Introduction

This document defines the Paradigm Pioneers, Inc. Acceptable Use Policy that governs all customer (the Customer) use of Internet server products and services provided by Paradigm Pioneers, Inc. (the Company). The Acceptable Use Policy has been created to ensure the integrity, security, reliability and privacy of the Company’s Internet Server Management Facility, network, and data contained within. The Company retains the right to modify the Acceptable Use Policy without warning or notice.

Questions or comments regarding the Paradigm Pioneers, Inc. Acceptable Use Policy governing Internet server products and services should be forwarded to Paradigm Pioneers, Inc. via:  Phone: 1-800-774-0905

Acceptable Use Policy

Compliance

The Customer shall use the Company resources in a manner that is clearly consistent with the purposes of the products and services offered. The Customer shall comply with applicable laws and standards, policies and procedures. The Customer incurs the responsibility to determine what restrictions apply and to review the policies and procedures that will be updated continually. The Customer is responsible to use the resources with sensitivity to the rights of others. Any conduct by the Customer that in the Company's sole discretion restricts or inhibits any other user, whether a customer of the Company or a user of any other system, from using and enjoying any of the Company's services is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, the posting or transmitting on or through any of the Company's services, any information that is, in the Company's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or harmful, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national, or international law.

Data Transmission

Customer expressly agrees to use all of Company's services only for lawful purposes. Transmission or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law is prohibited, including but not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or any other statute.

Limitation of Liability

The Company will not be liable under any circumstances for any lost profits or other consequential damages, even if the Company has been advised as to the possibility of such damages. The Company's liability for damages to Customer for any cause whatsoever, regardless of the form of action, and whether in contract or in tort, including negligence, shall be limited to one (1) month’s fees and the remaining portion of any prepaid fees.

Indemnification

Customer agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Company, against any lawsuits, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions or proceedings in respect thereof) to which the Company may become subject related to or arising out of Customer's use of Company's services, and will reimburse the Company for all legal and other expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred in connection with investigating, defending, or settling any such loss, claim, damage, liability, action or proceeding whether or not in connection with pending or threatened litigation in which the Company is a party. The provisions of this agreement relating to indemnification shall survive termination of Customer's account.

Consequences of Misuse

Misuse of product and services provided by the Company may result in one or more of the following consequences:

• Company will issue a written warning to the Customer.
• Company will restrict and/or revoke privileges, products, and/or services provided to Customer for a specific period of time.
• Company will permanently disconnect privileges, products, and/or services provided to Customer.
• Company will refer Customer to civil authorities for prosecution.
• Company will take necessary action to correct non-compliance.

Prohibited Uses of Products and Services

The following actions are defined as "system abuse" and are strictly prohibited. The examples named in this list are non-exclusive, and are provided solely for guidance to Customer. Products and Services include, but are not limited to, the Internet server provided by the Company and user accounts. If Customer is unsure of whether any contemplated use or action is permitted, please contact the Company through the information provided above. The following activities are expressly prohibited:

General

• Resale of the Company’s products and services, unless specifically permitted and documented in a separate written agreement or the initial Customer contract.
• Using the facilities and capabilities of the Company or its services to conduct any illegal activity or other activity that infringes the rights of others.
• Deceptive on-line marketing practices. The United States Federal Trade Commission has issued informative guidelines for proper on-line marketing schemes. For more information about what the FTC has done against these types of schemes review the Deception Policy Statement from the FTC (http://www.webcom.com/lewrose/deceptionpol.htm/).
• Violations of intellectual property -- as legally protected by copyrights and licenses. This includes, but is not limited to, the installation or distribution of illegal, "pirated", or other software products that are not appropriately licensed by Customer.
• Violations of privacy.

System and Network

• Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g. viruses, worms, Trojan horses, etc.).
• Attempted or successful security breaches or disruption of Internet communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which Customer is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account Customer is not expressly authorized to access.
• Customer may not execute any form of network monitoring (e.g. packet sniffer) which will intercept data not intended for Customer server.
• Attempts to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account ("cracking").
• Attempts to interfere with or deny service to any user or any host (e.g. Denial of Service Attacks).
• Use of any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a users terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet.

Billing

• Furnishing false or incorrect data on the signup form, contract, or online application, including fraudulent use of credit card numbers.
• Attempts to circumvent or alter the processes or procedures to measure time, bandwidth utilization, or other methods to document "use" of the Company’s products and services.

Mail

• Sending unsolicited mail messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such material (e.g. "spamming").
• Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages.
• Forging of mail header information.
• Using the Company or Customer account to collect replies to messages sent from another provider, which violate these rules or those of that provider.
• Creating or forwarding "chain letters" or other "pyramid schemes" of any type.

Usenet Newsgroups

• Posting the same or similar message to large numbers of Usenet newsgroups.
• Posting chain letters of any type.
• Posting encoded binary files to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose.
• Cancellation or superceding of posts other than your own.
• Forging of header information.
• Solicitations of mail for any other e-mail address other than that of the poster's account or service, with intent to harass or to collect replies.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

• Use of IRC scripts or programs that will interfere with or deny service to other users on any server or host.
• Running or attempting to run any IRC robot or server on equipment other than the equipment provided by the Company to the Customer.

Administrator Accounts

The following section details the Acceptable Use Policy regarding administrator privileges with the products and services offered by the Company’s Web Hosting Group. Customers utilizing Internet Server products and services, whether the server is provided by the Company or is provided by the customer are subject to the following restrictions:

• Customer may not change the IP address or name of the machine.
• Customer may not provide or share administrator privileges with individuals who have not reviewed and agreed to the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy.

 

UNIX "Root" Acceptable Use Policy

• Customers granted root access on a Server provided by the Company are additionally subject to the following restrictions:

• Customer may not create/update/delete accounts created and maintained by the Company.
• Customer may not change the partitioning or mount points of any drive.
• Customer may not create/update/delete any system file without previous written permission.
• Customer may not create .rhosts or /etc/.host.equiv files.
• Customer may not implement any procedure or process that would allow one to login as root without using the root password.
• Customer may not create suid scripts or programs without written permission.
• Customer may not alter the system kernel.
• Customer may not apply operating system and application patches to software not installed and solely maintained by the customer.
• Customer may not change the root shell.
• Customer may not alter /etc/fstab or /etc/vfstab.
• Customer may not modify the decode or root alias in the /etc/aliases file.
• Customer may not change the "identity" of the system.
• Customer may not modify the system in any manner that restricts or alters access to the system by the Company’s employees.
• Customer may create/update/delete all aspects of Customer created user accounts. This may includes modifying home directory permissions, user passwords, etc.
• Customer may use FTP to create/update/delete files and directories.
• Customer may add to, but may not modify, existing data in the following configuration files: /etc/aliases, /etc/group, /etc/rc.local, /etc/sendmail.cf file and root crontab.
• Customer may install software on the server provided the installation meets all of the criteria detailed above. Customer must also hold a license for applicable software.