Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”)
This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) describes permitted conduct and prohibited uses of the Webcom Network and its services, as subscribed to pursuant to the Affiliate Agreement (“Agreement”) executed between Affiliate and Webcom, into which this Policy is incorporated.
Any violation of this AUP may result in account suspension or deactivation. Webcom reserves the right to evaluate each violation individually and take action as it deems appropriate. Actions may vary from written warning to immediate account deactivation and forfeit of recorded commissions.
The contents of this AUP may be updated from time to time as required and prohibited activities are not limited to those examples listed within. Affiliates are encouraged to regularly reference this AUP before engaging in any questionable affiliate marketing strategies.
Legal Compliance
Affiliate shall not conduct any illegal activity whatsoever (including any violations of applicable U.S. state or federal law or regulation, Canadian provincial or federal law, or the laws of any other jurisdiction in which Affiliate operates).
Message Boards, Classifieds, etc.
Affiliate must not place Webcom ad codes on, advertise or otherwise promote any offers via third party website internal communications systems, message boards, chat rooms, or free classified sites including but not limited to MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Tagged.com, Craigslist, Backpage, Yahoo Answers etc.
This includes but is not limited to:
- Posting Webcom affiliate links directly in a Craigslist, or any other similar market place, classified ad listing;
- Posting links for an Affiliate website or landing page designed primarily to promote Webcom Ad campaigns in a Craigslist, or any other similar marketplace, listing; and
- Collecting email address data generated from a Craigslist, or any other similar marketplace, classified ad listing and later sending promotional emails including Webcom Ad campaigns to those email addresses.
Misleading and Deceptive Advertising
As per Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act it is against the law to mislead consumers through false or deceptive statements, claims, or representations. Affiliate is encouraged to read “Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road” before marketing any products and shall not at any time:
- Mislead users with deceptive or misleading language; or
- Promote content, products or services not actually offered by Webcom
An example of a misleading method includes “Job Sites” that deceive users with the promise of employment for completing offers related to education or home business opportunities.
Creatives
Affiliate shall not alter, cut, crop, modify or otherwise change any aspect of the provided creatives for any campaign without Webcom’s prior written approval.
The use of free images found through Google Image Search or any other means is prohibited. Should Affiliate wish to use non-provided images, he or she is recommended to license images from stock photo providers such as istockphoto.com.
If promoting ads through e-mail marketing, affiliate must ensure compliance with the CAN SPAM Act of 2003.
Fraud
Affiliates who commit fraudulent activities, will forfeit all earned and owing commissions for all campaigns, not only those commissions associated with the fraudulent activity, and their account will be deactivated effective immediately. Webcom reserves sole judgment in determining fraudulent activity. Fraudulent activity includes but is not limited to:
- Use of false data or credit card numbers on any signup form, contract, online application or registration.
- Use of unauthorized data or credit card numbers in the name of third parties on any signup form, contract, online application or registration.
- Manipulation of tracking information or Ad Media (Webcom unique tracking links and Client landing pages) to stimulate leads or inflate commissions. Prohibited activities include but are not limited to:
- Cookie stuffing - No more than one cookie may be set when a page is called, regardless of whether these cookies are set in different areas of the page, ad servers, pop-ups, pop-unders, layers or other elements loaded when the page is called.
- Any generation of leads or transactions in bad faith by Affiliate or from any device, program, robot, computer script or other automated methods to artificially inflate commissions.
- Any generation of clicks that do not map any conscious action by an individual user including but not limited to:
- Repeat manual clicks;
- Use of robots or other automatic means to generate clicks; and
- Faking tracking information to stimulate links.
Affiliate Account
To ensure timely payment and accurate communication channels, Affiliate is responsible for maintaining the correct contact and payment information in his or her account. Profile information must be updated by the last day of the month to be used for that month’s payment
Registration of more than one account (per individual or company) in the Webcom network, without prior written approval, is prohibited.
Affiliate is legally responsible for all activity through his or her account at all times. Affiliate, through action or inaction, cannot sell or permit access to his or her account to any third party for whom he or she does not have control and authority over.
Miscellaneous
Offline marketing - Offline marketing of any Webcom Ad campaigns is prohibited without prior written consent from Webcom and Webcom Client. Offline marketing includes but is not limited to:
- Leads or sales via in and outbound call centers;
- Leads or sales generated through shops, mall kiosks, on campus information booths, etc.; and
- Any lead or sale where the affiliate or other third party submits a lead or concludes a sale on behalf of the end user.
Frames - The framing of Webcom or Client websites (generally campaign landing pages) into an Affiliate or third party website is prohibited without prior written consent from a Webcom Representative. Framing includes but is not limited to the use of:
- Iframes
- Hidden Frames; and
- Mirrors
Website Content - Affiliate shall not publish any content in connection with Webcom that is unlawful, deceitful, defamatory, libelous, abusive, violent, prejudicial, pornographic, threatening, harmful or otherwise objectionable.
Website Requirements - Any and all websites used to promote Webcom Ads must at all times:
- Be fully functional at all levels, with no “under construction” sites or sections;
- Be represented by a legitimate second-level domain name (e.g. yoursite.com is acceptable; however, a shared server, e.g., sharedsite.com/yoursite, is not acceptable);
- Not consist solely of a list of links or advertisements; and
- Not include spawning process pop-ups.
Third Party Traffic - Affiliate is at all times responsible for traffic sent through his or her account. Affiliate is recommended to perform appropriate due diligence before purchasing traffic from third party sources. Many companies sell inexpensive traffic that result in poor quality performance and/or fraudulent activity. Affiliate is recommended to avoid traffic sold by sellers such as buyhitscheap.com and advertyz.com etc. and should consult with his or her Affiliate Manager if ever uncertain about a particular third party traffic seller.
Non-Permissible Activity - The following methods of distribution are not permitted:
- Autospawning of browsers;
- Automatic redirecting;
- Misdirecting;
- Blind text links;
- Spyware or malware (see DLS Policy) hyperlink;
- Forced clicks;
- Phishing; and
- Spoofing
Facilitating AUP Violation - Affiliate shall not advertise, transmit, or otherwise make available any software, program, product, service or misleading advice that is designed to violate this AUP. This includes but is not limited to spam, data harvesting, pinging, denial of service attacks, piracy of software, content incentive pops, and any other advertising method that has been specifically prohibited under this AUP, Affiliate Agreement, DLS Agreement, Email Agreement or Privacy Policy.
Reporting Violations of this AUP
Webcom requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to Webcom’s Compliance department at: aup.violation@coursesniper.com. When reporting a possible violation, please provide as much information as available to help us evaluate each case effectively. Useful information may include: (i) Type of alleged violation; (ii) evidence of alleged violation; (iii) date and time of alleged violation; and (iv) IP address used to commit alleged violation.