Acceptable
Use Policy
As a provider of web site hosting, and other Internet-related services,
mycompany.com offers its customers (also known as subscribers), and their
customers and users, the means to acquire and disseminate a wealth of
public, private, commercial, and non-commercial information. mycompany.com
respects that the Internet provides a forum for free and open discussion
and dissemination of information, however, when there are competing interests
at issue, mycompany.com reserves the right to take certain preventative
or corrective actions. In order to protect these competing interests,
mycompany.com has developed an Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP"),
which supplements and explains certain terms of each customer's respective
service agreement and is intended as a guide to the customer's rights
and obligations when utilizing mycompany.com's services. This AUP will be
revised from time to time. A customer's use of mycompany.com's services
after changes to the AUP are posted on mycompany.com's web site, www.mycompany.com,
will constitute the customer's acceptance of any new or additional terms
of the AUP that result from those changes.
One important aspect of the Internet is that no one party owns or controls
it. This fact accounts for much of the Internet's openness and value,
but it also places a high premium on the judgment and responsibility of
those who use the Internet, both in the information they acquire and in
the information they disseminate to others. When subscribers obtain information
through the Internet, they must keep in mind that mycompany.com cannot monitor,
verify, warrant, or vouch for the accuracy and quality of the information
that subscribers may acquire. For this reason, the subscriber must exercise
his or her best judgment in relying on information obtained from the Internet,
and also should be aware that some material posted to the Internet is
sexually explicit or otherwise offensive. Because mycompany.com cannot monitor
or censor the Internet, and will not attempt to do so, mycompany.com cannot
accept any responsibility for injury to its subscribers that results from
inaccurate, unsuitable, offensive, or illegal Internet communications.
When subscribers disseminate information through the Internet, they
also must keep in mind that mycompany.com does not review, edit,
censor, or take responsibility for any information its subscribers
may create. When users place information on the Internet, they have
the same liability as other authors for copyright infringement,
defamation, and other harmful speech. Also, because the information
they create is carried over mycompany.com's network and may reach
a large number of people, including both subscribers and non subscribers
of mycompany.com, subscribers' postings to the Internet may affect
other subscribers and may harm mycompany.com's goodwill, business
reputation, and operations. For these reasons, subscribers violate
mycompany.com policy and the service agreement when they, their
customers, affiliates, or subsidiaries engage in the following prohibited
activities:
Spamming
-- Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet
(known as "spamming"). It is not only harmful because of its
negative impact on consumer attitudes toward mycompany.com, but also because
it can overload mycompany.com's network and disrupt service to mycompany.com
subscribers. Also, maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When
a complaint is received, mycompany.com has the discretion to determine from
all of the evidence whether the email recipients were from an "opt-in"
email list.
Intellectual Property Violations -- Engaging in any activity that
infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others,
including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, software
piracy, and patents held by individuals, corporations, or other entities.
Also, engaging in activity that violates privacy, publicity, or other
personal rights of others. mycompany.com is required by law to remove or
block access to customer content upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright
infringement. It is also mycompany.com's policy to terminate the privileges
of customers who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
Obscene Speech or Materials -- Using mycompany.com's network to advertise,
transmit, store, post, display, or otherwise make available child pornography
or obscene speech or material. mycompany.com is required by law to notify
law enforcement agencies when it becomes aware of the presence of child
pornography on or being transmitted through mycompany.com's network.
Defamatory or Abusive Language -- Using mycompany.com's network as
a means to transmit or post defamatory, harassing, abusive, or threatening
language.
Forging of Headers -- Forging or misrepresenting message headers,
whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the message.
Illegal or Unauthorized Access to Other Computers or Networks -- Accessing
illegally or without authorization computers, accounts, or networks belonging
to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another
individual's system (often known as "hacking"). Also, any activity
that might be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration (i.e.
port scan, stealth scan, or other information gathering activity).
Distribution of Internet Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, or Other
Destructive Activities -- Distributing information regarding
the creation of and sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses,
pinging, flooding, mail bombing, or denial of service attacks. Also,
activities that disrupt the use of or interfere with the ability
of others to affectively use the network or any connected network,
system, service, or equipment.
Facilitating a Violation of this AUP -- Advertising, transmitting,
or otherwise making available any software, program, product, or
service that is designed to violate this AUP, which includes the
facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of pinging, flooding,
mail bombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software.
Export Control Violations -- Exporting encryption software over
the Internet or otherwise, to points outside the United States.
Usenet Groups -- mycompany.com reserves the right not to accept postings
from newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content of the
newsgroup violates the AUP.
Other Illegal Activities -- Engaging in activities that are
determined to be illegal, including advertising, transmitting, or
otherwise making available phonic schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently
charging credit cards, and pirating software.
Other Activities -- Engaging in activities, whether lawful or unlawful,
that mycompany.com determines to be harmful to its subscribers, operations,
reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.
As we have
pointed out, the responsibility for avoiding the harmful activities just
described rests primarily with the subscriber. mycompany.com will not, as
an ordinary practice, monitor the communications of its subscribers to
ensure that they comply with mycompany.com policy or applicable law. When
mycompany.com becomes aware of harmful activities, however, it may take
any action to stop the harmful activity, including but not limited to,
removing information, shutting down a web site, implementing screening
software designed to block offending transmissions, denying access to
the Internet, or take any other action it deems appropriate.
mycompany.com also is aware that many of its subscribers are, themselves,
providers of Internet services, and that information reaching mycompany.com's
facilities from those subscribers may have originated from a customer
of the subscriber or from another third-party. mycompany.com does not require
its subscribers who offer Internet services to monitor or censor transmissions
or web sites created by customers of its subscribers. mycompany.com has
the right to directly take action against a customer of a subscriber.
Also, mycompany.com may take action against the mycompany.com subscriber because
of activities of a customer of the subscriber, even though the action
may effect other customers of the subscriber. Similarly, mycompany.com anticipates
that subscribers who offer Internet services will cooperate with mycompany.com
in any corrective or preventive action that mycompany.com deems necessary.
Failure to cooperate with such corrective or preventive measures is a
violation of mycompany.com policy.
mycompany.com also is concerned with the privacy of on-line communications
and web sites. In general, the Internet is neither more nor less secure
than other means of communication, including mail, facsimile, and voice
telephone service, all of which can be intercepted and otherwise compromised.
As a matter of prudence, however, mycompany.com urges its subscribers to
assume that all of their on-line communications are insecure. mycompany.com
cannot take any responsibility for the security of information transmitted
over mycompany.com's facilities.
mycompany.com will not intentionally monitor private electronic mail messages
sent or received by its subscribers unless required to do so by law, governmental
authority, or when public safety is at stake. mycompany.com may, however,
monitor its service electronically to determine that its facilities are
operating satisfactorily. Also, mycompany.com may disclose information,
including but not limited to, information concerning a subscriber, a transmission
made using our network, or a web site, in order to comply with a court
order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, statute, regulation,
or governmental request. mycompany.com assumes no obligation to inform the
subscriber that subscriber information has been provided and in some cases
may be prohibited by law from giving such notice. Finally, mycompany.com
may disclose subscriber information or information transmitted over its
network where necessary to protect mycompany.com and others from harm, or
where such disclosure is necessary to the proper operation of the system.
mycompany.com expects that its subscribers who provide Internet services
to others will comply fully with all applicable laws concerning the privacy
of on-line communications. A subscriber's failure to comply with those
laws will violate mycompany.com policy. Finally, mycompany.com wishes to emphasize
that in signing the service agreement, subscribers indemnify mycompany.com
for any violation of the service agreement, law, or mycompany.com policy
that results in loss to mycompany.com or the bringing of any claim against
mycompany.com by any third-party. This means that if mycompany.com is sued
because of a subscriber's or customer of a subscriber's activity, the
subscriber will pay any damages awarded against mycompany.com, plus costs
and reasonable attorneys' fees.
We hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the obligations of Internet
users, including mycompany.com and its subscribers, as responsible members
of the Internet. Any complaints about a subscriber's violation of this
AUP should be sent to abuse@mycompany.com
Last Modified March 18, 2000
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