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• Home Page
• IT Services
  • Antivirus / Spam
  • Consulting
  • Custom PC's
  • Data Recovery
  • Data Backup
  • Databases
  • Executive Training
  • IT Asset Mgmt
  • Microsoft Tech
  • Networks
  • Not for Profit
  • Security
  • Staffing Solutions
  • Upgrades/Repairs
• Web Services
  • Design Services
  • Hosting
  • Photo Gallery
  • Template Gallery
  • Website Packages
• Online Deals
  • Computers / HW
  • Office Supplies
  • Software
• Company
  • Bus Opportunities
  • Careers at SKC
  • Our Rates
  • Press Releases
  • SKC Blogs
  • Strategic Partners
  • Support Forums
• Contact

SKC Acceptable Use Policy

SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") is designed to provide a clear understanding of regulations and restrictions regarding the user of SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s services.

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to modify the Acceptable Use Policy from time to time, effective on the date of posting. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may not notify the customer of the change, however, it is the customers responsibility to frequently check back to ensure they are up to date with the policy.

By using our services, and agreeing to the Terms of Service ("TOS"), you agree to abide by the AUPs as modified from time to time. Any violation of the AUP may result in the suspension or termination of your service without notice and without refund. An activity that is unlisted may also be a violation of the AUP if it is illegal, irresponsible, or disruptive to the use of the Internet.

THE VIOLATION OF ANY AUP OR ANY OTHER POLICY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND MAY RESULT IN THE IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION FROM THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY SKC COMPUTER CONSULTING INC.. YOU SHALL REMAIN SOLELY LIABLE AND RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND ANY AND ALL CONTENT THAT YOU DISPLAY, UPLOAD, DOWNLOAD OR TRANSMIT THROUGH THE USE OF SKC COMPUTER CONSULTING INC.'S SERVERS. "CONTENT" INCLUDES, BUT NOT LIMITED TO; E-MAIL, WEB PAGES, PERSONAL HOME PAGES, AND DOMAIN NAMES. IT IS SKC COMPUTER CONSULTING INC.'S POLICY TO TERMINATE REPEAT OFFENDERS; SKC COMPUTER CONSULTING INC. RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT REASON.

System and Network Security

Violations of system or network security are strictly prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve and will co-operate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. The following are some examples of network or system violations:

High-risk services, which are services which tend to attract denial of service attacks, are strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, torrents and IRC related services.

Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks

Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an e-mail or newsgroup posting.

Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without express authorization of the owner of the system or network.

Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network.

If your account, or a subaccount (resold), is responsible for an AUP violation by an upstream provider, a onetime fee of $24.95 will be charged to your account for cleanup and reactivation. If your account is responsible for a second AUP violation by an upstream provider for the same issue your account is subject to termination.

Violators of the policy are responsible, without limitations, for the cost of labor to clean up and correct any damage done to the operation of the network and business operations supported by the network, and to respond to complaints incurred by SKC Computer Consulting Inc. Such labor is categorized as emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $150 per hour.

Password Protection

The customer is responsible for protecting customer's password and for any authorized or unauthorized use made of customer's password. The customer will not use or permit anyone to use SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s service to guess passwords or to access other systems or networks without authorization. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will fully cooperate with law enforcement authorities in the detection and prosecution of illegal activity.

Contact Information

Customers are responsible for maintaining their contact information in the ticketing system such that the email address is always reachable even in the event of their SKC Computer Consulting Inc. account(s) or server(s) being shut down. All GeekStorage customers are required to have valid full contact information on file. Accounts with false information will be suspended until valid information is placed on file.

Internet Etiquette

The customer is expected to be familiar with and to practice good Internet etiquette (Netiquette). The customer will comply with the rules appropriate to any network to which SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may provide access. The customer should not post, transmit, or permit Internet access to information the customer desires to keep confidential. The customer is not permitted to post any material that is illegal, libelous, tortuous, or indecently depicts children, or is likely to result in retaliation against SKC Computer Consulting Inc. by offended users. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to refuse or terminate service at any time for violation of this section. This includes advertising services or sites via IRC or USENET in clear violation of the policies of the IRC channel or USENET group.

Copyright Infringement - Software Piracy Policy

The SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or province 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. In compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"), please send DMCA notifications of claimed copyright infringements to abuse@skc-consulting.com. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will cooperate fully with any civil and/or criminal litigation arising from the violation of this policy.

Network Responsibility

Customers have a responsibility to use the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network responsibly. This includes respecting the other customers of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to suspend and or cancel service with any Customer who uses the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network in such a way that adversely affects other SKC Computer Consulting Inc. customers. This includes but is not limited to:

Attacking or attempting to gain unauthorized access to servers and services that belong to SKC Computer Consulting Inc. or its customers (i.e. computer hacking), and/or

Participating in behavior which results in reprisals that adversely affect the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network or other customers' access to the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network.

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will react strongly to any use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorization. Such attempts include, but are not limited to, "Internet Scanning" (tricking other people into releasing their passwords), password robbery, security hole scanning, port scanning, etc. Any unauthorized use of accounts or computers by a SKC Computer Consulting Inc. customer, whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to SKC Computer Consulting Inc., will result in severe action taken against the attacker. Possible actions include warnings, account suspension or cancellation, and civil or criminal legal action, depending on the seriousness of the attack. Any attempt to undermine or cause harm to a server, or customer, of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. is strictly prohibited.

Violations of this policy may be reported directly to the FBI (http://www.fbi.gov). SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will cooperate fully with any civil and/or criminal litigation arising from the violation of this policy.

Lawful Purpose

All services may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law, regulation, or AUP is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to:

Copyrighted material or material protected by trade secret and other statute or dissemination of harmful or fraudulent content.

Using any SKC Computer Consulting Inc. service or product for the purpose of participating in any activity dealing with subject matters that are prohibited under applicable law is prohibited.

Any conduct that constitutes harassment, fraud, stalking, abuse, or a violation of federal export restriction in connection with use of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. services or products is prohibited. Using the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network to solicit the performance of any illegal activity is also prohibited, even if the activity itself is not performed. In addition, knowingly receiving or downloading a file that cannot be legally distributed, even without the act of distribution, is prohibited.

Servers hosted within SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s network are open to the public. You are solely responsible for your usage of the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network and servers and any statement you make on servers hosted within the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network may be deemed "publication" of the information entered. Acknowledging the foregoing, you specifically agree not to use our service in any manner that is illegal or libelous.

Child Pornography on the Internet

Our policy on child pornography is zero tolerance. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will cooperate fully with any criminal investigation into a Customer's violation of the Child Protection Act of 1984 concerning child pornography. Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees over the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network, and will be liable for illegal material posted by themselves or their employees.

According to the Child Protection Act, child pornography includes photographs, films, video or any other type of visual presentation that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity, or the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years or any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years.

Adult Content on the Internet

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will provide notification and will inform any customers in writing of improper materials on our servers. However, SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to disconnect any customers immediately.

Commercial Advertisements with E-mail

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. takes a zero tolerance approach to the sending of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE) or SPAM over our network. Very simply, this means that customers of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may not use or permit others to use our network to transact in UCE. Customers of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may not host, or permit hosting of, sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks. Violations of this policy carry severe penalties, including termination of service.

Sending a message, especially an advertisement, to more than five recipients, is by itself spamming unless the individuals have specifically requested to be added to a mailing list on that topic. This includes commercial advertisements and informational messages sent to recipients via electronic mail (email) as well as off-topic messages posted in Usenet discussion groups where the recipient has not requested or invited the message. Mailing lists must be true opt-in mailing lists. Before sending any email to a listed user, a confirmation email, with a tracking number, must be sent to the new subscriber, to which they must respond with a confirmation that they wish to be added to the list. You must keep these confirmations on file, so that in the case that a spam complaint is made against you, you have proof that the user did indeed opt-in. In addition, you must provide at least one easy way to opt out; see the MAPS guidelines (http://mail-abuse.org/rbl/manage.html) for details. Opt-out requests must be honored immediately.

E-mail is a person-to-person medium, not a broadcast medium.

Customers of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. are strictly prohibited from using or permitting others to use UCE or SPAM over our network. As our Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network, it is advisable that Customers develop a similar, or stricter, policy for their clients.

Violation of SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s SPAM policy will result in severe penalties. Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will initiate an immediate investigation (within 48 hours of notification). During the investigation, SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. If a customer is found to be in violation of our SPAM policy, SKC Computer Consulting Inc. may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate customer's account. Further, SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. will notify law enforcement officials if the violation is believed to be a criminal offense.

Violation of SKC Computer Consulting Inc.'s SPAM policy may be reported to abuse@skc-consulting.com

IRC

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. does not allow the use of IRC on the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of IRC clients, server software, bots or anything related to IRC. Violators' servers or shared accounts will be suspended.

Billing

The customer understands that the customer is responsible for paying for any network resources that are used to connect the customer's server or hosting plan to the Internet. The customer may request that the customer's server be disconnected from the Internet, but the customer will still be responsible for paying for any network resources used up to the point of suspension or cancellation.

Suspension

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to suspend network access to any customer if, in the judgment of the SKC Computer Consulting Inc. network administrators, the customer's server is the source or target of the violation of any of the other terms of the AUPs or for any other reason which SKC Computer Consulting Inc. chooses. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the Customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. The customer will not be credited for the time the customer's machines were suspended.

Cancellation

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. reserves the right to cancel service at any time. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. All fees paid in advance of cancellation are non-refundable if SKC Computer Consulting Inc. institutes its right of cancellation. Any violation of policies, which results in extra costs, will be billed to the customer (i.e. transfer, space etc.).

Indemnification

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. wishes to emphasize that in signing the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, customer indemnifies SKC Computer Consulting Inc. for any violation of the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, law or AUP that results in loss to SKC Computer Consulting Inc. or the bringing of any claim against SKC Computer Consulting Inc. by any third-party. This means that if SKC Computer Consulting Inc. is sued because of a customer's or a customer of a customer's activity, the customer will pay any damages awarded against SKC Computer Consulting Inc., plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Disclaimer of Responsibility

SKC Computer Consulting Inc. is under no duty to look at each customer's or user's activities to determine if a violation of the AUPs has occurred, nor do we assume any responsibility through our AUPs to monitor or police Internet-related activities. SKC Computer Consulting Inc. disclaims any responsibility for any such inappropriate use and any liability to any person or party for any other person's or party's violation of this policy.

All Sub-Networks, customers, shared users and managed servers of SKC Computer Consulting Inc. must adhere to the above policies. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate Cancellation.

INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THE AUPs AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON YOUR BEHALF SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THESE AUPs BY YOU.