E-mail
Commercial e-mail:
Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited. Using a TalWeb account or email
address to collect responses from unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited, and if this
policy is violated, the offending customer agrees to pay a $500 fine per day or instance,
whichever is higher.
Mail bombing:
Sending large volumes of unsolicited e-mail is prohibited.
Harassment:
Sending threatening or harassing e-mail after being requested to stop, is prohibited.
Extremely threatening or harassing e-mail is prohibited. Violators will be reported to the
appropriate authorities.
Size of e-mail box:
A user may be sent a large file from time to time. But using e-mail to store large
files, or large amounts of files is forbidden. Therefore, a limit of 2mb of space
will be allocated for e-mail. If a user goes over this limit for any period of time,
TalWeb reserves the right to delete the offending message. This can be done at any
time, but as a rule we will ususally give the user a few days to get the e-mail
downloaded.
Storage:
TalWeb is happy to allow its users to store up to their 5mb limit in email on our servers,
however, we do not maintain a fail-safe backup of the email folders for several reasons.
TalWeb is not responsible for any mail lost due to user error, hardware failure, or
any other circumstance. TalWeb tries to maintain failsafe copies of all systems, but
we offer no guarantees.
News
Newsgroup spamming:
Excessive cross-posting, or posting the same article to several newsgroups, is prohibited.
Generally accepted standards allow no more than 10 newsgroups, or cross-postings, for a
single article or substantially similar articles. Such articles may be cancelled.
Off-topic, Illegal, or inappropriate postings:
There is no restriction on content, except as defined by each newsgroup. Continued posting
of off-topic articles is prohibited. Any TalWeb member caught posting illegal material
(ex. child pornography) will be have their membership revoked and will be reported to law
enforcement authorities. Please note that commercial advertisements are off-topic in the
vast majority of newsgroups.
Internet Relay Chat
(IRC)
If TalWeb is banned from a server, the offending account will be
terminated.
General
Impersonation:
Attempting to impersonate any person, using forged headers or other identifying
information, is prohibited. The use of anonymous remailers and nicknames does not
constitute impersonation.
Network unfriendly activity:
Activities which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use TalWeb
services or the Internet is prohibited. This includes sending and/or receiving responses
from Spam (unsolicited email). Review the email section above.
Privacy violations:
Attempts, whether successful or not, to gain access to any computer system, or customer's
data, without consent is prohibited. Repeated attempts by any TalWeb member to
"hack" anyone's account will result in a termination of membership, and no
refund of any fees paid to TalWeb.
Financial
1) If a payment is not received by or made later than the 5th of the
month, a $5 or 33% surcharge will be added to your amount due, whichever is higher. If
payment has not been received by the end of the month, another $5 or 33% late fee will be
added. If payment has not been received by the fifth of the following month, TalWeb will
restrict all access or close the account until payment is received. If the account is
closed, a $15 reconnect fee will apply and payment will have to be made by credit card.
2) Sharing accounts with anyone other than an immediate family member,
or re-selling any part of the service without express written consent from TalWeb, or
offering any public information service, such as running a web server or FTP server, is
prohibited. Using programs to defeat system timers limiting inactivity is prohibited.
Untimely payment of any and all amounts due will result in account cancellation.
Excessive bandwidth, disk
utilization, and abuse
TalWeb account descriptions specify limits on bandwidth and disk
utilization, and use in excess of those limits is not permitted. Bandwidth utilization is
determined by the total number of bytes transferred from an account's Web and FTP space.
Disk utilization is determined by the total number of bytes required to store an account's
Web, FTP, and Mail data.
In the event TalWeb determines that an account is exceeding the
bandwidth or disk utilization, the account owner will be notified by e-mail. If the excess
use continues for more than 24 hours after such notification, the owner may be requested
to upgrade the account's service agreement or to modify the activity creating the excess
use. If no corrective action is taken by the TalWeb member after the 24 hour period,
additional fees will be charged at a $5 per 5MB rate. If these additional fees are not
paid by the member within 30 days, the account will be deactivated until such fees are
paid.
If excessive bandwidth or disk space utilization is determined to
adversely affect TalWeb's ability to provide service, immediate action will be taken. The
account owner will be notified by email as soon as reasonably possible.
Abuse is defined as excessive use of a TalWeb connection (maintaining an
8-hour average of online time during a given 7-day period). Account abusing the service
can be restricted and/or terminated without prior notice. If the account has been paid in
full for a given month, TalWeb may offer to return the unused portion of the month's fees.
Privacy
It may be necessary for TalWeb employees to examine system accounting
logs and other records to resolve system problems. TalWeb reserves the right to access an
account's mailbox to resolve system problems or mail system errors.
In addition, TalWeb will cooperate with the appropriate legal
authorities 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, posting or soliciting child pornography, or other illegal activity.
TalWeb makes no guarantee and assumes no liability for the security of
any data on any server including "secure servers."
Our customers are reminded that no computer system should be considered
safe from intrusion. E-mail may pass through many computer systems, and should not be
considered a secure means of communication unless encrypted. Even then, information is
only as secure as the encryption method.
Rationale
This document provides a general understanding of TalWeb's policy on the
use TalWeb services. Common sense and judgement are a necessary part of any system of
rules, and this is no exception. Of course, flagrant or repeated violations of the Policy
are viewed in a very different light than minor infractions.
Protection of our customers and our resources, the ability to provide
quality service to our customers, conformance with existing law, and the protection of our
reputation as a service provider are all contributing factors to decisions on policy
violations.
It is our intention to allow TalWeb customers access to everything the
Internet has to offer with minimal or no interference. Our belief in Free Speech is a firm
commitment to our customers. However, Free Speech does not include the right to shout
"Fire" in a crowded theater. In an analogous manner, certain activities are
considered inappropriate by the Internet community at large, and cannot be permitted under
the guise of Free Speech.
TalWeb does not censor the content of any newsgroups. We believe such
choices should be left to the individual. We do advise our users that tools, such as Cyber
Patrol, are available to screen an account's access to newsgroups one considers offensive.
It is the account owner's responsibility to make use of such tools if desired.
TalWeb does not monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements
of system utilization and billing records. However, in our efforts to promote good
citizenship within the Internet community, if we become aware of inappropriate use of
TalWeb service, we will respond.
TalWeb reserves the right to terminate service without notice for
violation of these policies. TalWeb also reserves the right to terminate service for any
user, at any time, without prior notification, for violating any of Sprint's policies regarding the
Internet (Sprint provides TalWeb's access). TalWeb reserves the right to modify and
change this policies without prior notification by updating this policy page, and posting
a message on the What's New page.Our preferred course of action
would be to advise the account owner of the inappropriate behavior and corrective action
necessary. However, flagrant violations will result in immediate termination of service.
In the event that an account is temporarily inactivated as a result of
any prohibited activities, the account may be subject to reactivation charges and/or
deposit requirements to be determined by TalWeb.
