|
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
to disseminate information to others.
When
information is disseminated through the Internet, they also
must keep in mind that A Quality Host does not review, edit,
censor, or take responsibility for any information its clients
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 A Quality
Host’s network and may reach a large number of people,
including both clients and non-clients of A Quality Host,
clients' postings to the Internet may affect other clients
and may harm A Quality Host’s goodwill, business reputation,
and operations. For these reasons, clients violate A Quality
Host 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 A Quality
Host, but also because it can overload A Quality Host's network
and disrupt service to A Quality Host clients. Also, maintaining
an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When a complaint is received,
A Quality Host has the discretion to determine from all of
the evidence whether the e-mail recipients were from an "opt-in"
e-mail list. Refer to our UCE/SPAM
Policy
for more information.
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. A Quality Host is required
by law to remove or block access to customer content upon
receipt of a proper notice of copyright infringement. It is
also A Quality Host’s policy to terminate the privileges
of customers who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
Adult
Material
Because
the Internet is a global communication tool, and we have clients
from nearly every country in the world it is difficult to
dictate what is considered "adult material." However,
it is not our function to discriminate against those who choose
to utilize adult content or adult related material. This being
said, there are still several reasons why A Quality Host has
been forced to create its no adult sites policy for its virtual
server users.
What
does A Quality Host consider "Adult Material?"
-
Any
site whose revenue is gained in part or whole from its
adult content.
-
Photos
or videos showing frontal nudity on either men or women
for non-scientific or non-artistic purposes.
-
Revenue-generating
hyperlinks to sites who violate policy #1.
Why
does A Quality Host have this policy?
Bandwidth
and Resources
A virtual server is a shared environment where many servers
reside on each particular machine. This being said, consider
that an average "adult site" gets more hits than
100 standard websites. Some of the smaller adult sites get
around 5 GB of transfer per day. With these types of resources
being utilized, our servers would be severely slowed if we
allowed these high traffic sites to also reside on our servers.
On top of that, we would be forced to raise our prices to
pay for the additional bandwidth. We strive to keep our servers
fast and inexpensive, and our bandwidth clear; therefore,
adult sites are not an option.
A
Quality Host reserves the right to decide what it considers
"adult content", "adult material", "sexually
explicit", or "sexually related". Let us know
if you are unsure of the approval of your site before placing
an order.
Defamatory
or Abusive Language
Using
A Quality Host’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).
Background
Running Programs
Background
Daemons in general are prohibited on A Quality Host servers,
including, but not limited to, IRC bots, eggdrop, BitchX,
XiRCON, warez sites and any other program that interferes
with normal server operation.
A
Quality Host will be the sole arbitor of what consitutes a
violation of the above policy.
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, mailbombing,
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, mailbombing, 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.
Usenet
Groups
A
Quality Host reserves the right not to accept postings from
newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content
of the newsgroup violates the AUP.
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 A Quality
Host determines to be harmful to its clients, operations,
reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.
As
we have pointed out, the responsibility for avoiding the harmful
activities just described rests primarily with the client.
A Quality Host will not, as an ordinary practice, monitor
the communications of its client to ensure that they comply
with A Quality Host policy or applicable law. When A Quality
Host 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.
A
Quality Host 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, A Quality Host urges its clients
to assume that all of their on-line communications are insecure.
A Quality Host cannot take any responsibility for the security
of information transmitted over A Quality Host’s facilities.
A
Quality Host will not intentionally monitor private electronic
mail messages sent or received by its clients unless required
to do so by law, governmental authority, or when public safety
is at stake. A Quality Host may, however, monitor its service
electronically to determine that its facilities are operating
satisfactorily. Also, A Quality Host may disclose information,
including but not limited to, information concerning a client,
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.
A Quality Host assumes no obligation to inform the client
that client information has been provided and in some cases
may be prohibited by law from giving such notice. Finally,
A Quality Host may disclose client information or information
transmitted over its network where necessary to protect A
Quality Host and others from harm, or where such disclosure
is necessary to the proper operation of the system.
We
hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the obligations of
Internet users, including A Quality Host and its clients,
as responsible members of the Internet. Any complaints about
a client's violation of this AUP should be sent to abuse@AQualityHost.com.
A
Quality Host/Forward Productions will charge a $200.00 site
clean-up fee for any abuse of the terms listed above PLUS,
ALL TIME AND RESOURCES TO TRACK AND TRACE ABUSE WILL BE BILLED
AT $75.00 PER HOUR.
|
