OVERVIEW

These Acceptable Use Policies specify the actions we prohibit for users of our network and systems and the Internet. We reserve the right to modify these policies at any time, effective upon posting the modified document to this URL: http://www.getonlinebroadband.com/usage-policy.html

You will be notified of this by an announcement on our website - if you do not agree with any of the modifications made then you must contact us immediately. Failure to do this will constitute as your binding acceptance of the change.

All equipment / hardware and services are supplied subject to your acceptance of both our Acceptable Usage Policy and Terms & Conditions.

SYSTEM USAGE / NETWORK SECURITY

Violation of system or network security are prohibited and may result in criminal and civil liability. We will investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve and will co-operate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. Examples of system or network security violations include, but are not limited to:

• Unauthorised access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system and / or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorisation of the owner of the system or that network.

• Interference with service to any user, host or network including, but not limited to:
  
  
  • Mail-bombing
  • Packet flooding
  • Deliberate attempts to overload a system
  • Broadcast attacks
    
    
• Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.

• Unauthorised monitoring of data and / or traffic on any network or system without the express authorisation of the owner of the system or network.

TRAFFIC POLICY

It is our intention to provide a fast, reliable service for all broadband users. However, it is important to note that ADSL broadband is a 'shared' access service and operates on a contention ratio of either 50:1 or 20:1 depending on the broadband product you have chosen.

As such we require that users do not make unreasonable demands on the network - ADSL broadband services are not designed to provide sustained, high-volume access as this may compromise the service for other users. If users are found to be making excessive use of their broadband service (as detailed in the table below) they may find their service restricted and if it continues may have their service suspended or cancelled.

We would therefore consider acceptable (maximum) traffic usage / quotas to be:

In July 2004 our usage statistics show that over 94% of our ADSL broadband accounts fall within these limits - see How much is a Gigabyte? for an idea of how much these quotas equate to.

Accounts that exceed their quota / traffic allocation will either need to upgrade their service to an appropriate service for the level for the access they require or will be billed for excess traffic at £3.50 + VAT per gigabyte of traffic.

ILLEGAL USE

Our network and systems may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat or violates export control laws.

ELECTRONIC MAIL / E-MAIL

Sending unsolicited mail messages (SPAM), including, without limitation, commercial advertising and informational announcements, is explicitly prohibited. This includes sending unsolicited email via another ISP to advertise a domain or web site hosted with us.

This policy includes any volume of unsolicited mail however large or small. This activity uses excessive resources, incurs great cost and annoys customers - we (and most responsible ISP's) are strictly against this in any form.

Complaints of this nature may lead to the immediate suspension of your service and may lead to the closure of your account.

USENET / NEWSGROUPS

Posting the same or similar message to one or more newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting) is explicitly prohibited.

MISCELLANEOUS

Indirect or attempted violations of the policy, and actual and or attempted violations by a 3rd party on behalf of one of our customers or a customers' end user, shall be considered violations of the policy by such customer or end user.

To encourage responsible usage of the Internet - we will act against you if you abuse our system and the Internet in general. This action will usually take the form of a temporary suspension of your access until the matter can be resolved. If appropriate we may terminate your account immediately.

If you have any question about this policy please contact us.

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