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Acceptable Use and Network Management Practices Policy

Effective Date of Policy: 18th Day of September, 2025.

Why is Paulding Putnam providing this Acceptable Use and Network Management Practices Policy to me?
This Acceptable Use and Network Management Practices Policy (the “Policy”) outlines acceptable use of Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Paulding Putnam”) fiber internet service (the “Service”). This Policy is in addition to any restrictions or conditions contained in any customer or subscriber agreement executed by you and Paulding Putnam with respect to the Service (each a “Subscriber Agreement”).

All Paulding Putnam customers receiving the Service (the “customer,” “user,” “you", or “your”) and all others who use the Service must comply with this Policy. Your failure, or others’ failure, to comply with this Policy could result in the suspension or termination of your or their Service accounts. Therefore, you should take steps to ensure that others you permit to use your Service are aware of this Policy and agree to abide by it. If you are unwilling to comply with this Policy, you must immediately stop all use of the Service and notify Paulding Putnam so that it can close your account.

How will I know when Paulding Putnam changes this Policy, and how do I report violations of it? Paulding Putnam may revise this Policy from time to time by posting a new version on its website at www.ppec.coop (the “Website”). Paulding Putnam will use reasonable efforts to make customers aware of any changes to this Policy, which may include sending email announcements or posting information on the Website. Revised versions of this Policy are effective immediately upon posting. Accordingly, customers of the Service should read any Paulding Putnam announcements they receive and regularly visit the Website and review this Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most recent version. You can send questions regarding, and report violations of, this Policy to the attention of the Chief Operating Officer at 401 McDonald Pike, Paulding, OH 45879.

I. Prohibited Uses & Activities

What uses and activities does Paulding Putnam prohibit?
In general, the Policy prohibits uses and activities involving the Service that are illegal, infringe the rights of others or interfere with or diminish the use and enjoyment of the Service by others. For example, these prohibited uses and activities include, but are not limited to, using the Service or customer-provided or Paulding Putnam-provided equipment, either individually or in combination with one another, to:

Conduct and information restrictions

  • Undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes, but is not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating information, data or material that is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening or defamatory or that infringes the intellectual property rights of any person or entity or that in any way constitutes or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or otherwise violate any local, state, federal or non-U.S. law, order or regulation;
  • Post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material that a reasonable person could deem to be unlawful;
  • Upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works of, or distribute in any way information, software, or other material obtained through the Service or otherwise that is protected by copyright or other proprietary right without obtaining any required permission of the owner;
  • Transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages commonly known as “spam;”
    send very large numbers of copies of the same or substantially similar messages, empty messages, or messages that contain no substantive content, or send very large messages or files that disrupt a server, account, blog, newsgroup, chat, or similar service;
  • Initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or other illegal scheme;
  • Participate in the collection of very large numbers of email addresses, screen names, or other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice sometimes known as spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use of software (including “spyware”) designed to facilitate this activity;
  • Collect responses from unsolicited bulk messages;
  • Falsify, alter, or remove message headers;
  • Falsify references to Paulding Putnam or its network, by name or other identifier, in messages;
  • Impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address falsification, forge anyone else’s digital or manual signature, or perform any other similar fraudulent activity (for example, “phishing”);
  • Violate the rules, regulations, terms of service, or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, service, application, system, or website that you access or use;

Technical restrictions

  • Access any other person’s computer or computer system, network, software, or data without his or her knowledge and consent, breach the security of another user or system, or attempt to circumvent the user authentication or security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts without express permission to do so;
  • Use or distribute tools or devices designed or used for compromising security or whose use is otherwise unauthorized, such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers, keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs. Unauthorized port scanning is strictly prohibited;
  • Copy, distribute, or sublicense any proprietary software provided in connection with the Service by Paulding Putnam or any third party, except that you may make 1 copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
    distribute programs that make unauthorized changes to software (cracks);
  • Use or run dedicated, standalone equipment or servers from the customer’s premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your premises local area network (“Premises LAN”), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, email, web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers;
    • Use or run programs from your premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises LAN, except for personal and non-commercial residential use;
    • Service, alter, modify, or tamper with the Paulding Putnam-provided equipment or Service, or permit any other unauthorized person to do the same;

Network and usage restrictions

  • Use the Service for any purpose other than personal and non-commercial residential use (except for your individual use for telecommuting);
  • Use the Service for operation as an internet service provider or for any business, other legal entity, or organization purpose (whether or not for profit);
  • Restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy the Service (except for tools for safety and security functions such as parental controls, for example), including, without limitation, posting or transmitting any information or software that contains a worm, virus or other harmful feature;
  • Impede others’ ability to use, send, or retrieve information;
  • Restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a performance degradation, regardless of intent, purpose, or knowledge, to the Service or any Paulding Putnam (or supplier thereof) host, server, backbone network, node, or service, or otherwise cause a performance degradation to any Paulding Putnam (or supplier thereof) facilities used to deliver the Service;
  • Resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside of your premises the ability to use the Service (for example, through WiFi or other methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly;
  • Connect the Paulding Putnam-provided equipment to any computer outside of your premises;
  • Interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to any user, host, or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abusing operator privileges, and attempts to “crash” a host; or
  • Access and use the Service with anything other than a dynamic Internet Protocol (“IP”) address that adheres to the dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”). You may not configure the Service or any related equipment to access or use a static IP address or use any protocol other than DHCP unless you are subject to a Service plan that expressly permits you to do so.

II. Customer Conduct & Features of the Service

What obligations do I have under this Policy?
You are responsible for your own compliance with this Policy. You are also responsible for any use or misuse of the Service that violates this Policy by anyone else you permit to access the Service (such as a friend, family member, or guest). Paulding Putnam recommends against enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict compliance with all security recommendations and features provided by Paulding Putnam and the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer sharing devices. Any files or devices you choose to make available for shared access on a home LAN, for example, should be protected with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.

In all cases, you are solely responsible for the security of any device you connect to the Service, including any data stored or shared on that device. It is also your responsibility to secure the customer-provided equipment and any other premises equipment or programs not provided by Paulding Putnam that connect to the Service from external threats such as viruses, spam, bot nets, and other methods of intrusion.

How does Paulding Putnam address inappropriate content and transmissions?
Paulding Putnam reserves the right to refuse to transmit or post, and to remove or block, any information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be in violation of this Policy or otherwise harmful to Paulding Putnam’s network or customers using the Service, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful. Neither Paulding Putnam nor any of its affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to monitor transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to, email, file transfer, blog, newsgroup, and instant message transmissions) made on the Service. However, Paulding Putnam and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents have the right to monitor these transmissions and postings from time to time for violations of this Policy and to disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with this Policy, a Subscriber Agreement, and applicable law.

What requirements apply to email?
The Service may not be used to communicate or distribute email or other forms of communications in violation of this Policy. As described below, Paulding Putnam uses reasonable network management tools and techniques to protect customers from receiving and sending spam (often without their knowledge over an infected computer).

Paulding Putnam is not responsible for deleting or forwarding any email sent to the wrong email address by you or by someone else trying to send email to you. Paulding Putnam is also not responsible for forwarding email sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. This email will be returned to the sender, ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at Paulding Putnam’s sole discretion. If you cancel or terminate your Service account for any reason, all email associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently deleted as well.

If Paulding Putnam believes, in its sole discretion, that any subscriber name, account name or email address (each an “Identifier”) on the Service may be used for, or is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent or other improper or illegal purpose, Paulding Putnam: (i) reserves the right to block access to and prevent the use of any such Identifier, and (ii) may at any time require any customer to change his or her Identifier. In addition, Paulding Putnam may at any time reserve any Identifiers on the Service for its own purposes.

What requirements apply to instant, video and audio messages?
Each user is responsible for the contents of his or her instant, video and audio messages and the consequences of any of these messages. Paulding Putnam assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery, deletion, or failure to store these messages. If you cancel or terminate your Service account for any reason, all instant, video, and audio messages associated with that account (and any secondary accounts) will be permanently deleted as well.

III. Network Management

Why does Paulding Putnam manage its network?
Paulding Putnam manages its network to deliver the best possible broadband internet experience to all of its customers. High-speed bandwidth and network resources are not unlimited. Managing the network is essential as Paulding Putnam works to promote the use and enjoyment of the internet by all of its customers. Paulding Putnam uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards and tries to use tools and technologies that are minimally intrusive and, in its independent judgment guided by industry experience, among the best in class. Paulding Putnam expects that its network management practices will evolve along with the uses of the internet and the challenges and threats on the internet. By engaging in responsible network management, including enforcement of this Policy, Paulding Putnam can deliver the best possible broadband internet experience to all of its customers.

How does Paulding Putnam manage its network?
Paulding Putnam uses various tools and techniques to manage its network, deliver the Service and ensure compliance with this Policy and Subscriber Agreements. These tools and techniques are dynamic, like the network and its usage, and can and do change frequently. For example, these network management activities may include: (i) identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customer email accounts, (ii) detecting malicious internet traffic and preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, (iii) temporarily lowering the priority of traffic for users who are the top contributors to current network congestion, and (iv) using other tools and techniques that Paulding Putnam may be required to implement in order to meet its goal of delivering the best possible broadband internet experience to all of its customers.

IV. Copyright

How does Paulding Putnam communicate with customers about copyright?
Paulding Putnam is committed to complying with U.S. copyright and related laws and requires all customers and users of the Service to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any material or content on, or access, share or disseminate any material or content over, the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, including rights granted by U.S. copyright law. Paulding Putnam complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) and provides a method for copyright owners to communicate information about alleged infringements to us and for us to inform our customers about them. You may receive notices or alerts if your Service account is identified by a copyright owner as having been used in connection with acts of alleged copyright infringement.

What is Paulding Putnam’s DMCA policy? Owners of copyrighted works who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may take advantage of certain provisions of the DMCA to report alleged infringements. It is Paulding Putnam’s policy in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws to reserve the right to terminate the Service provided to any customer or user who is either found to infringe third-party copyright or other intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers, or who Paulding Putnam, in its sole discretion, believes is infringing these rights. Paulding Putnam may terminate the Service at any time with or without notice for any affected customer or user.

How do copyright owners report alleged infringements to Paulding Putnam under the DMCA? Copyright owners may report alleged infringements of their works by sending Paulding Putnam’s authorized agent a notification of claimed infringement that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA. Upon Paulding Putnam’s receipt of a satisfactory notice of claimed infringement for these works, Paulding Putnam will respond expeditiously to either directly or indirectly: (i) remove the allegedly infringing work(s), if applicable, or (ii) disable access to the work(s). Paulding Putnam will also promptly notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the removal or disabling of access to the work(s).

Copyright owners may send Paulding Putnam a notification of claimed infringement to report alleged infringements of their works under the DMCA to:

Paulding Putnam
Attn:  Chief Operating Officer
401 McDonald Pike
Paulding, Ohio  45879

Copyright owners may use their own notification of claimed infringement form that satisfies the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Under the DMCA, anyone who knowingly makes misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright infringement may be liable to Paulding Putnam, the alleged infringer, and the affected copyright owner for any damages incurred in connection with the removal, blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.

What can customers do if they receive a DMCA notification of alleged infringement?
If you receive a DMCA notification of alleged infringement as described above and you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then you may send a counter notification to Paulding Putnam. Upon Paulding Putnam’s receipt of a counter notification that satisfies the requirements of the DMCA, Paulding Putnam will provide a copy of the counter notification to the person who sent the original notification of claimed infringement and will follow the DMCA’s procedures with respect to a received counter notification, including, without limitation, reinstating the removed material and/or reestablishing access to the same within 10 to 14 business days after receipt of the counter notification, unless the person who sent the original notification seeks a court order against the customer. In all events, you expressly agree that Paulding Putnam will not be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement.

If a notification of claimed infringement has been filed against you, you can file a counter notification with Paulding Putnam's designated agent using the contact information above. All counter notifications must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act.

IV. Violation of Policy

What happens if you violate this Policy?
Paulding Putnam reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate your Service account and terminate the Subscriber Agreement if you violate the terms of this Policy or the Subscriber Agreement, or if anyone else you permit to access the Service violates this Policy.

How does Paulding Putnam enforce this Policy?
Paulding Putnam does not routinely monitor the activity of individual Service accounts for violations of this Policy, except for determining aggregate data consumption. However, Paulding Putnam will respond appropriately if it becomes aware of inappropriate use of the Service. Paulding Putnam has no obligation to monitor the Service and/or the network. Paulding Putnam and its suppliers reserve the right at any time to monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions and content in order to, among other things, operate the Service, identify violations of this Policy and/or protect the network, the Service and Paulding Putnam users.

Paulding Putnam prefers to inform customers of inappropriate activities and give them a reasonable period of time in which to take corrective action. Paulding Putnam also prefers to have customers directly resolve any disputes or disagreements they may have with others, whether customers or not, without Paulding Putnam’s intervention. However, if the Service is used in a way that Paulding Putnam or its suppliers, in their sole discretion, believe violates this Policy, Paulding Putnam or its suppliers may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate under the circumstances with or without notice. These actions include, but are not limited to, temporary or permanent removal of content, filtering of internet transmissions, and the immediate suspension or termination of all or any portion of the Service. Neither Paulding Putnam nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will have any liability for any of these responsive actions. These actions are not Paulding Putnam’s exclusive remedies, and Paulding Putnam may take any other legal or technical actions it deems appropriate, with or without notice.

Paulding Putnam reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this Policy, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material and data on Paulding Putnam’s servers and network. During an investigation, Paulding Putnam may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove or block material that potentially violates this Policy. You expressly authorize and consent to Paulding Putnam and its suppliers cooperating with: (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected legal violations, and (ii) system administrators at other internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy. Upon termination of your Service account, Paulding Putnam is authorized to delete any files, programs, data, email, and other messages associated with your account (and any secondary accounts).