Acceptable Use Policy

Agreement

This Acceptable Use Policy (hereafter referred to as "AUP") sets forth the principles and guidelines that govern the use of PacketExchange's (hereafter referred to as "PacketExchange") Internet Backbone, Equipment, Servers, Bandwidth, Disk Space or any other form of PacketExchange property by any person, Internet User, client of PacketExchange, whether licensed and authorized to use said Services or not.

By using any Equipment, Servers, Bandwidth, Disk Space or any other property of PacketExchange, including the PacketExchange Internet Backbone, the entity (hereafter referred to as "User") using said property agrees to all of the terms and conditions of this AUP.

Compliance With Law

Users shall not post, transmit, retransmit or store material on or through any of PacketExchange's system, services or products that: (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation; (ii) threatening, obscene, indecent , defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons"); or (iii) violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by User.

Principles and Guidelines

This AUP identifies the actions that the PacketExchange considers to be abusive, and thus, strictly prohibited. In addition to the other requirements of this AUP, User may only use PacketExchange's systems, services and products in a manner that, in PacketExchange's sole judgement, is consistent with the purposes of such systems, services and products. If a User is unsure whether a contemplated use or action is permitted under the AUP, the User should e-mail PacketExchange with a description of the proposed use at policy@PacketExchange.net for a determination as to whether the use is permissible under this AUP. The examples identified in the subsections below are non-exclusive and are provided, in part, for guidance purposes.

The following uses of PacketExchange's systems, services and products as described in subsections A through D are expressly prohibited:

A. Prohibited Actions: General Conduct

1. Transmitting on or through any of PacketExchange's systems, services, or products any material that is, in PacketExchange's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or hateful, or encourages conduct that may constitute a criminal offense, may give rise to civil liability, or otherwise may violate any local, state, national or international law.
2. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of local, state, federal or non-United States regulations or law, or by any other applicable law.
3. Violations of the rights of any Person protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations.
4. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of export control laws.
5. Actions that restrict or inhibit any Person, whether a User of the PacketExchange or otherwise, in its use or enjoyment of any of PacketExchange's systems, services or products.
6. Deceptive on-line marketing practices.
7. Furnishing false data on the signup form, contract, or online application, including fraudulent use of credit card numbers (such conduct is ground for immediate termination and may subject the offender to civil or criminal liability).
8. Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software, program, product or service that is designed to violate this AUP or the AUP of any other Internet Service Provider, which includes, but is not limited to, the facilitation of the means to send Unsolicited Bulk Email, initiating of pinging, flooding, mail-bombing and denial of service attacks.

B. Prohibited Actions: System and Network Security

1. Attempting to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account ("cracking"). This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for the User, logging into a server or account the User is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks (such as running a SATAN scan or similar tool).
2. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of Internet communications. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which User is not an intended recipient or logging onto a server or account that User is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, port scans, ping floods, packet spoofing, forged routing information, deliberate attempts to overload a service, and attempts to "crash" a host.
3. Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, by any means, locally or by the Internet.
4. Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for User.
5. Knowingly engaging in any activities designed to harass, or that will cause a denial of service (e.g., synchronized number sequence attacks) to any other user whether on the PacketExchange network or on another provider’s network.
6. Obtaining or attempting to obtain service on any PacketExchange network resources by any means or device with intent to avoid payment for said service.

C. Prohibited Actions: E-Mail

1. Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages, is prohibited.
2. Sending unsolicited mail messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such material ("e-mail spam"). Users are explicitly prohibited from sending unsolicited bulk mail messages (“UBE”). This includes, but is not limited to, bulk-mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, and political tracts. Such material may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested it. If a recipient asks to stop receiving e-mail, the User must not send that person any further e-mail. Mail sent to persons that have explicitly requested said mail must be in compliance with all applicable state and Federal laws.
3. Creating or forwarding "chain letters" or other "pyramid schemes" of any type, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
4. Malicious e-mail, including, but not limited to, "mailbombing" (flooding a user or site with very large or numerous pieces of e-mail).
5. Unauthorized use of or modifying/forging mail header information.
6. Using a PacketExchange or a User account to collect replies to messages sent from another provider.
7. Use of unsolicited e-mail originating from the PacketExchange network or networks of other Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise any service hosted by PacketExchange, or connected via the PacketExchange network.
8. Willful failure to secure open SMTP ports so as to prevent the unauthorized use of User resources for the purposes of sending unsolicited e-mail by a third party.
9. Sending e-mail to users of another ISP in violation of that ISP’s own AUP or similar document.

D. Prohibited Actions: Usenet Newsgroups

1. Positing the same or similar messages to large numbers of Usenet newsgroup (Newsgroup spams or USENET spam).
2. Posting chain letters of any type.
3. Posting encoded binary files to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose.
4. Cancellation or superseding of posts other than your own, with the exception of official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.
5. Forging of header information. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.
6. Solicitations of mail for any other e-mail address other than that of the poster's account or service, with intent to harass or to collect replies.
7. Postings that are in violation of the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups.
8. Posting of Usenet articles from the PacketExchange network or networks of other Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise any service hosted by PacketExchange, or connected via the PacketExchange network.
9. Failure to secure a news server so as to prevent the unauthorized use of User resources by a third party which may result in Usenet posts which violate this policy.
10. Advertisements posted in newsgroups whose chargers/FAQs explicitly prohibit them. The poster of an advertisement or other information is responsible for determining the etiquette of a given newsgroup, prior to posting to it.

Infractions/Breach of Contract

By not complying with the above terms and conditions of this AUP, User agrees to the following:
1. Prosecution under state, federal or international laws, as applicable;
2. User will financially compensate PacketExchange for use (whether authorized or not) of said Backbone, Servers, Equipment, Bandwidth and Disk space according to the current PacketExchange list prices;
3. User will pay PacketExchange $200.00 US Dollars per confirmed report of unsolicited email being sent to PacketExchange registered and licensed users;
4. User will pay PacketExchange $200.00 US Dollars per independently-confirmed unsolicited email complaint found in violation of any state or Federal law requiring handling by PacketExchange's abuse and/or NOC personnel;
5. PacketExchange may suspend or terminate your account or services;
6. Other actions, not limited, as applicable.
Note: unauthorized usage of the PacketExchange backbone network, servers, and related services, INCLUDING without exception all prohibited acts above, including the sending of unsolicited email messages to PacketExchange users, WILL incur a mandatory $200.00 US Dollar hourly consulting fee, to repair and delete unauthorized files residing on the PacketExchange servers, handle unsolicited email complaints, and/or any other action required. This is IN ADDITION to the $200.00/email unsolicited email message fee and bandwidth and diskspace utilization fee as detailed above, as applicable.

Complaints

Complaints regarding abusive conduct may be reported by FAX to +1.213.947.1048, ATTN: Policy Review Board, or by mail to:

PacketExchange, Inc. (North America)
Policy Review Board – AUP Violations
707 Wilshire Blvd Suite 4737
Los Angeles, CA 90017
USA

PacketExchange Ltd. (Europe)
Policy Review Board – AUP Violations
11a Curtain Rd
London EC2A 3LT
United Kingdom

Complaints will also be accepted via e-mail, so long as a valid return address is included. PacketExchange must be able to independently verify each instance of abuse, and so each complaint must include the COMPLETE TEXT OF THE OBJECTIONAL MESSAGE, INCLUDING ALL HEADERS. Please do NOT send excerpted parts of a message; sending a copy of the entire message, including headers, helps to prevent misunderstandings based on incomplete information, or information used out of context. Full headers demonstrate which path the message has taken, and enable us to determine whether any part of the message has been forged. This information is vital to our investigation.
PacketExchange's abuse team is reachable via email at abuse@PacketExchange.net.

Enforcement

As a general matter, PacketExchange attempts to work with Users to cure violations of this AUP and to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of the violation. In the event that we are unable to cure AUP violations through normal course of business procedures, PacketExchange may be required to take other enforcement actions as a matter of last resort. If the violating User is a PacketExchange customer, PacketExchange may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate a User’s service for violation of this AUP at any time and without warning. In addition, PacketExchange may take any other action it deems necessary to prevent a recurrence of the violation, including but not limited to: traffic filtering, route blocking, un-routing IP space or reclaiming PacketExchange-assigned IP space. User agrees that such actions will not be considered a breach of contract by PacketExchange nor will User be eligible for credit due under any applicable Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Liability

In no event will PacketExchange be liable to any User or third party for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages for actions taken pursuant to this AUP, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, business interruption, loss of programs or other data, or otherwise, even if PacketExchange was advised of the possibility of such damages.

Miscellaneous

Modification of AUP: PacketExchange retains the right to modify the AUP at any time and any such modification shall be automatically effective as to all Users when adopted by PacketExchange by posting at http://www.packetexchange.net/aup.html

Applicability of AUP: The actions listed herein are also not permitted from other Internet Service Providers. Deceptive marketing, as defined by the Federal Trade commission Deception Policy Statement, is not permitted through the PacketExchange services or network. These rules apply to all other types of Internet-based distribution mediums as well.

PacketExchange Is Not Responsible For Content
PacketExchange is not responsible for the content of any USENET posting, whether or not the posting was made by a User of the PacketExchange.

Removal of Materials

At its sole discretion, PacketExchange reserves the right to remove materials from its servers and to terminate internet access to Users that PacketExchange determines have violated this AUP.

Customer Responsibility for Customer’s Users

Each PacketExchange customer is responsible for the activities of its users and, by accepting service from PacketExchange, is agreeing to ensure that its customers/representatives or end-users abide by this Policy. Complaints about customers/representatives or end-users of a PacketExchange customer will be forwarded for action. If violations of the PacketExchange Acceptable Use Policy occur, PacketExchange reserves the right to terminate services with or take action to stop the offending customer from violating PacketExchange’s AUP as PacketExchange deems appropriate, without notice.