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Service Usage Policy

The HostVentures.com Service Usage Policy has been developed with the following objectives:

• Ensure security, reliability and privacy of our systems and network, and the networks and systems of others.
• Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression.
• Encourage the responsible use of net resources and discourage practices which degrade the usability of network resources and thus the value of Internet services.
• Avoid situations that may cause HostVentures.com to incur civil liability.
• Preserve the privacy and security of individual user.

We expect our Customers to use the Internet with courtesy and responsibility and to be familiar with and to practice good Internet etiquette. By adhering to the following policies, our Customers are protecting the rights and privileges of all Internet users.

VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING POLICIES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OF THE OFFENDING ACCOUNT AND MAY INCUR FINANCIAL PENALTIES TO THE VIOLATOR.

General Conduct

1. Customers are prohibited from transmitting on or through any of HostVentures.com's facilities any material that is, in HostVentures.com's sole discretion, unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law, statute or regulation.

2. HostVentures.com's facilities may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or any other statute. HostVentures.com reserves the right to remove such illegal material from its servers.

3. Customers may not engage in tortuous conduct including, but not limited to, posting of defamatory, scandalous, or private information about a person without their consent, intentionally inflicting emotional distress, or making physical threats against another person via email, news, or any other electronic media/service we provide.

4. Customers may not use abusive, unprofessional, or threatening language towards any member of our staff. Definition of any such behavior is to be solely at our discretion.

5. Customers must provide or update HostVentures.com with accurate and up-to-date contact and billing information. Furnishing false data on the signup form, contract, or online application, including fraudulent use of credit card numbers, is grounds for immediate termination, and may subject the offender to civil or criminal liability.

System and Network Usage and Security

1. Customers may not attempt 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, password sniffing, security hole scanning, IP spoofing, logging into a server or account the Customer is not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks.

2. Customers may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host, or network ("denial of service attacks"). This includes, but is not limited to, "flooding" of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service, and attempts to "crash" a host.

3. Customers may not use any kind of program/script/command, or send messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or by the Internet.

4. Customers must safeguard their account passwords to prevent unauthorized access to their account.

5. Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. HostVentures.com will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.

6. Customers will use dial-up connectivity resources only on an as needed basis and will disconnect whenever the connection is or will remain idle for 10 minutes or longer.

Email

1. Harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages, is prohibited.

2. Customers may not send email to any person who does not wish to receive it. If a recipient asks to stop receiving email, the Customer must not send that person any further email.

3. Customers are bound by the HostVentures.com Spam Policy.

4. Customers may not forward or otherwise propagate chain letters, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.

5. Malicious email, including but not limited to "mailbombing" (flooding a user or site with very large or numerous pieces of email) and "trolling" (posting outrageous messages to generate numerous responses) is prohibited.

6. Forging of header or any other information is not permitted.

7. Subscribing someone else to a mail list or removing someone else from a mail list without that person's permission is prohibited.

8. HostVentures.com accounts or services may not be used to collect replies to messages sent from another Internet Service Provider, where those messages violate this Usage Policy or the usage policy of that other provider.

USENET (News)

1. HostVentures.com is not responsible for the content of any USENET posting, whether or not the posting was made by a HostVentures.com Customer.

2. Postings to USENET newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs for those newsgroups. Advertisements should only be posted in those newsgroups whose charters/FAQs explicitly permit them. The poster is responsible for determining the etiquette of a given newsgroup, prior to posting to it.

3. Customers are prohibited from posting the same or similar message to large numbers of newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting, also known as "USENET spam").

4. Customers are prohibited from posting binary files to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose.

5. Customers are prohibited from canceling or superseding posts other than their own, with the exception of official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.

6. Customers are prohibited from forging header information. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.

7. A customer may not solicit mail for any other address, other than that of the Customer's HostVentures.com account or service, with the intent to harass or collect replies after HostVentures.com's service has been terminated.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

1. HostVentures.com is not liable for the content of any communications made on IRC. 2. IRC robots ("bots" or "clones") or IRC sessions may not be run from HostVentures.com's shared server accounts.

3. Customers may not attempt to impersonate others or use IRC anonymously by disguising their hostname or username.

4. Customers are prohibited from using IRC scripts or programs that interfere with or deny service to other users on any server or host. Customers are also prohibited from engaging in activities which harass other users. This includes, but is not limited to, "flooding" (rapidly entering text with the intent to fill the screens of others), "flashing" (disrupting terminal emulation), "takeovers" (forcibly seizing operator privileges), attempting to send private messages to those who do not wish to see them (via "ignore"), attempting to return to a channel after being banned from it, and other disruptive behaviors.

 Material and Product Requirements

1. Customers must ensure that all material and data placed on HostVentures.com's equipment is in a condition that is "server-ready," which is in a form requiring no additional manipulation on HostVentures.com's part. We shall make no effort to validate this information for content, correctness or usability.

2. Use of HostVentures.com's facilities requires a certain level of knowledge in the use of Internet languages, protocols, and software. This level of knowledge varies depending on the anticipated use of the facilities. Customers are responsible for having this level of expertise. It is not the responsibility of HostVentures.com to provide this knowledge or customer support outside of the service defined in the Service Agreement.

3. Customers will use only legal and properly licensed software on any equipment located on HostVentures.com's premises.

Spam

As a provider of Internet network services and management, HostVentures.com considers it an obligation to put an end to Spam.  We respect your need for efficient, cost-effective and interruption-free services, and we pride ourselves on offering you one of the most scalable, reliable and redundant networks available today.  To protect this service, we have the following Spam policy:

Any HostVentures.com customer willfully responsible for Chain Letters, Sourced Spam or for Caused Spam will have their account terminated without notice and no refund of pre-paid hosting fees will be issued for the offending account. No new accounts will be permitted for any customer previously found to be in violation of our Spam policy.

For purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:

• Excessive Volume: More than 250 email messages in a 1-hour period where prior written approval from HostVentures.com has not been obtained.
• "Chain" letters: Commercial solicitations where no prior commercial relationship exists and where the recipient has not previously initiated communication Religious, philosophical, or charitable solicitations or fliers where the recipient has not previously initiated communication.
• Sourced Spam: Each and every Unsolicited Email Message that is sent through a single HostVentures.com supplied email account whenever that single email account originates an Excessive Volume.
• Caused Spam: Each and every Unsolicited Email Message, sent in an Excessive Volume by any party over any network to any party, which advertises or mentions a site hosted by a HostVentures.com customer on the HostVentures.com network, whenever directly caused by the actions of a HostVentures.com customer.

THE USAGE POLICY DEFINES THE ACTIONS WHICH HostVentures.com CONSIDERS TO BE ABUSIVE, AND THUS, STRICTLY PROHIBITED. THE EXAMPLES SET FORTH IN THIS POLICY ARE NON-EXCLUSIVE, AND ARE PROVIDED SOLELY FOR GUIDANCE TO HostVentures.com´S CUSTOMERS.

If you are unsure whether any contemplated use or activity is prohibited, please contact us at info@hostventures.com and we will assist you. Please note that the activities set forth above are also not permitted from other Internet Service Providers on behalf of, or to advertise, any service hosted by HostVentures.com, or connected via our network. Furthermore, such services may not be advertised via deceptive marketing policies, as defined by the Federal Trade Commission Deception Policy Statement.

HostVentures.com must further limit any exceptions made to the Service Usage Policy as secondary in regards to server and network security, performance and integrity. Any user, regardless of exception status, may have his or her service disabled if it is interfering with our servers or network.

Please report any known violations of our policy to security@hostventures.com.

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