Effective January 1, 2015
1. Validity and purpose
Switch is obliged by law to install, administer and maintain a publicly accessible subscriber directory service (services Whois and domain name search, hereinafter Services), which allows all interested persons (hereinafter User) access to personal data relating to domain names (Art. 10 sec. 1 lit. a para. 5 of the Ordinance on Internet Domains of 5 November 2014, SR 784.104.2, hereinafter VID). With respect to the processing of personal data, Switch is subject to the provisions of Art. 16 ff. of the data protection act SR 232.1 (hereinafter DSG). To prevent abuse of the personal data from the Services, Switch is also obliged to restrict access to the Services, i.e. to limit internet users to a number of data accesses per unit of time.
This Acceptable Use Policy (hereinafter AUP) or use govern the conditions for the use of the Services by Users as well as for the processing of personal data which may be requested by Users as part of such use. Requests for and processing of personal data from the Services are subject in particular to article 12 ff. DSG.
2. Permissible use
The User is allowed to use requests to the Services only for the following purposes:
- to check whether a domain name is already registered or not
- to examine data on a domain name to identify the holder of the domain name.
3. Unauthorised use
The User is not permitted to use or to process the data from the Services for more far-reaching purposes or purposes other than those mentioned above in Section 2. This includes, in particular commercial purposes such as sale of addresses, advertising purposes, market research, troubling the holders of domain names or for any other abusive purposes.
Processing refers to any operation with the data, regardless of the means and methods used, in particular the acquisition, storage, use, adaptation, disclosure, such as providing access to personal data, allowing inspection, forwarding, reproduction or publication, archiving, deletion or transmission of data to other countries.
4. Access restrictions
For security reasons, the number of accesses to the Services is restricted. Increased access to the Services will be granted to third parties only on the basis of a special agreement and only in so far as increased access is required for activities of the third party in connection with the allocation and administration of domain names.
5. Responsibility/liability
Switch does not give any assurance, guarantee or other undertaking with respect to the use of the Services for the purposes of the User. In particular, Switch is not liable for formatting suitable for the purposes of the User, the accuracy or completeness of the content of the data, for interruptions in access or for transmission faults. For domain names that were registered before 24.11.1999, there shall be no guarantee with respect to the indication of the date of first registration.
All other liability of Switch, its executives, employees and agents in connection with the Services and this AUP is excluded in so far as permitted by law.
The User acknowledges that unauthorised use (see above Section 3) and / or processing of personal data from the Services is in breach of Art. 2 ff. DSG and this AUP. Unauthorised use of personal data is an infringement of privacy, which is actionable by the injured party against the offending party pursuant to article 28- 28l ZGB.
The User is responsible and liable for complying with the data protection regulations when using the Services and processing the relevant personal data. Unsolicited advertising messages sent on the basis of personal data from the Services, either electronically or by mail, are furthermore qualified as unfair competition according to the established practice of the Swiss Unfair Trading Commission (Schweizerische Lauterkeitskommission). In addition, the User of the Services is bound by any other legal provisions.
Under this agreement Switch has its own claim in respect of the User to refrain from unauthorised use/processing of the personal data from the Services. Switch has the right, in the event of suspicion of misuse of the data in the area of responsibility of the User, to block the latter’s access authorisation with immediate effect and without prior notification and without cost implications for Switch. The User undertakes to indemnify Switch in full against the claims of third parties in the event of unauthorised use and / or processing of the personal data of the Services, including any court and legal costs and any costs incurred by Switch in the course of these activities.
6. Applicable law and place of jurisdiction
This AUP is subject to Swiss law. The sole place of jurisdiction for all disputes in connection with or out of this AUP is Zurich.