P o l i c i e s   ( A c c e p t a b l e   U s e   P o l i c y ) .

This document explains the Terms and Conditions and the Acceptable Use Policy for use of services provided by Northwest Internet Access, L.L.C. (hereinafter known as NWI) by the client/user (hereinafter known as Customer). This document supersedes all previous forms of this previously published by NWI. This document is maintained and published on-line on the NWI home page at http://www.nwinternet.com/policies.html. All Customers of NWI are required to be familiar with this policy. This document shall be sent via e-mail to each new Customer and upon receipt, the Customer shall become responsible for its contents. Use of NWI Internet services in any form constitutes acceptance of this Acceptable Use Policy and agreement to adhere to it.

Terms and Conditions

Account and Policy Term

The effective date of these Terms and Conditions and the Acceptable Use Policy is the date of acceptance by the Customer of services by NWI, and they shall remain in effect until Customer terminates his/her account or NWI cancels Customer's account.

NWI may occasionally require updated registration and account information by Customer to continue service. In addition, Customer shall notify NWI in writing or by E-mail to billing@nwinternet.com of any changes in the account information, such as address or phone number.

NWI reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of use or its Acceptable Use Policy at any time. Notification of changes will be announced via this web site. If customer does not agree to changes, Customer may cancel services by giving NWI proper written notice as directed herein.

Billing - Terms - Termination

Initial payment must be received prior to the service being activated. Billing will normally occur via E-mail and the bill will be due on the 1st of the month. Customer must notify NWI at least 15 days before the next payment is due if Customer wishes to change the method of payment. There is a $15.00 service charge for returned checks.

Accounts that are more than 10 days past due may be placed on hold and access will be denied until payment is made. Accounts continue to accrue charges while they are on hold. After the account has been on hold for 30 days, the service may be terminated if not under long-term contract and any outstanding balance will be immediately due and payable, or the full amount for the entire period of any contract, to NWI. There will be a $20.00 reconnect fee in addition to any unpaid balance to reactivate the account. Termination requests for NWI accounts must be received in writing via E-mail, fax, or postal service at NWI's main office. Refunds for prepaid service will be at the sole discretion of the management. If a Customer so requests, NWI will forward E-mail to that Customer's new E-mail address, if any, for one month after termination unless termination was for nonpayment or system abuse.

Customer is responsible for all fees up to the date of termination of the service regardless of the usage on the account. Customer acknowledges that NWI may terminate the account without notice if the customer does not comply with this policy.

Termination for Cause

NWI may terminate an account at any time for any violation of these Terms and Conditions or Acceptable Use Policy or for failure to pay bills for service. Such termination generally means that all files are deleted and all services, including mail forwarding are rescinded. Customer will not receive a refund for any prepaid services. All losses and expenses suffered by Customer as a result of such termination will be Customer's to bear alone, and NWI will have no liability whatsoever.

Provision of Services

NWI will provide services on its host computing systems to customers in exchange for payment of fees and compliance with these Terms and Conditions and the Acceptable Use Policy. NWI services are defined as the use by Customer of computing, telecommunications, software, and information services provided by NWI. These services also include the provision of access to computing, telecommunications, software, and information services provided by others via the worldwide computer network known as the Internet.

Consultation Charges

NWI welcomes requests from Customers concerning their problems and will do as much as possible to help resolve them. When assistance provided by NWI is beyond services offered to all customers by NWI as part of its basic services such as assistance with Customer systems configuration beyond the initial set-up, the Customer will be charged a standard consulting rate.

Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy may be known hereinafter as policy, AUP or Acceptable Use Policy.

Security of Accounts

NWI Dial-up accounts are for individual Customers. Customer therefore agrees not to share the password of the account with others. Customer agrees to maintain a secure password to the account and is responsible for any use of his/her account. Customer agrees not to use any NWI services to obtain the passwords of other customers on NWI or other systems. Customer agrees not to use NWI services to make unauthorized attempts to access any systems and networks.

Use of Internet Services

Customer agrees not to use NWI services to violate copyright or other intellectual property rights nor use NWI services to compete directly or indirectly with any Northwest Internet Access commercial activities. For example, Customer may not upload or download commercial software in violation of software license agreements. Customer agrees to use the services provided by NWI as permitted by applicable local, state, and federal laws. Customer agrees, therefore, not to use these services to conduct any business or activity or solicit the performance of any activity that is prohibited by law.

Specific Acceptable Use Policies

NWI believes that the First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association apply to the Internet to the same degree as they do to print media. NWI has no intention of infringing upon those rights.

Unauthorized use of other people's accounts or computers

NWI will react strongly to any unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorization. Whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to NWI, such attempts include but are not limited to "social engineering" (tricking other people into releasing their passwords), password cracking, security hole scanning, and denial of service attacks.

Possible actions including warnings, account suspension or cancellation, and legal action, according to the seriousness of the attack.

E-mail Privacy

Electronic mail passes through multiple mail servers from source to destination on the Internet. One can never be guaranteed privacy from every possible mail server; therefore, customers seeking total privacy should use some encryption scheme, such as PGP to render their messages unreadable by eavesdroppers.

With regards to NWI's mail servers, NWI places a high value on privacy, and will normally only examine Customers' mail to trouble shoot E-mail delivery problems, protect system security, or to comply with a lawful-appearing warrant or court-order.

NWI will not sell customer lists. NWI will not divulge Customer account information except at the direction of a lawfully served warrant.

Commercial advertisements

Commercial advertising is an accepted and welcome use of the Internet. However, there is appropriate and inappropriate Internet advertising. Customers that don't abide by this Internet standard may be denied access to newsgroups and in some cases to the Internet entirely.

Commercial advertisements are unwelcome in most Usenet discussion groups and on most E-mail mailing lists. Inappropriate postings may result in account suspension or cancellation. See the newsgroup or mailing list's charter for whether advertising is allowed or not. Unsolicited commercial advertisements sent out via E-mail or to many off-topic newsgroups are not allowed. Generally ads should be placed in the "biz." newsgroup hierarchy.

Sending a message, such as unsolicited e-mail, especially an unrequested advertisement, to multiple recipients is by itself "spamming," unauthorized use of E-mail, unless the individuals have specifically requested to be added to a mailing list on that topic.

Make Money Fast

Any mailing or posting of "Make Money Fast" (MMF) or "Fast Cash" or pyramid schemes or chain letters of any sort will result in quick account termination. Pyramid scams are illegal no matter how the message is presented. Pyramid schemes are not permitted.

Spoofing E-mail and News posts

All Customer E-mail and news posts shall have the Customer's valid account name in the header. You may use another existing NWI or non-NWI E-mail address in the "reply to" field as long as it is clear that the post came from your NWI account. Use of standard "anonymous re-mailers" is allowed for private (noncommercial) E-mail and posting.

Illegal Material

NWI assumes no legal liabilities relating to Customer's use of NWI's computer network and equipment. However, NWI requires that its customers not use NWI's network for illegal purposes. In any legal matters that result from a Customers action, NWI is under no obligation to defend itself rather than settle. Any losses suffered by NWI to settle or defend legal action, and all civil or criminal penalties inflicted on NWI as a result of any Customers act are payable by the customer. Customer shall have no defense against prompt and full repayment to NWI.

When presented with a search warrant, NWI is obligated to release appropriate information requested, and will cooperate with the authorities in any criminal investigation.

While NWI recognizes that the legal status of the Internet has not yet been fully resolved, NWI considers certain actions illegal and therefore not allowed on its network, for example; unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material; exploitation of minors; and unauthorized use of computer resources.

Harassment

Harassment or abusive use of E-mail and other Internet services is a serious misuse of Internet resources. NWI will handle incidents of harassment on a case-by-case basis, consulting with the parties involved.

Inappropriate use of Web Service

NWI provides space for personal and commercial web pages with some services. NWI maintains no responsibility for the content of such pages. NWI will handle complaints about inappropriate web pages on a case-by-case basis. Examples of inappropriate information include downloadable virus code, bulk E-mail lists, illicit advertising, and web-based services that allow members of the public to send E-mail or post news anonymously.

Automated dial-up account use

Dial-up accounts are for personal, interactive use only. They may not be kept connected with a "keep-alive" of any sort, such as setting an E-mail program to check mail periodically unattended.

NWI IRC rules

Bots (automated IRC programs) run against any programs, community talk programs, video, audio or text servers, even if they are run from your own machine, are not allowed via an NWI Internet connection. NWI Customers must abide by all rules imposed by any IRC server they connect to over NWI's network.

If NWI receives a complaint, NWI will investigate the abuse and, if a violation has occurred, may put the account on hold or remove the abusers account. Full payment for the entire contract term will still be due, even with no further services provided.

Customer agrees to abide by NWI's interpretation of the above. If Customer needs help interpreting or applying these rules, Customer should ask NWI support staff (nwisupport@nwinternet.com) for assistance.

Abuse of NWI Services

Any use of NWI system resources that disrupts the normal operation of the system or the use by other NWI customers is considered to be abuse of system resources and is grounds for administrative intervention. Some examples of system abuse include spawning excessive processes, consuming excessive amounts of memory or CPU for long periods of time, and staying attached to modems while not really "active" on line or personally present. Use of NWI computers or Internet connection to send ping or other packets in an attempt to deny service to another user is considered abuse. Depending on the nature and the severity of the abuse, the customer may receive an E-mail warning, have his processes halted, or have his account suspended. If the misuse is unintentional or under other mitigating circumstances, the suspension may be rescinded but may require a reconnection charge. Customers who believe their activity has been inappropriately handled may appeal to NWI Management.

Discovering and Reporting Abuse

Violations of the NWI conditions of use are unethical and may in some cases be criminal offenses. You are expected to report to NWI any information you may have concerning instances in which the conditions of use have been or are being violated. When NWI becomes aware of possible violations, NWI will investigate. At the same time, in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity, NWI may suspend the individual account in question. Confirmation of violations may result in cancellation of the individual account or reporting the abuse for criminal prosecution. The account suspension may be rescinded following resolution of the incident and payment of appropriate charges. NWI reserves the right to monitor site activities when necessary to investigate possible violations of the conditions of use.

Customers may be charged NWI's standard systems-consulting rate, currently $70.00 per hour for NWI employees' work to deal with abuse issues which were initiated by abuse of the customer's account.

Abuse Hold

When a Customer disrupts the system, NWI uses the following procedures:

• A Systems Administrator or member of the systems staff attempts to contact the Customer by telephone or fax.
• If the problem cannot be resolved by phone or the Customer is unreachable. Designated NWI staff may do what is necessary to protect the NWI site and systems and use of these facilities by others. Designated NWI staff may disable the Customers account by putting the account on hold.
• When the customer is contacted they may be sent a copy of this Acceptable Use Policy to sign and return to NWI.
• Once the signed statement is received, if reinstatement is appropriate, Accounting will begin to charge the account and will notify the Support department and the Systems Administrator.
• The Systems Administrator will take the Customer account off hold and thus re-enable the account.
• If no signed statement is received or the situation is not resolved to the satisfaction of NWI Management, all customer files or other material will be deleted and the customer account will be purged. All amounts due through the end of any contract or already billed period will become immediately due and payable in full and customer should expect vigorous collection efforts.

Offensive or Adult Materials

NWI does not censor on the basis of politics, religion, sexual themes, or artistic content. NWI has no control over the content of materials accessed. Some materials may be offensive or adult in nature. Parents are responsible for monitoring children's exposure to any material. NWI assumes no responsibility for any material or for monitoring or controlling access to such material.

Warranties

NWI makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, for its services. NWI specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. NWI will not be held responsible for any losses or damages resulting from delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, service interruption, or Customer's or NWI's errors or omissions. NWI will not under any circumstances be responsible for consequential damages.

NWI reserves the right to suspend or terminate accounts for any reason, if, in NWI's opinion, the Customer is disrupting or threatening the operation of this site and/or the Internet or its components. In the context of this AUP, using other sites or servers to abuse the net via NWI access is regarded the same as using NWI's site.

Applicability

These rules cannot be superseded by any verbal agreements of NWI employees or customers. Any agreement modification or special changes to this AUP must be in writing and signed by an official L.L.C. Manager.

Jurisdiction

The validity, construction and performance of this AUP and Customers agreement to abide by this AUP shall be governed by the laws of Washington State.

Severability

If any provision of this policy is held by a court to be contrary to law, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

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