NexGenAccess ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

INTERNET SERVICE AGREEMENT

           

1. INTRODUCTION

NexGenAccess' Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") is intended to help enhance the use of the Internet by preventing unacceptable use. All users of NexGenAccess's Internet services (the "Services")-those who access some of our Services but do not have accounts ("Visitors"), as well as those who pay a monthly service fee to subscribe to the Services ("Members")-must comply with this AUP. We support the free flow of information and ideas over the Internet and do not actively monitor use of the Services under normal circumstances. We do block certain TCP and UDP and IP ports that we feel are needed to protect our network.  However, we do not exercise editorial control over the content of any Web site, electronic mail transmission, news group, or other material created or accessible over or through the Services, except for certain proprietary websites. However, in accordance with our Internet Service Agreement, we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, or which may violate this AUP. NexGenAccess may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrong. Your violation of this AUP may result in the suspension or termination of either your access to the Services and/or your NexGenAccess account or other actions as detailed in Section 3. This AUP should be read in conjunction with our Internet Service Agreement and other policies.

2. VIOLATIONS OF NexGenAccess'S ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

The following constitute violations of this AUP:

a. Illegal use. Using the Services to transmit any material (by email, uploading, posting, or otherwise) that, intentionally or unintentionally, violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or any rules or regulations promulgated hereunder.

b. Harm to minors. Using the Services to harm, or attempt to harm, minors in any way.

c. Threats.  Using the Services to transmit any material (by email, uploading, posting, or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property.

d. Harassment. Using the Services to transmit any material (by email, uploading, posting, or otherwise) that harasses another.

e. Fraudulent activity. Using the Services to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services or to advance any type of financial scam such as "pyramid schemes," "Ponzi schemes," and "chain letters."

f. Forgery or impersonation. Adding, removing or modifying identifying network header information in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of anonymous remailers or nicknames does not constitute impersonation. Using deliberately misleading headers ("munging" headers) in news postings in order to avoid Spam email address collectors is allowed.

g. Unsolicited commercial email/Unsolicited bulk email. Using the Services to transmit any unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email. Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email whether or not that email is commercial in nature are prohibited.

h. Unauthorized access. Using the Services to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of NexGenAccess' or another entity's computer software or hardware, electronic communications system, or telecommunications system, whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data.

i. Copyright or trademark infringement. Using the Services to transmit any material (by email, uploading, posting, or otherwise) that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software. NexGenAccess is registered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

j. Collection of personal data. Using the Services to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.

k. Reselling the services. Reselling the Services without NexGenAccess' authorization.

l. Network disruptions and unfriendly activity. Using the Services for any activity that adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use NexGenAccess Services or the Internet. This includes "denial of service" (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with or disruption of other network users, network services or network equipment is prohibited. It is the Member's responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Member may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A Member may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner. If user’s system has been infected with a virus or other malicious code it is UP TO THE USER to fix problem or be subject to the consequences of disconnection without refund.  Please make sure you are protected from malicious code and viruses.

m. News. NexGenAccess Members should use their best judgment when posting to any newsgroup. Many groups have charters, published guidelines, FAQs, or "community standards" describing what is and is not considered appropriate. Usenet can be a valuable resource if used properly. The continued posting of off-topic articles is prohibited. Commercial advertisements are off-topic in most newsgroups, especially regional groups not specifically named for such. The presence of such articles in a group is not indicative of the group's "intended" use. Please familiarize yourself with basic Usenet netiquette before posting to a newsgroup.

NexGenAccess considers "multiposting" to 10 or more groups within a two-week sliding window to be excessive. NexGenAccess servers currently limit the number of allowable "cross-posts" to 9.

NexGenAccess Members may not cancel messages other than their own messages. A Member may cancel posts forged in that Member's name. We may cancel any postings that violate this AUP.

n. Long Connections and Multiple Logins. Using a personal account for high volume or commercial use is prohibited. The Services are intended for periodic, active use of email, newsgroups, file transfers, Internet chat, games, and browsing the World Wide Web. Members may stay connected so long as they are actively using that connection for the above purposes and as long as they average less than 10 hours per day. Members may not use the Services on a standby or inactive basis in order to maintain a connection. Pinging is expressly prohibited. Accordingly, NexGenAccess maintains the right to terminate any member's connection following any extended period of inactivity as determined by NexGenAccess.

o. Exceeding Web Site Size and Traffic Limitations.  Some NexGenAccess Members receive free web space for use with their NexGenAccess Internet access account. Each member's free web space is allocated a certain amount of traffic per month (traffic is calculated on a formula multiplying the number of hits that your site receives by the size of your files). If a site exceeds its maximum monthly allotment of traffic, the site may become unavailable until the beginning of the next calendar month. A site that exceeds the NexGenAccess Member's maximum allotment in size may also become unavailable. Unavailability includes but may not be limited to the inability to access the site publicly or to publish to or modify the site's contents via certain Web creation tools. More information about appropriate use of the free member web space appears under Free Web space Community Guidelines.

3.REPORTING VIOLATIONS OF NexGenAccess'S AUP

NexGenAccess requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to Director-Abuse Department, at: abuse@nexgenaccess.com.

If available, please provide the following information:

·         The IP address used to commit the alleged violation

·         The date and time of the alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT

·         Evidence of the alleged violation

Email with full header information provides all of the above, as do syslog files. Other situations will require different methods of providing the above information.

NexGenAccess may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:

·         Issue warnings: written or verbal

·         Suspend the Member's newsgroup posting privileges

·         Suspend the Member's account

·         Terminate the Member's account

·         Bill the Member for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges

·         Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, caused by violations.

 

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. Any cause of action you may have with respect to the Service must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises or such claim or cause of action is barred.

To report Internet Abuse, please send E-Mail to abuse@nexgenaccess.com and include a copy of any messages sent to/from the abuser.

NexGenAccess considers the use of any of NexGenAccess’ systems in a way that creates Internet Abuse System Abuse. NexGenAccesss system includes, and is not limited to, all computers in NexGenAccess' possession including routers.

System abuse is strictly prohibited. NexGenAccess may terminate service immediately and may bill for any resulting charges if the client engages in system abuse.

4.  Spam Abuse

NexGenAccess Access Solutions and Affiliates Policy on Spamming. NexGenAccess and its affiliates provide to business and consumer users several information technology related services, including such services as Internet access, various electronic mail (e-mail) packages and services, World Wide Web website hosting arrangements, and other online and Internet-related services.

It is contrary to NexGenAccess policy for any user of any of these services to effect or participate in any of the following activities through a NexGenAccess provided service:

1.      To post ten (10) or more messages similar in content to Usenet or other newsgroups, forums, e-mail mailing lists or other similar groups or lists;

2.      To post to any Usenet or other newsgroup, forum, e-mail mailing list or other similar group or list articles which are off-topic according to the charter or other owner-published FAQ or description of the group or list;

3.      To send unsolicited e-mailings to more than twenty-five (25) e-mail users, if such unsolicited e-mailings could reasonably be expected to provoke complaints;

4.      To falsify user information provided to NexGenAccess or to other users of the service in connection with use of a NexGenAccess service;

5.      To engage in any of the foregoing activities by using the service of another provider, but channeling such activities through a NexGenAccess account, remailers, or otherwise through a NexGenAccess service or using a NexGenAccess account as a mail drop for responses or otherwise using the services of another provider for the purpose of facilitating the foregoing activities if such use of another party's service could reasonably be expected to adversely affect a NexGenAccess service;

6.      Attempting to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account on NexGenAccess systems or the Internet at large ("cracking");

7.      Attempting, in any way, to interfere with or deny service to any user or any host on the Internet;

8.      Forging email or USENET posting header information; sending large numbers of unsolicited mail messages (i.e. "junk mail");

9.      Forwarding or posting "chain letters" (multiple forwarding) of any type;

10.  Posting inappropriate messages to USENET newsgroups e.g., posting large numbers of unsolicited posts indiscriminately ("spamming"), or posting encoded binary files to USENET newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose;

11.  Attempting to cancel, supersede, or otherwise interfere with email or USENET posts other than one's own;

12.  Engaging in harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages;

13.  Using an account at another provider to promote an NexGenAccess Web site in an abusive manner;

14.  Using a NexGenAccess account to collect replies to messages sent from another provider which violate these rules or those of that provider;

15.  US Code Title 47, Sec.227(a)(2)(B), a computer/modem/printer meets the definition of a telephone fax machine. By Sec.227(b)(1)(C), it is unlawful to send any unsolicited advertisement to such equipment. By Sec.227(b)(3)(C), a violation of the aforementioned Section is punishable by action to recover actual monetary loss, or $500, whichever is greater.

NexGenAccess considers the above practices to constitute abuse of our service and of the recipients of such unsolicited mailings and/or postings, who often bear the expense. Therefore, these practices are prohibited by NexGenAccess' terms and conditions of service. Engaging in one or more of these practices will result in termination of the offender's account and/or access to NexGenAccess services.

In addition, NexGenAccess reserves the right, where feasible, to implement technical mechanisms which block multiple postings as described above before they are forwarded or otherwise sent to their intended recipients.

This policy addresses only the kinds of network abuse specifically enumerated above. In addition to these activities, NexGenAccess' terms and conditions of service also prohibit other forms of abuse such as harassment and the posting of illegal or unlawful materials, and NexGenAccess will respond as appropriate to these other activities as well.

Nothing contained in this policy shall be construed to limit NexGenAccess' actions or remedies in any way with respect to any of the foregoing activities, and NexGenAccess reserves the right to take any and all additional actions it may deem appropriate with respect to such activities, including without limitation taking action to recover the costs and expenses of identifying offenders and removing them from the NexGenAccess service, and levying cancellation charges to cover NexGenAccess' costs in the event of disconnection of dedicated access for the causes outlined above. In addition, NexGenAccess reserves at all times all rights and remedies available to it with respect to such activities at law or in equity. If you have any questions regarding this Policy on Spamming, please contact abuse@nexgenaccess.com

5. REVISIONS TO THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

NexGenAccess reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this AUP, our Internet Service Agreement and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with the Internet Service

Assignment.

NexGenAccess shall be entitled to assign this Agreement either in whole or in part.

The User undertakes that he/she will not assign, re-sell, sub-lease or in any other way transfer his/her rights or obligations under this Agreement.

Rev. 08/02/2004