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Trellis Internet

DRAFT — Pending attorney review

This document is a working draft prepared by Trellis Internet staff for review by counsel. It is not a final policy and should not be relied upon as a binding agreement until it is published in non-draft form.

Acceptable use policy

Last updated:

This Acceptable Use Policy (the “AUP”) sets the rules for use of Trellis Internet service. The AUP exists to keep the network reliable for every customer, protect the integrity of our systems, and comply with our legal obligations. It is incorporated by reference into the Internet Service Agreement.

1. Purpose

Trellis Internet (“Trellis”) operates a shared broadband network. Activities that consume excessive resources, threaten security, or violate the law affect every customer on the same infrastructure. This AUP describes the conduct we require and the conduct we prohibit. By using our service, you agree to abide by it.

2. Who This Policy Applies To

This AUP applies to all customers and to every user of a customer account, including household members, employees, and guests who use the customer’s connection. The account holder is responsible for the conduct of every user on the account.

3. Prohibited Activities

3.1 Illegal activity

  • Use of the service to violate any federal, state, or local law, regulation, or court order.
  • Distribution, transmission, or storage of content that infringes copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights.
  • Distribution or possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). We will report suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and cooperate with law enforcement.
  • Fraud, identity theft, phishing, or any other deceptive practice prohibited by law.

3.2 Network abuse

  • Denial-of-service attacks, distributed denial-of-service attacks, or amplification attacks of any kind.
  • Unauthorized access to any system, account, or network, including our own.
  • Unauthorized scanning, probing, or vulnerability research against systems you do not own or have written permission to test.
  • Forging, spoofing, or otherwise misrepresenting IP addresses, email headers, or other protocol identifiers.
  • Operating an open mail relay, open proxy, or other service that is used to facilitate abuse by third parties.
  • Hosting or distributing malware, including viruses, worms, ransomware, and trojans.

3.3 Email and messaging abuse

  • Sending unsolicited bulk email (spam), including via third-party servers reached through the Trellis network.
  • Email bombing or other intentional flooding of mail systems.
  • Sending messages with forged or misleading headers, return-paths, or sender identifiers.
  • Violating the CAN-SPAM Act or any state or international anti-spam law.

3.4 Harassment and harmful content

  • Using the service to threaten, harass, stalk, or defame any person or group.
  • Distributing content that violates anti-discrimination laws or that targets a person based on a protected characteristic.

3.5 Commercial restrictions

  • Residential plans are intended for personal, household use. Operating a high-traffic commercial service (for example, a production game server, public file-sharing service, or commercial VoIP termination) from a residential account is not permitted. If you have a commercial use case, please contact us about a business plan.

4. Network Management

Trellis operates as an open, neutral broadband provider consistent with the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018 (SB 822). We do not block lawful traffic, throttle lawful traffic on the basis of application or content, accept payment in exchange for prioritization, or engage in zero-rating arrangements that favor specific edge providers.

We do perform reasonable network management to maintain reliability and security — for example, mitigating distributed denial-of-service attacks, addressing spam from compromised devices, and protecting customers from abuse. Full details are published in our Network Management Disclosure.

5. Security and Customer Equipment

You are responsible for the security of devices connected to your service. You agree to:

  • Keep operating systems, firmware, and applications reasonably current with security updates.
  • Use strong, unique passwords on your Wi-Fi network and on internet-exposed services you run.
  • Cooperate with us if we notify you that a device on your connection appears to be compromised, including taking the device offline until it can be remediated.

If you believe you have discovered a vulnerability in Trellis’s infrastructure, please report it to security@trellisinternet.com. We will not pursue good-faith security research that complies with this AUP.

6. DMCA Safe Harbor and Copyright Notices

Trellis qualifies as a “service provider” under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512) and intends to maintain the safe-harbor protections afforded to service providers that comply with the DMCA.

6.1 Designated DMCA Agent

Notifications of claimed copyright infringement must be sent to our designated DMCA Agent:

Our DMCA Agent is also registered with the United States Copyright Office. The current registration is on file at dmca.copyright.gov.

6.2 Filing a takedown notice

A valid DMCA notification of claimed infringement must include all of the following, as required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3):

  • A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or person authorized to act on their behalf.
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, with information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material (URL, IP address, timestamp).
  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party (mailing address, telephone number, and email address).
  • A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

Misrepresentations in a DMCA notification may subject the sender to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

6.3 Counter-notification

If you believe material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may submit a counter-notification under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). The counter-notification must include:

  • Your 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.
  • 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.
  • Your name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original notification or their agent.

7. Repeat Infringer Policy

As required by the DMCA, Trellis maintains a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of subscribers who are repeat infringers. We track DMCA notifications and counter-notifications on a per-account basis. A subscriber who accumulates three (3) substantiated DMCA notifications within a rolling twelve (12) month period is subject to suspension or termination of service.

8. Enforcement

When we believe this AUP has been violated, we may, at our discretion and depending on severity:

  • Contact the account holder and provide an opportunity to address the issue.
  • Issue a written warning.
  • Temporarily filter, rate-limit, or null-route the offending traffic.
  • Suspend the account.
  • Terminate the account.
  • Report the conduct to law enforcement or to relevant authorities.

For urgent network-safety issues (active attacks, compromised devices participating in botnets, etc.), we may take immediate action without prior notice. We will notify the account holder as soon as practicable after we act.

9. Reporting Abuse

To report abuse originating from the Trellis network, contact:

Please include as much detail as possible — timestamps with timezone, source IP, logs, and the nature of the abuse. We acknowledge reports within two (2) business days.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this AUP from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be communicated to active customers by email at least thirty (30) days in advance.