Acceptable Use Policy
General
Impersonation
You may not attempt to send Electronic Mail or USENET News articles using a name and address of someone other than yourself. Attempting to impersonate any person, using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. Attempts to do so that are discovered by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. or reported by other parties may be reported to the proper authority immediately, and may result in the offending account being terminated immediately. The use of anonymous re-mailers and nicknames, by themselves, does not necessarily constitute impersonation if it is not being done with the intention of misleading the recipient or another party into believing that you are some other specifically identifiable user or person other than yourself.
Network Unfriendly Activity
Activities which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Services or the Internet is prohibited.
Unauthorized Uses - Non-Payment
Sharing dial-up accounts on unlimited usage plans with anyone other than immediate family members, or re-selling Service without express written consent from Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc., or offering any public information service using such accounts, such as running a web server or FTP server, is prohibited. Subscribers may not provide public or commercial information over such dial connections. Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. does offer dedicated connection services for such purposes. Untimely payment of any and all amounts due may result in account cancellation, and will require a reconnection fee. Excessive
Usage, Bandwidth or Disk Utilization
Where Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. account, service or feature descriptions specify limits on bandwidth and/or disk utilization, use in excess of those limits is not permitted without an appropriate change in account type or status and may incur additional charges for such usage. Bandwidth and disk utilization will be computed or determined by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. from time to time in developing its product and service offerings. In addition, sessions on dial-up accounts, which exceed a reasonable time, may be terminated in order to protect network resources and preserve Service availability for other users. In the event Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. determines that an account is exceeding the relevant bandwidth or disk utilization, or frequently exceeding reasonable sessions times for dial-up accounts, the account owner will generally be notified by e-mail. If the excess use continues after such notification, the owner may be requested to upgrade the account's Service agreement or to modify the activity creating the excess use, or the account may be terminated.
If excessive bandwidth, disk space utilization or dial-up session length is determined to adversely affect Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.'s ability to provide service, immediate action may be taken. The account owner may be notified by e-mail as soon as practicable thereafter.
Idle Time-Outs
Dial-up account sessions that use the Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service are subject to idle time-outs. An account session may be determined to be idle if there appears to be no interactive, human generated data received from the remote user's computer system within a prescribed amount of time.
Automated Data
Data that is generated on a user's computer system automatically, either by an automated program, script, automatic re-dialers or any other software device, is considered automated data. Automated data of any kind is not considered interactive use of the Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service, and as such, may be disregarded in determining idle time-outs.
Subscribers to "UnTimed usage" or "UnTimed access" plans for dial users may make reasonable use of the Service without a specific limit on hours used and without paying more based on hourly usage. These plans are not intended to provide full-time connections, however, and the Service may be disconnected after a significant period of inactivity or after sessions of excessive length. Subscribers should keep the connection open only when actively using it, and may not use any automatic method to avoid inactivity disconnects. Intentional use of automated data methods to avoid idle time-outs on dialup accounts is prohibited and grounds for account termination at Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.'s sole discretion. This includes the use of automatic redialers to reinstate an idle connection.
Misuse of Subscriber Account
Internet access accounts cannot be transferred or used by anyone other than the subscriber and
members of the subscriber's immediate family. Account sharing (other than among immediate family members) is strictly prohibited. No more than one login session can be active at a time on a subscriber's dial-up account. Accounts which have been transferred to other parties, or which show other activity in violation of this condition, may be terminated without notice.
Service, Network and System Interference
Subscribers may not attempt to interfere with or compromise the operation of the Southern Ohio
Communication Services Inc. network in whole or part, to interfere with any of the equipment
comprising the system, or to access other accounts or restricted areas of the system.
Subscribers may not use Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.'s systems in a manner that
adversely affects the availability of its resources to other Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. customers.
Facility Usage
Subscribers may only use those Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service online and
computing facilities and Service areas which have been authorized for subscriber use. If access is
protected by a password, subscribers are not to make this password available to others or use the
password(s) of others to gain access to such areas. Subscribers may not attempt to find out the password of another user, nor aid such attempt by any other person.
Subscribers may use Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service online and computing facilities and Service areas only for authorized purposes.
Subscribers may not attempt to interfere with the proper or intended operation of any computing facility.
Subscribers may not attempt to subvert -- or aid others to subvert -- the security of any computing facility.
Subscribers may not interfere with use by any other authorized user, nor compromise the confidentiality of Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.'s or any other party's internal business practices or records.
Any attempts, whether successful or not, to gain access to any computer system or customer's data without consent is prohibited.
Privacy
It may be necessary for Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. employees or representatives to examine system operational and accounting logs and other records to resolve Service-related problems. Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. reserves the right to access an account's mailbox or other features to resolve problems or mail system errors.
In addition, Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. will cooperate with the appropriate legal authorities or other parties in investigating claims of illegal activity, including but not limited to illegal transfer or use of copyrighted material, postings or e-mail containing threats of violence, or other illegal activity.
Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. makes no guarantee and assumes no liability for the security of any data on any server including those designated as "secure servers." No computer system can be completely protected or should be considered 100% safe from intrusion. E-mail and other data transmissions over the Internet may pass through many computer systems, and should not be considered a secure means of communication unless encrypted. Even then, such information is only as secure as the encryption method used.
Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. does not generally monitor the activity of accounts except to measure system utilization and accumulate billing records. However, in our efforts to protect the integrity of our Service and fulfill any responsibility we may have as good citizens within the Internet community, if we become aware of inappropriate use of the Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service we may respond accordingly.
Censorship
Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. does not intend to censor the content of any newsgroups or other communications passing through its systems. We believe such choices should generally be left to the individual subscriber. Software tools are available to screen a subscriber account's access to newsgroups and Web sites that might be considered offensive. It is the subscriber's responsibility to make use of such tools if desired.
Newsgroup postings and other e-mail messages sent via Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. and the Internet are communications between the senders and consenting receivers thereof, and Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. has neither the authority nor the responsibility to regulate their content. The views and comments expressed by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. subscribers or other senders of such postings or messages are solely those of their authors and do not reflect any review, approval or endorsement by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.. Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. will, however, attempt to assist subscribers who continually receive e-mail they deem to be objectionable and/or unsolicited e-mail and who notify Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. of the problem.
Illegal Activity
Internet access and all other Services provided to Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.
subscribers may be used for lawful purposes only, and use by a subscriber of the Southern Ohio
Communication Services Inc. Service for the transmission or storage of any information, data, or material in violation of any federal or state regulation or law (including, but not limited to, material protected by copyright, trade secrets, and information that is confidential as a matter of law) is strictly prohibited. The subscriber may not use the Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service to transmit or store any information, data, or material that is threatening, libelous, or obscene.
Copyright Infringement
It is assumed that, unless otherwise specified by the sender, all data distributed on the Internet by the sender is intended to remain the intellectual property of the sender or the party who furnished such data to the sender, and each subscriber transmitting any such data (or making it available for download or other transmissions) is assumed to warrant that he or she has full ownership rights or appropriate licenses to the reports, documents, photographs, graphic images, audio files, video files and other data placed on the subscriber's personal web pages or otherwise transmitted. Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. subscribers are solely responsible for any actions which may be necessary to protect ownership rights in such data. Subscribers acknowledge that Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. has no control over the individuals using the Internet and that Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. expressly does not warrant that any individuals might not make copies of or otherwise infringe upon the subscriber's information as distributed on the Internet.
Subscribers should be aware of the law of copyright as it affects computer software and other
information or materials available or accessible on the Internet. A formal copyright notice need not be in evidence for legal copyright protection to be in force.
As a general rule, the subscriber is the copyright owner of any file which that subscriber solely creates for his or her own exclusive use. Any other file is copyrighted either by its creator, by commercial vendors, or by other individual users, and it is generally illegal for the subscriber to reproduce such file in any part or in any form, except by permission of the copyright owner or under an appropriate statutory exception.
Ownership of any software developed or modified by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. and all graphics, text or other information or content materials supplied or furnished by Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. as part of the Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. Service or for incorporation into a subscriber's personal Web page in connection with the Service shall remain with Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. (or the party which supplied such materials to Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.).
Removing or falsifying the source or origin of software or other material contained in a file that a subscriber has uploaded is prohibited. Knowingly receiving or downloading a file that cannot be legally distributed is prohibited, even though a file may have been mailed or posted notwithstanding such illegality.
Acceptable Use Policy Modifications
Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. reserves the right to modify this Acceptable Use Policies from time to time in its discretion. Such changes, or notice thereof, will be posted online on the Service. A subscriber's use of the Service after such posting or other notice shall constitute acceptance of such policies by the subscriber.
Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. may deny you access to all or part of the Service without notice if you engage in any conduct or activities that Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. in its sole discretion believes violates any of the terms and conditions or Acceptable Use Policy. If Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. denies you access to the Service because of such a violation, you shall have no right (1) to access through Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. any materials stored on the Internet, (2) to obtain any credit(s) otherwise due to you, and such credit(s) will be forfeited, (3) to access third party services, merchandise or information on the Internet through Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc.. Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. shall have no responsibility to notify any third-party providers of services, merchandise or information nor any responsibility