You are responsible for any misuse of the niagara.com Services that you have contracted for, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, family member, guest, employee or customer with access to your account. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to the Services.

The Services may not be used to breach the security of another user or to attempt to gain access to any other person's computer, software or data, without the knowledge and consent of such person. They also may not be used in any 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 networks. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools, is prohibited. The Services may not be used to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.

You may not disrupt the Services. The Services also may not be used to interfere with computer networking or telecommunications services 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. The transmission or dissemination of any information or software which contains a virus or other harmful feature also is prohibited. The Services may not be used to violate the rules, regulations, or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, or web site that the Customer accesses. You are solely responsible for the security of any device you choose to connect to the Services, including any data stored on that device. In particular, niagara.com recommends against enabling file or printer sharing of any sort. niagara.com also recommends that any files or services you do choose to make available for remote access be protected with a strong password or as otherwise appropriate.

Inappropriate Content

There may be content on the Internet or otherwise available through the niagara.com Services which may be offensive to some individuals, or which may not be in compliance with all local laws, regulations and other rules. For example, it is possible to obtain access to content that is pornographic or offensive, particularly for children. Neither niagara.com nor any of its distribution affiliates can assume any responsibility for the content contained on the Internet or otherwise available through the Services.

You must assume the risk of accessing content through the Service, and neither niagara.com nor any of its distribution affiliates shall have any liability for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or proceedings arising out of or otherwise relating to access to such content. Parents may want to use a program capable of restricting access to sexually explicit material on the Internet. Content questions or complaints should be addressed to the content provider.

You are solely responsible for any information that you publish on the web or other Internet services, including but not limited to content posted in your Personal web space at niagara.com. You must ensure that any content that you may disseminate is appropriate for its intended recipient(s). For example, you must take proper precautions to prevent minors from receiving inappropriate content. niagara.com and its distribution affiliates reserve the right to refuse to post or to remove 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 such material or its dissemination is unlawful.

Neither niagara.com nor any of its distribution affiliates has any obligation to monitor transmissions made on the Services. However, niagara.com and its distribution affiliates have the right to monitor such transmissions from time to time in accordance with Provincial and Federal laws and to disclose the same in accordance with the niagara.com Privacy Policy and your niagara.com Service Agreement.

By using the Services to reproduce, publish, display, transmit and distribute content, a user is warranting that any content that the user may reproduce, publish, display, transmit, or distribute complies with this Policy. Through these actions, a user also authorizes niagara.com and its affiliates to reproduce, publish, display, transmit and distribute such content as necessary for niagara.com to deliver the content in a timely manner.

Electronic Mail

The niagara.com Services may not be used to send unsolicited bulk or commercial messages. This includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures, and political or religious messages. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested it. The niagara.com Services may not be used to send messages to any individual who has indicated that he/she does not wish to receive messages from you.

The Services may not be used to collect responses from unsolicited email sent from accounts on other Internet hosts or email services which violates this Policy or the acceptable use policy of any other Internet service provider. Moreover, unsolicited email may not direct the recipient to any web site or other resource which uses the niagara.com Services. Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email whether or not that email is commercial in nature, are prohibited.

Forging, altering or removing electronic mail headers is prohibited.

You may not reference the niagara.com network (e.g. by including "Organization: niagara.com" in the header or by listing an IP address that belongs to the niagara.com network) in any unsolicited email even if that email is not sent through the niagara.com network.

"Mail bombing" is prohibited. That is, you may not send numerous copies of the same or substantially similar messages, nor may you send very large messages or files to a recipient with the intent to disrupt a server or account. The propagation of chain letters is similarly prohibited, whether or not the recipient wishes to receive such mailings.

The niagara.com network is not responsible for the forwarding of email sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. Such email may be returned to sender, ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at niagara.com's sole discretion.

Newsgroups

Messages posted to newsgroups must comply with the written charters or FAQs for those 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.

Posting or cross-posting the same or substantially similar messages to several newsgroups is prohibited.

Binary files may not be posted to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose. Users posting binary files to groups with policies concerning the permissible daily volume of posted files are required to observe those limitations.

Forging, altering or removing header information is prohibited. This includes attempting to circumvent the approval process for posting to a moderated newsgroup.

The niagara.com network reserves the right to discontinue access to any Usenet newsgroup at any time for any reason at its sole discretion.

You may not attempt to "flood" or disrupt Usenet newsgroups. Disruption is defined as posting a large number of messages to a newsgroup that contain no substantive content, to the extent that normal discussion in the group is significantly hindered. Examples of disruptive activities include, but are not limited to, posting multiple messages with no text in the body, or posting many follow-ups to messages with no new text. Messages may not be cancelled, except by the author or by official newsgroup moderators performing their duties.

The Usenet news service included with a niagara.com residential or corporate service account is provided for interactive use by the subscriber, using a commonly available NNTP client such as Netscape Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Non-interactive clients which download Usenet articles in bulk are prohibited.

Internet Relay Chat

The Services may be used to participate in "chat" discussions. These discussions may be hosted by niagara.com network servers, by third party servers, or may not involve any servers at all. In all cases, the niagara.com network does not normally monitor the contents of the discussion and is not liable for the contents of any communications made via Internet chat.

The services may not be used to perform chat "flooding." Flooding is defined as deliberately repeating actions in quick succession in order to fill the screens of other Internet users with text.

Any computer or other device connected through the Services may not maintain more than two simultaneous chat connections. This includes the use of automated programs, such as "bots" or "clones". Automated programs may not be used when the account holder is not physically present at the device.

The Services may not be used to send messages that disrupt another Internet user's equipment, including software, hardware, and user display.

The Services may not be used to access any chat server in violation of the acceptable use policy of that server. The Services may not be used to manipulate any chat server in order to harass or disconnect other Internet users, or to gain privileges that have not been authorized.

A customer may not use the Services to connect to chat servers or channels from which they have been previously banned.

The Services may not be used to continue to send chat messages to an Internet user who has indicated their desire to not receive such messages.

Forging, altering, or obscuring your identity (other than using a nickname from which niagara.com could, if necessary, determine your real name) while participating in chat sessions is forbidden.

Instant Messenger Systems

niagara.com does not, and cannot, monitor, censor or edit the contents of Users' instant messages. Users alone are responsible for the contents of their instant messages and the consequences of any such instant messages.

Messenger systems will not be used for chain letters, junk mail, "spamming", solicitations (commercial or non-commercial) or any use of distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a process. Messenger systems may not be used to send any message or material that is unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable or that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Continuing to send messages to anyone that has expressly requested not to receive messages from you is considered to be harassment.

niagara.com assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, misdelivery, deletion or failure to store instant messages.

Web Space /Shell Space

As part of the Services, niagara.com provides storage space and access for web pages through its personal and corporate web space service. You are solely responsible for any information that you publish on your Personal web space. You must ensure that the intended recipient of the content is appropriate. For example, you must take appropriate precautions to prevent minors from receiving inappropriate content. niagara.com reserve the right to remove or refuse to post any information or materials, in whole or in part, that they, in their sole discretion, deem to be offensive, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate regardless of whether such 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, video recordings, and audio recordings.

niagara.com will not routinely monitor the contents of your web space; however, niagara.com has the right to monitor such and if complaints are received regarding language, content or graphics contained on your web pages, niagara.com may remove the web page hosted on niagara.com servers and terminate your personal or corporate web space service if niagara.com determines that you have violated the terms of this AUP (Acceptable Use Policy).

Bandwidth, Data Storage and Other Limitations

You must comply with all current bandwidth, data storage and other limitations on the Services.

Users must ensure that their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user's use of the Services, nor represent (in the sole judgment of niagara.com) an unusually large burden on the network itself. In addition, users must ensure that their activity does not improperly restrict, inhibit, disrupt, degrade or impede niagara.com's ability to deliver the Services and monitor the Services, backbone, network nodes, and/or other network services.

niagara.com residential or corporate customers may not resell, share, or otherwise distribute the Services or any portion thereof to any third party without the written consent of niagara.com. For example, you cannot provide Internet access to others through a dial up connection, host shell accounts over the Internet, provide email or news service, or send a news feed.

You may not run a server in connection with the niagara.com residential service, nor may you provide network services to others via the niagara.com residential service. The niagara.com residential service includes personal web space accounts for publishing personal web pages. Examples of prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, running servers for mail, http, ftp, irc, and dhcp, and multi-user interactive forums. For information about niagara.com products for commercial or network services purposes, including commercial-grade remote LAN access, please contact our Corporate Services staff.

Violation of Acceptable Use Policy

niagara.com does not routinely monitor the activity of accounts for violation of this Acceptable Use Policy. 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 Services. Although niagara.com has no obligation to monitor the Services and/or the network, niagara.com and it various affiliates and partners reserve the right to monitor bandwidth, usage, and content from time to time to operate the Services; to identify violations of this Policy; and/or to protect the network and niagara.com users.

niagara.com prefers to advise customers of inappropriate behaviour and any necessary corrective action. However, if the Services are used in a way that niagara.com or its affiliates, in their sole discretion, believe violate this Policy, niagara.com or its distribution affiliates may take any responsive actions they deem appropriate. Such 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 Services. Neither niagara.com nor its affiliates will have any liability for any such responsive actions. The above described actions are not the exclusive remedies possible and niagara.com may take any other legal or technical action it deems appropriate.

niagara.com reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this Policy, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on niagara.com's servers and network. During an investigation, niagara.com may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove material that potentially violates this Policy.

By using niagara.com's Services, you hereby authorize niagara.com and its affiliates to cooperate with (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations, and (ii) system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy. Such cooperation may include niagara.com providing the username, IP address, or other identifying information about a subscriber according to the stipulations of the niagara.com Privacy Policy. Upon termination of an account, niagara.com is authorized to delete any files, programs, data and email messages associated with such account.

The failure of niagara.com or its affiliates to enforce this Policy, 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. This Policy shall be exclusively governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada.