What is an Acceptable Use Policy?

An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) lists the conditions that an Internet Provider or anyone owning equipment available for public access which is connected to the Internet puts in place to set the rules and conditions for anyone using or transiting their network, equipment and services. The AUP defines the behaviour the publisher deems acceptable for those using their resources and the sanctions that may be applied to anyone who misuses those resources.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) or anyone providing content, network resources or services using the Internet should have an AUP.

We need to make sure that everyone knows what we don�t allow. The principle of the Internet is really founded on sharing of resources and if our users abuse this then other companies will refuse to allow anyone from our network to access their systems. We also need to be able to say to other ISPs that their users are transgressing and show them a copy of our AUP so that they can take action. We also need to protect our equipment and systems from direct attack.

If we need to we can suspend a customers account with no prior warning and go to court to recover the cost of any damage done to our systems or reputation. If a visitor transgresses then we can ask their ISP to take action and if this doesn�t happen we can disallow access to anyone from that ISP until the offender has been dealt with.

Whenever we need to update or change the AUP we will do so. The new AUP will apply as soon as we publish the updated document at http://www.fastnet.co.uk/documents/aup.html and any changes will come into effect at the same time. We hope we don�t have to make changes more often than necessary but we must be able to react to change in the Internet and the way it is being used.

You should phone FastNet at once on 01273 677633 if you disagree with any of the conditions on these pages. List anything that you disagree with and ask if we can offer an exemption or modify our AUP. Do not use your account until any dispute has been resolved.

The Company

FastNet is FastNet International Ltd, Registered in England No. 3015861 and whose address is Shaftesbury Court, 95 Ditchling Road, Brighton, BN1 4ST.

Scope

The AUP applies to all FastNet customers connecting via PSTN, ISDN, Permanent connection or Hosted services and applies equally to any third party customer or any person accessing FastNet services or services hosted by FastNet or transiting the FastNet network.

Legal Use

The Services may not be used to send or receive any material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, obscene, or menacing; or in breach of confidence, copyright, privacy or any other rights, or to send or receive any material, including computer viruses or pornography, the sending or reception of which transgresses any laws of the United Kingdom, whether Civil or Criminal.

FastNet reserves the right to make available any logs of customer activities to the proper authorities when legally required and properly requested to do so.

Security

Accessing or attempting to access any of FastNet�s equipment, equipment hosted by FastNet or FastNet Customer Premises Equipment out with the normal range of services provided is strictly prohibited. Commonly referred to as hacking or cracking this includes, but is not limited to, attempting to read or modify any system files or interact directly with the operating system, or any action which has the express purpose of interfering with the normal running of any equipment on or connected to our network.

The following actions are considered by FastNet to be direct interference with our equipment and are prohibited. Specifically, but without limitation:-

• Forgery of addresses or other such data in IP packets or emails
• Unauthorised access to the network management equipment of FastNet or other Internet providers or their customers
• Mail bombing; mass mailing of unsolicited advertising material
• The transmission of live video or live audio
• The use of IP multicast without authorisation
• Use of packet sniffers and other forms of electronic surveillance devices
• Any form of OOB Attack, eg Winnuke
• Any Denial of Service Attack
• Satan Scans, Port Scans, Ping Scans, Ping Floods, SYN floods
• Telnet to any of our systems
• Attempts to use Rcommands to any of our systems
• Attempts to guess or crack user names or passwords
• Accessing or attempting to access any account without authority

-are considered to be unacceptable practise and may result in FastNet taking immediate action to suspend or cancel the account or accounts of the offender. FastNet may, at their sole discretion, report the incident to the Police and circulate such details about the offender to other Internet Providers as to enable them to impose such sanctions as they see fit.

Your Account.

Unless specified to the contrary in your service order your account is for your own individual use only. You should keep your user name and password supplied by FastNet secure and you must not pass them on to any other individual or group of people. You should be aware that you are responsible for the actions of anyone using your account and your liability under the law is not necessarily limited. Multiple concurrent logins are prohibited.

The Services may not be used to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety.

System Resources.

You are expected to make responsible use of our system resources. Unless included in your service order the running of any servers, including Web Servers, Game Servers, Mail Servers, FTP Servers or IRC Servers is not allowed and may lead to immediate suspension of your account.

We reserve the right to end all or any sessions which have been idle for in excess of 15 minutes or calls with a duration in excess of 6 hours. You may not run any processes on our system which continue after you have logged off, nor may you run excessive concurrent processes on our system.

Electronic Mail

The normal use of mail is perfectly acceptable. However, customers should be aware that the contents of any email message may not necessarily be private when it is transmitted across the Internet. Highly confidential or personal information should not be sent using email and while FastNet make every effort to protect accounts from unauthorised access no guarantees are implied or can be given that mail is secure.

Email Accounts

FastNet has no set mail quota and will not normally limit the size of a file being mailed to or from our systems. However, FastNet reserves the right to delete all mail from any mailbox residing on our system when the amount of disk space exceeds 10MB for a period in excess of 21 days. Should the volume of mail threaten the proper functioning of FastNet systems FastNet reserves the right to delete all the mail and return any new messages to the sender without delay. FastNet will make a reasonable effort to contact the customer if time permits but operational considerations will have priority.

An Email account exists only as long as an account is held with FastNet. It is the responsibility of the account holder to collect any mail prior to cancellation. In the event that FastNet cancels an account due to infringement of FastNet�s Terms and Conditions or in breach of this AUP all mail stored on FastNet systems will be automatically deleted 7 days after termination. On application to FastNet and subject to any outstanding payments or handling charges being made FastNet will forward the mail to any new address as instructed in writing.

FastNet prohibits the use of private mailing lists run on FastNet systems unless written authority to the contrary is obtained.

SPAM/UCE/UBE

Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE)/Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) and posting of out of topic news articles or cross posting of news articles to numerous groups is often called SPAM. Most ISPs have a policy against SPAM and it is considered to be highly disruptive to the individual user and corporate entity alike. UCE is a form of Junk Mail, such as is delivered by post to your door. However the resemblance ends there because the use of UCE/UBE violates a fundamental principal, making the recipient pay for the delivery charges.

FastNet has the following Policy:-

No FastNet account may be used for generating or sending UCE/UBE. Any person or business entity using FastNet resources for the transmission of UCE/UBE will have their account suspended with immediate effect and without prior warning. Any repeat occurrence may lead to cancellation of the account without notice or warning. Any costs incurred by FastNet may be reclaimed from the account holder.

FastNet Mail Relays may not be used for sending UCE/UBE or for disguising the origin of any mail sent through the Internet.

FastNet maintains a list of Domains who permit UCE/UBE and blocks all mail from these Domains. This list is published at http://www.fastnet.co.uk/documents/spamdomains.html and identifies domains which have been used for the promulgation of UCE/UBE and whose administrators have failed to take action against the perpetrators. If you or your corespondent have an address in this list then you should contact the owner of the offending Domain and urge them to amend their policy on UCE/UBE.

In a similar manner FastNet does not condone the following actions when posting to Newsgroup.

The cross posting of articles across a range of newsgroups.

Posting articles which are inappropriate or off topic.

Posting of offensive or hateful articles.

Posting of any articles containing content which breaches UK law.

Posting of advertisements for products or services.

Abuse of the News service may lead to suspension or cancellation of a customer account and any costs incurred by FastNet as a result will be at the charge of the customer.

FastNet will always respond to complaints about UCE/UBE/SPAM and any incidence should be reported to [email protected] , complete with a copy of all the mail headers.

ã 1st April 1999 FastNet International