VirtuServ's network may only be used for lawful
purposes. Transmission of any material in violation of nay Federal, State or Local
regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to copyrighted material,
material judged to be threatening or obscene, pornographic, profane, or material protected
by trade secrets. This also includes links or any connection to such materials. The
network resources of VirtuServ may not be used to impersonate another person or
misrepresent authorization to act on behalf of others or VirtuServ. All messages
transmitted via VirtuServ should correctly identify the sender users may not later the
attribution of origin in electronic mail messages or posting. Customer or any person(s)
with access to the Customers equipment must not attempt to undermine the security or
integrity of computing systems or networks and must not attempt to gain unauthorized
access or send SPAM. (SPAM is any posting, mailing or transmission that is not welcomed or
solicited, posting to multiple groups or off topic in Usenet or posting considered being
inappropriate, to a newsgroup, mail list or any similar public forum.) Access to other
networks connected to VirtuServ network must comply with the rules appropriate for that
other network. VirtuServ exercises no control whatsoever of the content of the information
passing through its networks.
1. I understand that VirtuServ, Inc. (hereinafter
referred to as "VirtuServ") reserves the right to change the rates and modify
this agreement upon 30 days notice. I have read and agree to pay the current rates as set
forth in this Agreement. I agree to use my access to VirtuServ, including my account and
any other access through VirtuServ, only for legal purposes and specifically agree not to
transmit copyrighted material without the copyright holder’s permission, material
legally judged to be threatening or obscene, material protected by trade secret, or any
other material prohibited or restricted from electronic transfer. I understand that use of
connectivity under this Agreement is for lawful purposes for myself or my organization and
is not to be re-sold without written permission from VirtuServ. I understand that
"unlimited" or "unmeasured" accounts do not give me the right to
remain connected to VirtuServ's modems indefinitely.
I understand that, if needed, VirtuServ's servers are setup to disconnect users who have
been online the longest to allow new users to connect.
2. I agree to indemnify and hold VirtuServ harmless from any and all claims resulting from
my use of the service which damages me or any other party, including, but not limited to:
exposure to offensive, pornographic, or illegal language, images, or other
information, even should such exposure occur as a result of VirtuServ's negligence; and,
damage caused by unauthorized access to or alteration, theft, or destruction of my data
files, computer programs, or information, through accident, fraudulent means or devices,
or any other method, even should such
access occur as a result of VirtuServ's negligence.
3. I agree and understand that VirtuServ exercises no control over the content of the
information residing on, or passing through its telecommunications and computer
facilities, and that I may be exposed to pornographic, illegal, or otherwise offensive
language, images, and other information, and I agree to hold VirtuServ harmless from any
and all claims resulting from exposure to such materials.
4. VirtuServ makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for the
service it is providing to me and disclaims any warranty of merchantability or fitness for
any particular purpose. This includes but is not limited to busy signals, server
performance and modem compatibility. I release VirtuServ from any liability or
responsibility for delays in performance of services pursuant to this Agreement or for any
failure to perform if such delays are due to strikes, inclement weather, acts of God or
other causes beyond VirtuServ's reasonable control, including, but not limited to,
concealed acts of workman (whether of VirtuServ or others), or accidents. I understand
that VirtuServ will attempt to notify me of any such delay, and should any delay continue
for more than 15 days, I may cancel my service and this Agreement with no further
liability.
5. I agree to pay the agreed monthly rate for my VirtuServ ISP/VISP/WISP Account on or before
the 15th day of the prior month for which such services are to be rendered. I understand
that if payment is not received by VirtuServ on or before the 15th day of the prior month,
I may be subject to a monthly service charge on the unpaid balance of 1.5% monthly (18%
APR). I further understand that failure to abide by the terms and conditions of payment,
or of this Agreement, may result in the termination of my account without notice and
without refund to me.
6. If I wish to terminate my account with VirtuServ I agree to provide thirty (30) days
written notice. I understand that any expired or terminated account will be subject to a
non-refundable reactivation fee equal to the price paid upon signing up the 1st time, payable
before service is restarted. I also understand that if I choose to pay by automated credit card,
it is my responsibility to inform VirtuServ when my credit card or banking services expire or change,
in order to continue uninterrupted Internet service. I understand that after seven (7) days after
termination of this contract for any reason, VirtuServ may remove any and all of my data
files, programs, and other information stored in my account on their computers, and I
agree to indemnify and hold harmless VirtuServ and its employees from any and all claims
resulting from the removal and loss of such data files, programs and other information.
7. IMPORTANT! Parents or Legal Guardians are advised that explicit adult subject matter
may be accessed on the Internet and that VirtuServ can not and does not regulate or
restrict the information which may be accessed by any user. By signature below Parents and
legal Guardians therefore accept responsibility to supervise a minor's use of the
VirtuServ Internet Account and hereby agree to hold VirtuServ, Inc. harmless from all
liability for such usage, including, but not limited to, the downloading or viewing or
other use of offensive, pornographic, or illegal material by a minor. I hereby agree to
the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
8. SPAM policy: I understand that spamming is an illegal act pursuant to local state
and federal law. If spamming is conducted from my account, VirtuServ may immediately
suspend or terminate my account and I agree and understand that I will be charged an
administrative fee ranging from $50.00 to $200.00. If suspended or terminated, I
also understand I will not be entitled to a refund of the initial cost. I hereby
authorize VirtuServ to charge my credit card the appropriate administrative fee if I am
found to have spammed.
Spamming Definition:
What is "Spamming?"
Spamming is sending a message, or multiple copies of a message,
to many inappropriate newsgroups or email addresses at the same time. Examples of this
include posting commercial advertisements to non-commercial groups, chain letters, pyramid
schemes, or any other inappropriate message to the newsgroup (posting a note about your
dog to 50 comp.sys groups counts as decidedly inappropriate, unless your dog is digital
and has some relevance to all 50 of those groups). In addition, many people consider
posting commercial advertisements to noncommercial newsgroups a form of spamming, and
while that is debatable, it is *certainly* a violation of netiquette to do so.
Spamming also occurs to individual email boxes. Usually a spammer
will purchase or acquire a list of address and send out a bulk email to this list. This is
also a violation of netiquette.
Why is spamming bad?
When you post a message to a newsgroup or email address, that
message goes out to thousands of computers all over the globe, which millions of people
read every day. When you spam with multiple messages, you're sending thousands of
duplicate messages out. Not only do the messages annoy people hugely, but spams are very
expensive in both the bandwidth they take (some sites do not have as high speed access as
we do), disk space (100 messages repeated many thousands of times can get surprisingly
large), and computer time to deal with the message. For these reasons, spamming is highly
frowned upon by the Internet community.
What is VirtuServ's policy towards spamming?
We consider spamming and bulk emailing to be both inappropriate
and a violation of our user agreement. The consequences of this action depend on the
severity of the violation, but please be advised that we do not tolerate spamming from VirtuServ.
Your account may be terminated for spamming of newsgroups or email addresses. Accounts
terminated for violations of the VirtuServ spam policy will not be given a refund or
compensated in any way.
In addition, VirtuServ charges $125/hour for the cleanup
resulting from spamming. Any account which is found to have spammed will be billed for
the time that it takes our technical staff to clean up mailboxes and respond to complaints
resulting from the spam. This is above and beyond the $50.00 to $200.00 fee's mentioned in
section 8 above.