Abuse Policy

System (network) abuse is strictly prohibited. Connect Northwest in its sole discretion may terminate or modify service immediately and may bill you for any resulting support charges if you or someone who uses your Connect Northwest service engages in system abuse. Following is a list of actions, which are defined to be system abuse. This list is non-exclusive; any action about which there is any doubt should be referred to Network Abuse for evaluation.

Actions which constitute abuse include, but are not limited to:

1. Attempting to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account on Connect Northwest systems or the Internet at large.
2. Attempting, in any way, to restrict, inhibit, interfere with, or degrade or deny service to any user, any host or any server on the Internet.
3. Falsifying, altering, or removing message headers.
4. Violating the regulations, rules or policies applicable to any network, server, computer database, or web site that you access.
5. Unauthorized port scanning. Using or distributing devices used for compromising security, such as password gatherers or password guessing programs, decoders, encryption circumvention devices, packet sniffers, unauthorized keystroke loggers, analyzers, cracking tools, or Trojan Horse programs.
6. Posting inappropriate messages to USENET newsgroups, e.g. posting large numbers of unsolicited posts indiscriminately or posting encoded binary files to USENET newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose.
7. Attempting to cancel, supersede, or otherwise interfere with email or USENET posts other than one’s own.
8. Engaging in harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages. Using an account at another service provider to promote a Connect Northwest web site in an abusive manner.
9. Using a Connect Northwest account or network connection to collect replies to messages sent from another provider which violate these rules or those of that provider or to participate in an illegal scheme.
10. Reselling Connect Northwest services to third parties who do not abide by these guidelines.
11. Using Connect Northwest’s system or equipment in support of activities that would, if conducted on Connect Northwest’s system, violate Connect Northwest’s Network Abuse Policies.
12. Making any entry into Connect Northwest’s websites or system to extract data is unauthorized and prohibited, unless it relates directly to evaluating or using Connect Northwest’s commercial or residential services.
13. Accessing any other person’s computer or computer system, network, software, or data without his or her knowledge and consent.
14. Automated or manual generation of network traffic to simulate hits to blogs or other web-sites for reasons other than the good-faith intention of an Internet user to visit a web site to purchase goods or services or to obtain information, or with the intent to promote an unrelated web site. Examples: Click Fraud, Referrer Log Spamming, web-based comment spam.
15. Damage to any Connect Northwest equipment in the customer’s possession will void the warranty on that piece of equipment and the customer will be responsible for paying for any resulting repairs or replacements.
16. Excessive bandwidth usage; defined as using more than 75% of the maximum allowed bandwidth for more than 72 hours in any month. If a customer’s use of the service is found to be excessive, Connect Northwest may, in its sole discretion, place additional restrictions on the customer’s service, and suggest an upgrade of the customer’s service plan.
17. Using any telephony devices connected to the integrated telephone ports on the customer’s network which do not comply with FCC standards for operation on US telephone networks. Use of telephony equipment not designed for US telephone networks is expressly forbidden. Customer will be responsible for paying for any resulting repairs or other losses resulting from non-conforming equipment.
18. Storing any material or content on, or disseminate any material or content over, Connect Northwest’s system in any manner that constitutes an infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including rights granted by U.S. copyright law. Owners of copyrighted works who believe that their rights under U.S. copyright law have been infringed may take advantage of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) to report alleged infringements. It is Connect Northwest’s policy in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable laws to reserve the right to terminate service provided to any customer or user who is either found to infringe third party copyright or other intellectual property rights, or who Connect Northwest, in its sole discretion, believes is infringing these rights. Connect Northwest may terminate service at any time with or without notice for any affected customer or user.
19. Configuring the Connect Northwest service or any related equipment to access or use a static IP address or use any protocol other than dynamic host configuration protocol unless you have a Connect Northwest service plan that expressly permits you to do so.
20. Engaging in any activity which Connect Northwest believes, in its sole judgment, to be in support of spamming or bulk e-mail activities, including forwarding or posting “chain letters” (multiple forwarding) of any type.

Transmission of Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail

Connect Northwest does not authorize the use of its computer network to accept, transmit or distribute unsolicited bulk e-mail sent from the Internet to its customers. Connect Northwest does not authorize the harvesting or collection of screen names from its equipment or customers for the purpose of sending unsolicited bulk e-mail. Connect Northwest reserves the right to take all legal and technical steps available to prevent unsolicited bulk e-mail or other unauthorized e-mail from entering, utilizing or remaining within the Connect Northwest system. Unauthorized use of the Connect Northwest system in connection with the transmission of unsolicited bulk e-mail or counterfeit or misleading e-mail may result in substantial civil penalties against the sender, including those provided by the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act (Wash. Rev. Code Chapter 19.190 et seq.) and the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. sections 1030 et seq.).

Anyone who believes there is a violation of the policies above is encouraged to direct that information to our Network Abuse department through our online form or at abuse@cnw.com.