Ohio Valley Internet Service
provides many Internet services including dial-up access to the Internet, World Wide Web
page hosting and Usenet discussion groups. OVIS has certain legal and ethical
responsibilities regarding the use of its computer network and equipment involved in these
services.
OVIS recognizes three areas of use: what a OVIS customer does with his or her own
computer equipment; what an OVIS customer does with his or her OVIS account; and what a
customer does with his or her privileges on OVIS computer equipment (mail server, web
server, etc.).
OVIS has no authority or desire to determine how someone uses his or her own computer
equipment. OVIS has some responsibility for how someone uses his or her OVIS account, and
significant responsibility for how someone uses OVIS's computers.
OVIS's general policy is to act as a neutral provider of access to the global Internet
in all its diversity. OVIS has specific ethical concerns regarding the use of its
computers detailed below. OVIS reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer's access
to any or all services provided by OVIS when OVIS decides that the account has been
inappropriately used.
Also see our license agreement for residential dial-up accounts.
- E-mail privacy
Electronic mail passes through multiple mail servers on the
Internet as it passes from source to destination. One can never be guaranteed privacy from
every possible mail server; therefore, someone seeking total privacy should use some
encryption scheme to render their messages unreadable by eavesdroppers.
With regards to OVIS's mail servers, OVIS places
a high value on privacy, and will only examine users' mail when absolutely required, for
example when troubleshooting e-mail delivery problems or being presented with a search
warrant for the information.
- Limits on disk space usage
OVIS provides as an added benefit to its dial-up users
limited access to certain of OVIS's server computers. This benefit typically consists of
e-mail access, World Wide Web page hosting and telnet access to a wide range of
applications.
OVIS dial-up users are subject to a limit of
10MB of disk space for their personal usage. OVIS reserves the right to remove files that
exceed this limit. The customer is responsible for keeping backups of customer files
stored on OVIS computers.
The 10MB limit does NOT include e-mail storage.
At this time we will not place a limit on the amount of space allocated to user's e-mail.
However, users are encouraged to remove read mail from OVIS's server on a periodic basis.
- Unauthorized use of other people's accounts or
computers
OVIS will strongly react to any
use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorization.
Such attempts include "social engineering" (tricking other people into releasing
their passwords), password cracking, security hole scanning, denial-of-service attacks
(ping-flooding, sending packets with an illegal packet size, UDP flooding, half-open TCP
connection flooding, etc.) and the like.
Any unauthorized use of accounts or computers by
a OVIS customer, whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to OVIS, will
result in action against the attacker. Possible actions include warnings, account
suspension or cancellation, and legal action, according to the seriousness of the attack.
- Commercial advertisements
Commercial advertising is an accepted and welcome use of
the Internet. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate places for Internet
advertising.
Unsolicited commercial advertisements
are not allowed in e-mail, and will likely result in account suspension or cancellation.
Commercial advertisements are unwelcome in most
Usenet discussion groups and on most e-mail mailing lists. Inappropriate posting may
result in account suspension or cancellation. See the newsgroup or mailing list's charter
for whether advertising is allowed or not. "Spamming," or sending a message to
many different off-topic newsgroups, is particularly unethical and will be treated as
such.
Sending a message, especially an advertisement,
to more than five or six recipients, is by itself spamming unless the individuals have
specifically requested to be added to a mailing list on that topic. E-mail is a
person-to-person medium, not a broadcast medium.
Personal Web space (provided free to dial-up
subscribers, with a URL like http://www.ovis.net/~joeuser/) may not be used for purposes
that can be deemed as an attempt to sell a product or service. OVIS separately offers
commercial web hosting.
- Illegal material
OVIS bears certain legal liabilities for the use of its computer
network and equipment. As such OVIS must require that its customers do not use OVIS's
network for illegal purposes.
When presented with a search warrant, OVIS is
obligated to release any information named therein, and will cooperate with the
authorities in any criminal investigation of inappropriate Internet usage.
However, OVIS recognizes that the legal status
of the Internet has not yet been resolved satisfactorily, either through legislation or
court precedent. Therefore OVIS must make certain decisions regarding the illegality of
various specific actions. Among the actions OVIS considers illegal and therefore not
allowed on its network are: unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material;
exploitation of minors; and unauthorized use of computer resources.
OVIS believes that the First Amendment rights of
free speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association apply to the Internet to the
same degree as they do to print media, and that any attempt to infringe upon those rights
is void of legitimacy.
- Harassment
Harassment or abusive use of e-mail and other Internet services is
a rare but serious misuse of Internet resources. OVIS will handle incidents of harassment
on a case-by-case basis, consulting with all parties involved.
- Inappropriate use of web service
OVIS provides free personal web pages to dial-up
customers and hosts commercial web pages for a fee. In both cases the web pages reside on
OVIS's computer equipment, giving OVIS some ethical responsibility for the content of such
pages.
OVIS will handle potentially inappropriate web
pages on a case-by-case basis. Examples of inappropriate information include downloadable
virus code, obscenity, and other forms adult related material.
Personal Web space (provided free to dial-up
subscribers, with a URL like http://www.ovis.net/~joeuser/) may not be
used for purposes that can be deemed as an attempt to sell a product or service. OVIS
separately offers commercial web hosting.
- Dial-up account use
Dial-up accounts are for personal, interactive use only. The use
of keepalives is expressly forbidden. We define a "keepalive" as ANYTHING that
sends or receives data without your direct input. Deliberately keeping a connection active
by any artificial means is grounds for termination. This includes, but is not limited to,
the use of a programs like Net Pal or Ponger, leaving AOL Instant Messenger or ICQ
running, or setting your e-mail client to automatically check for new mail.
"Camping" or "Hogging"
(staying on line, but not really doing anything) is not permitted.
You may connect as many times per day as you
wish. Sessions exceeding 8 hours will be logged off. It is not fair to other users for you
to tie up a modem while you eat dinner, go to the movies, etc. If you must be away from
your computer for anything longer than a "Nature Break", please sign off.
Connections that are idle for 20 minutes or longer will automatically be logged
off. You can always reconnect!
Customers are allowed one connection at a time.
Multiple logins with the same account are strongly prohibited.
You may not share your account with anyone. Your
account is for your use only
Observing the above rules is the best way to
avoid busy signals.
