Acceptable Use Policy

1. Purpose

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs how Business Subscribers and their authorized users (including staff accounts) may use the Alaga platform. This AUP is incorporated by reference into the Alaga Terms of Service and forms part of the agreement between you and Alaga.

All users of the Alaga platform are expected to comply with this policy. Violations may result in warnings, suspension of specific features, temporary account suspension, or permanent termination of access, as described in Section 8 below.

2. General Acceptable Use

When using the Alaga platform, you agree to:

• Use the Service only for legitimate pet care business operations, including grooming, boarding, daycare, and related services.
• Provide accurate and truthful information when creating accounts, entering business details, and communicating through the platform.
• Maintain the security of your login credentials and not share account access with unauthorized individuals.
• Comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations in connection with your use of the Service.

3. Prohibited Conduct

The following activities are strictly prohibited on the Alaga platform:

• Non-pet-care use: Using the platform for any business or purpose unrelated to pet care services.
• Unauthorized data access: Accessing, attempting to access, or viewing data belonging to another Business Subscriber or their clients without authorization.
• Reverse engineering or scraping: Reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code of the platform, or scraping, crawling, or programmatically extracting data from the Service.
• Malware or harmful code: Uploading, transmitting, or introducing viruses, malware, ransomware, or any other harmful code to the platform.
• Infrastructure interference: Engaging in any activity that disrupts, degrades, or interferes with the platform's infrastructure, servers, networks, or other users' access to the Service.
• Competitive benchmarking: Using the platform for competitive analysis, benchmarking, or building a competing product without prior written consent from Alaga.
• Impersonation: Misrepresenting your identity, business, or affiliation when using the platform, or impersonating another person or entity.
• Illegal activities: Using the platform to facilitate, promote, or engage in any illegal activity.

4. SMS and Messaging Rules

Business Subscribers who use Alaga's SMS and messaging features must obtain explicit opt-in consent from each recipient before enabling SMS communications. For full details on consent requirements, message types, and opt-out procedures, refer to our Messaging Terms and Conditions.

The following messaging practices are prohibited:

• Sending SMS messages to any recipient who has not provided explicit opt-in consent.
• Sending messages unrelated to the pet care services provided by the Business Subscriber.
• Sending spam, unsolicited bulk messages, or messages at excessive frequency.
• Ignoring or failing to honor STOP/opt-out requests from recipients.
• Sending messages before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM in the recipient's local time zone.
• Sending messages containing political, religious, or adult content.
• Sharing, selling, or otherwise distributing recipient phone numbers to third parties.

5. Data Handling Responsibilities for Businesses

Business Subscribers act as data controllers for the personal data of their clients (pet owners) and pets that is entered into or processed through the Alaga platform. As a data controller, each Business Subscriber agrees to:

• Lawful basis: Have a lawful basis for collecting, storing, and processing client personal data through the platform.
• Client rights: Honor access, correction, and deletion requests from clients regarding their personal data in a timely manner.
• No unauthorized export: Not bulk-export client data for the purpose of migrating to or populating a competing platform. Reasonable data portability for the Business Subscriber's own legitimate use is permitted.
• No unauthorized sharing: Not share client personal data with third parties without obtaining appropriate consent from the affected clients.
• Access management: Use role-based permissions to manage staff access to client data, ensuring that each staff member only has access to the data necessary for their role.
• Breach reporting: Promptly report any suspected data breach or unauthorized access to client data to Alaga at chris@alaga.io.

For more information about how Alaga handles data, please review our Privacy Policy.

6. Content Standards

All content uploaded to or created within the Alaga platform -- including pet photos, client notes, staff notes, and marketing materials -- must meet the following standards:

• Content must be legal and must not violate any applicable law or regulation.
• Content must not infringe on the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, or other rights of any third party.
• Content must be appropriate for a professional business context and suitable for all audiences.
• Content must not be misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent.

Alaga reserves the right to review and remove any content that violates these standards, with or without prior notice to the Business Subscriber.

7. Resource Usage

The Alaga platform is intended for fair and reasonable use by all Business Subscribers. To ensure a consistent experience for all users:

• Platform resources (storage, API calls, processing) are shared among all subscribers and should be used reasonably.
• SMS messaging volume is subject to the limits defined by your subscription plan tier.
• Alaga reserves the right to throttle or limit usage that materially impacts platform performance or the experience of other users.

If your usage consistently exceeds normal levels, Alaga may contact you to discuss upgrading your plan or optimizing your usage.

8. Consequences of Violation

Alaga takes violations of this Acceptable Use Policy seriously. Enforcement actions follow a graduated approach:

1. Warning and request to remedy: For first-time or minor violations, Alaga will notify the Business Subscriber and provide a reasonable opportunity to correct the issue.
2. Temporary suspension of messaging: If the violation involves SMS or messaging misuse, Alaga may temporarily disable the messaging features for the affected account.
3. Temporary account suspension: For repeated or more serious violations, Alaga may temporarily suspend the entire account pending resolution.
4. Permanent termination: For severe, willful, or repeated violations, Alaga may permanently terminate access to the platform.
5. Reporting to authorities: If a violation involves illegal activity, Alaga may report the conduct to the appropriate law enforcement or regulatory authorities.

9. Reporting Violations

If you believe that a user of the Alaga platform is violating this Acceptable Use Policy, please report it to us. We take all reports seriously and will investigate promptly.

Alaga will acknowledge receipt of your report and provide a substantive response within 5 business days. All reports will be reviewed in accordance with the enforcement procedures described in Section 8 and the applicable provisions of our Terms of Service.

10. Changes to This Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Acceptable Use Policy at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by posting the updated policy on our website and updating the "Last updated" date above. Your continued use of the Alaga platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the modified policy.

For the complete terms governing use of the Alaga platform, please refer to our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Messaging Terms and Conditions.