Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") describes activities and material that are not allowed in connection with the Platform offered by Text In Church® and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, "TIC").

This AUP is not exhaustive, and TIC reserves the right to take action in connection with content or uses that are not specifically set forth below. TIC reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to make changes or updates to this AUP at any time. If any changes or updates are made, TIC will post a revised version of this AUP here, at which time such changes or updates will become effective; but provided that any such changes and updates will not apply to any dispute of which TIC had actual notice prior to the posting of the changes and updates. Your continued use of the Platform after any such changes or updates are made constitutes your acceptance of such changes and updates. If you do not agree to abide by this AUP, do not use or access the Platform. All capitalized terms used in this AUP which are not defined herein have the same meaning as in our Terms of Use.

You will use the Platform at all times in accordance with all laws, rules, regulations, statutes, interpretations, court or judicial orders and other legally binding actions or interpretations of applicable governmental or regulatory bodies having jurisdiction over you, or in the jurisdiction(s) where you direct your own use of the Platform. This includes, without limitation, export laws and encryption regulations, personal data protection laws (including those of the United States and any other country, territory, or jurisdiction from which you collect or use personal data), and data localization and sovereignty laws.

You are solely responsible for any and all content, material and data that you maintain, transmit, download, view, post, distribute or make available using the Platform, and any third-party claims arising out of such activities. You are responsible for violations of this AUP by anyone using your account, with your permission or on an unauthorized basis. For avoidance of doubt, you are responsible for violations of this AUP by your own authorized users. If you use the Platform to assist another person or party in an activity that would violate this AUP if performed by you directly, such assistance shall be a violation of this AUP.

Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing, you will not, nor will you permit or allow anyone else to, use the Platform to transmit, distribute or store material: (a) in violation of this AUP, the terms of any applicable agreement with TIC or any other TIC policy applicable to you; (b) that interferes with or adversely affects the Platform or use of the Platform by others; or (c) in a manner that exposes TIC to criminal or civil liability. You will cooperate with TIC in investigating and correcting any breach of this AUP. If you resell or provide the Platform to your own customers, you must contractually pass on the restrictions of this AUP to your customers and ensure compliance by your customers with this AUP.

The following activities are prohibited, without limitation.
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• Illegal Acts. Using the Platform to promote or encourage any illegal act or activity, including using the Platform to directly publish, transmit, distribute or store content, material, information or data that is illegal under Applicable Law.
• Harassing or Abusive Acts or Material: Publishing, transmitting, distributing or storing any material that is or may reasonably be considered to be obscene, offensive or otherwise objectionable, defamatory, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive or hateful, that violates the rights of others, or that advocates violence or threatens the health of others.
• Intellectual Property Rights Violations. Using the Platform in a manner that infringes, dilutes, misappropriates or otherwise violates any privacy, intellectual property, publicity or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, without limitation, copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other proprietary information (including unauthorized use of domain names), and publishing material intended to assist others in unlawfully circumventing technical measures which are intended to protect such rights.
• Fraudulent or Harmful Acts. Using the Platform in an activity which is fraudulent or harmful to others, or which contains false, deceptive or misleading statements, claims or representations (such as “phishing” or “pharming”), impersonating another person or entity, or in a manner that may harm TIC’s reputation.
• Controlled Substances. Unlawfully selling, distributing or promoting controlled substances, including but not limited to any illegal or prescription drugs (other than with a valid prescription from a medical professional authorized to dispense such substances in the applicable jurisdiction).

TCPA and Consent Requirements for SMS and Voice Communications. You represent and warrant that you have obtained prior express written consent (as that term is defined under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, and its implementing regulations) from each recipient before using the Platform to send marketing or promotional SMS, MMS, or voice messages. For informational messages, you must have prior express consent. You will maintain records of consent for each recipient, including the date, time, source, and content of the consent, for at least four (4) years and will provide such records to TIC promptly upon request. You will honor all opt-out requests promptly, and in any event within ten (10) business days, including those received by the keywords STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE, or OPT-OUT, and you will not contact any recipient who has revoked consent absent fresh express consent.

Where you collect opt-in consent for messaging, the consent collection point must clearly and conspicuously display: (i) the program name and your organization’s identity; (ii) a description of the messages recipients will receive; (iii) the statement “Message and data rates may apply”; (iv) a message frequency disclosure; (v) instructions for HELP and STOP (typically “Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel”); and (vi) clearly labeled links to your organization’s privacy policy and terms. Consent must not be bundled with consent for unrelated services. A violation of this section is a material breach of this AUP and may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account under the “TIC’s Rights and Remedies” section below.
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Prohibited Messaging Content (Carrier-Restricted Categories). You may not use the Platform to transmit messaging content that falls within the following categories, which are prohibited or restricted by US mobile carriers and our messaging service providers: (i) Sex, pornographic, sexual, or adult content; (ii) Hate, content that promotes hate, violence, or discrimination against any individual or group; (iii) Alcohol-related content other than where appropriately age-gated by a verifiable date-of-birth check and only to jurisdictions where lawful; (iv) Firearms, ammunition, or firearm-related content; (v) Tobacco, vape, or nicotine-related content; (vi) Cannabis, CBD, or hemp-related content, including in jurisdictions where it is lawful, due to federal restrictions and carrier policy; (vii) Phishing, fraud, or any content intended to deceive recipients into providing credentials, financial information, or personal information; (viii) Gambling content outside specifically permitted use cases; and (ix) High-risk financial services, including payday loans, debt collection without consent, get-rich-quick schemes, and cryptocurrency promotions, or other financial schemes prohibited by carriers. You acknowledge that violations of these messaging content restrictions may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account, blocking of message traffic by mobile carriers, and potential civil or criminal liability. TIC may, in its sole discretion, refuse to deliver any message that we reasonably believe violates these restrictions.

Health Information and HIPAA. You represent and warrant that you are not a “covered entity” or “business associate” under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), or, if you are, that you will not transmit, store, or process Protected Health Information (“PHI”), as defined under HIPAA, through the Platform unless you have first entered into a separate, written Business Associate Agreement with TIC that expressly authorizes such use. The Platform is not designed or intended to be used for the transmission, storage, or processing of PHI in the absence of such an agreement. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any health-related information you transmit through the Platform (including but not limited to prayer requests, member updates, or congregational care communications) is lawful, appropriate, and consistent with the consents and expectations of the individuals whose information is involved.

Children’s Data and COPPA. You acknowledge that the Platform may be used to store and process Personal Information of minors, including children under the age of thirteen (13), as part of operating your ministry programs (for example, children’s ministry rosters, youth group contact lists, or family records that include children). You represent and warrant that, for any Personal Information of a minor that you upload, enter, or otherwise provide to the Platform, you have obtained all consents required under applicable law from the minor’s parent or legal guardian, including verifiable parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) where the minor is under the age of thirteen (13). You will retain records of such consents and provide them to TIC promptly upon request. You will promptly remove from the Platform any Personal Information of a minor for which you do not have, or no longer have, the required consents, and you will notify TIC if you become aware of any such information that should be removed.

Security Breaches. You will not use the Platform, or assist anyone else, to attempt to disrupt, degrade, impair or violate the integrity or security of the Platform or any of the computers, communications systems, software applications, or networks or other computing systems (collectively, the "Systems") used in connection therewith. Such prohibited activities include:

• Unauthorized Access. Using or accessing, actually or attempted, any Systems without TIC’s express, written permission, including attempting to breach the security measures used in connection with any Systems. Unauthorized access violations include any activity that typically precedes attempts to breach security such as scanning, probing or other testing or vulnerability assessment activity, or engaging in or permitting any network or hosting activity that results in the blacklisting or other blockage of TIC internet protocol space.
• Interception. Monitoring of data or traffic on the Systems without TIC’s express, written permission.
• Harmful Software. Material, software or other technology that may damage, interfere with, intercept or expropriate any computer system, program, or data, including viruses, malware, spyware, adware, Trojan horses, worms or time bombs.
• Falsification of Origin. Using fake or misleading TCP-IP packet headers, e-mail headers, or any part of a message describing its route or origin.

Network and Systems Abuse. You will not use the Platform, or assist anyone else, to make Systems or network connections to any users, hosts, or third-party networks unless you have express permission to communicate with them. Such prohibited activities include:

• Monitoring or Crawling. Monitoring or crawling of the Systems that impairs or disrupts the Systems being monitored or crawled, or other harvesting or scraping of any content of the Platform.
• Intentional Interference. Interfering with the proper functioning of any Systems, including intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly introducing any virus or other contaminating code into the Platform or Systems; any deliberate attempt to overload a system by mail bombing, news bombing, broadcast attacks, flooding techniques, or conducting a denial of service (“DoS”) attack; or collecting, transmitting, or using information, including email addresses, screen names or other identifiers, by deceit or covert means (such as phishing, Internet scamming, password robbery, spidering, and harvesting).
• Avoiding Systems Restrictions. Using manual or electronic means to avoid any use limitations placed on any Systems, such as access limits and storage restrictions.
• Withholding Identity. Any activity intended to withhold or cloak identity or contact information, including the omission, deletion, forgery or misreporting of any transmission or identification information, such as return mailing and IP addresses.

You may not use the TIC Platform or any TIC Systems which may be provided or made accessible to you in a way that unnecessarily interferes with the normal operation of the same, or that consumes a disproportionate share of the resources of the same. You agree that we may quarantine or delete any data stored on shared Systems if the data is infected with a virus, or is otherwise corrupted, and has the potential to infect or corrupt the Systems or other users’ data that is stored on the same system. Spam, Email Relays, Bulk Messages. You will not use the Platform, or assist anyone else, to transmit unsolicited bulk e-mail or text messages (“Spam”); have third parties send out Spam on your behalf; receive replies from unsolicited e-mails or texts (commonly referred to as “drop-box” accounts) or configuring any portion of the Platform in such a way that it will accept third party messages for forwarding. You shall use reasonable efforts to secure any device or network within your control against being used in breach of the applicable laws against Spam, including where appropriate by the installation of antivirus software, firewalls and/or operating system and application software patches and updates. You shall not take any action which directly or indirectly results in any of TIC’s IP addresses being listed on any abuse database. Bulk messages may only be sent to recipients who have expressly requested receipt of such messages via a verified opt-in process. If you send bulk messages, you must comply with all laws and regulations applicable to the same, and must maintain complete and accurate records of all subscription requests (verified opt-ins), specifically including the contact details (email or phone numbers) and associated headers sent by every subscriber, and immediately provide TIC with such records upon TIC’s request. In addition, your bulk or commercial messaging must adhere, at minimum, to the following:

• You must have a privacy policy or similar disclosure for each domain associated with the messaging;
• You must not obscure the source of your message in any manner;
• You must post contact information for complaints in a conspicuous place on any website associated with the messages, and promptly respond to messages sent to that address;
• You must honor revocations of consent and notify recipients of the same.

You are prohibited from using the service of another provider to send Spam in order to promote a site hosted on or connected to the Platform, and in any event you will not use the Platform to: (a) send any messages that are excessive and/or intended to harass or annoy others; (b) continue to send messages to a recipient that has indicated that he/she does not wish to receive them; or (c) send malicious messages, including, without limitation, “mailbombing;”

Suspension and Termination. Your failure to comply with this AUP may result in TIC taking responsive action, including but not limited to, warnings to a suspension or termination of your use of the Platform. TIC reserves the right to act immediately and without prior notice to suspend or terminate affected accounts and your access to the Platform in response to a court order or governmental notice that certain conduct must be stopped, or in the event TIC determines, that your conduct or breach may: (a) expose TIC to sanctions, prosecution, civil action or other liability; (b) cause harm to or interfere with TIC’s Systems or networks connected with the Platform; (c) interfere with another user’s use of the Platform; (d) violate any applicable law, rule, regulation or court order; or (e) otherwise present an imminent risk of harm to TIC or its users. In any event, if TIC determines, in its sole discretion, that you have violated this AUP we may remove, disable, modify materials or content and/or suspend or terminate your access to the Platform. TIC may also intercept or block any traffic or material which belongs to you or your users (as applicable) in our discretion. These rights apply even if a violation is committed unintentionally, without your authorization, or unknowingly. These rights are not an obligation on TIC to act at any given time or with respect to any given user, and TIC may exercise these rights, in full or in part, at any time in its sole discretion.

Monitoring Your Content. TIC has no obligation to monitor content or material published, transmitted, accessed, received, distributed or stored using the Platform, but reserves the right to do so.

Cooperation with Law Enforcement. TIC further reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and third parties in investigating any alleged violations of this AUP, including disclosing the identity and contact details of any user that TIC believes is responsible for such violation.

No Limitations. Nothing in this AUP will limit in any way TIC’s rights and remedies at law or in equity that may otherwise be available.

You should send any questions regarding prohibited use or other abuse of the Platform, including violations of this AUP, to compliance.officer@textinchurch.com. Please include all applicable information that will assist TIC in investigating the complaint.