TCE Network Acceptable Use Policies

Introduction

The main purpose of TCE Internet Service's is to facilitate communication with the numerous computer networks that make up what is commonly referred to as "the Internet." It is TCE's intention to allow TCE users complete access to everything the Internet has to offer with minimal or no interference.

Although the Internet as a whole offers much independence and autonomy for those who use it, many of the individual networks or portions of the Internet have specific guidelines for use. As the Internet expands, it is increasingly common for an Internet Service Provider, such as TCE, to be blocked from use of another organization's systems due to repeated misuses of that system's resources. Because TCE runs multi-user systems, actions of one TCE customer may have a severe impact on other customers' ability to use the system(s). This is unfair to all TCE users.

To this end, TCE has implemented these Acceptable Use Policies. They are intended to provide a guide to TCE's views on what constitutes inappropriate use of TCE's access to the Internet and to inform TCE's Customers of what actions TCE may take, with or without notice, in the event that TCE becomes aware of inappropriate use of TCE's service. They will be used to help TCE system administrators deal with complaints from users of TCE or other Internet-connected systems, and to determine when action must be taken. It is expected that all TCE Customers will follow the policies set forth herein. Protection of TCE's technical resources and TCE's ability to continue to provide high quality service to its customers, compliance with existing laws and regulations, and the protection of TCE's reputation as a service provider are all contributing factors to the policies outlined below.

ACCESS TO TCE's INTERNET SERVICE IS PROVIDED SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

TCE Internet service is provided on an "as is, as available" basis. No warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, those of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made with respect to TCE or any information or software therein. You release TCE from and TCE shall have no liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages suffered by you in connection with your use of or inability to use the TCE services including, but not limited to, damages from loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, or service interruptions, or due to inadvertent release or disclosure of information sent by you even if the same is caused by TCE's own negligence. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, TCE disclaims to the full extent permitted by applicable law any responsibility for (and under no circumstances shall be liable for) any conduct, content, goods and services available on or through the Internet or the TCE services. In no event shall TCE's aggregate liability exceed the amount paid by you to TCE for the TCE services. Use of any information obtained via TCE's Internet service is at the user's own risk. TCE specifically disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through its services.

2. Security

The Customer is responsible for all use of Customer's account(s) and confidentiality of password(s), including choosing safe passwords and ensuring file protections are set correctly. TCE will suspend access or change access to Customer's account(s) upon notification by Customer that Customer's password has been lost, stolen or otherwise compromised. TCE is not liable for any usage and or charges prior to TCE making the necessary account alteration. Electronic mail on this system is as private as we can make it. TCE's Customers are reminded that no computer system can be considered as safe from intrusion. Email may pass through many computer systems, and should not be considered a secure means of communication unless encrypted, and even encrypted information is only as secure as the encryption method utilized.

3. Personal Files

TCE is not responsible for Customer's personal files residing on TCE. Customer is responsible for independent backup of Customer's data that is stored on TCE. TCE reserves the right to delete Customer's personal files after one or both parties terminates the service agreement between TCE and Customer.

4. Non-Transferability of Account

The right to use TCE's Internet service is not transferable. Use of TCE accounts is expressly limited to the individual or business whose name appears on the account and dependents of the account holder living at the same address. A Customer may use no more than one log-in session per account at any time. If a Customer has multiple accounts, the Customer is limited to one log-in session per account at any time.

5. Network Address Ownership

Any network address assignments issued by TCE (i.e., Class C address space) are the property of TCE and are considered to be loaned to its customers. In the event service with TCE is discontinued for any reason, such addresses will revert to TCE.

6. Compliance with all Laws

Customer agrees to use the service in a manner consistent with any and all applicable laws and regulations. Reproduction or transmission of any material in violation of any local, state, U.S., or international law or regulation is prohibited. Customer agrees that any material to be reproduced or transmitted on TCE's service through Customer 's account(s) does not violate or infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, statutory, common law or proprietary rights of others, or contain anything obscene, libelous or threatening . Software intended to facilitate any such violations or infringements may not be stored on TCE. Customer shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless TCE from and against any claims, liabilities and expenses, including attorneys fees, resulting from Customer's use of the TCE service or Customer's account in an unlawful manner or otherwise in violation of or contrary to Customer's Agreement with TCE or TCE's Acceptable Use Policies. At TCE's discretion, TCE may revoke Customer's access to TCE services or accounts for inappropriate usage.

7. Unacceptable Conduct

The following types of conduct are grounds for immediate suspension of service pending investigation by TCE and may result in termination of the account(s) the investigation determines to have originated or transmitted these types of traffic. In addition, TCE reserves the right, where feasible, to implement technical mechanisms which block multiple postings by a TCE Customer as described in (a) and (b) below before such postings are forwarded:

(a) Posting a single article or substantially similar articles to an excessive number of newsgroups (i.e., more than 20) or continued posting of articles which are off-topic (e.g., off-topic according to the newsgroup charter or the article provokes complaints from the regular readers of the newsgroup for being off-topic).

(b) Sending unsolicited mass emailings which provoke complaints from the recipients.

(c) Engaging in either (a) or (b) from a provider other than TCE and using an account on TCE as a mail drop for responses, or to draw attention to a web site housed within TCE's networks.

(d) Continued harassment of other individuals on the Internet after being asked to stop by those individuals and by TCE.

(e) Mail bombing, i.e., sending large volumes of unsolicited e-mail to individuals or to individual business accounts.

(f) Impersonating another user or otherwise falsifying one's user name in email, Usenet postings, on Internet Relay Chat (IRC), or with any other Internet service. (This does not preclude the use of nicknames in IRC or the use of anonymous remailer services.)

(g) Privacy violations: Attempts, whether successful or not, to gain access to any other system or users' private data without express consent of the user.

(h) Use of IRC bots or clonebots on TCE, whether on IRC servers controlled by TCE or by other parties. An IRC bot is a program which runs and is connected to an IRC server 24 hours a day, automatically performing certain actions.

(i) Network unfriendly activity: Attempts to interfere with the regular workings of TCE's systems or network connections or which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use TCE services or the Internet, including, but not limited to:

any unauthorized attempts by a user to gain root access or access to any account not belonging to that user on this or any other TCE system;
any use of this or any other TCE system as a staging ground to disable other systems.

8. Right to Disconnect Non-Dedicated Accounts

TCE unlimited interactive usage dial-up connections are not intended to be full-time dedicated connections and will be disconnected after 25 minutes of inactivity. Customer agrees not to use any automatic method to avoid disconnection, to keep the connection active only when the Customer is actively using it, and not to provide public information services over the connection. TCE reserves the right to impose a restriction on accounts it deems to be in violation of these conditions.

9. Excess Utilization of System or Network Resources

TCE account descriptions in some cases may specify limits on bandwidth, CPU and disk utilization for certain types of Customers, and use up to these limits is included in the price for that type of Customer. In the event TCE determines that a Customer is exceeding the bandwidth, CPU and/or disk utilization limits, the Customer will be notified by email. If the excess use continues for more than 48 hours after such notification, the Customer may be requested to upgrade to a web hosting service agreement or to modify the activity creating the excess use. If excessive bandwidth, CPU or disk space utilization is determined by TCE to adversely affect TCE's ability to provide service for all customers, immediate action may be taken to alleviate the problem.
Simultaneous connections per user account are not allowed. Since UDP traffic is problematic and may be missed or corrupt at times, no one can always be sure that a user has disconnected properly from our system. If we have not yet received a disconnection packet from a certain user, our system will show that the user is still online. This will continue to show online for 8 hours from the time of connection unless we receive the valid disconnection packet. If a user is NOT marked as an abuser, we will allow them one simultaneous login more than the account is set to have with our system (i.e. per user accounts are set at only one simultaneous login allowed per user; this will allow them a second login simultaneous to the first that we think is still online). We are trying to give the user the benefit of the doubt that the first connection disconnected improperly and caused a "ghosted" session. If a user has accumulated one hour of 3+ minute simultaneous connections, the user will be classified as an "abuser". When a user holds the abuser status, we will no longer give them the benefit of the doubt even if the first connection is ghosted. When marked as an "abuser" login suspension could occur lasting from 8 hours to 30 days.

10. Compliance with Rules of Other Networks

Any access to other networks connected to TCE's Internet service must comply with the rules for that other network as well as with TCE's rules.

11. Monitoring/Privacy

TCE reserves the right to monitor any and all communications through or with TCE facilities. Customer agrees that TCE is not considered a secure communications medium for the purposes of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and that no expectation of privacy is afforded. It may become necessary for TCE employees to examine system accounting logs and other records to determine if privacy violations or other network unfriendly activities have occurred. TCE also reserves the right to access a Customer's mailbox or other files stored on TCE systems to resolve system problems or mail system errors.

12. Cooperation with Authorities

TCE reserves the right to cooperate with law enforcement and other authorities in investigating claims of illegal activity including, but not limited to, illegal transfer or availability of copyrighted material, postings or e-mail containing threats of violence or other illegal activity.

13. Confidentiality of Personal Subscriber Information

TCE will not release a Customer's personal subscriber information, nor a Customer's billing information, to any third party except upon presentation of a valid court order of a government or entity within our jurisdiction. Customer agrees that TCE's judgment as to the validity of any court order of subpoena shall be considered proper and final.

14. TCE's Right to Suspend or Cancel Account

TCE reserves the right to suspend or cancel service to a Customer at any time and without notice, for any reason, including, but not limited to, refusal or failure to pay for services provided or by sole judgment of TCE that the Customer may be performing activities harmful to TCE or its Customers, employees, vendors, business relationships or any other users of the Internet.

15. Right to Damages

TCE reserves the right to collect damages (software, hardware and man hours) if any harm is done to TCE which requires repair or reconfiguration of any kind.

16. Other Remedies/Non-Waiver

Nothing contained in these policies shall be construed to limit action TCE may take or remedies available to TCE in any way with respect to any of the described conduct. TCE reserves the right to take any additional actions TCE may consider appropriate with respect to such conduct, including without limitation taking action to recover the costs and expenses of identifying offenders and removing them from the TCE service, and levying cancellation charges to cover TCE's costs in the event of disconnection of dedicated access for the causes outlined above. In addition, TCE reserves at all times all rights and remedies available to TCE with respect to such conduct at law or in equity. Non-enforcement of any policy or rule herein does not constitute consent or waiver, and TCE reserves the right to enforce such policy or rule at its sole discretion.

17. TCE's Right to Change Service

TCE reserves to right to change without notice the TCE service, including, but not limited to, access procedures, hours of operation, menu structures, commands, documentation, vendors and services offered.

18. Payments and charges for services

Unless otherwise specified, charges for TCE accounts are based on a calandar month. Payments are due on the first day of the calendar month in which services are expected. When services are allocated to a customer for a given month, these services are NON-refundable. Advance payments for services are acceptable, but are also NON-refundable. TCE reserves the right to charge a $5 late fee for services used and not paid for by the first day of any given month. There will also be a $5 charge, to change a username for an account holder, for each occurance a username change is granted.

19. TCE's Right to Modify its Acceptable Use Policies

TCE may modify its Acceptable Use Policies upon notice published online via TCE. Customer's use of TCE services after such notice shall constitute Customer's acceptance of the modifications to these policies.

Policy for Personal Web pages on TCE