1. Introduction

The goal of DigitalLinks is to provide the best service possible for an enjoyable Internet experience. This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP" or "Policy") is designed to keep DigitalLinks and the Internet enjoyable and useful for all of our subscribers. Violation of this Policy may result in suspension or cancellation of DigitalLinks services. DigitalLinks is committed to and supports the free exchange of information and ideas over the Internet. DigitalLinks does not actively monitor nor does DigitalLinks exercise editorial control over the content of any web site, electronic mail transmission, mailing list, news group or other material created or accessible over DigitalLinks servers. However, DigitalLinks reserves sole discretionary rights to remove any materials deemed potentially illegal, harmful to DigitalLinks business operations or equipment, or in violation of any part of this AUP or of the standard DigitalLinks Internet Agreement. Use of DigitalLinks Network's servers immediately constitutes acceptance and acknowledgement of this Acceptable Use Policy.
 

2. Restricted Content

Clients are expected to use the Internet with respect, courtesy, and responsibility, giving due regard to the rights of other Internet users. Clients are expected to use his/her account for the purposes of maintaining a website only. Common sense is the best guide as to what is considered acceptable use.

DigitalLinks forbids websites with adult graphic content (softcore and/or hardcore), including, but not limited to, banner advertising, any adult website(s), child pornography, and distribution of adult website passwords. Client's whose accounts are found in violation of this policy may, at the discretion of DigitalLinks, have their account(s) terminated without notice and are subject to a maximum clean-up/disconnect fee.

Client's whose website promotes activities that violate federal, state, local, International laws and/or violation of U.S. export restrictions are also not welcome at DigitalLinks. This includes "warez" sites (freely distributing copyright programs), or sites promoting hacking and/or cracking programs. Client's whose accounts are found in violation of this policy may, at the discretion of DigitalLinks, have their account(s) terminated without notice and are subject to a maximum clean-up/disconnection fee. Additionally, DigitalLinks may contact the Software Piracy Association ("SPA") and release any information in connection with any illegal activities relating to software piracy on the Client's account.

IRC Bots, or any other automaton programs written in C, Perl or IRC-script used specifically in conjunction with IRC are not allowed. These programs tie up system resources and are in no way related to maintaining a website. Clients are not allowed to have any programs, including but not limited to, Eggdrop, or any other IRC-related programs, within their account. Client agrees not to upload the tar file for any of these programs or to execute them within their account. The first violation of this policy will result in the IRC-related program to be removed from the Client's account and DigitalLinks will notify the Client immediately of the violation. The second violation of this policy may, at the discretion of DigitalLinks, result in the Client's account(s) being terminated without notice and a maximum clean-up/disconnect fee.

Simply put, we ask that you use your account for the purposes of hosting a non-adult oriented, legal website.

3. Warranties/Disclaimers

DigitalLinks Internet service is provided on an "as is, as available" basis. No warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, those of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made with respect to DigitalLinks or any information or software therein. You release DigitalLinks from and DigitalLinks shall have no liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages suffered by you in connection with your use of or inability to use DigitalLinks services including, but not limited to, damages from loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, miss-deliveries, or service interruptions, or due to inadvertent release or disclosure of information sent by you even if the same is caused by DigitalLinks' own negligence. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, DigitalLinks disclaims to the full extent permitted by applicable law any responsibility for (and under no circumstances shall be liable for) any conduct, content, goods and services available on or through the Internet or the DigitalLinks services. In no event shall DigitalLinks aggregate liability exceed the amount paid by you to DigitalLinks for the DigitalLinks services. Use of any information obtained via DigitalLinks Internet service is at the user's own risk. DigitalLinks specifically disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through its services.
 

4. Trademarks & Copyrights

Client warrants that it has the right to use the applicable trademarks, if any, and grants DigitalLinks the right to use such trademarks in connection with DigitalLinks' Network's service.

Client agrees not to modify any copyright notices in features (Perl programs, etc.) provided by DigitalLinks. Modification of scripts provided by DigitalLinks without written permission is strictly prohibited.
 

5. Etiquette and Policies (spam etc)

Spamming is the sending of unsolicited e-mail, regardless of size or volume, to persons the sender does not know or have prior consent to send the message to. Using fictitious e-mail addresses @DigitalLinks.net, or @DigitalLinkshosting.com or any domain name hosted with DigitalLinks is strictly forbidden. Spamming also includes sending unsolicited advertisements to numerous email addresses or newsgroups and/or generating a significantly higher volume of outgoing email than a normal user. A violation of this policy extends to clients who send unsolicited e-mail from a domain name not affiliated or hosted with DigitalLinks but the mail message makes mention of a website hosted with DigitalLinks.

DigitalLinks allows clients to send mailings to subscribers of their own mailing list. Such mailings must have explicit instructions to the recipient on how to remove his/her name from the list, and all requests to do so must be honored immediately. Client agrees not to send mailings to lists provided by an outside agency or individual. Client further agrees not to provide mailing list services to others. Due to the nature of a shared-server environment, DigitalLinks requests that mailing lists be sent during non-peak hours, specifically between the hours of 1:00 am and 5:00 am, Central Time (U.S.A). DigitalLinks reserves the right to terminate a client's mailing program, whether provided by DigitalLinks or not, immediately and without notification to client if said list causes a problem with the e-mail services of other clients. DigitalLinks also reserves the right to forbid a client from utilizing any mail-sending program that jeopardizes the mail services of other clients.

Due to the consumption of system resources and overloading of the e-mail server, DigitalLinks forbids the use of the "Gossamer Links" program by any client.

Trolling, the posting of outrageous messages to generate numerous responses, is also not allowed. Mailbombing, the sending of multiple messages without significant new content to the same user and/or subscribing someone else to a mailing list without that person's permission, cross-posting articles to an excessive number of newsgroups, or attempting without authorization to enter into a secured computer system is strictly forbidden. DigitalLinks reserves the right to determine what constitutes abuse of this policy. Clients whose accounts are found in violation of this policy may, at the discretion of DigitalLinks, have their account(s) terminated without notice and are subject to a maximum $500 clean-up/disconnection fee.

The following should be noted ...

     a. The network resources of DigitalLinks may not be used to impersonate another person or misrepresent authorization to act on behalf of others or DigitalLinks All messages via DigitalLinks should correctly identify the sender; users may not alter the attribution of origin in electronic mail messages or postings. Users may not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of computing systems or networks and must not attempt to gain unauthorized access to said networks. Clients may not use DigitalLinks' Network's server for mass e-mail or "spamming" purposes.
      b. DigitalLinks may discontinue servicing any Plan, or may require fulfillment of terms or conditions DigitalLinks may choose to impose as a prerequisite for continuing to service any such Plan. Such discontinuation or requirement may not be unreasonable, however, and DigitalLinks agrees to provide Customer with reasonable notice by Email and fax of any such intent to discontinue or impose certain conditions.
      c. DigitalLinks' Network's services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. DigitalLinks reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrong. Activities which are prohibited as potentially illegal include, but are not limited to:
           (i). Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and copyrighted software.
           (ii). Threatening bodily harm or property damage to individuals or groups.
           (iii). Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from your account.
           (iv). Attempting to access the accounts of others or attempting to penetrate beyond security measures of our or other systems (referred to as hacking) whether or not the intrusion results in corruption or loss of data.
           (v). Harassing others by 'mail-bombing'. 'Mail-bombing' constitutes sending more than ten (10) similar mail messages to the same e-mail address.
           (vi). Forging any message header, in part or whole, of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through DigitalLinks services.
           (vii). Distributing viruses to or from DigitalLinks systems.
 

6. Limited Liability

      a. Client expressly agrees that use of DigitalLinks' Network's Server is at Client's sole risk. Neither DigitalLinks, its employees, agents, resellers, third party information providers, merchants licensers or the like, warrant that DigitalLinks'  Server service will not be interrupted or be error free; nor do they make any warranty as to the results that might be obtained from the use of the Server service or as to the accuracy, or reliability of any information service or merchandise contained in or provided through the DigitalLinks Server service, unless otherwise expressly stated in this Agreement. Out 99% uptime guaranty only covers the amount that was pad for the services. 
      b. Under no circumstances, including negligence, shall DigitalLinks, its offices, agents or any one else involved in creating, or distributing DigitalLinks'  Server service be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages that result from the use of or inability to use the DigitalLinks Server service; or that results from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files, errors, defects, delays in operation, or transmission or any failure of performance, whether or not limited to acts of God, communication failure, theft, destruction or unauthorized access to DigitalLinks'  records, programs or services. Client hereby acknowledges that this paragraph shall apply to all content on DigitalLinks' Servers.
 

7. DigitalLinks' Right to Change Service

DigitalLinks reserves to right to change without notice the DigitalLinks service, including, but not limited to, hours of operation, menu structures, commands, documentation and vendors.
 

8. DigitalLinks' Right to Modify its Acceptable Use Policies

DigitalLinks may at any time, revise the Acceptable Uses Policy with advanced notice given to clients. Renewal of an account with DigitalLinks constitutes acceptance to all modifications to the Acceptable Uses Policy and to the Contract for the account. The contract is automatically renewed 7 days before the date of expiry unless otherwise instructed by the client at the time of placing the order or via a notice at least 7 days prior to the account due date. An account is billed from the date the order is placed up to the date of expiry of the contract. The contract length is determined by the client at the time of placing the order.
 

9. Indemnification

Client agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold DigitalLinks harmless from any demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable attorneys' fees, ("Liabilities") asserted against DigitalLinks, its agents, its customers, servants officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by Client, its agents, employees or assigns. Client agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless DigitalLinks against Liabilities arising out of
      a. any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with DigitalLinks' Network's Server;
      b. any material supplied by Client infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party;
      c. copyright infringement and
      d. any defective product which Client sold on DigitalLinks Server.

10. Excessive CPU/Memory Usage

Client agrees to take all responsibility for all programs including CGI scripts executed under their account. Programs that consume an excessive amount of CPU run time or Random Access Memory (RAM) are not permitted. Client agrees and understands that such excessive use can have an adverse effect on the performance of the webserver. Client agrees to accept responsibility for programs executed under his/her account, regardless of who authored the program. The use of cgi or php chat scripts or pages is strictly prohibited. DigitalLinks provides an acceptable chat programs for clients with Unix Standard + accounts at no charge. DigitalLinks reserves the right to suspend accounts without notice to clients who violate these terms. DigitalLinks has sole discretion over what constitutes excessive usage.

Programs provided by DigitalLinks as an installable feature are not exempt from this policy. While every efforts is made on DigitalLinks' end to ensure the program it provides are efficient, problems with excessive usage on particular programs may occur.