UK Web Gurus Acceptable Use Policy

Effective From 23/09/2004 12:00pm

Introduction
For the internet to operate in a manner that satisfies the majority of its users, all users need to observe some rules and etiquette governing their use of it. These requirements are usually contained or referred to in the relevant terms and conditions governing the particular internet service as well as general law.
UK Web Gurus customers must ensure that they know what these requirements are and how they are affected by them.
To enable its customers to have a better understanding of what is and is not acceptable when using the internet, and to help you get the best out of the internet, UK Web Gurus has developed a number of Acceptable Usage Policies (AUPs) relating to internet services. Complying with these AUPs, which is a contractual requirement, should help you benefit from safer surfing and minimise the risk of suffering "online abuse".
UK Web Gurus AUPs are based on current "best internet industry practice" and draw on the collective experience of users and service providers across the internet community.
UK Web Gurus reserves the right to revise its AUPs/Policy’s at any time. To make the most of the guidance contained in the AUPs, please keep up to date with changes and look at them on a regular basis. We hope you will find them useful and informative.

A Guide To Avoiding Abuse While Connected To The Internet
The majority of UK Web Gurus online customers will be using commercial software to connect to and navigate the internet. This software implements the technical aspects of the connection but there are also some simple common sense checks which all customers can implement. For example, making sure that the computer is dialling the whole number, including the area code, will reduce the possibility of other people receiving unwanted calls.

Legal Compliance
The internet is a global medium and is regulated by the laws of many different countries. Material which is illegal in this country may be legal in another, and vice versa. As a user in this country, for example, you should not access sites carrying child pornography, hard-core pornography or incitement to violence. These are just three examples of unlawful material and there are many others. When you visit a website, a copy of the visited pages is stored on your pc in the web browsers' cache files. Storage of illegal material in this way may well constitute a criminal offence. If you are in any doubt, we recommend you to take independent legal advice.
To connect to any of UK Web Gurus online services, you will use a telephone (PSTN) line, ISDN line, DSL Line, Leased Line, Satellite link or Wireless Radio link. While connected to the internet, you must comply with legal requirements concerning telephone network (mis)use. Set out below is a self explanatory extract from the Telecommunications Act. As you can see, network misuse is a serious criminal offence which can lead to fines and/or imprisonment.

"Improper Use of Public Telecommunication System"
(1) A Person who -
(a) sends by means of a public communication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, or
(b) sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public telecommunication system, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine….. or both".

If you are in any doubt as to the legality of anything, don't do it and take independent legal advice before proceeding.
You must not gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to any computer systems for any purpose, including accessing the internet. As well as being in breach of your contract for the particular service, such hacking or attempted hacking is a criminal offence.

E-Mail Marketing (Mailing Lists)

As from 11th December 2003, two new rules will apply to email marketing under
the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 act came into force.

1st New Rule: This rule applies to all marketing messages sent by electronic mail regardless of recipient.

• The sender must not conceal their identity AND
• The sender must provide a valid address for opt-out requests

2nd New Rule: This rule only applies to unsolicited marketing messages sent by electronic mail to individual subscribers.

• Senders cannot send such messages unless they have the recipient's prior consent to do so.

This strict “opt-in” rule is relaxed if three exemption criteria are satisfied.

These three exemption criteria are as follows:

• The recipient’s email address was collected “in the course of a sale or negotiations for a sale”
• The sender only sends promotional messages relating to their “similar products and services” AND
• When the address was collected, the recipient was given the opportunity to opt out (free of charge except for the cost of transmission) which they didn't take. The opportunity to opt out must be given with every subsequent message.

UK Web Gurus reserves the right to block e-mail ports to/or from your internet connection link and/or disable and/or disconnect your internet connection link if it is found that you do not apply to the above regulations as defined in the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 act.

Avoiding Abuse While Connected To the Internet
Taking the following steps should help you to protect yourself from becoming a victim of abuse while connected to the internet:
Ensure that you are running a good quality virus detection application. The majority of these applications have the ability to detect hackers as well as viruses. Hackers are people who try to hack into your computer to either cause mischief or find your passwords and usernames. You should be aware that some hackers have the ability to seriously damage your computer system!

If you keep sensitive information on your computer, it is worth using encryption software to protect it.
While connected, do not publicise your IP address. This is the unique ID that is allocated to you while you are connected to the internet by your service provider. This is especially important if you are using applications such as CHAT, IRC (internet relay chat) or video conferencing using a directory service.

A majority of people spend their online time finding internet software applications to run while online. Be careful what you install. Before installing software of unknown origin, ask yourself whether you trust the writer/source. Most computer viruses and Trojans are installed unknowingly while installing shareware or freeware applications that are supposedly designed to make your life easier. If in doubt, don't do it!

Sharing logon details
Your UK Web Gurus Internet account is designed to be a single user account unless otherwise stated in your Terms and Conditions and/or contract. Although we offer multiple email addresses, i.e. one for each member of the family or one for each employee, the service is still only to be used from one computer or one connection router.
If you travel around, and use the same logon details from a laptop as well as a desktop PC, this is fine, as long as both accounts are not used concurrently.

Port Scanning
UK Web Gurus prohibits the use of port scanning software on its services. With the internet when your PC connects to a server it supplies a port number to be used for server replies. (the number will depend on the operating system used). Using special software these ports can be scanned and intruders can use port scanning software to find security vulnerabilities in your machine/s where unauthorized access to your system/s could be gained. UK Web Gurus recommends that you use an anti virus package and / or a firewall product to reduce the risk of system/s compromise.

Sharing Internet Access on a Private Network and Running Personal SMTP Mail Servers.
Some methods of sharing internet access or applications expose your external internet connection to other internet users, and enable them to send unsolicited bulk emails via your computer (known as SPAM).
In order to protect your computer from this possible intrusion, it is your responsibility to make sure that any/all mail servers located on your internet connection point do not allow relaying of e-mail from non-authorized outside sources.

UK Web Gurus reserves the right to block e-mail ports to/or from your internet connection link and/or disable and/or disconnect your internet connection link if it is found that your mail server is acting as an open relay.

A Guide To Avoiding Email Abuse

Email is without doubt an extremely effective and convenient method of communication. It is fast and cheap and within seconds of sending an email, it will be with its recipient. Unfortunately, it is also the most common source of abuse over the internet. Although much unsolicited email (SPAM) may just be a harmless but annoying way of advertising of products or services, some can be as distressing as receiving malicious telephone calls.
There are some simple steps you can take to minimise the possibility of receiving nuisance emails:
Don't give out your email address unless you are absolutely sure you can trust the recipient. You should treat your email address as you would treat your telephone number.

When posting into newsgroups configure your newsreader so that it doesn't show or it disguises your email address, i.e. joe.bloggs32@ihatespam.com. In the posting you would say " to reply to Joe, remove the ihatespam ". A person responding to the email then has to remove the ihatespam section of the email address. This makes it more difficult for automated newsgroup trawlers to strip email addresses from the postings. The majority of the mail lists that are used for the bulk sending of emails are compiled from undisguised email addresses in newsgroups.

Avoid posting into newsgroups if you are not entirely sure about the nature of their subject matter. If you are going to post into these groups, be aware that there is very little UK Web Gurus can do to protect you if you become a victim of abusive emails resulting from your posting or a "flame war". If you do post into such newsgroups, it is a sensible precaution to keep your email address private, as often the only cure to stop nuisance emails is to change your email address.

Never publicise your home address or telephone number.

Be very careful when sending details such as your credit card number by email. Unless you are completely sure you can trust the recipient and the details of the recipient's email address, don't do it.
When filling in on-line forms always look for and complete any "data protection opt out" boxes if you do not wish to be contacted regarding advertisement and promotion of any products and services. The information you provide may be disclosed to other organisations or used for marketing or other purposes which you did not envisage. If in doubt, do not use the on-line form.

If you do become a victim of abusive emails, there is often very little UK Web Gurus can do to stop the abuse. However, the ISP of your abuser can possibly do something under its terms and conditions. Accordingly, we recommend you to take the following action:

a. Email the "abuse department" for the individual's ISP.
b. Send the relevant ISP as much evidence as possible. It is no use simply complaining about the activities of an individual, you must provide evidence of the abuse, e.g. send the whole email, newsgroup posting or the URL of the website to abuse@ the ISP in question. The ISP will probably need the IP Address that the abuser was using at the time of the abuse. This is the unique ID allocated to that user at that specific moment and can be found/seen in the header of the email, and in the header of the newsgroup posting.

It is unlikely that an ISP will simply give out the name and details of an alleged offender. However, an ISP may need to divulge such information to appropriate authorities, such as the police or the courts, if formally requested to do so.

In cases of extreme net abuse, you may need to contact the police if you think further action should be taken. If you decide to do so, you must be prepared to provide the police with any evidence you have. The police will then consider whether a criminal offence may have been committed and whether further action can or should be taken.

A Guide to Avoiding Abusing Your Webspace

As part of certain internet services, UK Web Gurus offers its customers webspace. This is an area on UK Web Gurus internet servers that you can personalise and display to the World Wide Web (WWW).
To help you get the most from your webspace, and to avoid either infringing the relevant terms and conditions or becoming a victim of abuse because of your content, here are some simple do's and don'ts:
The support UK Web Gurus provides relates only to accessing your webspace. UK Web Gurus does not provide support for HTML authoring, page design or how to publish your pages.

• Make sure you do not display too much personal detail on your webspace and remember that you publish any personal information at your own risk.
• Avoid content that can offend. If you have any doubt about the suitability of your content to others, in particular to children, you must give a warning page before reaching the content. If in doubt, seek independent legal advice.
• You must not publish content, or link to, content in which you do not own the rights, without the permission of the owner of the relevant rights.
• Be careful with content that may lead to arguments. This is especially important if your website is also your primary email address. Remember not everyone has the same opinion as you, and what you say could be offensive to others and lead to a situation where you receive abusive e-mails.
• You must not publish or link to content that is illegal. You must also remember that what is legal in this country in not necessary legal everywhere else in the world (and vice versa) and that you could risk being prosecuted in another country if what you publish is illegal in that country. If in doubt, don't do it and take independent legal advice before proceeding.
• You must not incite disorder or publish any material, which would amount to instructions concerning illegal activities.
• You must not publicise the personal details of others without their consent.
• You must not use your website to advertise, distribute (or link to another webpage containing) virus creation software, e-mail spamming software, or port scanning software.
• Don't share the password for your webspace. Your passwords are your responsibility, and must not be disclosed to any third party. This is important for your own protection.
  

A GUIDE TO USING CHAT AND INSTANT MESSAGE SERVICES

Chat is carried out in a ‘room’. The room usually has a theme so people can chat together about the same topic. Rooms are generally public so that anyone can join in.
Instant messaging is a way of sending text messages to other people connected to the internet.

Chat and Instant Message services are great fun to use and both are tremendously popular with teenagers, however, where there’s fun there’s also risk. Both these services are a potential source of worry, especially to parents, as there’s no way of checking that the people in the chat room are who they say they are. In fact most chat rooms encourage you to adopt an alias. Therefore chat rooms can be used by adults who may, for example, pretend to provide a sympathetic ear for a teenager's problems, possibly coaxing personal information out of them and trying to arrange a 'real life' meeting.

In addition, passions can run high online and chat rooms can easily be the scene of violent arguments.
But please don’t be put off by this as there are some steps you can take to minimise risks.

Important advice to use chat and instant message services more safely:

• Children under 13 years must not be allowed to use Chat or Instant Message
• Children under 16 years should be supervised when using these services. Make certain they know they should never give out any personal details or details that could be pieced together so that they could be identified, e.g. name of school
• When setting up the service check to see if you can hide your IP address from other people using the service. Hiding your IP address helps protect your computer and keeps it hidden from other users
  make sure that none your personal details are available to other users. Most Chat and Instant Message services let you choose what details to share with others
• Make sure your children are aware of the dangers of using this type of service
• Never publicise your home address, telephone number or credit card details
• Don't give out your email address or other personal details unless you’re absolutely sure you can trust the recipient. Never give it out in a public chat room where anyone could be watching and make use of it. You should treat your email address as you would treat any other personal details about yourself
• If you decide to meet someone that you’ve been chatting with, arrange to meet in a public place and make sure that you’ve told a friend where you’re going and who you’re meeting. Better still, take a friend along with you.
• Try to avoid getting into heated arguments in public chat rooms. It is best to leave the chat room if you find yourself in this situation rather than become involved.

If you do become a victim of abuse in a chat room, there’s often very little UK Web Gurus can do to stop the abuse. However, the Chat or Instant Message Service provider may be able to identify the abuser and forward details to their ISP who may be able to take action under its Terms & Conditions. If you do need to complain in this way, you should email as much information as you can, including all the details of your conversation (by cutting and pasting) to the Chat or Instant Message Service provider.

In cases of extreme abuse, you should contact the police if you think further action is required. If you decide to do so, you must be prepared to provide the police with any evidence you have. The police will then consider whether a criminal offence may have been committed and whether further action can or should be taken.

Copyright Notice
The documents and information on this Web site are copyrighted materials of Emin Enterprises Ltd and its information providers. Emin Enterprises Ltd reserves all its rights. The UK Web Gurus Logo is trademark of Emin Enterprises Ltd. All rights reserved.

Last updated: 23/09/2004