| ACCEPTABLE USAGE POLICY
I. General Overview
It is REDBIRD’s policy to offer unlimited, uncensored access to the Internet.
However, as with any user-oriented service, REDBIRD has certain guidelines and rules which
must be enforced for the benefit of both REDBIRD ACCOUNTHOLDERs and all other Internet
users throughout the world. REDBIRD therefore requires ACCOUNTHOLDERs to adhere to the
guidelines set forth herein.
II. Accountholder Consent To Guidelines
Please read these Guidelines, and the Terms and Conditions for Dial-Up Services
carefully before opening or continuing a dial-up account with REDBIRD. By using REDBIRD
services, you agree to comply with these Acceptable Use Guidelines, and REDBIRD may
terminate your account if you fail to comply with these guidelines. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO
BE BOUND BY THESE GUIDELINES, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY END YOUR USE OF REDBIRD SERVICES AND
SOFTWARE AND NOTIFY THE REDBIRD CUSTOMER SERVICES DEPARTMENT SO THAT REDBIRD MAY INITIATE
A CLOSURE OF YOUR ACCOUNT.
III. Acceptable Usage
Acceptable usage is hereby defined as the normal activities associated with the usage
of the Internet, including but not limited to usage of REDBIRD’s systems and network
facilities for accessing the WWW, IRC, Usenet News, E-Mail, and other Internet features.
Depending on the account type, this may include a moderate amount of file storage on
REDBIRD’s servers for ACCOUNTHOLDER'S own personal web page and file access area
(FTP)
This policy is subject to any and all laws and regulations set forth by the Federal,
State or any other governmental authority.
A. USE OF SERVICES
1. The ACCOUNTHOLDER agrees to use REDBIRD’s services for lawful purposes, in
compliance with all applicable laws.
2. REDBIRD internet accounts are provided for use in conformance with these Guidelines
and Terms and Conditions. REDBIRD reserves the right to investigate suspected violations
of the Guidelines. When REDBIRD becomes aware of possible violations, REDBIRD may initiate
investigation which may include gathering information from the ACCOUNTHOLDER or ACCOUNTHOLDERs involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on
REDBIRD’s servers.
3. During an investigation, REDBIRD may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or
remove the material involved from its servers. If REDBIRD believes a violation of these
Guidelines has occurred, it may take responsive action at its sole discretion. Such action
may include, but is not limited to, temporary or permanent removal of material from
REDBIRD’s servers, the cancellation of news group posts, warnings to the
ACCOUNTHOLDER or ACCOUNTHOLDERS responsible, and the suspension or termination of the
account or accounts responsible. REDBIRD, at its sole discretion, will determine what
action will be taken in response to a violation on a case-by-case basis. Violations of
these Guidelines could also subject the ACCOUNTHOLDER to criminal or civil liability.
B. USE OF MATERIALS
1. Materials in the public domain (e.g., images, text, and programs) may be downloaded
or uploaded using REDBIRD services. ACCOUNTHOLDERS may also re-distribute materials in the
public domain. The ACCOUNTHOLDER assumes all risks regarding the determination of whether
material is in the public domain.
2. The ACCOUNTHOLDER is prohibited from storing, distributing or transmitting any
unlawful material through REDBIRD services. Examples of unlawful material include but are
not limited to direct threats of physical harm, child pornography, and copyrighted,
trademarked and other proprietary material used without proper authorization. The
ACCOUNTHOLDER may not post, upload or otherwise distribute copyrighted material on
REDBIRD’s servers without the consent of the copyright holder. The storage,
distribution, or transmission of unlawful materials could subject the ACCOUNTHOLDER to
criminal as well as civil liability, in addition to the actions outlined in Section II.A.
above.
3. The ACCOUNTHOLDER may not store or distribute certain other types of material on
REDBIRD’s servers. Examples of prohibited material include, but are not limited to,
programs containing viruses or trojans and tools to compromise the security of other
sites.
C. PASSWORDS
1. REDBIRD personal dial-up accounts are for individual use only. ACCOUNTHOLDERS may
not share passwords or accounts with other individuals.
2. REDBIRD shall provide passwords to ACCOUNTHOLDERS. In the event that the security of
an ACCOUNTHOLDER is compromised, REDBIRD shall provide the ACCOUNTHOLDER with a new
password.
D. SYSTEM SECURITY
1. The ACCOUNTHOLDER is prohibited from utilizing REDBIRD services to compromise the
security or tamper with REDBIRD’s system resources or accounts on any of
REDBIRD’s computers, routers, terminal servers, modems, or any other equipment at
REDBIRD or at any other site. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising
security is prohibited. Examples of the tools include, but are not limited to password
guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.
2. REDBIRD reserves the right to release the user names of ACCOUNTHOLDERS involved in
violation of system security to system administrators at other sites, in order to assist
them in resolving security incidents. REDBIRD will also fully cooperate with law
enforcement authorities in investigating suspected lawbreakers.
E. SYSTEM RESOURCES
1. REDBIRD will allocate system resources to provide all ACCOUNTHOLDERS with the best
service possible. As part of resource allocation, REDBIRD may limit, restrict or
prioritize access to system resources, including CPU time, memory, disk space, session
length, and the number of sessions.
2. Additionally, REDBIRD may institute services and fees for ACCOUNTHOLDERS who are
interested in accessing system resources above and beyond acceptable usage.
3. REDBIRD may log instances of abuse of system resources, including but not limited to
those outlined below, and take action as outlined in Section II.A. above.
4.System abuse is defined as any use of REDBIRD resources which disrupts the normal use
of system or Internet services for others. Examples of system abuse include, but are not
limited to attempting to disrupt the sessions of other Internet users, consuming excessive
amounts of time, memory or disk space bandwidth or otherwise affecting the performance of
REDBIRD servers or networks.
5. ACCOUNTHOLDERS may not run programs which provide network services from their
accounts. Example of prohibited programs include, but are not limited to, mail, http and
IRC servers and multi-user interactive forums.
IV. Prohibited Activities
Activities specifically prohibited by REDBIRD administration include but are not
limited to the following:
A. Long-term storage of data
Long-term storage of data is referred to as the storage of files which are not used
regularly in an account for an extended period of time. This specifically includes but is
not limited to programs such as shareware programs which the user may download to their
account for purposes of transferring to their home computer. Such programs should be
removed as they are successfully transferred to the users personal system.
Email messages older than 180 days may be removed from the server.
B. Flooding or abuse of other users
Flooding is a fairly common occurrence on the Internet, and one which is dealt with
strictly at REDBIRD. Flooding takes place in numerous ways, including, but not limited to:
ICMP flooding, mail bombing (sending large amounts of e-mail repeatedly to a person for
purposes of harassment), mass mailings to multiple addressees, MSG/CTCP flooding on IRC,
as well as other, less common methods.
C. Attempts to compromise system and/or network security
Programs such as packet sniffers, password crack programs, and similar utilities found to
be running from a user’s account are prohibited. This also includes attempts to hack
into non-REDBIRD systems.
D. Sharing of accounts
Sharing of a user’s account with another party for purposes of avoiding payment for a
second account is strictly prohibited. Dial up accounts are limited to one login at
a time.
E. Attempts to bypass resource usage limitations
In order to provide fair service to all REDBIRD users, REDBIRD has implemented certain
resource limitations, the two most common being disk quotas on the servers, and idle
time-outs on dial-ups. Attempts to bypass disk usage quotas by any means may result in
immediate loss of system privileges. Attempts to bypass the idle time-outs are also
prohibited.
F. Excessive use of system resources
This segment can be broken down into two different parts, system and dial-up. For system
purposes, this can be defined as the continued use of programs which take a large amount
of system resources, be that processor time, network bandwidth, and/or drive space on the
host system. For dial-up purposes, this primarily prohibits the continued usage of a
dial-up port to simulate a dedicated connection for the user’s home system. Dial-up
accounts are designed to provide on-demand access for ACCOUNTHOLDERS, not dedicated
connections. If a dedicated connection is desired, please contact REDBIRD.
G. E-mail Abuse
E-mail abuse typically comes in one of three forms: the transfer of a message to
unsolicited individuals, the sending of harassing and/or threatening messages to other
users, and the forging of e-mail addresses so as to make the e-mail appear to be from
another user.
H. Usenet News Abuse
Similar to e-mail abuse, includes forging of addresses, harassment/threats, the posting of
the same message to multiple news groups (spamming), as well as the posting of information
in groups where it is not relevant and unwanted.
I. Pyramid/Money-Making schemes
Such activities as the transfer of information or solicitation of persons via the Internet
in an attempt to extort money or other valuables or the use of pyramid/chain letters are
all prohibited.
J. Pirated Software
Pirated software is defined as the illegal exchange of software via the Internet for
purposes of avoiding the purchase of said software by the individuals involved. This
includes most commercial applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. Such
activities are prohibited by Federal law and are thus not allowed in any form on REDBIRD.
Such prohibition also includes the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including,
but not limited to, digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or
other copyrighted sources and copyrighted software. The exportation of software or
technical information in violation of U.S. export control laws is strictly prohibited.
V. Penalties for Abuse
A. All prohibited activities are subject to immediate termination of a user’s account
and any and all criminal and civil penalties available under the law. The penalties
imposed on a user for abuse will vary based on the level of the offense. Typically the
user will receive a warning on the first offense. However, if the offense is severe
enough, REDBIRD reserves the right to disable the account immediately. Accounts which have
been disabled by Administration for abuse will not be re-opened for a user. It is vital
for REDBIRD to provide a quality service for all users, and REDBIRD will not tolerate
users who, through their actions, hinder us in that endeavor. It is also important for
REDBIRD to have a non- intrusive presence to the rest of the net, and thus prohibited
activities which adversely affect users on other service providers and their associated
networks. To this end, REDBIRD reserves the right to modify and/or disable user service at
any such time abuse occurs.
B. REDBIRD will not reimburse users whose service was suspended or disabled due to any
of the reasons listed above.
C. All REDBIRD Internet Users agree to indemnify and hold REDBIRD, its employees,
agents, subsidiaries, and affiliates harmless from any and all claims and expenses related
to the User’s violation of this Agreement, including any abusive or unlawful behavior
on the part of the User or the User’s dependents, or the infringement of any
intellectual property or privacy right of any person or entity.
VI. Additional Policies
A. Due to the explosive growth of the Internet and the constant addition of new
services and thus the new possibilities of abuse, REDBIRD reserves the right to add and
enforce new policies.
B. While REDBIRD strives to provide local access to our ACCOUNTHOLDERS, REDBIRD cannot
guarantee such service. It is the user’s responsibility to verify with the telephone
carrier whether the calls made via the ACCOUNTHOLDER’s modem to access the Internet
are local or not. REDBIRD makes no warranties as to whether REDBIRD can provide users with
local Internet access numbers. Users are responsible for paying their own dial-up
telephone charges for accessing the Internet as well as for contacting REDBIRD’s
ACCOUNTHOLDER and/or Technical Support lines. REDBIRD WILL NOT REIMBURSE USERS FOR ANY
LONG DISTANCE CHARGES.
VII. Limitation of Liability
REDBIRD’s liability under any circumstances is limited to the current month’s
service charge.
VIII. Warranties
THE REDBIRD INTERNET SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN AS IS, AS AVAILABLE BASIS, NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: THOSE OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO REDBIRD INTERNET OR ANY
INFORMATION OR SOFTWARE THEREIN. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, SHALL
REDBIRD INTERNET SERVICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE REDBIRD INTERNET. NOR SHALL REDBIRD
INTERNET BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER THAT RESULT FROM MISTAKES, OMISSIONS,
INTERRUPTIONS, DELETION OF FILES, ERRORS, DEFECTS, DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, OR
ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE WHETHER OR NOT CAUSED BY EVENTS BEYOND REDBIRD INTERNET’S
REASONABLE CONTROL, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ACTS OF GOD, COMMUNICATIONS LINE FAILURE,
THEFT, DESTRUCTION, OR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO REDBIRD INTERNET RECORDS, PROGRAMS, OR
SERVICES. IN NO EVENT SHALL REDBIRD INTERNET’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL DAMAGES,
LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION EXCEED THE AGGREGATE DOLLAR AMOUNT PAID UNDER THE AGREEMENT.
**. All policies stated herein are subject to change at REDBIRD’s sole discretion.
ACCOUNTHOLDER shall be responsible for adhering to any new policies implemented by
REDBIRD.
Copyright (C) 2003 Redbird Internet services. All rights reserved. |
