Matrix East may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrongdoing. Your violation of this Terms Of Use may result in the suspension or immediate termination of your Matrix East account or contract WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.

Matrix East stresses the following points:

• Ensure reliable service to our customers
• Ensure security and privacy of our systems and network, as well as the networks and systems of others
• Comply with existing laws
• Maintain our reputation as a responsible service provider
• Encourage responsible use of the Internet and discourage activities which reduce the usability and value of Internet services
• Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression and exchange of information
• Preserve the privacy and security of individual users

Unacceptable activities:

• Spamming (sending unsolicited e-mail to those with which the customer has no existing relationship). We have a ZERO TOLERANCE spam policy.
• Sending bulk e-mail from a shared webserver.
• Relaying bulk e-mail through the Matrix East mail servers
• Hosting of spam resources. These include and are not limited to; literature promoting spamming, tools or resources for spamming, linking to spamming resources.
• Posting off-topic advertising in newsgroups/Usenet
• Spoofing (using a return e-mail address which is not the valid reply address of the sender or sending an e-mail message which does not contain enough information to enable the recipient to identify the party who is really sending the message)
• Passive spamming Matrix East by spamming from some other source
• Trolling (posting controversial messages in newsgroups to generate responses)
• Mail bombing (inundating a user with e-mail without any serious intent to correspond)
• Subscribing someone else to an electronic mailing list without that person's permission.
• Distribution of mass e-mailing programs is also prohibited. All recipients on a mailing list must have personally subscribed through a 'confirmed opt-in process^*'.
  • Mailing lists may not be used to distribute unsolicited e-mail.
  • Any customer repeatedly "mail bombed" or that attracts such behavior will be asked to leave.

A message is considered unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a newsgroup charter or sent to a recipient who has not requested the message. Making an e-mail address available to the public does not constitute a request to receive messages.

When Matrix East becomes aware of an alleged violation of its Terms Of Use, Matrix East will initiate an investigation (within 24-48 hours). During the investigation Matrix East may restrict Customer's access in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity. If the Customer is found in violation of our SPAM policy or Terms Of Use, Matrix East Inc. may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend, or terminate Customer's account and/or pursue other civil remedies. Also, Matrix East reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. If such violation is a criminal offense, Matrix East will notify the appropriate law enforcement department of such violation.

Matrix East does not issue service credits for any outages incurred through service disablement resulting from Policy violations, or outages incurred during investigations of possible violations.

The Customer shall be held liable for any and all costs incurred by Matrix East as a result of the customer's violation of these terms and conditions. This is including, but is not limited to, attorney fees and costs resulting from Postmaster responses to complaints from and the cleanup of unsolicited mailings and/or unauthorized bulk mailings and/or news server violations. First violations will result in a Cleanup Fee of $100 per complaint and the customers account will be reviewed for possible immediate termination.

A second violation will result in Cleanup Fee of $200 per complaint and immediate termination of the customers account.

A 'Complaint' can be defined as follows:

• An e-mail complaint sent directly to Matrix East.
• An e-mail complaint sent directly to an upstream provider or carrier
• A 'SpamCop' listing
• A SPEWS listing
• An SBL listing
• An OpenRBL listing
• A listing on any e-mail 'block list ' which may result in the interruption of service to the Matrix East network

The following constitute violations of this Terms Of Use:

Illegal use:

Matrix East's services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. Matrix East reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.

Spamming or sending unsolicited E-mail:

See "Unsolicited E-mail / SPAM" above.

Harm to minors:

Use of the Matrix East's services to harm, or attempt to harm, minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography. Violations of the Child Protection Act may be reported to the U.S. Customs Agency at 1-800-BEALERT

Threats:

Use of the Matrix East's services for transmitting any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property.

Harassment:

Use of the Matrix East's services to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that harasses another.

Fraudulent activity:

Use of Matrix East service to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type of financial scam such as "pyramid schemes," "ponzi schemes," and "chain letters."

Hacking/Cracking:

Matrix East reserves the right to report illegal activities to any and all regulatory, administrative, and/or governmental authorities for prosecution. The following examples of unacceptable behavior are non-exclusive, and are provided for guidance purposes. If you are unsure if your actions will be a violation of our policies please contact abuse@Matrix East.

Server broadcast messages or any message sent on an intrusive basis to any directly or indirectly attached network. Attempt to circumvent any user authentication or security of host, network, or account. Accessing data not intended for user. Probing the security of any network. Spawning dozens of processes. Port scans, ping floods, packet spoofing, webbots, forging router information, Denial of Service attacks, sniffers, flooding, spoofing, ping bombing, smurfs, winnuke, land, teardrop. Promulgation of viruses. IRC bots such as eggdrop or BitchX. Any activity, whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data, will be investigated and proper action taken. The presence of any of these programs, whether or not run, will result in action against the user including suspension or termination.

Copyright or trademark infringement:
Use of the Matrix East service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software.

Copyright Infringement - Software Piracy Policy
The Matrix East network may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights.
Making unauthorized copies of software is a violation of the law, no matter how many copies you are making. If you copy, distribute or install the software in ways that the license does not allow, you are violating federal copyright law. If caught with pirated software, you or your company may be liable under both civil and criminal law, and you may be fined up to $250,000 and/or receive up to 5 years in jail.

Network disruptions and unfriendly activity:
Use of the Matrix East service for any activity which affects the ability of other people or systems to use Matrix East Services or the Internet. This includes "denial of service" (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with or disruption of other network users, services or equipment is prohibited. It is the Member's responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Subscriber may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A Subscriber may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner. Unauthorized entry and/or use of another company and/or individual's computer system will result in immediate account termination. Matrix East will not tolerate any subscriber attempting to access the accounts of others, or penetrate security measures of other systems, whether or not the intrusion results in corruption or loss of data.

Fraud:
Involves a knowing misrepresentation or misleading statement, writing or activity made with the intent that the person receiving it will act upon it.

Infringement of Copyright, Patent, or Trademark:
Distribution and/or posting of copyrighted or the aforementioned infringements will not be tolerated.

Distribution of Viruses:
Intentional distributions of software that attempts to and/or causes damage, harassment, or annoyance to persons, data, and/or computer systems are prohibited. Such an offense will result in the immediate termination of the offending account / contract.

Inappropriate Use of Software:
Use of software or any device that would facilitate a continued connection, i.e. pinging, while using Matrix East's services could result in a suspension service.

Third Party Accountability:
Matrix East subscribers will be held responsible and accountable for any activity by third parties, using their systems / services that violate guidelines created within the Terms Of Use.

Security
You are responsible for any misuse of services provided to you, even if a friend, family member, guest or employee committed the inappropriate activity. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your services. In addition, you may not use services provided to you in order to breach security of another system/network.

Terms Of Use Amendments and Changes
Matrix East reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this Terms Of Use, our TOS (Terms of Service) and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with our TOS (Terms of Service).

Limitation of Liability
Matrix East shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental and consequential damages, which may arise from Matrix East's servers or network going off-line or being unavailable for any reason whatsoever. Further, Matrix East shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental or consequential damages due to the failure of client systems. All damages shall be limited to the immediate termination of service. Matrix East shall be the sole arbiter of what is and is not a violation of these acceptable use policies. Matrix East reserves the right to terminate an account at any time and for any reason that causes harm to any Matrix East or its customers. Matrix East reserves the right to withhold any pre-paid funds for any systems or services removed for violations of these policies. Matrix East reserves the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at our sole discretion. Matrix East reserves the right to change the Terms Of Use without prior notice or warning. Non-enforcement of any part of the Terms Of Use does not constitute consent.