IPTIA: Policy Statement

Policy Statement

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets forth the principles that govern the use by customers of the systems, services and products provided by IPTIA Consulting ("IPTIA"). The AUP has been created to promote the integrity, security, reliability and privacy of IPTIA Consulting's systems and networks.

This document applies to all entities of IPTIA Consulting, including, but not limited to, all systems and services owned or operated by IPTIA Consulting.

Compliance With Law
Customers shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store material on or through any of IPTIA Consulting's system services or products that:
1. is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation
2. is threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons")
3. violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by customer.
Client Responsibilities
1. System and Network Security
  IPTIA Consulting takes a very proactive approach to network security. This results in significant added value to the services we provide while ensuring that those same services are provided in a continuous, uninterrupted manner.
  
  All clients are responsible for ensuring their networks and/or servers are not vulnerable to commonly known security risks. IPTIA Consulting reserves the right to perform regular security audits on all devices attached to our network structure. Any attempt to circumvent these specific scans is a breech of this policy.
  
  In the event that one or more serious vulnerabilities are detected by these audits, email describing the issue(s) will be immediately sent to the contact address provided for your account, as well as to IPTIA Consulting's security staff.
  
  Issues that put the greater network at risk, or could result in criminal activity, may be neutralized by security personnel via temporary suspension of IA services (connectivity, hosting, etc).
  
  Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
  1. Application of publicly available patches, configurations, and workarounds related to security should be installed or implemented in a timely manner.
  2. Passwords must be kept secure, and must be reported immediately upon becoming compromised. All passwords should be at least 6 characters and no more than the maximum of 14, and should NOT be common words or names. For the best balance of simplicity and security, try combining a word with numbers, ie. surf76.
  3. Antivirus software should be kept up-to-date through regular updates and due diligence. Most vendors provide painless upgrades via the Internet, thus greatly simplifying the process.
2. E-Mail
  1. Clients are expected to check and read their email regularly in order to receive adminstrative, financial, and/or technical information from IPTIA Consulting.
  2. Mail older than 30 days should NOT be stored on our mail servers. Such mail may be deleted during scheduled maintenance.
  3. It is the clients' responsibility to avoid becoming the target of mass emails (SPAM). IPTIA Consulting attempts to block the most gross offenders, but is technically unable to block ALL such mailings.
3. General
  All clients are expected to be familiar with this AUP and to conform the guidelines it provides.
Prohibited Uses of IPTIA Consulting's Systems, Services and Products
This AUP identifies the actions that IPTIA Consulting considers to be abusive, and thus, strictly prohibited. In addition to the other requirements of this AUP, Customer may only use IPTIA Consulting's systems, services and products in a manner that, in the IPTIA Consulting's sole judgement, is consistent with the purposes of such systems, services and products. If a customer is unsure whether a contemplated use or action is permitted under the AUP, the customer should e-mail IPTIA Consulting with a description of the proposed use at admin@ipingthereforeiam.com for a determination as to whether the use is permissible under this AUP. The examples identified in the subsections below are non-exclusive and are provided, in part, for guidance purposes.

The following uses of IPTIA Consulting's systems, services and products as described below are expressly prohibited:
1. General Conduct
  1. Transmitting on or through any of IPTIA Consulting's systems, services, or products any material that is, in IPTIA Consulting's sole discretion, unlawful, obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or hateful, or encourages conduct that may constitute a criminal offense, may give rise to civil liability, or otherwise may violate any local, state, national or international law.
    Because of the global nature of the Internet, it is impossible to always satisfy the legal standards of every locale. By using IPTIA Consulting's systems, you therefore agree to abide by the laws of our own state and country, the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States of America. In addition, you agree and consent that should you ever take legal action against us, the courts of IPTIA Consulting's own state, Virginia, will have exclusive jurisdiction over any such legal action.
    
    Illegal activities, under the jurisdiction described above, will result in immediate termination of service upon our discovery of said activities. The responsibility for knowledge of applicable laws, including those of other jurisdictions, is strictly your own.
  2. Violations of the rights of any Person protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations.
  3. Actions that restrict or inhibit any Person, whether a customer of IPTIA Consulting or otherwise, in its use or enjoyment of any of IPTIA Consulting's systems, services or products.
  4. Resale of IPTIA Consulting's services and products, without the prior written consent of IPTIA Consulting. This includes, but is not limited to, the mass posting of newsgroup data obtained through IPTIA Consulting on another online system.
  5. Deceptive on-line marketing practices.
  6. Furnishing false data on signup forms, contracts, or online applications, including fraudulent use of credit card numbers, as well as the use of fictious email addresses and/or domain names, the falsification of IP and/or routing information, or other attempts to mask or alter your identity.
    Such conduct is grounds for immediate termination and may subject the offender to civil or criminal liability.
2. System and Network Security
  1. Attempting to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account ("cracking"). This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for the customer, logging into a server or account the customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks (such as running a SATAN scan or similar tool).
  2. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of Internet communications. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which customer is not an intended recipient or logging onto a server or account that customer is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, port scans, ping floods, packet spoofing, forged routing information, deliberate attempts to overload a service, attempts to "crash" a host, and any other so-called "denial of service" attacks.
  3. Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, by any means, locally or by the Internet.
  4. Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for Customer.
3. E-Mail
  1. All users must abide by all state, federal, and international laws regarding the use of electronic mail, Specifically those laid out in Title 18.2-152 of the Code of Virginia.
    This Act redefines "computer services" to include electronic mail or electronic message services of an electronic mail service provider. The bill also adds the following to the list of those acts constituting use without authority or computer trespass:
    1. Using the services of an electronic mail service provider in contravention of the authority granted by or in violation of the policies set by the electronic mail service provider
    2. Falsifying e-mail transmission information in connection with the transmission of unsolicited bulk e-mail
    3. Selling, distributing, or operating software which makes possible the transmission of false e-mail with the intent to facilitate the transmission of false e-mail (ie "spamware").
    Bulk e-mail may be sent only to recipients who have expressly requested receipt of such e-mail. Users that send solicited bulk e-mail are required to maintain records of all bulk e-mail subscription requests, and to provide IPTIA Consulting with such records upon request of IPTIA Consulting, to enable IPTIA Consulting to investigate complaints from third parties. The sender of any solicited bulk e-mail shall, upon request of a recipient, immediately remove such recipient from all applicable lists and refrain from further transmissions of e-mail to such recipient.
    
    Use of any auto-responder messages, mailing lists, or any other programs or scripts run by a user to handle or re-distribute e-mail is the sole responsibility of the user, and shall be operated in a reasonable manner. This responsibility includes, but is not limited to, maintaining up-to-date mailing lists to minimize mail bouncing and to facilitate the processing of removal requests, configuring auto-responders so that they do not create mail loops, and the prompt handling of any complaints regarding UBE/UCE re-distributed through a mailing list onsite.
  2. Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages, is prohibited.
  3. Creating or forwarding "chain letters" or other "pyramid schemes" of any type, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
  4. Malicious e-mail, including, but not limited to, "mailbombing" (flooding a user or site with very large or numerous pieces of e-mail).
  5. Use of unsolicited e-mail originating from the IPTIA Consulting network or networks of other Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise any service hosted by IPTIA Consulting, or connected via the IPTIA Consulting network.
  6. Willful failure to secure open SMTP ports so as to prevent the unauthorized use of customer resources for the purposes of sending unsolicited e-mail by a third party (third party relaying).
4. Usenet Newsgroups
  1. Posting the same or similar messages to large numbers of Usenet newsgroup ("Newsgroup spams or USENET spam").
  2. Posting chain letters of any type.
  3. Posting encoded binary files to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose.
  4. Cancellation or superseding of posts other than your own, with the exception of official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.
  5. Forging of header information. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.
  6. 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.
  7. Postings that are in violation of the written charters or FAQ's for those newsgroups.
  8. Posting of Usenet articles from the IPTIA Consulting network or networks of other Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise any service hosted by IPTIA Consulting, or connected via the IPTIA Consulting network.
  9. Advertisements posted in newsgroups whose chargers/FAQ's explicitly prohibit them. The poster of an advertisement or other information is responsible for determining the etiquette of a given newsgroup, prior to posting to it.
Complaint and Enforcement
1. Complaints
  Complaints concerning system abuse may be submitted several ways:
  1. FAX:
    (540) 720-0822
    ATTN: Policy Review Board
  2. US Mail:
    IPTIA Consulting
    ATTN: Policy Review Board
    4 Austin Run Blvd.
    Stafford, Virginia 22554
  3. EMail:
    Complaints will also be accepted via e-mail, at abuse@ipingthereforeiam.com provided that a valid return address is included.
  IPTIA Consulting must be able to independently verify each instance of abuse, and so each complaint must include the COMPLETE TEXT OF THE OBJECTIONAL MESSAGE, INCLUDING ALL HEADERS. Please do NOT send excerpted parts of a message; sending a copy of the entire message, including headers, helps to prevent misunderstandings based on incomplete information, or information used out of context. Full headers demonstrate which path the message has taken, and enable us to determine whether any part of the message has been forged. This information is vital to our investigation.
2. Enforcement
  IPTIA Consulting may, in its sole discretion, suspend or terminate a customer's service for violation of any part of this AUP at any time and without warning. As a general matter, IPTIA Consulting attempts to work with customers to cure violations and to ensure that there is no re-occurrence of the violation prior to terminating service.
  
  Accounts affected in this way remain responsible for the terms and conditions of their respective contracts.
Liability
In no event will IPTIA Consulting be liable to any customer or third party for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages for actions taken pursuant to this AUP, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, business interruption, loss of programs or other data, or otherwise, even if IPTIA Consulting was advised of the possibility of such damages.

In addition, you agree to defend and indemnify us and hold us harmless from and against any and all claims, proceedings, damages, injuries, liabilities, losses, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) relating to any acts by you or materials or information transmitted by you in connection with IPTIA Consulting's system leading wholly or partially to claims against us or our system by other users or third parties.
Miscellaneous
1. Privacy
  Please be aware that any information you submit via ANY electronic medium (email, news, etc) is NOT confidential and could be observed by a third party while in transit. IPTIA Consulting explicitly does NOT monitor customer data in transit to and from other domains, however, we cannot vouch for the policies or practices of systems outside IPTIA Consulting's domain.
  
  Services donated (ie not charged) to groups or individuals by IPTIA Consulting may be subject to supervisory monitoring to ensure consistency with their intended use(s). Additionally, be advised that like any Americans, IPTIA Consulting is subject to court rulings and/or warrants regarding all communications passing through our network(s).
2. Modification of AUP
  IPTIA Consulting retains the right to modify the AUP at any time and any such modification shall be automatically effective to all customers when adopted by IPTIA Consulting.
3. Applicability of AUP
  The actions listed herein are also not permitted from other Internet Service Providers. Deceptive marketing, as defined by the Federal Trade Commission Deception Policy Statement, is not permitted through the IPTIA Consulting services or network. These rules apply to other types of Internet-based distribution mediums as well, such as RLG's Ariel system (a system for sending FAX-like documents over the Internet).
4. IPTIA Consulting Is Not Responsible For Content
  IPTIA Consulting is not responsible for the content of any USENET posting, email, or web site created by a customer of IPTIA Consulting or any third party.
5. Editorial Control, Ownership of Postings & Removal of Materials
  Editorial control is limited on IPTIA Consulting's part to material published on our own online services. All such postings become the express property of IPTIA Consulting.
  
  At its sole discretion, IPTIA Consulting reserves the right to remove materials from its servers and to terminate internet access to customers that IPTIA Consulting determines have violated this AUP.
Prices & Payments
1. Rates
  You will be charged a monthly fee for using our system. Substantial savings are available through yearly or multi-year contracts. IPTIA Consulting's prices are subject to change, however all existing customers will be provided with at least 2 months advance notice. Please see our price schedule for up-to-date rates and availability.
2. Billing
  Normally, we do not provide printed billing to our customers. This policy reflects IPTIA Consulting's deep commitment to providing our clients with the most economical, highest value service possible. It also illustrates IPTIA Consulting's goal to minimize the impact of our activities on the environment. For those customers who MUST receive printed billing, statements can be generated for a small additional charge.
3. Due Dates & Late Fees
  Payments for all services are due on the first of the month.
4. Payment Methods
  Payment may be made via cash, check, money order, or credit card. Credit card payments will be automatically billed on the first of each month. Payments may be mailed to:
  IPTIA Consulting
  ATTN: Accounting Dept.
  4 Austin Run Blvd.
  Stafford, Virginia 22554
5. Late Fees & Failed Payments
  Unpaid accounts may be placed on hold on or after the 15th of the month. Returned checks and refused credit constitute nonpayment. There will be a $25.00 service charge on all returned checks. Held accounts may be subject to a $19.95 reactivation fee.
  
  Accounts held on two or more successive months may be required to renew their service via an annual or quarterly plan.
Termination of Service
We reserve the right to refuse service upon being made aware of illegal activities and/or other breeches of policy or contract.