Acceptable Use Policy
All customers
should read this document. You are responsible for the policy written here, and your account
WILL BE DISABLED WITHOUT WARNING if you violate it.
(Information
about reporting abuse of this policy is provided below)
This Internet Access Service sets forth an Acceptable Use
Policy with the intent of protecting our service, our customers,
and other users of the Internet from potentially abusive actions
taken by our customers. The following policy is non-exclusive;
any action about which there is doubt should be referred to
Community Connections, Inc. for evaluation. We may alter this
policy from time to time as need dictates.
Statement of Responsibility
- Each Internet account on this service has a password that
is the key to gain access to the account. The customer
who registered the account is solely responsible for all
access and actions taken with regard to the account. It
is the account owner's responsibility to safeguard the
account password and to ensure that Acceptable Use
Policies are honored. We will hold the account owner
responsible for any violations of the AUP.
- Any customers directly attached to this Internet Access
Service are expected to adhere to the Acceptable Use
Policies. The individual who agreed to direct-connect
service is responsible for educating site users on
acceptable use policies. Violations of the AUP by
directly attached sites will be referred to the
connection purchaser for resolution. The connection
purchaser will be held responsible for any violations of
the AUP.
- This Internet Access Service enforces these policies with
respect to our customers only. We are not responsible for
abusive actions which originate from other sites or
networks on the Internet.
- Each customer agrees that the Internet Access Service and any entity or
person connected or affiliated therewith may release the customer's
electronic communications and/or account access records to the authorities
in connection with a criminal investigation or in response to a subpoena
or court order, should that information be requested and is available..
Acceptable Use: Network
Acceptable use of the this Internet Access Service network
facilities does NOT include:
- Attempting to circumvent user authentication or security
of any host, network, or account on this Internet Access
Service systems or the Internet at large
("cracking").
- Use of this Internet Access Service systems or networks
(willfully or negligently) in a manner that encumbers
disk space, processors, bandwidth, or other system
resources so as to interfere with others' normal use of
services on this Internet Access Service or other systems
and networks ("denial of service" attack).
- Activities which violate local, state or federal statues including the
recently enacted Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This act
specifically prohibits various activities dealing with taking and
transferring copyrighted materials, such as music recordings, over the
Internet network.
Acceptable Use: Domain Names
This Internet Access Service provides domain name service for
web page customers. Keeping registry information updated and
accurate is the responsibility of the domain holder and not this
Internet Access Service. Acceptable use of this domain name
service does NOT include:
- Falsifying or omitting valid domain contact information,
including the administrative, technical, zone, and
billing contacts.
Acceptable Use: Email
Acceptable use of Email does NOT include:
- Sending unsolicited mass mailings of any nature,
including those with a "negative option" for
continuation. The negative option is inviting those who
do not wish to receive more email to reply to you.
- Sending a large number of email messages, or singularly
large email messages, to a single address in order to
flood someone's mailbox.
- Forging email headers to obscure the true originator of
the message.
- Creating or participating in pyramid schemes or chain
letters.
- Sending harassing email, either by language, size, or
frequency. This includes sending email (or real time)
messages to a person who has asked explicitly that you do
not.
- Activities which violate local, state, or federal
statutes.
Acceptable Use: Usenet
Acceptable use of this Internet Access Service Usenet News
service does NOT include:
- Posting unsolicited messages to a large number of Usenet
newsgroups either by cross-posting or posting to
individual groups ("spamming").
- Attempting to cancel, supersede, or otherwise interfere
with Usenet posts other than one's own.
- Blatant posting of articles which violate the named
charter for specific newsgroups.
- Publishing someone's real-world data (such as phone
number, address, social security number, etc.) in such a
way as to cause the person trouble or to incite others to
do so.
- Forging Usenet header information to obscure the true
originator of the message.
- Activities that violate local, state, or federal
statutes.
Acceptable Use: Internet Access
- It is a violation of Acceptable Use of this network to use online access
to engage in activities which violate local, state or federal statues
including the recently enacted Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
This act specifically prohibits various activities dealing with taking and
transferring copyrighted materials, such as music recordings, over the
Internet network.
- Dial-up connections to this Internet Access Service that
are idle for 30 minutes or longer will be disconnected. Idle
time is defined as a period during which no input or
output is sent or received across the modem connection.
- Dial-up connections to this Internet Access Service may be disconnected after several hours of continuous access. "Unlimited Access" does not mean "continuous access". This policy is enforced to keep dial-up access affordable to all subscribers.
- Multiple simultaneous logins to a single dial-up account to this Internet
Access Service are prohibited.
- Use of this Internet Access Service dial-up service as a
dedicated modem connection through use of redialers and
idle-time traffic generators is prohibited.
- Hi-speed access services such as DSL and wireless shall be assigned
changing (dynamic) IP addresses unless otherwise specified in customer
agreement. We reserve the right to change these IP numbers.
- Customer is forbidden from using Internet access for resale purposes or
from supplying this Internet access to other locations, customers, people,
businesses or entities, except as agreed to separately.
- Bandwidth speeds for dial-up and hi-speed access services will not
exceed limits set by F.C.C. regulations and are the maximum available
download speeds for that particular level of service. Actual speeds
will vary depending on service package selected and factors such as
customer's computer configuration and performance, overall Internet
traffic, weather and/or other factors.
Acceptable Use: Web Sites
Acceptable use of this Internet Access Service web space does
NOT include:
- Distribution of pornographic or otherwise indecent or
offending materials.
- Distribution of restricted software or materials in
violation of copyrights or distribution licenses.
- Distribution of materials which violates local, state, or
federal statutes.
This Internet Access Service reserves the right to restrict or
terminate service without refund in the event of an AUP
violation. This Internet Access Service also reserves the right
to take action on abuse which is not specifically named in this
AUP at the sole discretion of this Internet Access Service. Use
of this Internet Access Service systems and network constitutes
understanding and agreement of this policy.
Reports of Abuse
This Internet Access Service provides an email address for use
in reporting abusive activities originating from our customers as
outlined in this Acceptable Use Policy. Please note, abuse
originating from customers other than our own cannot be handled
by us. Report those instances to the provider/site who has
authority over the abusive user.
- When reporting email or Usenet abuse, include a FULL copy
of the message, including headers. This information is
required in order for any action to be taken.
- When reporting other types of abuse, include details such
as log files documenting the incident. We cannot act on
your word alone, we must have documented proof of an
incident.
- Send your report in email to abuse@connections.net.
Due to the number of reports submitted pertaining to a
single abuse incident, it is not always possible for us
to respond to each and every report.
NOTE: The action taken on abuse reports will be at the sole
discretion of this Internet Access Service. Our intent is NOT to
be The Net Police, but to simply do our part to insure quality
access and use of the Internet to all of our customers and to the
Internet community at large.