Rules for using the disaster emergency message board (web171)

Rules for using the disaster emergency message board (web171)

The rules herein (hereinafter, “these rules”) apply to all related matters associated with use of the disaster emergency message board (web171) (hereinafter, “the message board”) provided by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation (hereafter referred to jointly as “NTT”). Users of the message board (hereinafter, “users”) shall agree to the following items stipulated by NTT in these rules. NTT may change the contents of these rules without prior notice to users. Users shall agree that, in such a case, they are bound by these rules after the change. These rules apply when using the message board to check messages stored on the disaster emergency message board (web171) provided by NTT and on similar services. Moreover, rules on use of the particular services shall apply in case of transition to similar services such as emergency message boards provided by other companies.

1. The message board is provided with the aim of facilitating the convenience of confirmation of safety among users, and is not intended to guarantee certain telecommunications.
2. Messages can only be registered to and browsed with the message board during periods in which the service is provided as notified separately by NTT. At other times, only user registration (including update and deletion) is available.
3. Information registered by users and the existence of such information may be searchable by emergency message board services provided by mobile phone carriers and other carriers (hereinafter, “other-company message board services”), and the search results may be displayed by other-company message board services.
4. Users shall agree that, if functions for notification by e-mail or telephone and for notification of message registration are used, the mail or telephone call may be delayed or not go through due to factors such as network communications status, e-mail receiving environment, and settings by the recipient. Also, communications charges or dialing charges may be incurred by the recipient of the e-mail or telephone call.
5. NTT shall bear no responsibility whatsoever for damages caused for reasons attributable to users, such as leakage of personal information, troubles between individuals, and troubles with other companies due to a user registering the wrong e-mail address or telephone number for notification or failing to update registered information.
6. Information registered to the message board is made available for browsing by the general public. To limit the scope of information that can be browsed, users must register the scope of browsing themselves beforehand and set a password for allowing browsing.
7. NTT bears no responsibility whatsoever for results of users disclosing their personal information, etc. on the message board, regardless of whether or not the user set a password, except in cases of intentional acts or gross negligence by NTT.
8. In use of the message board by users, the user is entirely responsible for usage and management of his/her telephone number, the name and password corresponding to that telephone number; the e-mail address and name set as recipient for e-mail notification; the name and telephone number set as recipient for telephone notification.
9. NTT shall not be held liable for any damage arising from the use of the user's password by other users or third parties, except when NTT is held liable for intentional or gross negligence.
10. The following acts are prohibited from being performed by users. If NTT determines that acts by a user fall under any of the following acts, messages may be deleted or information prohibited from being registered without notification to the user in advance or after the fact and without explanation of the reason for deletion.
    • Pretending to be a third party, or an employee or system maintenance worker of NTT
    • Committing acts constituting crimes such as fraud, child prostitution, or acts leading to these
    • Engaging in multi-level marketing (Ponzi scheme) activity or soliciting people to such programs
    • Tampering with or erasing information belonging to NTT or others that is accessible through the message board
    • Accessing NTT facilities or facilities of others (including but not limited to telecommunications facilities, telecommunications circuits, electronic computers, or other equipment or software that NTT makes available to provide the message board service) without authorization or by unprotected devices or interfering with the use or operation of such facilities
    • Collecting personal information on another person without obtaining the consent of that person or by fraudulent means
    • Committing acts or expressions that infringe on the rights of other users or third parties (including but not limited to property, the right to honor, the right to privacy, copyright, the right of likeness and so forth)
    • Engaging in business (including but not limited to advertising or solicitation) or in purchase or sale, regardless of whether such acts are for profit or not
    • Engaging in acts of pre-election campaigning, election campaigning, or similar acts, or acts infringing on the Public Officers Election Act; engaging in political or religious activities
    • Committing acts that infringe or may infringe on copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of NTT or others
    • Unfairly discriminating against, slandering, or insulting others, encouraging unfair discrimination against others, or damaging the dignity or trust of others
    • Engaging in acts that lead to or may likely lead to drug offences or abuse of controlled substances and advertising unapproved drugs, etc.
    • Advertising for lending of money without being licensed to perform money-lending business
    • Using the message board by impersonating others
    • Sending or posting viruses or other harmful computer programs
    • Sending advertisement or solicitation mail to others without their permission or sending mail that it is reasonable to assume will or is likely to incite considerable annoyance.
    • Engaging in acts that obstruct or may obstruct use or operation of equipment, etc. of others or of Internet connection services
    • Encouraging illegal gambling or soliciting participation in illegal gambling
    • Contracting, mediating, or inducing (including commissioning others) illegal acts (transfer of pistols, production of unauthorized explosives, provision of child pornography, forgery of public documents, murder, intimidation, etc.)
    • Indiscriminately sending images of cruel acts such as of murder scenes, images of killing/wounding or abusing animals, or other information that is reasonable to assume that it will incite considerable annoyance.
    • Engaging in acts such as inducing or soliciting suicide or introducing methods of suicide that pose a high risk of harming third parties
    • Posting links in a manner or for the purpose of encouraging other acts that knowingly fall under any of the acts noted above
    • Encouraging unspecified persons placement, etc. of information that leads or is likely to lead to crime or illegal acts or information that unfairly slanders or insults others or violates their privacy
    • Engaging in other acts that may interfere with the provision of NTT’s service or impair confidence in NTT
    • Engaging in other acts NTT determines to violate public order or standards of decency or violate rights of others
11. Based on the previous section, users acknowledge that, when a message is deleted, other messages registered following the deleted one may be deleted regardless of the contents of the message.
12. Users acknowledge that when the twenty first message is registered on the message board, the first message registered will be deleted regardless of the contents of the message.
13. Users acknowledge that the contents of all messages may be deleted if NTT stops providing the message board.
14. Users acknowledge that NTT will send confirmation e-mail to the address registered in the basic information at time of user registration and that, if confirmation is not made within the period of time noted in the e-mail, user registration will be deleted.
15. NTT shall not be held liable in any way for damage to the user resulting from his/her use of the message board (including loss of income or damage due to claims or compensations for damage demanded by other users or third parties against the user), or for damage to the user or other companies resulting from inability to use the message board, except when NTT is held liable for intentional or gross negligence.
16. From the viewpoint of the nature of the message board, NTT does not guarantee in any way the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or the like of information registered by the user.
17. In the following cases, NTT may temporarily stop provision of the message board without prior notification to the user or without obtaining the prior consent of the user:
    • When the system maintenance or work on the message board is carried out
    • When the message board becomes non-operational due to the occurrence or the possibility of occurrence of an extraordinary natural phenomenon, incident, emergency, or the like
    • When NTT deems necessary a temporary stoppage of the provision of the message board for reasons including but not limited to the operation of the message board
18. NTT shall not be involved in any way, regarding information used or provided via the message board by the user, in disputes occurring between the user and other users or third parties in connection with intellectual properties such as copyrights or trademarks, with moral rights to honor, trust, privacy, or the like, or with contractual rights, and the user shall resolve such disputes at his/her own risk and expense.
19. These rules is governed, in all provisions including its establishment, validity, interpretation, and implementation, by the laws and regulations of Japan. Should part of these rules be deemed invalid on account of the mandatory provisions section of laws and regulations concerning consumer protection or other mandatory provisions, other parts of these rules that do not run counter to such provisions shall be valid to the maximum possible extent.
20. Concrete principles concerning the handling of personal information

    (1) Purpose of utilization

    NTT sets in running the message board the following purposes of use for handling personal information (the personal information stipulated in Section 2 of Personal Information Protection Act and including data on individuals and retained such data; including personal information of user representatives, officers, employees, etc. handled by NTT for providing/selling telecommunications services, etc. if the user is not an individual; the same applies in the following).

    1. Provision of the message board

       In order to provide the message board, the following items of personal information that NTT is to handle shall be used to the extent necessary to execute NTT’s activities such as the implementation of measures to improve customer satisfaction (CS) (including questionnaire surveys), the planning and development of new telecommunications services, the maintenance and improvement of facilities necessary to provide telecommunications services and the like, and the implementation of other activities associated with NTT’s telecommunications services.

       • The name, address, telephone number, email address, and the like of a user
       • Information on facilities used by a user that will become necessary to address failures of such facilities.
       • Items that form personal information among items of information that NTT is to handle as a result of the use of the service by the user and as a result of the inquiries the user makes with NTT
    2. Handling user consultation, etc.

       The following items of personal information that NTT is to handle when the user calls our customer consultation center or other consultation contacts for consultation and requests (including the receipt of repairs of failures; the same applies in the following) are used within the extent necessary to address the matters taken up in the consultation and requests, as well as within the extent necessary to improve the quality of telecommunications services and develop new telecommunications services on the basis of the contents of the opinions and consultation concerned.

       • The name, address, telephone number, email address, and the like of a user who calls NTT for the purpose of consultation or making requests.
       • Other items that correspond to personal information among the contents of consultation, requests, etc.
    3. Participation in questionnaire surveys

       The following items of personal information that NTT is to handle as a result of the participation of the user in questionnaire surveys conducted by NTT are used within the extent necessary to improve the quality of telecommunications services and develop new telecommunications services and the like.

       • The name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, age, date of birth, occupation, sex, etc. of users informed when participating in questionnaire surveys, etc.
       • Other items that correspond to personal information among the contents of consultation or requests.
    4. Contracted out business

       Items of personal information that NTT is to handle as a result of conducting activities trusted by other business operators (such as sales and distribution of their merchandise and services) are used within the extent necessary to conduct activities trusted by them.

    (2) Providing personal information in cases such as consigning business to other business operators, etc.

    Items of personal information that NTT handles may be provided to other business operators to whom NTT outsources its activities under the provision of Paragraph 1, Subsection 4, Section 23 of Personal Information Protection Act. In that case, the personal information provided shall be items listed in (1) i . to iv . NTT shall select business operators, etc. recognized to appropriately handle personal information, stipulate in a consignment contract, etc. with the business operator security control measures, confidentiality, conditions for re-commissioning, and other items deemed necessary for appropriate handling of personal information, and appropriately oversee the business operator, etc.
    In addition, personal information that NTT handles may be provided to third parties under Personal Information Protection Act, the Telecommunications Business Act , and other laws and regulations.