Effective April 1, 1999

I. System and Network Security

1. You may not tamper with other accounts, or commit unauthorized intrusion into any part of our system, or use any of our machines, files, accounts, networks to intrude without authorization into any other system.
2. You may not use any of our services not included in your account, or devise ways to circumvent security in order to access services you are not paying for. This clause includes, but is not limited to, the scanning of our network or other networks with intent to breach and/or evaluate security.
3. You may not use the system in a manner that encumbers disk space, processors or other system resources beyond those allowed by the specific type of account. You may not make deliberate attempts to interfere with a service, overload a service or attempt to disable a host.
4. We will react strongly to the use or attempted use of Internet services or systems without the owner's authorization. This clause includes, but is not limited to, password cracking, defrauding others into releasing their passwords, denial-of-service attacks (sending packets with an illegal packet size, UDP flooding, ping-flooding, half-open TCP connection flooding, etc.). Additionally, you may not use programs, scripts, and commands nor send messages with the intent to interfere with a user's terminal session.

1. You may not send unsolicited e-mail to any account that has not specifically requested such unsolicited information or that causes complaints from the recipients of such unsolicited e-mail. Our services should not be used to send unsolicited advertising messages to other network users. You may not flood/spam newsgroups with commercial or non-commercial postings.
2. You may not continue to send commercial e-mail to a recipient if recipient has requested that you discontinue such communication.
3. We prohibit the transmission of e-mail that is harassing, libelous, defamatory, legally obscene or pornographic, threatening, abusive or hateful to non-consenting recipients.
4. The forwarding or propagation of chain letters of any type (including charity requests or petitions for signatures) is impermissible.
5. "Mailbombing" (i.e. flooding a user or site with large or numerous e-mail messages) is strictly prohibited.
6. You may not forge header information.
7. We prohibit the use of your account, or network connection, to collect replies of messages sent from any another provider that violates the rules of this Policy or those of the originating provider.
8. The rules and regulations contained within this Policy apply to other means of Internet-based transmissions, including, but not limited to Internet fax or Internet phones.

1. We may provide you with uncensored newsfeed. We do not control newsgroup content nor are we responsible for postings by our customers.
2. It is the responsibility of posters to determine a newsgroup's etiquette. Therefore, if you submit content to newsgroups you must refrain from posting advertisements or other messages that are not expressly permitted by a newsgroup's charter or FAQs. Posters are expected to submit messages relevant to the newsgroup's topic and agree not to submit the same message to large numbers of forums or newsgroups.
3. You are prohibited from forging header information and from posting chain letters of any type.
4. You may only post binary files to newsgroups designed for that purpose.
5. You may not cancel nor supersede a posting of a message other than your own unless you serve as newsgroup moderators in the performance of your online responsibilities.
6. We prohibit the use of your account, or network connection, to collect replies of messages sent from another provider that violates the rules of this Policy or those of the originating provider.

1. We do not maintain an IRC server, however, you may use your Internet connection to access the server of another provider. In such a case, you are obligated to abide by the rules set forth by that provider as well as follow proper IRC etiquette.

1. Internet connections and all other services provided to you by us may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission or storage of any information, data or material in violation of any U.S. Federal or state regulation or law is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trade secret or any other statute, threatening material or obscene material. We reserve the right to remove any and all materials that infringe on copyright work. Such materials may be removed at any time upon receiving a complaint and/or notice of alleged copyright infringement.
2. Certain Internet services may contain language, pictures or other content which some individuals may find offensive, inflammatory, or of an adult nature. We do not endorse such materials and disclaim any and all liability for such content. Access to such materials is at your own risk.
3. Use of any information obtained via our service is at your own risk. We specifically deny any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through our services.
4. Use of other organizations' networks or computing resources is subject to their respective permission and usage policies.
5. You agree not to resell our products without prior written consent from us.
6. You will be held responsible for keeping all billing data for us accurate and up to date. False data supplied for the contract between you and us will be grounds for account termination.
7. We exercise no control whatsoever over the content of the information passing through our services.
8. You agree to defend, hold harmless, and expeditiously indemnify us from any and all liability, claim, loss, damage or expense arising out of your breach or violation of any covenant contained in this Policy, or resulting from the your use of the service.
9. You agree to waive and hold us harmless from any claims relating to any action taken by us as part of an investigation into a suspected violation of this Policy or as a result of its conclusion that a violation of this Policy has occurred. Therefore, you cannot sue or recover any damages whatsoever from us as a result of the decision to remove material from our server, or to suspend or terminate your account.

1. When we become aware of an alleged violation of our Acceptable Use Policy, we will initiate an investigation. During the investigation we may restrict your access in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity. Depending on the severity of the violation, we may, at our sole discretion, restrict, suspend, or terminate your account and/or pursue other civil remedies. If such violation is a criminal offense, we will notify the appropriate law enforcement department of such violation.

1. If we become aware of material that could be infringing on a third party's copyright, posted by you, we will initiate an investigation. If we receive from a Complainant a claim with the applicable copyright or trademark registration number; a copy of the underlying copyrighted work along with the your materials; and, a good faith certification, signed under penalty of perjury, that the work is the property of the Complainant, that the work has been copied and that use of the work is not defensible, we, in our discretion, may, at any time, deny access to your challenged material.
2. We will notify you of the copyright infringement allegation and will allow you to respond to the allegation(s).
3. We shall have no liability, directly or indirectly, to Complainants or third parties for your infringing copyrighted materials. You shall reimburse us for all expenses associated with processing valid infringement allegations and defending any and all legal claims associated therewith.

1. Anyone wishing to report any violations of CNC Internet's policies may contact us via e-mail:

info@carolinas.net

Carolinas Network Company
P.O. Box 6001
Charlotte, North Carolina 28207.

Telephone (704) 672-1600 Fax (704) 672-1629.