WHEREVER: |
- The Company or Individual is
hereinafter known as a "Client".
- Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. is
hereinafter known as the "Company".
- The Client desires to contract
services from the Company.
|
NOW, THEREFORE, in
consideration of the foregoing, the mutual
covenants and agreements contained herein,
and other good and valuable considerations,
the receipt and sufficiency of which are
hereby acknowledged, the parties, intending
to be legally bound, agree as follows: |
|
Foundation |
The
Company, which provides Services, offers its
Clients and their customers and users, the
means to acquire and disseminate a wealth of
public, private, commercial, and
non-commercial information. The Company
respects that the Internet provides a forum
for free and open discussion and
dissemination of information, however, when
there are competing interests at issue the
Company reserves the right to take certain
preventative or corrective actions. In order
to protect these competing interests, the
Company has 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 Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.
services. This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
will be revised from time to time. A
customer's use of Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.
services after changes to the AUP are posted
on Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.'s web site,
Acceptable Use Policy , will constitute
the customer's acceptance of any new or
additional terms of the AUP that result from
those changes. |
|
Basis |
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 the
Company does 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 the
Company cannot monitor or censor the
Internet, and will not attempt to do so, the
Company 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 the Company 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 the Company's network and may
reach a large number of people, including
both subscribers and non-subscribers of the
Company, subscribers' postings to the
Internet may affect other subscribers and
may harm the Company's goodwill, business
reputation, and operations. For these
reasons, subscribers violate the Company's
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 Tri-lakes Internet, Inc., but also
because it can overload Tri-lakes Internet,
Inc.'s network and disrupt service to
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. subscribers. Also,
maintaining an open SMTP relay is
prohibited. When a complaint is received,
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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. Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. is required by law to remove
or block access to customer content upon
receipt of a proper notice of copyright
infringement. It is also Tri-lakes Internet,
Inc.'s policy to terminate the privileges of
customers who commit repeat violations of
copyright laws. |
|
Obscene
Speech or Materials |
Using Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.'s network to
advertise, transmit, store, post, display,
or otherwise make available child
pornography or obscene speech or material.
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. is required by law
to notify law enforcement agencies when it
becomes aware of the presence of child
pornography on or being transmitted through
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.'s network. |
|
Obscene
Speech or Materials |
Using Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.'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
effectively 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. |
|
Email |
Sending unsolicited mail messages,
including, without limitation, commercial
advertising and informational announcements,
is explicitly prohibited. A user shall not
use another site's mail server to relay mail
without the express permission of the site. |
|
Usenet
Groups |
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. reserves the right
not to accept postings from newsgroups where
we have actual knowledge that the content of
the newsgroup violates the AUP. Posting the
same or similar message to one or more
newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or
multiple-posting, also known as "SPAM") is
explicitly prohibited. |
|
Other
Illegal Activities |
Engaging in activities that are determined
to be illegal, including advertising,
transmitting, or otherwise making available
ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently
charging credit cards, and pirating
software. |
|
Other
Activities |
Engaging in activities, whether lawful or
unlawful, that Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.
determines to be harmful to its subscribers,
operations, reputation, goodwill, or
customer relations. Examples of system or
network security violations include, without
limitation, the following: Unauthorized
access to or use of data, systems or
networks, including any attempt to probe,
scan or test the vulnerability of a system
or network or to breach security or
authentication measures without express
authorization of the owner of the system or
network. Unauthorized monitoring of data or
traffic on any network or system without
express authorization of the owner of the
system or network. |
Interference with service to any user, host
or network including, without limitation,
mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts
to overload a system and broadcast attacks.
Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any
part of the header information in an email
or a newsgroup posting. |
As
we have pointed out, the responsibility for
avoiding the harmful activities just
described rests primarily with the
subscriber. Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. will
not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the
communications of its subscribers to ensure
that they comply with Tri-lakes Internet,
Inc. policy or applicable law. When
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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. |
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. also is aware that
many of its subscribers are, themselves,
providers of Internet services, and that
information reaching Tri-lakes Internet,
Inc.'s facilities from those subscribers may
have originated from a customer of the
subscriber or from another third-party.
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. does not require
its subscribers who offer Internet services
to monitor or censor transmissions or web
sites created by customers of its
subscribers. Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. has
the right to directly take action against a
customer of a subscriber. Also, Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. may take action against the
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. subscriber because
of activities of a customer of the
subscriber, even though the action may
affect other customers of the subscriber.
Similarly, Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.
anticipates that subscribers who offer
Internet services will cooperate with
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. in any corrective
or preventive action that Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. deems necessary. Failure to
cooperate with such corrective or preventive
measures is a violation of Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. Service Agreement. |
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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, Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. urges its
subscribers to assume that all of their
on-line communications are insecure.
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. cannot take any
responsibility for the security of
information transmitted over Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc.'s facilities. |
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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. Tri-lakes Internet, Inc.
may, however, monitor its service
electronically to determine that its
facilities are operating satisfactorily.
Also, Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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. Tri-lakes Internet,
Inc. 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, Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. may
disclose subscriber information or
information transmitted over its network
where necessary to protect Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. and others from harm, or
where such disclosure is necessary to the
proper operation of the system. |
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. 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
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. policy. Finally,
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. wishes to emphasize
that in utilizing services the service
agreement, subscribers indemnify Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. for any violation of the
service agreement, law, or Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc.'s policy, that results in
loss to Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. or the
bringing of any claim against Tri-lakes
Internet, Inc. by any third-party. This
means that if Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. is
sued because of a subscriber's or customer
of a subscriber's activity, the subscriber
will pay any damages awarded against
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc., plus costs and
reasonable attorneys' fees. |
We
hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the
obligations of Internet users, including
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. and its
subscribers, as responsible members of the
Internet. Any complaints about a
subscriber's violation of this AUP should be
sent to
abuse@tri-lakes.net |
|
INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF
THE POLICY, AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED
VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON BEHALF OF A
Tri-lakes Internet, Inc. CUSTOMER OR A
CUSTOMER'S END USER, SHALL BE CONSIDERED
VIOLATIONS OF THE POLICY BY SUCH CUSTOMER OR
END USER. |