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Acceptable Use
The West Fifth Information Services, Inc. (West Fifth) Acceptable
Use Policy
has been formulated with the following goals in mind:
- Ensure security, reliability and privacy of West Fifth's systems and network, and
the networks and systems of others
- Avoid situations that may cause West Fifth to incur civil liability
- Maintain the image and reputation of West Fifth as a responsible provider
- Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression
- Encourage the responsible use of net resources, discouraging practices which
degrade the usability of network resources and thus the value of Internet services
- Preserve the privacy and security of individual users
The Acceptable Use Policy below defines the actions which West Fifth considers to be
abusive, and thus, strictly prohibited. The examples named in this list are
non-exclusive, and are provided solely for guidance to West Fifth customers. If you
are unsure whether any contemplated use or action is permitted, please send mail
to policy@westfifth.com and we will assist you.
Please note that the actions listed below are also not permitted from other
Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise, any service hosted by
West Fifth, or connected via the West Fifth network. Furthermore, such services may not be
advertised via deceptive marketing policies, as defined by the Federal Trade
Commission Deception Policy Statement.
General Conduct
- Customers are prohibited from transmitting on or through any of West Fifth's
services, any material that is, in West Fifth's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene,
threatening, abusive, libelous, or encourages conduct that would constitute a
criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local,
state, national or international law.
- West Fifth services may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission,
distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of
United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited.
This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark,
trade secret, or any other statute. West Fifth reserves the right to remove such
illegal material from its servers.
- The customer is responsible for keeping his billing data with West Fifth up-to-date
and accurate. Furnishing false data on the signup form, contract, or online
application, is grounds for immediate termination, and may subject the offender to
civil or criminal liability.
- The resale of West Fifth products and services is not permitted, unless
specifically permitted and documented in a written agreement.
System and Network Security
- Customers may not attempt 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 Customer, logging into a server or
account the Customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security
of other networks (such as running a SATAN scan or similar tool).
- Customers may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host, or
network ("denial of service attacks"). This includes, but is not limited
to, "flooding" of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service,
and attempts to "crash" a host.
- Customers may not use any kind of program/script/command, or send messages of
any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, via any means,
locally or by the Internet.
- Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil
liability. West Fifth will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of
systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law
enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.
Email
- Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages, is
prohibited.
- Customers may not send email to any person who does not wish to receive it. If
a recipient asks to stop receiving email, the customer must not send that person
any further email.
- Customers are explicitly prohibited from sending unsolicited bulk mail
messages ("junk mail" or "spam"). 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.
- Customers may not forward or otherwise propagate chain letters, whether or not
the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
- Malicious email, including but not limited to "mailbombing"
(flooding a user or site with very large or numerous pieces of email), is
prohibited.
- Forging of header information is not permitted.
- West Fifth accounts or services may not be used to collect replies to messages
sent from another Internet Service Provider, where those messages violate this
Acceptable Use Policy or the Acceptable Use Policy of that other provider.
- These rules apply to other types of Internet-based distribution mediums as well,
such as RLG's Ariel system (a system for sending FAX-like documents over the
Internet). USENET postings have their own regulations; see below.
USENET
- West Fifth is not responsible for the content of any USENET posting, whether or
not the posting was made by a West Fifth customer.
- Postings to USENET newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs
for those newsgroups. Advertisements should only be posted in those newsgroups
whose charters/FAQs explicitly permit them. The poster is responsible for
determining the etiquette of a given newsgroup, prior to posting to it.
- Customers are prohibited from posting the same or similar message to large
numbers of newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting, also known as
"USENET spam").
- Customers are prohibited from posting chain letters of any type.
- Customers are prohibited from posting binary files to newsgroups not
specifically named for that purpose.
- Customers are prohibited from cancelling or superseding posts other than their
own, with the exception of official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.
- Customers are prohibited from forging header information. This includes
attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.
- A customer may not solicit mail for any other address other than that of the
customer's West Fifth account or service, with the intent to harass or collect replies
after West Fifth service has been terminated.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
- West Fifth is not liable for the content of any communications made on IRC.
- IRC robots ("bots" or "clones") may not be run from West Fifth
shell accounts.
- Customers may not attempt to impersonate others or use IRC anonymously by
disguising their hostname or username.
- Customers are prohibited from using IRC scripts or programs that interfere
with or deny service to other users on any server or host. Customers are also
prohibited from engaging in activities which harass other users. This includes,
but is not limited to, "flooding" (rapidly entering text with the intent
to fill the screens of others), "flashing" (disrupting terminal
emulation), "takeovers" (forcibly seizing operator privileges),
attempting to send private messages to those who do not wish to see them
(via "ignore"), attempting to return to a channel after being banned
from it, and other disruptive behaviors.
Questions about this policy should be sent via e-mail to
policy@westfifth.com.
Reports of activity in violation of this policy may
be sent in e-mail to abuse@westfifth.com.
© 2003 - West Fifth Information Services Inc. |