Authorized Use Policy for SOFTCOM

PLEASE READ THIS POLICY AND THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR SOFTCOM SERVICES CAREFULLY BEFORE OPENING AN ACCOUNT WITH SOFTCOM OR CONTINUING TO USE SOFTCOM SERVICES. BY USING SOFTCOM SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY BOTH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND THIS POLICY (COLLECTIVELY "THIS AGREEMENT" OR "THE AGREEMENT"). SOFTCOM MAY TERMINATE ITS SERVICES TO YOU IF IT FEELS THAT YOU HAVE FAILED TO COMPLY WITH EITHER THIS POLICY OR THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE AGREEMENT, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY END YOUR USE OF SOFTCOM SERVICES AND SOFTCOM SOFTWARE AND NOTIFY THE SOFTCOM CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU SHOULD RETURN OR DESTROY ALL COPIES OF SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY SOFTCOM INCLUDING THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTED BY SOFTCOM. SOFTCOM MAY MAKE CHANGES TO THIS POLICY AND/OR THE TERMS OF SERVICE AT ANY TIME. SUCH CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECTIVE DATE WILL BE POSTED ON THE SOFTCOM WEBSITE OR BROUGHT TO YOUR ATTENTION BY APPROPRIATE MEANS. YOU AGREE TO REVIEW THIS POLICY AND THE TERMS OF SERVICE PERIODICALLY, AND IF ANY CHANGE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO YOU, YOU AGREE TO TERMINATE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION OR AUTHORIZED USE BY NOTIFYING THE SOFTCOM CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT. YOUR CONTINUED USE OF SOFTCOM SERVICES AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF ANY SUCH CHANGE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THE CHANGES. "SERVICES" REFERS TO ALL SERVICES AND EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY OR THROUGH SOFTCOM, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION INTERNET ACCESS AND THE LICENSING OF SOFTCOM OR THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE.

Section 1: General

While SOFTCOM encourages and supports the free flow of information and ideas over the Internet, we expect that our subscribers and users will act legally, responsibly and be considerate of others. SOFTCOM reserves the right, but does not bear the responsibility, to prohibit or delete any conduct, communication or content which SOFTCOM, in its sole discretion determines likely to be unlawful or harmful to others. When you are using SOFTCOM services, you are subject to the Authorised Use Policy, and the the Terms of Service. If, in connection with the SOFTCOM services, you use third party software or connect to third party servers, networks, and/or systems, in addition to abiding by the aforementioned SOFTCOM policies, you are responsible for compliance with the established policies and restrictions of these third parties. If any policy that is given to you by a third party system or software is in conflict with any of SOFTCOM's policies, then SOFTCOM's policy shall be the prevailent policy.

As the conduit that delivers content from sender to receiver over the Internet, it is not the purpose or intent of SOFTCOM to monitor conduct, communication, or content on its services. You acknowledge that unless it is reported to us, SOFTCOM is not likely to be aware of violations on its service. It is up to you, as the host of a Web host page or Personal Web page, the sender of e-mail or the poster to a newsgroup, to bear responsibility for the material you send. If you are the recipient, it is your responsibility to use reasonable efforts to screen unwanted material and report any offensive or illegal communications to the proper authorities. SOFTCOM encourages you to read and abide by this policy to enhance your use and enjoyment of our technology-based Internet products and services.

Section 2: Prohibited Use

SOFTCOM's service may be used only for lawful purposes. Please bear in mind that with increased accessibility comes increased accountability. Transmission, distribution, or storage of material or conduct in violation of any applicable local, state, federal or foreign law or regulation is prohibited. This includes without limitation any unauthorized use of material protected by patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property right, material that is obscene, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.

In addition to unlawful content, SOFTCOM prohibits the transmission, distribution or storage of unwanted or offensive content. Prohibited content includes, without limitation, viruses, trojan horse programs, messages which include character sequences intended to control the recipient's computer or display screen, make-money fast schemes, pyramid or chain letters, fraudulent offers, threats, harassment, defamation, postings to a newsgroup in violation of its rules, charter or FAQ, unsolicited advertising, (whether commercial or informational) and unsolicited e-mail ("SPAM").

SOFTCOM strongly opposes SPAM, which floods the Internet with unwanted and unsolicited e-mail and deteriorates the performance and availability of the SOFTCOM network. All forms of SPAM, and all activities that have the effect of facilitating SPAM, are strictly prohibited. You may not use SOFTCOM's service to send SPAM, nor may you use SOFTCOM's service to access another provider to send SPAM, with or without that provider's consent. In other words, you may not use SOFTCOM's services to originate SPAM in any form, or use SOFTCOM's services to collect responses from the sending of SPAM. SOFTCOM assesses whether a message is SPAM based on a number of parameters such as the number of recipients and known SPAM domains or email addresses, using algorithms on message "headers." SOFTCOM also prohibits the use of another Internet service to send SPAM to drive visitors to your site hosted on or through SOFTCOM systems, whether or not the messages were originated by you, under your direction, or by or under the direction of a related or unrelated third party. Should SOFTCOM determine that a violation of its policies has occurred, then in addition to suspending or terminating your account and blocking bulk e-mail and Usenet postings and/or blocking access to your web site, SOFTCOM may publicly disclose the originating address and/or the subject of prohibited transmissions and/or URL of the web site and a $200.00 handling fee may be charged to your SOFTCOM account.

SOFTCOM prohibits customers from either selling, renting, leasing, transferring, or subletting any E-mail accounts that they have requested to any other entity or individual not directly related to the subscriber or a member of the subscribers household. SOFTCOM incurs an enormous expense in providing content filtering for unwanted E-mail, and subscribers who are found in violation of this policy will be subject, at SOFTCOMâs sole discretion, to an additional $5.00 per month Additional E-mail Account Fee. Any customers refusing to pay such fee may have their account suspended or terminated immediately without refund.

Section 3: System and Network Security

Any violations of SOFTCOM's system or network security are strictly prohibited and may result in criminal and/or civil liability. SOFTCOM will cooperate with law enforcement or independently investigate incidents involving such violations. Network security violations include, but are not limited to: (i) attempts to compromise the security of any Internet account or site; (ii) altering the header information of e-mail or Usenet postings or other activity that conceals your e-mail address or prevents recipients from responding; (iii) interference with service to any user, host or network (including without limitation mail-bombing or news-bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system, broadcast attacks, disrupting Internet relay chat channels or Usenet newsgroups); (iv) use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security (including without limitation cracking tools, network probing tools, packet sniffers, password or credit card guessing or cracking tools, and other guessing programs); (v) transferring excessive amounts of data; (vi) misuse or abuse of account access and passwords; (vii) "spoofing", "smurfing", or attempting to hide, masquerade, or change the IP address that you are assigned upon connection to SOFTCOM. s service, and (viii) reselling any aspect of SOFTCOM service.

If you access and/or use another network and/or computing resource, you are also subject to their terms of use and authorized use policy. You are still required to abide by SOFTCOM. s Terms and Conditions and Authorized Use Policy.

Section 4: Enforcement

In order for SOFTCOM to comply with applicable laws, including without limitation the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., to comply with appropriate government requests, to operate SOFTCOM's systems properly, or to protect SOFTCOM or its customers, SOFTCOM may access and disclose any information, including without limitation the user names of accountholders, the contents of any personal electronic communications passing through its network, and any other information it considers necessary or appropriate. SOFTCOM will cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigating suspected lawbreakers. SOFTCOM reserves the right to report to law enforcement any suspected illegal activity of which it becomes aware.

If SOFTCOM receives a complaint or otherwise becomes aware of any possible violation of this policy or the Terms and Conditions, SOFTCOM may, in its sole discretion, initiate an investigation. This investigation may include gathering information from and about account holders and examining the content of personal electronic communications, Web host pages or SOFTCOM Personal Pages on SOFTCOM's servers. During any investigation SOFTCOM may suspend services to any customer being investigated and/or remove the material from its servers. You agree to cooperate with any such investigation.

If SOFTCOM determines, in its sole discretion, that a violation of this policy or the Terms and Conditions has occurred, SOFTCOM may, but will not be obligated to take any or all of the following actions: temporarily or permanently remove material from SOFTCOM servers, discontinue access to Usenet newsgroups, cancel newsgroup postings, move posts to a more appropriate forum (if any), warn the account holder(s) involved, remove e-mail sent by you, suspend or terminate account(s), remove or deny access to your Web host page(s) or SOFTCOM Personal Web page(s) on SOFTCOM's servers, and take other responsive action that we deem necessary. Violations of this policy could also subject you to criminal or civil liability including monetary damages and a $200 handling fee charged to your SOFTCOM account.