Purpose

1. This document describes the rules that Socket Telecom, LLC. (hereinafter combined and referred to as "Socket") and customers and subscribers that use Socket's services (hereinafter referred to as "Customer") must adhere to in order to use and enjoy and allow others to use and enjoy use of Socket's services. Use of Socket's services or connections constitutes acceptance of this agreement.

Interpretation

2. The provisions of this Policy are intended as guidelines and are not meant to be exhaustive. Generally, conduct that violates law, regulation, or the accepted norms of the Internet community, whether or not expressly mentioned in this Policy, is prohibited. Socket reserves the right at all times to prohibit activities that damage its commercial reputation and goodwill.

Security

3. Any "denial of service" attack, any attempt to breach authentication or security measures, or any unauthorized attempt to gain access to any other account, host or network is prohibited, and will result in immediate service termination, which may be without notice.

E-mail and Usenet News

4. Using an improper return address in e-mail is fraudulent and is prohibited. The only exception would be postings to mailing lists that permit anonymous posting as part of their charter.

5. Conduct in connection with e-mail or Usenet news that is an obvious nuisance (such as "mail bombing") or that would be unlawful in other contexts (for example, threats, harassment, defamation, obscenity, or software piracy) is prohibited.

6. Sending e-mail to an individual that has specifically requested that they not receive further e-mail constitutes harassment, and is therefore prohibited.

Forgery of Identity

7. Falsifying addressing information or otherwise modifying headers to conceal the sender's or recipient's identity, for the purpose of circumventing this Policy, is prohibited. This provision is not intended to disallow the use of aliases or anonymous remailers for any legitimate purpose.

Copyright, Privacy, and Intellectual Property

8. Using a Socket connection to commit, aid, or abet any violation of copyright or intellectual property law is prohibited.

9. This prohibition includes publishing a private e-mail message to third parties, by any means, without the express prior consent of the author.

10. The e-mail addresses of Socket subscribers are not for sale or commercial distribution to third parties without the express prior consent of the subscriber

DMCA Compliance and Handling of Repeat Infringers

11. Socket respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Socket has adopted a policy to address copyright infringement by its users.

12. If Socket receives proper notification of claimed copyright infringement, it will respond expeditiously by removing or disabling access to the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity.

13. Copyright holders who believe their rights are being infringed upon can submit a DMCA takedown notice to Socket's designated agent. Details on how to submit this notice and the required information can be found on www.socket.net/dcma-policy.

14. Socket will terminate the accounts of users who are determined to be repeat infringers. Socket reserves the right to designate as a "repeat infringer" any user who has been notified of infringing activity more than five times in a 12-month period or has had their content removed from the service more than five times in a 12-month period.

Consequences of Violation

15. Violation of this Policy by a Socket customer or person authorized by the customer to use Socket's Service may result in temporary suspension or permanent termination of service, at Socket's sole discretion. This includes violations of copyright and intellectual property rights.

16. Socket does not issue service credits for any outages incurred through service disablement resulting from Policy violations.

Modification

17. Socket reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of this Policy at any time without notice.

Responsible Usage

18. Socket exercises absolutely no control over the content of the information passing through or contained on Socket's system(s) or connection(s); Socket only provides access. The Customer must take responsibility for Customer's actions on Socket's system(s) and any system(s) Customer may access using Socket's service. The Customer must comply with whatever rules or acceptable usage policies are in force for each system accessed. If the Customer acts irresponsibly or the Customer's actions endanger our systems, connections, or other customers' privileges, or if Socket receives notice about such behavior Socket may suspend Customer's access at any time, without notice.

Content

19. The Customer takes full responsibility for all statements the Customer makes in e-mail, chat or discussion forums and newsgroups.

20. The Customer takes full responsibility for any web pages or other content published using Socket's servers. Socket does not specifically monitor the Customer's content but will respond to complaints and notices.

21. By individual request, the name, phone number, and mailing address of the Customer will be made available for any publicly accessable web site hosted on Socket's servers.

22. Socket has a policy of total non-censorship, unless the information is illegal and/or clearly used for fraud. Content providers must clearly identify material unsuitable for minors and use appropriate rating systems to prevent access by minors. Parents and Guardians are responsible for exercising control over minor's access and connection to information on the Internet.

Account Usage
 
23. Account are for Customer's exclusive and individual use; multiple concurrent logins of the same account are not allowed without prior authorization. At Socket's sole discretion, the account will be levied a per minute charge or will be immediately suspended. No refund will be granted. For this reason Customer should protect account and password information in the same manner as Customer would protect any other personal resource such as a telephone calling card or credit card number.

Resource Usage

24. No system has unlimited resources. Socket expects Customers to act responsibly when consuming resources on our system. If a Customer consumes excessive resources on any Socket system(s) or connection(s) we may suspend Customer's access at any time. If the Customer's access is suspended by Socket for excessive use of resources and/or irresponsible behavior or actions (to be determined solely by Socket), Customer will be entitled to the return of prepaid access fees on a prorated basis at the sole discretion of Socket.

Unlawful or Unauthorized Usage

25. Socket's network of information services may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission of any material in violation of any State or Federal legislation is prohibited. This includes copyrighted material, material legally determined to be threatening or obscene and material protected by trade secret.

26. Any attempt by the Customer to access or modify any computer system information that said Customer is not authorized to access, or any attempt to interfere with normal system operations, whether on the equipment of Socket, or of any computer systems, or networks that can be accessed by Socket's services, will result in immediate suspension of Customer's access. Unauthorized activities include guessing or using passwords other than those belonging to the Customer, accessing information that does not have public permission, and accessing any systems on which Customer is not an authorized user.

27. Socket cooperates fully with government entities with proper jurisdiction investigating unlawful activity on or via our systems or connections. Socket will seek damages for any incidents of unlawful or unauthorized usage of our systems or connections.

Service Suspension

28. Socket reserves the right to temporarily or permanently suspend service for any reason it deems sufficient. If an account is permanently suspended and provided that a suspension was not for security reasons or prohibited behavior engaged in, to circumvent a customer's contractual obligation to Socket, then prepaid amounts may be refunded (subject to deductions for recalculation of the account as a month-to-month account) and no further financial obligations to Socket will accrue.