ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is intended to help protect both customers and the Internet community from the inappropriate use of the Internet. A customer’s use of any service constitutes acceptance of this AUP. The Service Provider reserves the right to revise and update this AUP from time to time. The Service Provider expects customers to cooperate with the company’s TOS/Abuse department when requested to assist in their investigations.

This AUP is divided into two sections:

  • Section 1. Violations and Descriptions of Appropriate Use
  • Section 2. Reporting to the Service Providers TOS/Abuse department

Section 1: Violations and Descriptions of Acceptable Use 

  • General Violations
  • Network Disruptions
  • E-mail
  • Facilitating a Violation of This AUP
  • News
  • Web
  • Excessive Bandwidth or Disk Utilisation


General Violations 

Our AUP prohibits the following:

Impersonation/Forgery: 

Adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information (“spoofing”) in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of anonymous re-mailers and nicknames does not constitute impersonation. Using deliberately misleading headers (“munging” headers) in news postings in order to avoid spam e-mail address collectors is allowed provided appropriate contact information is contained in the body of the posting.

Privacy Violations:

Attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to gain access to any electronic systems, networks or data, without proper consent, are prohibited.

Threats:

Threats of bodily harm or destruction of property are prohibited.

Harassment:

Threatening or harassing activity is prohibited.

Illegal Use:

The use of this service for illegal purposes is prohibited.

Reselling:

The resale of any service without proper authorisation from the Service Provider is prohibited. Persons wishing to act as resellers may review details of the Eclipse Technology Services Limited, Partner Programme, available at http://www.ets.biz/

Copyright Infringement

All material published must be owned by the publisher or the appropriate releases must have been obtained prior to publishing. Aflex will co-operate with all agencies attempting to assert their rights in these matters.

 

Network Disruptions and Network-Unfriendly Activity

Any activities, which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use Aflex services or the Internet, are prohibited. This includes “denial of service” (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with, or disruption of, use of the network by others, network services or network equipment is prohibited. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A customer may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A customer may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that it gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner.

 

E-Mail 

Aflex does not tolerate, endorse  or  participate in e-mail spamming. Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited. We cannot authorise bulk e-mailing although we do recognise that in some instances this is a valid and useful form of marketing for both senders and recipients. Using a Aflex e-mail or Web site address to collect responses from unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited.

Sending large volumes of unsolicited e-mail, whether or not that e-mail is commercial in nature is prohibited. All solicited e-mail should have been confirmed through the use of a opt-in list.

Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial e-mail, or large volumes of unsolicited e-mail, whether or not that e-mail is commercial in nature, are prohibited. Users operating mail servers must ensure that they are not open relays Anonymous bulk e-mailings are not permitted and we will terminate the accounts of any customers who attempt to do this. This may happen without notice. If we receive any complaints from recipients or other third parties, or any mailing causes technical problems on our systems, we may take further action to stop this happening again. This may involve the termination of any accounts the sender has and may occur without notice. In the event that we are alerted to anyone sending bulk e-mails, we will generally attempt to make contact with the senders to discuss appropriate actions.

We recommend that anybody undertaking this kind of activity has a data protection statement on their Web site explaining how the company fulfils their obligations in terms of the Data Protection Act or the General Data Protection Regulations after the 25th May 2018.

Senders must give recipients the ability to easily contact the sender and remove themselves from their mailing list.

Senders must be sure that recipients are aware that they are listed on the sender’s e-mailing list and that they themselves provided their information or authorised a third party to do so on their behalf. Senders must make every effort to ensure that the information they are sending is of interest to the recipient and matches the reason given for the collection of the e-mail address in the first place (e.g. e-mail collected from people interested in Motorcycle Products should not be sent e-mail relating to tattoos, no matter how likely it may seem that they will be interested in the same topic).

In the event of any problems being caused by this type of activity, we will make every effort to ensure that the problem is resolved as quickly as possible. This includes full co-operation with any relevant authorities.

 

Facilitating a Violation of this AUP  

Advertising, transmitting, or  otherwise  making  available  any  software,  programme,  product,  or service that is designed to violate this AUP, or the AUP of any other Internet Service Provider, which includes, but is not limited to, the facilitation of the means to spam.

 

News  

Aflex customers  should  use  their  best  judgment  when  posting  to  any  newsgroup.  Many  groups have  charters,  published  guidelines,  FAQs,  or  ‘community  standards’  describing  what  is  and  is  not considered appropriate. Usenet can be a valuable resource if used properly. The continued posting of  off-topic  articles  is  prohibited.  Commercial  advertisements  are  off-topic  in  most  newsgroups, especially non-commercial regional groups. The presence of such articles in a group is not indicative of the group’s intended use. Please familiarise yourself with basic USENET netiquette before posting to a newsgroup.

Newsgroup  spamming:  Spam  is,  first  and  foremost,  a numerical  metric-posting  of  substantively similar  articles  to  multiple  newsgroups.  This  form of  spam  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  “excessive multi-posting”  (EMP).  Aflex considers  ‘multi-posting’  to  10  or  more  groups  within  a  two-week period to be excessive.  Hostile  attacks  or  invectives  (flames)  aimed  at  a  group  or  an  individual  poster  are generally considered  inappropriate  in  Aflex service  groups. Flames in  the  non-service  groups  are discouraged.  Many  newsreaders  offer  filtering  capabilities  that  will  bring  certain  messages  to  your attention or skip over them altogether (kill files).

Aflex customers  may  not  cancel  messages  other  than  their  own  messages.  A  customer  may cancel posts forged in that customer’s name. Aflex may cancel any postings that violate this AUP.

 

Web  

Using  an  Aflex Web  site  address  or  Aflex hosted Web  account  for the  purpose  of  distributing illegal  material  is  prohibited.  Aflex will  co-operate  with  authorities  to  remedy  breaches  of  this policy.  Using  an  Aflex Web site  address  or  Aflex hosted Web  account  to  collect  responses  from unsolicited commercial e-mail is also prohibited. Excessive bandwidth or Disk Utilisation Aflex account descriptions specify current limits on bandwidth and disk utilisation. Where limits are not specifically defined the judgement of the Internet Technical Support team shall be used to define those limits. The use of bandwidth or disk space in excess of those limits is not permitted. The total number of bytes transferred from an account’s Web and FTP space determines bandwidth utilisation. The total number of bytes required to store an account’s Web,  FTP, and  Mail  data  determines disk utilisation.  If  Aflex determines  that  excessive  bandwidth  or  disk  space  utilisation  is  adversely  affecting Aflex ‘s ability to provide service, Aflex may take immediate action. Aflex will attempt to notify the account owner by e-mail as soon as possible.

 

Section 2: Reporting to the TOS/Abuse Department  

 

Aflex requests  that  anyone  who  believes  that  there  is  a  violation  of  this  AUP  should  direct  the information to the AUP Abuse Staff at this address:abuse@aflex.com

Customers  who  wish  to  report  ‘spam’  from  a  non-Aflex source  should  send  copies  of  the  e-mail they  received  along  with  full  header  information.  Some  messages  may  not  receive  a  response,  but Aflex may use the information received at this address to aid in the development of Aflex’s filterlists. All issues involving other e-mail abuse originating from Aflex e-mail or network addresses should also be sent to the above address. All issues regarding USENET ‘news’ abuse issues originating from Aflex customers. Other  suspicious  activity  such  as  port  scans  or  attempts  to  penetrate  network  resources  and  virus distribution. 

 

Copyright Infringement

Aflex may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints: 

  • Issue warnings: written or verbal
  • Suspend the customer’s newsgroup posting privileges
  • Suspend the customer’s account
  • Terminate the customer’s account
  • Invoice the customer for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges

What information should be submitted?  

  1. The IP address used to commit the alleged violation
  2. The date and time of the alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT
  3. Evidence of the alleged violation
  4. Copies  of  e-mail  with  full  header  information  provide  all  the  required  information,  as  do  syslog  files and firewall logs. Other situations will require different methods.