APPROPRIATE USE POLICY (AUP)
Copyright 1999 Knology Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Our Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) is designed to help protect our customers, and the Internet community from irresponsible or illegal activities. As good net citizens, we prohibit the impersonation of others, unsolicited commercial appeals, and any disruption of Internet services.
Knology Inc. may revise this Acceptable Use Policy without notice at any time by posting a new version of this document on our corporate web site at http://www.knology.com/legal/aup. As a result users should check this document frequently to ensure they are in compliance with most recent version. In the event there is a conflict between any subscriber agreement and this policy, the terms of this policy will govern.
The Appropriate Use Policy governs all services provided by Knology Inc. and its partners provided for customer use. The Services shall be defined as residential dedicated cable modem Internet access, email, and web storage space and newsgroup services.
Section 1. Violations and Descriptions of Appropriate Use
General Violations of the Acceptable Use Policy
Impersonation/Forgery: Adding, removing, or modifying identifying network header information (a.k.a. "spoofing") in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is especially frowned upon. Please note the use of anonymous re-mailers and nicknames does not constitute impersonation.
Network unfriendly activity: Any activities which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use Knology services or the Internet is prohibited. This includes "denial of service" (DOS) attacks against another network host or individual user.
Privacy violations: Attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to gain access to any computer system or customer's data, without consent, are prohibited.
Threats: Threats of bodily harm or destruction of property are always prohibited.
Inappropriate Content
There is content on the Internet or otherwise available through the Services, which some may find offensive or disturbing. It is possible to obtain access to content, which is pornographic or offensive. Neither Knology Inc. nor any of its content distributors can assume any responsibility for the content contained on the Internet or otherwise available through the Service. You must assume the risk of accessing content through the Services, and neither Knology Inc. nor any its distribution affiliates shall have any liability for any claims, losses, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise related to access to such content.
You are solely responsible for any information, which you publish on the web or other Internet Services. You must ensure that the receipt of the content is appropriate. You must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from viewing inappropriate content. Knology Inc. reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove and information or materials, in whole or in part, that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate regardless of whether such material is unlawful.
Knology Inc. has no obligation to monitor transmissions made on the Services. Knology Inc. does however, have the right to monitor transmissions at any time.
E-mail
Commercial e-mail: Sending unsolicited commercial email is prohibited. Using a Knology e-mail or website address to collect responses from unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures and political or religious messages. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested them.
The Services may not be used to collect email from unsolicited email sent from accounts on other Internet resources or email services which violates this policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet Service Provider. In addition, unsolicited email may not direct the recipient to any web site or other resource, which uses the Services.
Mail Bombing: Sending large volumes of unsolicited e-mail is prohibited. The propagation of chain letters is similarly prohibited, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.
Harassment: Sending threatening or harassing email is prohibited. If after being requested to stop, a Knology user persists in emailing another Internet user, Knology may intervene. Extremely threatening or harassing e-mail is always prohibited.
Knology Inc. is not responsible for the forwarding of email sent to any account, which has been suspended or terminated. Such mail will be returned to sender, ignored, or deleted at Knology Inc. sole discretion.
Web Space
As part of the Services, Knology Inc. provides storage space and access for web pages through its personal web hosting services. You are solely responsible for any information you publish within this personal storage space. All content published within this space must honor all aspects of the inappropriate content clause of this Acceptable Use Policy.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters of FAQ's for those newsgroups. Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages should be posted only in those newsgroups whose characters of FAQ's explicitly permit them. You are responsible for determining the policies of a given newsgroup before posting to it.
Posting or cross-posting the same or substantially similar messages to more than seven newsgroups is prohibited.
Do not post binary files to USENET groups not specifically named for such purposed, namely the *.binaries and *.pictures hierarchies. Binary postings are not allowed in any knology.* newsgroup, with the exception of small test postings to knology.test. Use your Knology FTP and web space to distribute binaries.
Newsgroup spamming: Spam is, first and foremost, a numerical metric-Posting substantively similar articles individually to multiple newsgroups is spamming by definition. This form of Spam is sometimes referred to as "excessive multi-posting" (EMP). Knology considers "multi-posting" to 7 or more groups within a two week sliding window to be excessive. Knology servers currently limit the number of allowable "cross-posts" to 7. The full version of the clarification and definition of what constitutes Spam is posted regularly to the newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.misc. This article is posted once per week and is intended to describe the current consensus Spam thresholds and ensure that the definitions of the terms are available. It is believed that most Spam cancelers use these definitions and thresholds.
Flames, hostile attacks, or invectives aimed at a group or an individual poster, are generally considered inappropriate Knology service groups. Flames in the non-service groups are not encouraged. Many newsreaders offer filtering capabilities that will bring certain messages to your attention or skip over them all together (kill files).
You may not forge or remove header information. This includes attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to circumvent the approval process for posting to moderated groups or the issuance of news control messages. Knology may cancel such articles.
You may not cancel messages other than your own. You may cancel posts forged in your name.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
The Services may be used to participate in "chat" discussions. Knology Inc. will not monitor the contents of these discussions and is not liable for the contents of any communications made via Internet chat.
The Service may not be used to send messages which disrupt another user's equipment, including software, hardware, and user display.
These Services may not be used to "flood" a chat room or to perform acts of "flooding" of chat services. Flooding is defined as the deliberate act of repeating text-generating actions in quick succession in order to prevent other service users from utilizing the chat service.
The use of IRC "Bots" is prohibited, as is the violation of any accepted policies on IRC servers. If Knology is banned from a server, the offending account will be terminated.
Any computer or other device connected to through the services may not maintain more than three simultaneous chat connections. This includes the use of automated programs, such as "bot" or "clones".
The Service may not be used to access any chat server in violation of the acceptable use policy of that server. The Services may not be used to manipulate any chat server in order to disconnect or harass other Internet users, or to gain unauthorized access to network resources.
A customer may not use the Services to connect to chat servers or channels from which they have previously banned.
Financial
Reselling service without express written consent from Knology, or offering any public information service, such as running a web server or FTP server, is prohibited. Untimely payment of any and all amounts due may result in account cancellation.
Excessive Bandwidth or Disk Utilization
Knology reserves the right to set limits on bandwidth and disk utilization, and use in excess of those limits is not permitted. The total number of bytes transferred from an account's Web and FTP space determines bandwidth utilization. The total number of bytes required to store an account's Web, FTP, and Mail data determines disk utilization.
If excessive bandwidth or disk space utilization is determined to adversely affect Knology's ability to provide service, immediate action will be taken. The account owner will be notified by e-mail as soon as practicable.
Line of Service Demarcation
Knology Inc. will provide technical support for one modem and one computer connection to the Services of the network. Knology Inc. or any member of its technical support team does not support any additional internal networking within the customer's premise, regardless of who installed it.
Knology is not responsible for supporting and shared networking printer devices or other shared resources within the customer's premise.
Section 2. Reporting to Knology Abuse
If you are aware of a potential inappropriate use, please direct the information to Knology's abuse staff at abuse@knology.net. The staff will investigate potential violations carefully before taking action.
Contact personnel for abuse notification are as follows:
- General abuse e-mail account: abuse@knology.net. This account is checked daily.
- For network security related abuse (for networks outside of Knology) abuse@knology.net
- For questions about the AUP and internal concerns among Knology modem users (inquiries or complaints from users inside Knology's network) abuse@knology.net
All complaints we receive will be actively investigated, and action will be taken when and where it is appropriate. Depending upon the severity of the abuse and the history of the account involved, we may take any one or more of the following actions:
- issue warnings: written or verbal
- suspend newsgroup posting suspend the account
- terminate the account
- bill for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges.
Section 3. Rationale and Ruminations
Rationale
This Section attempts to provide a general understanding of Knology's Policy on the Appropriate Use of Knology Services. Common sense and judgment are a necessary part of any system of rules, and this AUP is no exception. Of course, flagrant or repeated violations of the policy are viewed in a very different light than minor infractions. Knology considers net-abuse an action that undermines the ability of the Internet to serve as a discussion medium. In addition, net-abuse may be a violation of state or federal law, or the laws of other countries.
Protection of our customers and our resources, the ability to provide quality service to our customers, conformance with existing law, and the protection of our reputation as a service provider are all contributing factors to decisions on AUP violations.
It is our intention to allow Knology customers access to everything the Internet has to offer with minimal or no interference. Our belief in free speech is a firm commitment to our customers. However, just as free speech does not include the right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theater, certain activities are considered inappropriate by the Internet community at large and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech.
Knology does not censor the content of any newsgroups. We believe such choices should be left to the individual. We do advise our users that tools are available to screen an account's access to newsgroups one considers offensive. It is the account owner's responsibility to make use of such tools if desired.
Knology does not monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements of system utilization and billing records. However, in our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, if we become aware of inappropriate use of Knology service, we will respond.
If a Knology account is used to violate the AUP, we reserve the right to terminate service without notice. Our preferred course of action would be to advise the account owner of the inappropriate behavior and corrective action necessary. However, flagrant violations of the AUP may result in immediate termination of service.
In the event that an account is temporarily inactivated as a result of any prohibited activities, the account may be subject to reactivation charges and/or deposit requirements determined by Knology.
Privacy
It may be necessary for Knology employees to examine system accounting logs and other records to resolve system problems. Knology reserves the right to access an account's mailbox to resolve system problems or mail system errors.
In addition, Knology will cooperate with the appropriate legal authorities in investigating claims of illegal activity, including but not limited to illegal transfer or use of copyrighted material, postings or e-mail containing threats of violence, or other illegal activity.
Knology makes no guarantee and assumes no liability for the security of any data on any server including "secure servers".
Our customers are reminded that no computer system should be considered safe from intrusion. E-mail may pass through many computer systems, and should not be considered a secure means of communication unless encrypted. Even then, information is only secure as the encryption method.
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