Ascends Irc Network's Acceptable Use Policy 

The staff members of Ascends Irc Network (AIN) work extremely hard to provide a safe and fun environment for users of all ages and nationalities.  By your connecting to AIN, you have acknowledged and accepted the rules and policies set forth here and agree to abide to all terms and conditions expressed herein.  You also agree to any and all additional rules and policies as specified in the Message of the Day (MOTD) of the particular server which you are connected to.

Content:

I.    General

II.   Rules related to business channels

III.  Disclaimer

IV.   Definitions

I.  General

IRC is a free, un-moderated form of communication. AIN (a), any sponsoring organizations, users, and staff members are not responsible for any potentially offensive content on the network.

Though accessible to the general public, AIN (a) is a privately operated and funded network. All AIN (a) users are bound to abide the rules and policies set forth, regardless of their knowledge of conditions and terms.

Activity which is considered abusive to a server or compromises the network's resources may be subject to the termination of your connection to AIN (a), and/or denial of attempted connections via any means AIN (a) sees fit.  Such abuses include but are not limited to:

*  Any public or private flooding

*  Unsolicited forms of mass advertising or    messaging or any forms of "spam"

*  Channel takeover or control by force

*  Excessive connections from any given domain/host - the limit is set to 3, if more are required legitimately, contact AIN (a) administration

*   Harassment of AIN (a) officials which include impersonation of an AIN (a) staff member, preventing AIN (a) staff from performing their duties

*  Any activity which is illegal including, but not limited to, distribution of child pornography, illegal software

*  Insecure Hosts (open proxies)

*  Any attempts to gain unauthorized access to, or tamper with, AIN services (web, server, network, mail) or said like system.  As well as excessive network resource usage (excessive use of Chanserv and Nickserv commands).

*  Any sharing of nickname or channel passwords, intentionally or unintentionally

*  Any attempts to intentionally disconnect a server from the network via flooding, DOS attacks or other such actions.

*  Any attempts to intentionally disconnect a server from the network services (web, server, network, mail) or said like system

*  Distasteful topics, nicknames and channel names including, but not limited to, swearing, discrimination, insults to other users or staff members, whether direct or indirect, will not be tolerated

*  Any/all activity and or actions which may pose a threat to AIN (a) and/or its users, at the discretion of the staff

*  Loading and/or operating of flood clones, abusive bots, and so forth

*  Operation of unregistered bot(s)

II.  Rules Related To Business Channels

This network allows businesses (b) to set up technical and/or support channels, if the following conditions are met:

*  Selling or advertising of service(s) or product(s) is not in any way performed 

*  Owner of the channel can at any time prove the respective business (b) is a legitimate business

*  The channel is set to channel mode +s (secret) at any given time

Breach of these conditions may lead to the channel being closed/banned based on the severity of the breach.

This network does not show favoritism, support or preference to any business (b).  Any business (b) that is found claiming that we have or are showing favoritism, support or preference towards them, will be closed/banned on sight.

Any channel may be closed/banned by a network services administrator (c) at any given time without explanation or warning.

III.  Disclaimer

This network, its administration and its staff does not take responsibility for any content relayed through our services.  The responsibility of content relayed through our services lies solely with the original sender.

The service(s) or product(s) offered on AIN (a) is provided "as is", we disclaim any and all warranty, expressed or implied, about any service(s) or product(s) provided by or in use by AIN (a), including but not limited to any, warranties dealing with any content of information, availability of service(s) or product(s), and any information obtained about you.  AIN (a) is not liable for any damages you incur while using our service(s) or product(s), even if you advise us that such damages are possible, whether direct, indirect, special, consequential, incidental, exemplary or otherwise.

By connecting to AIN (a) you agree to acknowledge and follow all local rules about the Internet, data, e-mail and privacy.  Specifically, you agree to follow all laws that apply to transmitting data exported from the country of your residence.  Also, you agree to follow any software licensing agreements and copyright laws affecting any content you may be transferring.  You agree to disclaim AIN (a) of any and all responsibility or legal liability.

You hereby agree to disclaim us of any and all responsibility or legal liability which might result from your use of AIN (a).  You also agree to follow any and all rules stated in /Rules and /MOTD as well as on http://www.ascends.org/rules.htm. 

IV.  Definitions

a.  Ascends Irc Network, hereby referred to as AIN or Ascends Irc Network

b.  A commercial enterprise or establishment

c.  Channel or nickname services administrator, commonly referred to as CSop or SRA

Revision Rights

At any time and without notice, the aforementioned rules and policies may be changed, upon approval of the AIN administrative committee.

pr@lists.ascends.net

Revised 12th April 2003