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Acceptable Use Policy
For USENET Newsgroups

Revision 01
Dated 01/06/2003

USENET is a cooperative network of many servers, groups, and end users. Participants must meet various standards for behavior on USENET, or risk negative action being taken. To meet its obligations in this regard, MoreUSENET has established the following policies about activities that are acceptable and those that are not. The Acceptable Use Policy is designed to promote a stable, secure, and reliable network upon which service may be provided. For the purposes of this document, "User" is defined as any person or process accessing or using services provided by MoreUSENET.

1. Compliance with Law. No User shall post, transmit, re-transmit, store, or process material on or through any service offered by MoreUSENET which, in the sole judgment of MoreUSENET, is (i) in violation of any applicable law or regulation, (ii) threatening, defamatory, indecent, obscene, or (iii) violates the rights of any party, including trade secret, rights protected by copyright, patent, or other similar intellectual property. Users are expected to avoid such compliance violations by determining what laws or regulations are applicable.

2. Spam. USENET Spam is the repeated posting of substantively identical articles within a short period of time. MoreUSENET strictly forbids the posting of articles deemed to be spam, either by current community standards, or by any more restrictive standard specified within a newsgroup hierarchy. MoreUSENET reserves the right to apply automatic filtering techniques to reduce spam.

3. Charters. Many newsgroups maintain a charter document or official FAQ, which describes the purpose and acceptable uses for a newsgroup or newsgroup hierarchy. Posts should comply with either any applicable charter or this Acceptable Use Policy, whichever is more restrictive.

4. Moderators. Many newsgroups are moderated. Moderators have control over the purpose and acceptable uses for a newsgroup. Posts should comply with either the moderator's rules or this Acceptable Use Policy, whichever is more restrictive.

5. Non-chartered Groups. Many newsgroups do not maintain a charter. Posts to such groups should comply with reasonable common-sense usage guidelines, based on the newsgroup name, description, and hierarchy.

6. Binaries. Because large portions of the USENET infrastructure are not capable of handling contemporary binaries traffic loads, most administrators have agreed that binaries belong in groups specifically designated for the purpose, in order to allow feeds to opt-out of receiving them. Binary posts should only be made to newsgroups containing "binaries" as the second element of the newsgroup name. Further, some groups are chartered for binaries-only. No text posts should be made to these groups.

7. Chain Letters. Chain letters, including pyramid schemes, virus warnings, and nearly everything else containing a phrase similar to "pass this on to everyone you know" are frequently illegal, may be dangerous, and are almost always a waste of resources. Do not post these.

8. Flooding. Multiple posts to a newsgroup, which are made that appear to have no purpose, or which are disruptive to the normal operations of a newsgroup, are forbidden.

9. Copyrighted Materials. Copyrighted materials may be posted with the explicit written permission of the copyright holder. Do not post copyrighted materials without permission.

10. Commercial Postings. USENET is primarily a non-commercial medium, however, some areas allow commercial posts. Commercial posts, including offers of items for sale, are allowed only in these areas.

11. Etiquette. Users are strongly encouraged to remember that the other participants in USENET are people as well. Posts that are deliberately rude, insulting, defamatory, or otherwise negative may not be appropriate.

12. Harassment. Posts may not be harassing or threatening in nature. This includes the publication of private information.

13. Forgery. The forgery of header information on USENET posts is prohibited. This includes the unauthorized use of e-mail addresses, and cancellation of posts posted by others.

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MoreUSENET Webmaster   Last Modified: Friday, 6 February 2004 02:40:22 PM CST