifs).
  • We don’t send you unsolicited communications for marketing purposes.
  • We may offer email anonymization & relay, to reduce 3rd party harvesting & spam.
  • Account information is password-protected. Keep your password safe.
  • Forums use basic webserver authentication. Close your browser to log out.
  • Visiting Companions does not knowingly collect any information from persons under the age of 13. If Visiting Companions learns that a posting is by a person under the age of 13, Visiting Companions will remove that post.
  • Visiting Companions, or people who post on Visiting Companions, may provide links to third party websites, which may have different privacy practices. We are not responsible for, nor have any control over, the privacy policies of those third party websites, and encourage all users to read the privacy policies of each and every website visited.

2. Data we collect

  • We sometimes collect your email address, for purposes such as sending self-publishing and confirmation emails, authenticating user accounts, providing subscription email services, registering for forums, etc.
  • For paid listings, we collect contact information, such as name(s), phone/fax number(s), and address for billing purposes.
  • We may collect your phone number for account authentication purposes, and may transmit it to a third party service for tele-robotic verification.
  • Visiting Companions does not store credit card information. Credit card transactions are transmitted to a financial gateway, and we endeavor to protect the security of your payment information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology.
  • We may collect personal information if you provide it in feedback or comments, post it on our listings or interactive forums, or if you contact us directly. Please do not post any personal information on Visiting Companions’ forums or listings that you expect to keep private.
  • Our web logs collect standard web log entries for each page served, including your IP address, page URL, and timestamp. Web logs help us to diagnose problems with our server, to administer the Visiting Companions site, and to otherwise provide our service to you.

3. Data we store

  • All classified and forum postings are stored in our database, even after “deletion,” and may be archived elsewhere.
  • Our web logs and other records are stored indefinitely.
  • Registered posters can access and update their account information through the account homepage.
  • Although we make good faith efforts to store the information in a secure operating environment that is not available to the public, we cannot guarantee complete security.

4. Archiving and display of Visiting Companions postings by search engines and other sites

Search engines and other sites not affiliated with Visiting Companions – including archive.org, google.com, and groups.yahoo.com – archive or otherwise make available Visiting Companions postings, including resumes

5. Circumstances in which Visiting Companions may release information

  • Visiting Companions may disclose information about its users if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process.
  • Visiting Companions may also disclose information about its users to law enforcement officers or others, in the good faith belief that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to: enforce our Terms of Use; respond to claims that any posting or other content violates the rights of third-parties; or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of Visiting Companions, its users or the general public.

6. International Users

By visiting our web site and providing us with data, you acknowledge and agree that due to the international dimension of Visiting Companions we may use the data collected in the course of our relationship for the purposes identified in this policy or in our other communications with you, including the transmission of information outside your resident jurisdiction. In addition, please understand that such data may be stored on servers located in the United States. By providing us with your data, you consent to the transfer of such data.

14. MISCELLANEOUS

These TOU constitute the entire agreement between you and VC and supersede any prior written or oral agreement. Other than the VC Representatives (who are expressly included as named third-party beneficiaries of the TOU), there are no third-party beneficiaries to the TOU.

Any and all claims, causes of action or disputes (regardless of theory) between you and VC arising out of or related to the TOU, Visiting Companions or content accessed through Visiting Companions shall be governed by the laws of the State of Washington without regard to conflict or choice of law principles. You and VC agree that any such claims, causes of action or disputes shall be brought exclusively in courts located within the county of Thurston, Washington, and you and VC agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of such courts. You further agree that, regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, you must file any such claim or cause of action within one year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred. If any provision of the TOU is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, all other provisions of the TOU shall remain in full force and effect.

 

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