Policy & Security

| Acceptable Use | Security |

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

SBC Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") Introductory Note: Please make a habit of reviewing this document from time to time to stay abreast of acceptable use of the Service. By using Services provided by a subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc. (including, but not limited to, Pacific Bell Internet Services, Ameritech Interactive Media Services, Inc., Southwestern Bell Internet Services, Inc., SNET Diversified Group, Inc., Prodigy Communications, L.P., SBC E-Services, Inc., and Sterling Commerce, Inc.) ("SBC"), you agree to comply with this Policy. You are expected to use the Internet with respect, courtesy, and responsibility, giving due regard to the rights of other Internet users. We expect you to have a basic knowledge of how the Internet functions, the types of uses that are generally acceptable, and the types of uses that must be avoided. Common sense is the best guide as to what is considered acceptable use. Failure to observe the guidelines set forth in this AUP can result in anything from a warning to a suspension of privileges or termination of your Service. Decisions of SBC's staff are final. SBC may refer potential violations of laws to the proper authorities, may cooperate in the investigation of any suspected criminal or civil wrong, and will cooperate with authorities when required to do so by law, subpoena, or when the public safety is at stake. SBC assumes no obligation to inform a member that the member's information has been provided and, in some cases, may be prohibited by law from giving such notice.

General Use Policy

In this Policy, "Service(s)" refers to any dial-up, DSL Internet access, web hosting, Data Center Hosting, or similar services that you may have purchased from SBC. Your use of these Services is subject to the terms and conditions of the Service Agreement/Member Services Agreement ("Service Agreement") you accepted in conjunction with the Services you purchased from SBC. This Policy is intended to provide you with a set of guidelines you must follow in your use of your account. You are responsible for avoiding the prohibited activities and following the Policy set forth herein. Violations of this Policy, and therefore the Service Agreement, may result in action including, but not limited to fines, or suspension or termination of your account.

SBC will not, as an ordinary practice, proactively monitor the activities of those who use its Services to ensure that its users comply with this Policy and/or the law. If SBC is alerted to violations or potential violations of this Policy, SBC will take whatever measures it deems necessary to stop or prevent those violations, including the actions described in this Policy.

The following is a list of guidelines for using your Internet account. This Policy is a guideline and is not an inclusive listing of prohibited conduct.

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Abuse of Email/Spamming

The Service you are receiving from SBC may include the ability to send and receive electronic mail. Use of your electronic mail account to send unsolicited commercial messages is prohibited. Mass electronic messages or "mail-bombing" (sending mass unsolicited mail or deliberately sending very large attachments to one recipient) are prohibited. Forging electronic mail headers (addresses) is also prohibited regardless of commercial content. Use of electronic mail to harass or intimidate other users is prohibited.

Spamming, sending large numbers of unsolicited commercial eMail messages or unsolicited bulk eMail to advertise, offer, sell, or buy any goods or services, for any business or individual, is strictly prohibited. In response to a complaint, SBC has the discretion to determine, from all of the evidence it receives, whether the intended recipients were from an "opt-in" eMail list.

You are also prohibited from sending the same or substantially similar unsolicited eMail message, whether commercial or not, to fifty (50) or more recipients. If this provision is violated, you may be required, as determined by SBC in SBC's sole discretion, to pay SBC $50 per day for unintended violations and $500 per day for deliberate violations.

In the interest of maintaining network performance, you should not send unreasonably large electronic mail attachments. You are prohibited from running programs designed to defeat network inactivity time-outs and maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited.

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Export Control Violations

Exporting encryption software over the Internet or otherwise, to points outside the United States, is prohibited.

Facilitating a Violation of this AUP

You are strictly prohibited from advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software, program, product, or service that is designed to violate or facilitate a violation of this AUP. This includes the facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of pinging, flooding, mailbombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software.

Illegal Activity/Tortious Conduct

Any activity on SBC's network that is a violation of any State or Federal law is a violation of this policy. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: transmitting obscene materials; intentionally spreading computer viruses; gaining unauthorized access to private networks; engaging in the transmission of pirated software; conducting or participating in illegal gambling, soliciting for illegal pyramid schemes through electronic mail or USENET postings.

You are strictly prohibited from using the Service in a manner that:

violates rules, regulations and policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, web site or ISP that you access through the Service;
violates any law, regulation, treaty or tariff; � is defamatory, fraudulent, indecent, offensive or deceptive;
threatens, harasses, abuses, or intimidates others;
damages the name or reputation of SBC, its affiliates or subsidiaries; or
to create or attempt to utilize a domain name that is defamatory, fraudulent, indecent, offensive, deceptive, threatening, abusive, harassing, or which damages the name or reputation of SBC.

Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights

You are prohibited from publishing, submitting, copying, uploading, posting, transmitting, reproducing, theft of, infringement on, or distributing information, software, or other material that is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, any other type of intellectual property rights, trademark laws (by rights of privacy or publicity) or other proprietary right of any party unless you own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents to do the same. This prohibition includes the use of any material or information including images or photographs that are made available through an SBC site or Service.

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Interference with Other Customers Use

You are prohibited from using the Service in a manner that interferes with other customers' use and enjoyment of the Services provided by SBC.

Internet Relay Chat Rules

Although SBC does not offer software or technical support for Internet Relay Chat (IRC), you may use your account to connect to IRC servers and networks maintained by third parties. Please remember that you are a guest when you make use of these facilities. It is particularly important that you do not engage in activities that might interfere with other customers' access to IRC.

You shall not use IRC scripts or programs that interfere with or deny service to other users on any other server, host, network, or channel.
You shall not engage in activities that harass other users. This includes, but is not limited to, "flooding" (rapidly entering text with the intent to disrupt service), "flashing" (disrupting terminal emulation), "takeovers" (improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges), attempting to send private messages to those who do not wish to receive them, attempting to return to a channel after being banned from it, and other disruptive behaviors.
You shall not attempt to impersonate other users. The use of nicknames does not necessarily constitute impersonation.
You shall not run "clones" (multiple, simultaneous IRC connections) and/or "robots".

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Newsgroups/USENET Postings and Chat Rooms Abuse

The Service you have purchased may give you access to thousands of USENET news groups. These USENET groups allow you to read and post articles on a variety of topics. USENET groups may be moderated or un-moderated. Groups may also have a charter that describes what posts are appropriate.

Posting commercial messages to a USENET group is a violation of this policy unless that specific USENET group has invited commercial postings in its charter. If you are unable to find a group's charter, or the charter does not address commercial posts, you must assume that commercial posting to that group is not welcome.

Posting off-topic articles or articles that are not related to that group's subject matter as defined in the newsgroup's charter are also not welcomed. Cross-posting identical postings to over five USENET groups, posting for the purpose of threatening, harassing or intimidating USENET group users and forging USENET post header information are also prohibited activities.

SBC does not censor or the control content posted to a USENET group. As a user of our Service, you are solely responsible for the content that you publish. Upon notification that certain postings violate this policy, the law, or infringe on a Trademark or Copyrights of another, SBC may, at its discretion, remove offending posts from its news server.

SBC reserves the right not to accept postings from newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content of the newsgroup violates this AUP.

You are also prohibited from abusing chat rooms. Such abuse includes, but is not limited to, scrolling (repeatedly entering either meaningless characters, three or more repeated blank lines, the same text three or more times, or consistently repeating text in a Chat room).

Posting the same or substantially similar unsolicited note, whether commercial or not, to a newsgroup, bulletin board, or message board ten (10) or more times a day is prohibited. If this provision is violated, you shall pay SBC $50 per day for unintended violations and $500 per day for deliberate violations.

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Network Security

It is your responsibility to ensure the security of your network. You are responsible for ensuring that your customers and users use the Services in an appropriate manner. You are required to take all necessary steps to manage the use of the Services obtained from SBC in such a way that network abuse is minimized.

Violations of system or network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. SBC will investigate incidents involving such violations and will cooperate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected.

Examples of system or network security violations include, but are not limited to the following:

Failing to secure your system against abuse. You are responsible for configuring and securing your services to prevent the disruption of service to other customers. You will be held liable if unknown third parties utilize your Services at any time for the purpose of illegally distributing licensed software. It is your responsibility to monitor these services. Examples of unsecured services would be use of SMTP relay, incorrect configuration of Proxy or SOCKS services, PC Anywhere, SNMP Broadcaster, FTP server. You are responsible for taking corrective actions on vulnerable or exploited systems to prevent continued abuse. It is your responsibility to insure that your network and/or computer are configured in a secure manner. You may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use your network for illegal or inappropriate uses, and/or any other disruptive, provoking, abusive behavior that is in violation of these guidelines or the SBC Service agreement for the Service(s) you have purchased;
Using any software or device that allows your account to stay logged on while you are not actively using the SBC Service or using your account for the purpose of operating a server of any type;
Uploading or distributing files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel bots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another's computer or property of another;
Hacking - breaking the security on any computer network or accessing an account that does not belong to you. This includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized access to, or use of, data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without express authorization of the owner of the system or network. This would include use of sniffers or SNMP tools.

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Other Activities

You are prohibited from engaging in any other activity, illegal or not, that SBC determines in its sole discretion, to be harmful to its subscribers, operations, reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.

Prohibited Countries

You shall represent and warrant that you are not a resident of any country or affiliated with any of organization prohibited to do business within the United States as defined and set forth at: http://www.treas.gov/ofac and http://www.bxa.doc.gov/DPL/denialist.html.

Secure Password

Your password provides access to your individual account. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure. You are responsible for any and all access to or use of the Services through your account. Attempting to obtain another user's account password is strictly prohibited.

Web hosting and Data Center Hosting Surveillance

SBC performs routine surveillance of its network in connection with its web hosting, Data Center Hosting, and related Services. Although SBC will not proactively monitor its your activities for violations of this Policy, there may be instances in which SBC, through its routine surveillance may find violations of this Policy. In those instances, SBC may act upon information obtained during routine surveillance.

Contact Information

You must make information publicly available about how to contact you, and you must respond in a timely manner to complaints concerning misuse of the Services obtained from SBC. Failure to responsibly manage the use of the Services obtained from SBC may be cause for termination of Services to you.

Abuse

Any party seeking to report a violation of this Policy may contact us via eMail at abuse@sbc.com. Any party seeking to send us a Notification of Claimed Infringement pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 ("DMCA") must send such notification to our designated Copyright Agent at copyright@sbis.sbc.com.

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