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As
a provider of web site hosting, and other
Internet-related services, Interlink Hosting
offers its clients, and their customers and
users, the means to disseminate a wealth of
public, private, commercial, and non-commercial
information. Interlink Hosting respects that the
Internet provides a forum for free and open
discussion and dissemination of information,
however, when there are competing interests at
issue, Interlink Hosting reserves the right to
take certain preventative or corrective actions.
In order to protect these competing interests, Interlink
Hosting has developed an Acceptable Use Policy
("AUP"), which supplements and
explains certain terms of each customer's
respective service agreement and is intended as
a guide to the customer's rights and obligations
when utilizing Interlink Hosting’s services.
This AUP will be revised from time to time. A
customer's use of Interlink Hosting’s after
changes to the AUP are posted on Interlink
Hosting’s web site, www.interlinkhosting.com ,
will constitute the customer's acceptance of any
new or additional terms of the AUP that result
from those changes.
One
important aspect of the Internet is that no one
party owns or controls it. This fact accounts
for much of the Internet's openness and value,
but it also places a high premium on the
judgment and responsibility of those who use the
Internet to disseminate information to others.
When
information is disseminated through the
Internet, they also must keep in mind that Interlink
Hosting does not review, edit, censor, or take
responsibility for any information its clients
may create. When users place information on the
Internet, they have the same liability as other
authors for copyright infringement, defamation,
and other harmful speech. Also, because the
information they create is carried over Interlink
Hosting’s network and may reach a large number
of people, including both clients and
non-clients of Interlink Hosting, clients'
postings to the Internet may affect other
clients and may harm Interlink Hosting’s
goodwill, business reputation, and operations.
For these reasons, clients violate Interlink
Hosting policy and the service agreement when
they, their customers, affiliates, or
subsidiaries engage in the following prohibited
activities:
Spamming
Sending
unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over
the Internet (known as "spamming"). It
is not only harmful because of its negative
impact on consumer attitudes toward Interlink
Hosting, but also because it can overload Interlink
Hosting's network and disrupt service to Interlink
Hosting clients. Also, maintaining an open SMTP
relay is prohibited. When a complaint is
received, Interlink Hosting has the discretion
to determine from all of the evidence whether
the e-mail recipients were from an
"opt-in" e-mail list.
Intellectual
Property Violations
Engaging
in any activity that infringes or
misappropriates the intellectual property rights
of others, including copyrights, trademarks,
service marks, trade secrets, software piracy,
and patents held by individuals, corporations,
or other entities. Also, engaging in activity
that violates privacy, publicity, or other
personal rights of others. Interlink Hosting is
required by law to remove or block access to
customer content upon receipt of a proper notice
of copyright infringement. It is also Interlink
Hosting’s policy to terminate the privileges
of customers who commit repeat violations of
copyright laws.
Adult
Material
Because
the Internet is a global communication tool, and
we have clients from nearly every country in the
world it is difficult to dictate what is
considered "adult material." However,
it is not our function to discriminate against
those who choose to utilize adult content or
adult related material. This being said, there
are still several reasons why Interlink Hosting
has been forced to create its no adult sites
policy for its virtual server users.
What
does Interlink Hosting consider "Adult
Material?"
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Any
site whose revenue is gained in part or
whole from its adult content.
-
Photos
or videos showing frontal nudity on either
men or women for non-scientific or
non-artistic purposes.
-
Revenue-generating
hyperlinks to sites who violate policy #1.
Why
does Interlink Hosting have this policy?
Bandwidth
and Resources
A
virtual server is a shared environment where
many servers reside on each particular machine.
This being said, consider that an average
"adult site" gets more hits than 100
standard websites. Some of the smaller adult
sites get around 5 GB of transfer per day. With
these types of resources being utilized, our
servers would be severely slowed if we allowed
these high traffic sites to also reside on our
servers. On top of that, we would be forced to
raise our prices to pay for the additional
bandwidth. We strive to keep our servers fast
and inexpensive, and our bandwidth clear;
therefore, adult sites are not an option.
Interlink
Hosting reserves the right to decide what it
considers "adult content", "adult
material", "sexually explicit",
or "sexually related". Let us know if
you are unsure of the approval of your site
before placing an order.
Defamatory
or Abusive Language
Using
Interlink Hosting’s network as a means to
transmit or post defamatory, harassing, abusive,
or threatening language.
Forging
of Headers
Forging
or misrepresenting message headers, whether in
whole or in part, to mask the originator of the
message.
Illegal
or Unauthorized Access to Other Computers or
Networks
Accessing
illegally or without authorization computers,
accounts, or networks belonging to another
party, or attempting to penetrate security
measures of another individual's system (often
known as "hacking"). Also, any
activity that might be used as a precursor to an
attempted system penetration (i.e. port scan,
stealth scan, or other information gathering
activity).
Background
Running Programs
Background
Daemons in general are prohibited on Interlink
Hosting servers, including, but not limited to,
IRC bots, eggdrop, BitchX, XiRCON, warez sites
and any other program that interferes with
normal server operation.
Interlink
Hosting will be the sole arbitor of what
consitutes a violation of the above policy.
Distribution
of Internet Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, or
Other Destructive Activities
Distributing
information regarding the creation of and
sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses,
pinging, flooding, mailbombing, or denial of
service attacks. Also, activities that disrupt
the use of or interfere with the ability of
others to effectively use the network or any
connected network, system, service, or
equipment.
Facilitating
a Violation of this AUP
Advertising,
transmitting, or otherwise making available any
software, program, product, or service that is
designed to violate this AUP, which includes the
facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of
pinging, flooding, mailbombing, denial of
service attacks, and piracy of software.
Export
Control Violations
Exporting
encryption software over the Internet or
otherwise, to points outside the United States.
Usenet
Groups
Interlink
Hosting reserves the right not to accept
postings from newsgroups where we have actual
knowledge that the content of the newsgroup
violates the AUP.
Other
Illegal Activities
Engaging
in activities that are determined to be illegal,
including advertising, transmitting, or
otherwise making available ponzi schemes,
pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit
cards, and pirating software.
Other
Activities
Engaging
in activities, whether lawful or unlawful, that Interlink
Hosting determines to be harmful to its clients,
operations, reputation, goodwill, or customer
relations.
As
we have pointed out, the responsibility for
avoiding the harmful activities just described
rests primarily with the client. Interlink
Hosting will not, as an ordinary practice,
monitor the communications of its client to
ensure that they comply with Interlink Hosting
policy or applicable law. When Interlink Hosting
becomes aware of harmful activities, however, it
may take any action to stop the harmful
activity, including but not limited to, removing
information, shutting down a web site,
implementing screening software designed to
block offending transmissions, denying access to
the Internet, or take any other action it deems
appropriate.
Interlink
Hosting also is concerned with the privacy of
on-line communications and web sites. In
general, the Internet is neither more nor less
secure than other means of communication,
including mail, facsimile, and voice telephone
service, all of which can be intercepted and
otherwise compromised. As a matter of prudence,
however, Interlink Hosting urges its clients to
assume that all of their on-line communications
are insecure. Interlink Hosting cannot take any
responsibility for the security of information
transmitted over Interlink Hosting’s
facilities.
Interlink
Hosting will not intentionally monitor private
electronic mail messages sent or received by its
clients unless required to do so by law,
governmental authority, or when public safety is
at stake. Interlink Hosting may, however,
monitor its service electronically to determine
that its facilities are operating
satisfactorily. Also, Interlink Hosting may
disclose information, including but not limited
to, information concerning a client, a
transmission made using our network, or a web
site, in order to comply with a court order,
subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant,
statute, regulation, or governmental request. Interlink
Hosting assumes no obligation to inform the
client that client information has been provided
and in some cases may be prohibited by law from
giving such notice. Finally, Interlink Hosting
may disclose client information or information
transmitted over its network where necessary to
protect Interlink Hosting and others from harm,
or where such disclosure is necessary to the
proper operation of the system.
We
hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the
obligations of Internet users, including Interlink
Hosting and its clients, as responsible members
of the Internet. Any complaints about a client's
violation of this AUP should be sent to abuse@interlinkhosting.com
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