>Read your ISP agreement folks. I've NEVER seen one where an ISP could not
>recover damages from a user who violates their TOS policies and causes them
>to be harmed (sued would be harmed).
>
>Since ISPs ae not immune to defamation lawsuits in Illinois at present, they
>will be the ones sued (after being warned to cease and desist). If they
>lose a suit and it gives them the right to sue a user to recover the costs
>of their malfeasance, well, don't say you didn't know about it.
>
>Ask a lawyer, of course, because I am not one, and make sure to read the
>fine print in your TOS agreement.
From Comcast:
Comcast High-Speed Internet Acceptable Use PolicyImportant Note:
Comcast may revise this Acceptable Use Policy (the "Policy") from time
to time without notice by posting a new version of this document on
the Comcast Web site at
http://www.comcast.net (or any successor
URL(s)). All revised copies of the Policy are effective immediately
upon posting. Accordingly, customers and users of the Comcast
High-Speed Internet Service should regularly visit our web site and
review this Policy to ensure that their activities conform to the most
recent version. In the event of a conflict between any subscriber or
customer agreement and this Policy, the terms of this Policy will
govern. Questions regarding this Policy and complaints of violations
of it by Comcast customers and users can be directed to
http://www.comcast.net/help/contact/.
It is Comcast's intent to provide our customers with the best cable
Internet service possible. In order to accomplish this task, we have
adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (the "AUP" or "Policy"). This
Policy outlines acceptable use of the Comcast High-Speed Internet
service (the "Service"), as well as permissible and prohibited conduct
for using the Service to access the Internet. This Policy, including
its customer use restrictions, is in addition to the restrictions
contained in the Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement (the
"Subscriber Agreement"). All capitalized terms used in this AUP that
are not defined here have the meanings given to them in the Subscriber
Agreement.
It is the responsibility of all Comcast High-Speed Internet customers
and all others who have access to Comcast's network ("customer,"
"you," or "your"), to comply with this AUP and all Comcast policies.
As a Service customer, it is your responsibility to secure your
computer equipment so that it is not subject to external threats such
as viruses, spam, and other methods of intrusion. Failure to comply
with these or any other Comcast policies could result in the
suspension or termination of your Service. If you do not agree to
comply with all of these policies including the AUP, you must
immediately stop use of the Service and notify Comcast so that your
account may be closed.
Note: Comcast reserves the right to immediately terminate the Service
and the Subscriber Agreement if you engage in any of the prohibited
activities listed in this AUP or if you use the Comcast Equipment or
Service in a way which is contrary to any Comcast policies or any of
Comcast's suppliers' policies. You must strictly adhere to any policy
set forth by another service provider accessed through the Service.
Prohibited Uses and Activities
Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, using the Service,
Customer Equipment, or the Comcast Equipment to:
undertake or accomplish any unlawful purpose. This includes, but is
not limited to, posting, storing, transmitting or disseminating
information, data or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful,
threatening, defamatory, or which infringes the intellectual property
rights of any person or entity, or which in any way constitutes or
encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise
to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, federal or
international law, order or regulation;
post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or
material which a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable,
offensive, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening,
embarrassing, distressing, vulgar, hateful, racially or ethnically
offensive, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether this
material or its dissemination is unlawful;
access any other person's computer or computer system, software, or
data without their knowledge and consent; breach the security of
another user; or attempt to circumvent the user authentication or
security of any host, network, or account. This includes, but is not
limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or
making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to
access, or probing the security of other hosts, networks, or accounts;
use or distribute tools designed or used for compromising security,
such as password guessing programs, decoders, password gatherers,
unauthorized keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, packet
sniffers, encryption circumvention devices, or Trojan Horse programs.
Network probing or port scanning tools are only permitted when used in
conjunction with a residential home network, or if explicitly
authorized by the destination host and/or network. Unauthorized port
scanning, for any reason, is strictly prohibited;
upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, create derivative works
of, or distribute in any way information, software or other material
obtained through the Service or otherwise that is protected by
copyright or other proprietary right, without obtaining permission of
the owner;
copy, distribute, or sublicense any software provided in connection
with the Service by Comcast or any third party, except that you may
make one copy of each software program for back-up purposes only;
restrict, inhibit, or otherwise interfere with the ability of any
other person, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge, to use or
enjoy the Service, including, without limitation, posting or
transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus,
or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient
to impede others' ability to send or retrieve information;
restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or otherwise disrupt or cause a
performance degradation, regardless of intent, purpose or knowledge,
to the Service or any Comcast (or Comcast supplier) host, server,
backbone network, node or service, or otherwise cause a performance
degradation to any Comcast (or Comcast supplier) facilities used to
deliver the Service;
resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside the
Premises the ability to use the Service (i.e. wi-fi, or other methods
of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, or on a
bundled or unbundled basis. The Service is for personal and
non-commercial use only and you agree not to use the Service for
operation as an Internet service provider or for any business
enterprise or purpose, or as an end-point on a non-Comcast local area
network or wide area network;
connect multiple computers behind the cable modem to set up a LAN
(Local Area Network) that in any manner would result in a violation of
the terms of this Policy or an applicable Service plan;
transmit unsolicited bulk or commercial messages or "spam." This
includes, but is not limited to, unsolicited advertising, promotional
materials or other solicitation material, bulk mailing of commercial
advertising, chain mail, informational announcements, charity
requests, and petitions for signatures;
send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages,
empty messages, or messages which contain no substantive content, or
send very large messages or files to a recipient that disrupts a
server, account, newsgroup, or chat service;
distribute programs that remove locks or time-outs built into software
(cracks);
run programs, equipment, or servers from the Premises that provide
network content or any other services to anyone outside of your
Premises LAN (Local Area Network), also commonly referred to as public
services or servers. Examples of prohibited services and servers
include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing,
and proxy services and servers;
initiate, perpetuate, or in any way participate in any pyramid or
other illegal soliciting scheme;
participate in the collection of e-mail addresses, screen names, or
other identifiers of others (without their prior consent), a practice
sometimes known as spidering or harvesting, or participate in the use
of software (including "spyware") designed to facilitate this
activity;
collect responses from unsolicited messages;
impersonate any person or entity, engage in sender address
falsification, forge anyone else's digital or manual signature, or
perform any other similar fraudulent activity;
service, alter, modify, or tamper with the Comcast Equipment or
Service or permit any other person to do the same who is not
authorized by Comcast;
connect the Comcast Equipment to any computer outside of your
Premises;
collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third
parties without their consent;
interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to
any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of
service attacks, flooding of a network, overloading a service,
improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges and attempts to
"crash" a host; and
violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network,
server, computer database, or Web site that you access.
Security
You are responsible for any misuse of the Service, even if the misuse
was committed by a friend, family member, or guest with access to your
Service account. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others
do not use your account to gain unauthorized access to the Service by,
for example, strictly maintaining the confidentiality of your Service
login and password. In all cases, you are solely responsible for the
security of any device you choose to connect to the Service, including
any data stored or shared on that device. Comcast recommends against
enabling file or printer sharing unless you do so in strict compliance
with all security recommendations and features provided by Comcast and
the manufacturer of the applicable file or printer sharing devices.
Any files or devices you choose to make available for shared access on
a home LAN, for example, should be protected with a strong password or
as otherwise appropriate.
Inappropriate Content and Transmissions
Comcast reserves the right, but not the obligation, to refuse to
transmit or post and to remove or block any 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
this material or its dissemination is unlawful. Neither Comcast nor
any of its affiliates, suppliers, or agents have any obligation to
monitor transmissions or postings (including, but not limited to,
e-mail, newsgroup, and instant message transmissions as well as
materials available on the Personal Web Pages and Online Storage
features) made on the Service. However, Comcast and its affiliates,
suppliers, and agents have the right to monitor these transmissions
and postings from time to time for violations of this Policy and to
disclose, block, or remove them in accordance with the Subscriber
Agreement and any other applicable agreements and policies.
Electronic Mail
The Service may not be used to send unsolicited bulk or commercial
messages and may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited
e-mail sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or e-mail services
that violate this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other
Internet service provider. Moreover, unsolicited e-mail may not direct
the recipient to any Web site or other resource that uses the Service.
Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial
e-mail or unsolicited bulk e-mail, whether or not the e-mail is
commercial in nature, are prohibited. Forging, altering, or removing
electronic mail headers is prohibited. You may not reference Comcast
or the Comcast network (e.g. by including "Organization: Comcast" in
the header or by using an IP address that belongs to Comcast or the
Comcast network) in any unsolicited e-mail even if that e-mail is not
sent through the Comcast network or Service.
Comcast is not responsible for deleting or forwarding any e-mail sent
to the wrong e-mail address by you or by someone else trying to send
e-mail to you. Comcast is also not responsible for forwarding e-mail
sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. This e-mail
will be returned to the sender, ignored, deleted, or stored
temporarily at Comcast's sole discretion. In the event that Comcast
believes in its sole discretion that any subscriber name, account
name, or e-mail address (collectively, an "identifier") on the Service
may be used for, or is being used for, any misleading, fraudulent, or
other improper or illegal purpose, Comcast (i) reserves the right to
block access to and prevent the use of any such identifier and (ii)
may at any time require any customer to change his or her identifier.
In addition, Comcast may at any time reserve any identifiers on the
Service for Comcast's own purposes.
Newsgroups
Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or
FAQs for those newsgroups as well as any other terms and conditions
applicable to any particular newsgroups or provider of newsgroups.
Advertisements, solicitations, or other commercial messages should be
posted only in those newsgroups whose charters or FAQs explicitly
permit them. You are responsible for determining the policies of a
given newsgroup before posting to it. Comcast reserves the right to
discontinue access to any newsgroup at any time for any reason.
Comcast permits users of the Service to download a maximum of two
gigabytes (2GB) of newsgroup content in any one month, unless users
are subject to a Service plan that permits downloading more newsgroup
content.
Instant Messages and Video Messages
Users alone are responsible for the contents of their instant messages
and video messages and the consequences of any such messages. Comcast
assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, mis-delivery, deletion
or failure to store instant messages or video messages.
Personal Web Page and File Storage
As part of the Service, Comcast provides you with access to personal
Web pages and storage space through the Personal Web Pages and Online
Storage features (collectively, the "Personal Web Features"). You are
solely responsible for any information that you or others publish or
store on the Personal Web Features. You must ensure that the intended
recipient of any content made available through the Personal Web
Features is appropriate. For example, you must take appropriate
precautions to prevent minors from receiving or accessing
inappropriate content. Comcast reserves the right to remove, block, or
refuse to post or store any 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 this
material or its dissemination is unlawful. This includes, but is not
limited to: obscene material; defamatory, fraudulent or deceptive
statements; threatening, intimidating or harassing statements, or
material that violates the privacy rights or property rights of others
(copyrights or trademarks, for example). For purposes of this Policy,
"material" refers to all forms of communications including narrative
descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images,
drawings, logos), executable programs and scripts, video recordings,
and audio recordings. Comcast may remove or block content contained on
your Personal Web Features and terminate your Personal Web Features
and/or your use of the Service if we determine that you have violated
the terms of this Policy.
Network, Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations
Comcast may provide versions of the Service with different speeds and
bandwidth usage limitations, among other characteristics, subject to
applicable Service plans. You shall ensure that your use of the
Service does not restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade any
other user's use of the Service, nor represent (in the sole judgment
of Comcast) an overly large burden on the network. In addition, you
shall ensure that your use of the Service does not restrict, inhibit,
interfere with, disrupt, degrade, or impede Comcast's ability to
deliver and provide the Service and monitor the Service, backbone,
network nodes, and/or other network services.
You further agree to comply with all Comcast network, bandwidth, and
data storage and usage limitations. You shall ensure that your
bandwidth consumption using the Service does not exceed the
limitations that are now in effect or may be established in the
future. If your use of the Service results in the consumption of
bandwidth in excess of the applicable limitations, that is a violation
of this Policy. In such cases, Comcast may, in its sole discretion,
terminate or suspend your Service account or request that you
subscribe to a version of the Service with higher bandwidth usage
limitations if you wish to continue to use the Service at higher
bandwidth consumption levels.
In addition, you may only access and use the Service with a dynamic
Internet Protocol ("IP") address that adheres to the dynamic host
configuration protocol ("DHCP"). You may not configure the Service or
any related equipment to access or use a static IP address or use any
protocol other than DHCP unless you are subject to a Service plan that
expressly permits otherwise.
Copyright Infringement
Comcast is committed to complying with U.S. copyright and related
laws, and requires all customers and users of the Service to comply
with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any material or
content on, or disseminate any material or content over, the Service
(or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an
infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including
rights granted by U.S. copyright law. Owners of copyrighted works who
believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed
may take advantage of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act of 1998 (the "DMCA") to report alleged infringements. It
is Comcast's policy in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable
laws to reserve the right to terminate the Service provided to any
customer or user who is either found to infringe third party copyright
or other intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers, or
who Comcast believes in its sole discretion is infringing these
rights. Comcast may terminate the Service at any time with or without
notice for any affected customer or user.
Copyright owners may report alleged infringements of their works that
are stored on the Service or the Personal Web Features by sending
Comcast's authorized agent a notification of claimed infringement that
satisfies the requirements of the DMCA. Upon Comcast's receipt of a
satisfactory notice of claimed infringement for these works, Comcast
will respond expeditiously to either directly or indirectly (i) remove
the allegedly infringing work(s) stored on the Service or the Personal
Web Features or (ii) disable access to the work(s). Comcast will also
notify the affected customer or user of the Service of the removal or
disabling of access to the work(s). If the affected customer or user
believes in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been
removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then that person
may send a counter notification to Comcast. Upon Comcast's receipt of
a counter notification that satisfies the requirements of DMCA,
Comcast will provide a copy of the counter notification to the person
who sent the original notification of claimed infringement and will
follow the DMCA's procedures with respect to a received counter
notification. In all events, you expressly agree that Comcast will not
be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright
infringement.
Copyright owners may send Comcast a notification of claimed
infringement to report alleged infringements of their works to:
G. Lipscomb and C. Padgett
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
650 Centerton Road
Moorestown, NJ 08057 U.S.A.
Phone: (856) 317-7272
Fax: (856) 317-7319
E-mail: dmca@
comcast.net
Copyright owners may view and print a notification of claimed
infringement form in HTML format. Complete the form and return it to
Comcast. Comcast doesn't require that you use this form, and copyright
owners may use their own notification of claimed infringement form
that satisfies the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S.
Copyright Act. Under the DMCA anyone who knowingly makes
misrepresentations regarding alleged copyright infringement may be
liable to Comcast, the alleged infringer, and the affected copyright
owner for any damages incurred in connection with the removal,
blocking, or replacement of allegedly infringing material.
If a notification of claimed infringement has been filed against you,
you can file a counter notification with Comcast's designated agent
using the contact information shown above. All counter notifications
must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S.
Copyright Act.
Violation of Acceptable Use Policy
Comcast does not routinely monitor the activity of Service accounts
for violation of this AUP. However, in our efforts to promote good
citizenship within the Internet community, we will respond
appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of our Service.
Although Comcast has no obligation to monitor the Service and/or the
network, Comcast and its suppliers reserve the right at any time to
monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions, and content from time to time
to operate the Service; to identify violations of this Policy; and/or
to protect the network, the Service and Comcast users.
Comcast prefers to advise customers of inappropriate behavior and any
necessary corrective action. However, if the Service is used in a way
that Comcast or its suppliers, in their sole discretion, believe
violate this AUP, Comcast or its suppliers may take any responsive
actions they deem appropriate. These actions include, but are not
limited to, temporary or permanent removal of content, cancellation of
newsgroup posts, filtering of Internet transmissions, and the
immediate suspension or termination of all or any portion of the
Service. Neither Comcast nor its affiliates, suppliers, or agents will
have any liability for any these responsive actions. These actions are
not Comcast's exclusive remedies and Comcast may take any other legal
or technical action it deems appropriate.
Comcast reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this
AUP, including the gathering of information from the user or users
involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of
material on Comcast's servers and network. During an investigation,
Comcast may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove or
block material that potentially violates this Policy. You expressly
authorize Comcast and its suppliers to cooperate with (i) law
enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected legal
violations, and (ii) and system administrators at other Internet
service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to
enforce this Policy. This cooperation may include Comcast providing
available personally identifiable information about you to law
enforcement or system administrators, including, but not limited to,
username, subscriber name, and other account information. Upon
termination of your account, Comcast is authorized to delete any
files, programs, data and e-mail messages associated with your
account.
The failure of Comcast or its suppliers to enforce this AUP, for
whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do
so at any time. You agree that if any portion of this Policy is held
invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent
with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions
will remain in full force and effect.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Comcast and its
affiliates, suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses
(including reasonable attorney fees) resulting from you engaging in
any of the prohibited activities listed in this AUP or resulting from
your violation of the AUP or of any other posted Comcast policy
related to the Service. Your indemnification will survive any
termination of the Subscriber Agreement.
Revised and effective: January 2006
Thom E. Geiger, Domain Name Owner
ChewOnThis.Org
(the Official GRP NewsLoon tracking website)
Ray-Gordon.com
Ray-Gordon.net
Newsloon.com
Don't buy anything from any business trying to use SLAPP lawsuits to
stop criticism of the company, owners, officers or products.
Guido Gump Parker blames a baseball bat death threat on his own mother, Penny "Skull Crusher" Parker:
