Acceptable Use Policies

Introduction

Authorized use of Sunny-Net's internet service represents consent and agreement with all articles, rules and stipulations provided in the on-line Acceptable Use Policy document available from Sunny-Net's main web page, http://www.sunny-net.ne.jp/ .

This document is provided a general service to assist users in understanding Sunny-Net's policy on the Acceptable Use of the Sunny-Net Internet access service. The goal of Sunny-Net's Acceptable Use Policy to help protect our customers and the Internet community, from irresponsible or illegal activities. It is also the aim of this policy to delineate--as well as possible--how and where customer use of Sunny-Net service translates into responsibility and copeability.

Though common sense and good judgment go a long way in life, behavior that is clearly unacceptable in other areas of life sometimes does not translate successfully to internet activities. These guidelines point out generally accepted practices and hopefully shed some light on some of the more "gray" areas. What this policy will never be able to provide is an exhaustive list of what allowed and what is prohibited. Due to the nature of the internet this will always be a moving target that is unachievable.

The key contributing factors to decisions and actions taken on Acceptable Use Policy violations include but are not limited to protection of our customers and our resources, provision of quality service to our customers, compliance with applicable law, and the protection of our reputation as a service provider.

If a Sunnynet account is identified in a violation of these policies, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate service without notice and without refund. Sunnynet's preferred course of action would be to advise the account owner of the inappropriate behavior and any corrective action that may be necessary. However, due to the size of the customer population, the delay sometime involved in discovering policy violations, Sunnynet may decided to immediately terminate or suspend service without warning.

In the event that an account is inactivated, as a result of any activities proscribed by these policies, the account may be subject to set-up fees, reactivation charges and/or deposit requirements to be determined by Sunnynet.

Sunnynet may take such action as it deems appropriate and required to enforce the Sunnynet Acceptable Use Policy; however, there is no promise or obligation on our part to monitor or police any such activity and Sunnynet will have no liability to any party for any other party's violation of these policies or the Terms and Conditions of the service. Go to Top!

Service and Availability

Sunnynet attempts to provide the most consistent reliable service to customers as possible. Regardless, occasional service outages will happen. This is a fact of life that Sunnynet attempts to minimize, but does not guarantee will never happen. Because service outages are usually beyond Sunnynet's control, refunds are not provided, even for extended service outages. E-mail, Web content delivery, network connectivity and throughput are all "best effort" services. Sunnynet is in no way responsible for lost data or other circumstances that may arise from a Sunnynet internet service.

Sunnynet, like all ISPs, makes a profit and stays in business by over subscribing or over selling resources that Sunnynet, itself, purchases. Accordingly, service quality is highly variable and depends on the extent to which customers decided to use Sunnynet. Some quality of service factors are beyond Sunnynet's control. Factors such as uplink bandwidth, modem pool utilization and modem connection speed are statistically managed services and will differ from one day to the next, if not by the hour. While Sunnynet does everything in its' power and finical capability to insure that our standard of service is held to a high mark, Sunnynet does not offer any guarantees or refunds with regard to quality or availability of service.

With regard to customer side equipment and Sunnynet service, Sunnynet will provide limited telephone technical support; however, Sunnynet's reponsibility to the customer ends at ensuring that the established parameters of the service work. If customer side equipment does not seem to be working, Sunnynet reserves the right to verify correct operation of a customer's service account using equipment at Sunnynet that is known to work. Technical difficulties encountered by customer due to equipment incompatabilities, faulty hardware, incorrect system configuration or the general inability to use a computer are the sole responsibility of the customer. In such cases, Sunnynet can recommend third party support to assist the customer, but the cost of this thrid party service is NOT included as part of the Sunnynet service fee. Additionally, Sunnynet does not provide refunds to customers who order an internet service account without having internet ready computer software, hardware and the familiarity necessary to use the internet. Sunnynet reserves the right to cancel service for users who are unable to verify their system settings, can not successfuly make changes to their system settings, are unable to make successful connections with correct system settings or require intensive telephone support for issues outside of configuring their computer system with the correct system settings.

Due to the "caller pays" nature of Japan's telecommunication's environment, Sunnynet does not offer provider side call initiation or call back features. Further more, client side telephone bills are the sole responsibility of the customer. This includes, but not limited to, phone charges due to demand dial connections that are held open by network traffic initiated by unknown third parties, demand dial router configuration errors, demand dial router connections that are held open by customer side network traffic, telephone service phone numbers (Dial Qutsu), call forwarding/redirection, calls initiated to non-Sunnynet phone numbers or any other bills caused by customer equipment using the NTT telephone service. In addition, any provider side phone bills that can be traced to customer side equipment become the responsibility of the customer and will be added to the customer's Sunnynet internet service bill. Go to Top!

E-mail

Commercial E-mail

Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail or using a Sunnynet e-mail address to collect responses from unsolicited commercial e-mail is prohibited. Go to Top!

Mail bombing

Sending large volumes of unsolicited e-mail is prohibited. Go to Top!

Harassment

Sending threatening or harassing e-mail is prohibited. Go to Top!

Other E-mail related issues

Subscribers are prohibited form engaging in the following activities while using the Sunnynet service:

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News

Newsgroup spamming

Excessive cross-posting, or posting the same article to several newsgroups, is prohibited. Generally accepted standards allow no more than 5 newsgroups, or cross-postings, for a single article or substantially similar articles. Articles posted in violation of these policies may be canceled. Go to Top!

Off-topic or inappropriate newsgroup postings

Generally, there is no restriction on content or postings, except as defined by each newsgroup. However, continued posting of off-topic articles is prohibited. Please note that commercial advertisements are off-topic in the vast majority of newsgroups. Go to Top!

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Violation of any accepted policies on IRC servers and the use of IRC bots is prohibited. If Sunnynet is banned or threatened with being banned or restricted from a server, the offending account may be terminated. Using IRC transmit materials that violate policies and laws of either the origin, terminal and transition sites and countries will result in the termination of the offending account. Go to Top!

General

Verbal Abuse, Threats, Harassment

While Sunnynet strives to provide the best possible service to our customers, we cannot permit verbal abuse, vulgar language, harassment, or threats directed at our staff. It is unfortunate that we have to address this issue but anyone who behaves in this manner will have his or her services terminated immediately.

Impersonation

You may not send or attempt to send Electronic Mail or USENET News articles using a name and address other than your own. Attempting to impersonate any person, forging headers or other identifying information, is prohibited. Signing or passing off Sunnynet e-mail as a name other than that listed in the user registration information is prohibited. Transgressions that are discovered by Sunnynet or reported by other parties may be reported to the proper authority immediately, and may result in the offending account being terminated immediately. The use of anonymous re-mailers does not constitute impersonation; however, the use of anonymous services does not relieve Sunnynet users from compliance with Sunnynet's Acceptable Use Policy. Go to Top!

Network unfriendly activity

Activities which adversely affect the ability of other people or systems to use Sunnynet services or the Internet is prohibited. Denial of Service that is traceable to a Sunnynet account will result in immediate termination of that account and could expose the former account holder to legal or criminal liabilities. Go to Top!

Unauthorized uses and non-payment

Sharing dial-up accounts on unlimited usage plans is strictly prohibited. Re-selling service without express written consent from Sunnynet, or offering any public information service using such accounts, such as running a web server, IRC Server, Game Server, FTP server, or any other such server is prohibited. Subscribers may not provide public or commercial information over such dial connections. Sunnynet does offer dedicated connection services for such purposes. Untimely payment of any and all amounts due may result in account cancellation.

Sunnynet provides on-line account status verification. In the absence of any automatic billing notices, customers should refer to this resource to determine the status of their account. While Sunnynet does make an effort to notify customers of their account status, the ultimate responsibility to determining account status belongs to the customer.

Account reconciliation will occur during the last week of the month. Between the 1st and the 5th of the next month accounts will be notified, by e-mail, if their accounts have expired for that month. Accounts should be paid in full by the last day of the month for which a payment is due. If no payment is received by the last day of the month, the account will be terminated and the account may be subject to set-up fees, reactivation charges and/or deposit requirements to be determined by Sunnynet. Partial payments are not accepted. Signups made prior to 16th of the month will credited for that month (not pro-rated). Signups made after the 15th will be credited to the next month.

Dedicated network and/or demand dial router customers with overdue payments may be subject to random and continuous network monitoring to verify bandwidth utilization for the duration of time that their account was overdue. Go to Top!

Excessive bandwidth or disk utilization

For Sunnynet account descriptions that specify limits on bandwidth and/or disk utilization, use in excess of those limits is not permitted without an appropriate change in account type or status. In the event Sunnynet determines that an account is exceeding the bandwidth or disk utilization limits, the account maybe suspended without notice. Activities and data exceeding account limitations maybe prohibited or removed without backup or account holder notification.

If the excess or inappropriate use continues for more than 48 hours after such notification, the owner may be requested to upgrade the account's service agreement or to modify the activity creating the excess use. This policy extends to account status (business or personal). If a personal account is found be dialing Sunnynet from a phone number listed for a business, the account holder will be requested to upgrade to a business account.

If excessive bandwidth or disk space utilization is determined to adversely affect Sunnynet's ability to provide service, immediate action may be taken, possibly resulting is lost data or connectivity for the account holder. The account owner will be notified by e-mail as soon as practicable thereafter.

Sunny-Net Users must not leave any type of file sharing client running when they are not using their connection. This creates alot of traffic and causes problems for people that are trying to use the regular network. If users are found to be transferring excessive amounts after 48 hours there connection will be terminated and they will be blacklisted. Go to Top!

Idle Time-outs

Dial-up accounts subject to idle timeouts. An account session may be determined to be idle if there appears to be no interactive, human generated data received from the remote user's computer system within a prescribed amount of time. Go to Top!

Automated Data

Data that is generated on a user's computer system automatically, either by an automated program, script, automatic re-dialers or any other software device, is considered automated data. Automated data of any kind is not considered interactive use of the Sunnynet service, and as such, may be disregarded in determining idle timeouts.

"Unlimited usage" plans are not intended to provide full-time connections, and an "unlimited usage" dial-up connection may be disconnected after a significant period of inactivity. Subscribers should keep the connection open only when actively using it, and may not use any automatic method to avoid inactivity disconnect. Intentional use of automated data methods to avoid idle timeouts on dial-up accounts or "unlimited usage" plans is prohibited and grounds for account termination at Sunnynet's sole discretion. This includes the use of automatic redialers to reinstate an idle connection. Sunnynet account using automated data to hold third party demand dial connections open will be terminated and affected third party may be informed of the source of the automated data. Go to Top!

Misuse of Subscriber Account

Internet access accounts cannot be transferred or used by anyone other than the subscriber in who's name the account has been established. members of the subscriber's immediate family. Account sharing, including sharing with immediate family members, is strictly prohibited. No more than one login session can be active at a time by a subscriber. Accounts which have been transferred to other parties, or which show other activity in violation of this condition, may be terminated without notice and the account holder may incur additional fees any secondary, unauthorized use that has occurred involving their account. Go to Top!

Service, Network and System Interference

Subscribers may not attempt to interfere with or compromise the operation of the Sunnynet network in whole or part, to interfere with any of the equipment comprising the system, or to access other accounts or restricted areas of the system. Subscribers may not use Sunnynet's systems in a manner that adversely affects the availability of its resources to other Sunnynet customers. Go to Top!

Facility Usage

Subscribers may only use those Sunnynet service online and computing facilities and service areas which have been authorized for subscriber use. If access is protected by a password, subscribers are not to make this password available to others or use the password(s) of others to gain access to such areas. Subscribers may not attempt to find out the password of another user, nor aid such attempt by any other person.

Subscribers use of Sunnynet's internet service represents consent and agreement with all articles, rules and stipulations provided in the on-line Acceptable Use Policy document available from Sunnynet's main web page, http://www.sunny-net.ne.jp/ . Use of Sunnynet internet service without having read, understood and agreeded to Sunnynet's AUP represents unauthorized use.

Subscribers may use Sunnynet service online and computing facilities and service areas only for authorized purposes.

Subscribers may not attempt to interfere with the proper or intended operation of any computing facility.

Subscribers may not attempt to subvert -- or aid others to subvert -- the security of any computing facility.

Subscribers may not interfere with use by any other authorized user, nor compromise the confidentiality of Sunnynet's or any other party's internal business practices or records.

Any attempts, whether successful or not, to gain access to any computer system or customer's data without consent is prohibited. Successful intrusions into other computer systems may be reported to the affected parties. Go to Top!

Privacy

It may be necessary for Sunnynet employees or representatives to examine system operational and accounting logs and other records to resolve service-related problems. Sunnynet reserves the right to access an account's mailbox or other features to resolve problems or mail system errors.

In addition, Sunnynet will cooperate with the appropriate legal authorities or other parties 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.

Sunnynet makes no guarantee and assumes no liability for the security of any data on any server including those designated as "secure servers." While Sunnynet take precautions to protect customer account information, not guarantee is made concerning the accessability and availability of Sunnynet customer information, even with respect to the account holder.

No computer system can be completely protected or should be considered 100% safe from intrusion. E-mail and other data transmissions over the Internet may pass through many computer systems, and should not be considered a secure means of communication, even if encryption is used.

Sunnynet does not generally monitor the activity of accounts except to measure system utilization and accumulate billing records. However, in our efforts to protect the integrity of our service and fulfill any responsibility we have as good citizens within the Internet community, if we become aware of inappropriate use of the Sunnynet service we may respond accordingly. Go to Top!

Censorship

Sunnynet does not intend to censor the web content or newsgroups; however, current laws prevent Sunnynet from hosting certain types of content. Content limitations are not something that Sunnynet arbitrarily places upon users; rather, content restrictions are a direct result of what is legally permissable. We believe such choices should generally be left to the individual subscriber; however, Sunnynet reserves the right to refuse to host any content legal, sensitive, offensive or otherwise. Software tools, such as SurfWatch, are available to screen a subscriber account's access to newsgroups and Web sites that might be considered offensive. It is the subscriber's responsibility to make use of such tools if desired. Sunnynet hosted content will be subject to review and approval to insure compliance with existing legal requirements.

Newsgroup postings and other e-mail messages sent via Sunnynet and the Internet are communications between the senders and consenting receivers thereof, and Sunnynet has neither the authority nor the responsibility to regulate their content. The views and comments expressed by Sunnynet subscribers or other senders of such postings or messages are solely those of their authors and do not reflect any review, approval or endorsement by Sunnynet. Sunnynet will, however, attempt to assist subscribers who continually receive e-mail they deem to be objectionable and/or unsolicited e-mail and who notify Sunnynet of the problem. Go to Top!

Illegal Activity

Internet access and all other services provided to Sunnynet subscribers may be used for lawful purposes only, and use by a subscriber of the Sunnynet service for the transmission or storage of any information, data, or material in violation of any federal or state regulation or law (including, but not limited to, material protected by copyright, trade secrets, and information that is confidential as a matter of law) is strictly prohibited. The subscriber may not use the Sunnynet service to transmit or store any information, data, or material that is threatening, libelous, or obscene. Go to Top!

Copyright Infringement

It is assumed that, unless otherwise specified by the sender, all data distributed on the Web by the sender is intended to remain the intellectual property of the sender or the party who furnished such data to the sender, and each subscriber transmitting any such data (or making it available for download or other transmissions) is assumed to warrant that he or she has full ownership rights or appropriate licenses to the reports, documents, photographs, graphic images, audio files, video files and other data placed on the subscriber's personal web pages or otherwise transmitted. Sunnynet subscribers are solely responsible for any actions which may be necessary to protect ownership rights in such data. Subscribers acknowledge that Sunnynet has no control over the individuals using the Internet and that Sunnynet expressly does not warrant that any individuals might not make copies of or otherwise infringe upon the subscriber's information as distributed on the Web.

Subscribers should be aware of the law of copyright as it affects computer software and other information or materials available or accessible on the Internet. A formal copyright need not be in evidence for legal copyright protection to be in force.

As a general rule, the subscriber is the copyright owner of any file which that subscriber solely creates for his or her own exclusive use. Any other file is copyright either by its creator, by commercial vendors, or by other individual users, and it is generally illegal for the subscriber to reproduce such file in any part or in any form, except by permission of the copyright owner.

Ownership of any software developed or modified by Sunnynet and all graphics, text or other information or content materials supplied or furnished by Sunnynet as part of the Sunnynet service or for incorporation into a subscriber's personal Web page in connection with the service shall remain with Sunnynet (or the party which supplied such materials to Sunnynet).

Removing or falsifying the source or origin of software or other material contained in a file that a subscriber has uploaded is prohibited.

Knowingly receiving or downloading a file that cannot be legally distributed is prohibited, even though a file may have been mailed or posted notwithstanding such illegality.

Now is probably the right time to mention that this Acceptable Use Policy is copyright Sunny-Net, 1998. Go to Top!