Simtex's Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") is provided to give our customers and users a clear understanding of what Simtex expects of its users while using the service. All users of Simtex's Internet services , those who access some of our services but do not have accounts, as well as those who pay a service fee to subscribe to the services, must comply with this AUP and our Terms and Conditions.

This document describes the rules that Simtex uses in providing services to its customers via its network and systems ("Services") and the rules to which Simtex customers must adhere in order to continue to enjoy and allow others to enjoy optimum use of the Services.

Use of Simtex's Service constitutes acceptance and agreement to Simtex's AUP as well as i C lick's Terms and Conditions.

The following sets out some relevant matters you should consider before and whilst using Simtex services.

Responsible Usage

It is the responsibility of the user to ensure the telephone number called for access is a local call from the users home or place of business. Simtex will accept no responsibility for any telephone charges levied by the carrier should STD or other charges be incurred.

You must take responsibility for your actions on the network and systems you access through Simtex . You must comply with rules, regulations and acceptable usage policies that are in force for each system you access. If you act recklessly or irresponsibly or your actions endanger Simtex's network or systems, your access may be suspended or terminated at any time, without notice.

You agree that whilst using the Services, you will not:

• Store, send or distribute material which is obscene, indecent, pornographic or confidential or material that could give rise to civil or criminal proceedings;
• Do anything, including store, send or distribute material which defames, harasses, threatens, abuses, menaces, offends or violates the privacy of any person;
• Do anything, including store, send or distribute material, of an illegal or fraudulent nature, including activities prohibited under any applicable state and Commonwealth law;
• Do anything, including store, send or distribute material which interferes with other users or restricts any person or which inhibits any other user from enjoying the Services, the Internet and Simtex's network and systems;
• Forge header information, email source address or other user information;
• Breach any laws, codes, standards and content requirements of any relevant authority;
• Access, monitor or use any data, systems or networks, including another person's private information, without authority or attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any data, system or network;
• Compromise the security or integrity of any network or system;
• Place any viruses or other similar programs on the Service or the Internet;
• Distribute unsolicited advertising or spamming or overload any network or system;
• Use another person's name, username or password or otherwise attempt to gain access to the account of any other Simtex customer;
• Tamper with, hinder the operation of or make unauthorised modifications to any network or system; or attempt any of the above acts or permit another person to do any of the above.

Resource Usage

Simtex accounts operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer may have a negative impact on all other customers. Misuse of network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy and may result in termination of your account.

You are prohibited from excessive consumption of resources, including CPU time, memory, disk space and session time. You may not use resource-intensive programs which negatively impact other customers or the performances of Simtex systems or networks. Simtex reserves the right to terminate or limit such activities.

Simtex reserves the right to cut off services or ports which may adversely affect other networks or internet based services, such as:

• Mail servers used on a connection with a dynamic IP address.
• Open proxy servers. For example: socks, wingate, squid.
• Ports which can be used to pose a security threat.

Secure Usage

You are responsible for any misuse of your account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, family member, guest or employee. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your account. In addition, you may not use your account to breach security of another account or attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network or server. Your password provides access to your account. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure.

Sharing your password and account access with unauthorized users is prohibited. You should take care to prevent others from using your account since you will be held responsible for such use.

Attempting to obtain another user's account password is strictly prohibited, and may result in termination of service.

You must adopt adequate security measures to prevent or minimize unauthorized use of your account.

You may not attempt to circumvent 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 is prohibited. Examples of these tools include, but are not limited to, password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.

You may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host or network ("denial of service attacks"). This includes, but is not limited to, "flooding" of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service, and attempts to "crash" a host.

Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. Simtex will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.

Content

We support the uncensored flow of information and ideas over the Internet and do not actively monitor subscriber activity under normal circumstances. Similarly, we do not exercise editorial control over the content of any web site, e-mail transmission, newsgroups, or other material created or accessible over or through the services, except for certain proprietary Web sites. However, in accordance with our Terms and Conditions, we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, or which may violate this AUP. Simtex may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrongdoing. Your violation of this policy may result in the suspension or immediate termination of either your Simtex account or other actions without prior notice.

It is you and/or your users and customers' responsibility to avoid whatever is found to be offensive or obscene on any system. You and/or your users and customers must take responsibility for the material placed on Simtex's network and systems, and the statements made in mediums including, but not limited to, web pages, e-mail, chat or discussion forums and Usenet news.

Content providers must clearly identify material unsuitable for minors and refrain from contributing prohibited material, including, but not limited to, material deemed obscene under the Classifications (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. Failure to comply with relevant legislation by you or your users and customers may lead to suspension or termination of your access.

E-mail

Users shall NOT:

• Send e-mails or post messages which are unlawful, excessively large (> 5 Mb), obscene, vilifying, or contain libellous content.
• Send unsolicited advertisements (“spam”), chain letters or similar e-mails.
• Use Simtex as a relay for e-mail without Simtex's express permission.
• Forge any of the sender, time, server or other header information of e-mails in part or whole, of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through the Simtex service.
• Send large numbers of e-mail to one address with the purpose of interfering with the use of that address.
• Accumulate email in a mailbox to a volume larger than allocated on their account without downloading it. In such circumstances, Simtex may, amongst other things and in its sole discretion, return or bounce all emails sent to such a mailbox.

Spamming and Bombing

Unsolicited commercial e-mail / Unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) : Use of the Simtex service to transmit any unsolicited commercial or unsolicited bulk e-mail is expressly prohibited. Violations of this type will result in the immediate termination of the offending Simtex account.

Simtex may in its sole discretion and without notice remove any domain which either by support or inaction allows the sending of spam.

Anyone hosting websites or services on their server that support spammers or cause any of our IP space to be listed in any of the various spam databases will have their server immediately removed from our network. The server will not be reconnected until such time that you agree to remove any and all traces of the offending material immediately upon reconnection and agree to allow us access to the server to confirm that all material has been completely removed. Severe violations may result in immediate and permanent removal of the server from our network without notice to the customer. Any server guilty of a second violation WILL be immediately and permanently removed from our network without notice.

E-mail / News Bombing: Malicious intent to impede another person's use of electronic mail services or news will result in the immediate termination of the offending Simtex account.

Usenet spamming: Simtex has a zero tolerance policy for the use of its network for the posting of messages or commercial advertisements, which violate the rules, regulations, FAQ or charter of any newsgroups or mailing list. Commercial messages that are appropriate under the rules of a newsgroup or mailing list or that are solicited by the recipients are permitted.

Newsgroups and E-mail Lists

Commercial advertisements and off topic posts and e-mails are unwelcome in most USENET discussion groups and on most e-mail mailing lists. Each Newsgroup focuses on a particular, well defined and narrow set of topics.

Users need to read the Newsgroup's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) as to the appropriate etiquette for the group/list before posting.

Illegal Activities

Users shall NOT:

• Engage in illegal activities including cracking, probing, or analysing security systems.
• Attempt to crash or interfere with any computer systems.
• Breach the Trade Practices Act.
• Breach the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) (Enforcement) Act (Vic) 1995.
• Breach the Copyright Act.
• Breach the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999.

General

• Users are not permitted to use multiple logins.
• Cancellation requests or password or account name changes are not accepted via phone or e-mail.
• Harassment or abuse, whether physical, verbal or written, of other users or Simtex staff members, may in the sole discretion of Simtex result in the cancellation of the user's Simtex account(s).
• In providing internet access or facilitation of internet access to those under 18 years, users should consider restricting that access by use of filtering software.
• Simtex recommends that all users install an anti-virus program and update it regularly.
• Distribution of Viruses: Intentional distributions of software that attempts to and/or causes damage, harassment, or annoyance to persons, data, and/or computer systems are prohibited. Such an offence will result in the immediate termination of the offending account.
• Inappropriate Use of Software: Use of software or any device that would facilitate a continued connection, i.e. pinging, while using Simtex services could result in suspension service.
• IRC networks: It is absolutely forbidden to host an IRC server that is part of or connected to another IRC network or server. Servers found to be connecting to or part of these networks will be immediately removed from our network without notice. The server will not be reconnected to the network until such time that you agree to completely remove any and all traces of the IRC server, and agree to let us have access to your server to confirm that the content has been completely removed. Any server guilty of a second violation will result in immediate account termination.
• We do not routinely monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements of system utilization and the preparation of billing records. 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 service.
• If an Simtex account is used to violate the Acceptable Use Policy or our Terms & Conditions, we reserve the right to terminate your service without notice. We prefer to advise customers of inappropriate behaviour and any necessary corrective action, however, flagrant violations of the Acceptable Use Policy will result in immediate termination of service. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

Reporting Policy Breaches

Please supply Simtex with any examples of infringements of the Acceptable Use Policy that are encountered. Include the complete e-mail message, web page URL, Posting or Usenet article (include all x-headers) and logon or attempted cracking or probing time (plus your time zone information) and by e-mail to support@simtex.com.au  or send to:

Simtex
PO Box 88,
Floreat Forum, WA 6014

Investigation by Authorities

Simtex reserves the right to act in any appropriate manner, where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that illegal or unacceptable usage of the Simtex network and systems is occurring. Simtex co-operates fully with Commonwealth and State Police and other bodies investigating unlawful behaviour on or via its network or systems. Simtex reserves the right to suspend your access if your usage of its network or systems is subject to any investigation.

Changes

Simtex may vary this policy at any time. Simtex will post the revised Policy on its home page. Your continued use after such posting will constitute acceptance of the variation. Simtex may also give notice to you of a variation of this Policy by email to the email address notified by you or by or any other means it deems appropriate.

Simtex reserves the right to alter this document at any time and it is the responsibility of Simtex Users to have read the most up-to-date Simtex Acceptable Use Policy.