EarthLink Acceptable Use Policy

Effective Date: April 1, 2024

1. Introduction

By using EarthLink services and/or equipment provided by EarthLink in connection therewith, which include all services that provide or include access to the Internet, including, without limitation, email services, mobile applications, hosting services (software applications and hardware), or use of the EarthLink Websites and any products or services offered on or through the EarthLink Websites (collectively, the “EarthLink Services” or “Services”), you (the “Subscriber”, “user” or “you”) and all others who use the Services agree to comply with the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”). The EarthLink Websites include, but are not limited to: earthlink.net, any Webpages provided by EarthLink through earthlink.net and peoplepc.com subdomains, any third party or co-branded versions of these sites, and any successor or replacement sites.

This AUP should be read in conjunction with the Service Agreement for your particular EarthLink Service and the EarthLink Privacy Policy. Your failure, or others’ failure, to comply with this AUP could result in the suspension or termination of your Service or Service account(s). If you do not agree to comply with this AUP, you must immediately stop your use of the EarthLink Services and notify EarthLink to close your account.

EarthLink reserves the right to change or modify the terms of the AUP at any time effective when posted on EarthLink’s website at earthlink.net/tcs. Your use of the Services after changes to the AUP are posted shall constitute acceptance of any changed or additional terms.

2. Violations of this Acceptable Use Policy

The AUP prohibits uses and activities involving EarthLink Services that are illegal, infringe the rights of others, or interfere with or diminish the use and enjoyment of the EarthLink Services by others.

The remainder of this Section 2 includes a list and description of some, but not all, of the activities that constitute violations of this AUP if done using EarthLink Services or equipment, whether provided by EarthLink or customer-owned.

Illegal Use: Transmitting, uploading/downloading, posting, receiving, storing, or presenting content or other material that EarthLink believes would violate or encourage conduct that would violate any applicable local, state, federal or international law or regulation including, but not limited to, content or material which is libelous, obscene, unlawful, threatening or defamatory, or regarding illegal gambling, human trafficking, illegal drugs or goods, weapons, fraud, illegal prostitution, acts of terrorism or other illegal conduct.

Fraudulent Financial Activity: Making or promoting fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, goods or services, advancing any type of illegal financial activity such as “pyramid” or “Ponzi schemes,” or fraudulently charging any method of payment (e.g. debit or credit cards).

Harm to Minors: Harming, attempting to harm, exploiting or encouraging the exploitation of minors in any way, including, but not limited to, the use of the EarthLink Services (i) to publish, submit/receive, distribute, solicit, present, upload/download, post, use, copy, or otherwise produce, transmit or store child pornography, or (ii) to collect, post, sell, or disclose personally identifiable or private information of children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and its implementing rules and regulations.

For information about how to protect minors online and to determine the appropriate parental blocking and filtering controls for online activity, please visit the websites for Family Online Safety Institute and ConnectSafely, which are advocacy groups that provide information and connections to third-party filtering tools you can use on your home computers and mobile devices.

Threats and Harassment: Uploading, posting, publishing, or transmitting any material that (i) threatens, harasses, defames, or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property of an individual or a group, including on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, national origin, gender or gender identity, race, religion, or sexual orientation, or (ii) espouses or promotes racism or bigotry. In addition, for those Services that utilize EarthLink-provided web hosting, EarthLink reserves the right to decline to provide such services if the content is determined by EarthLink to be obscene, indecent, hateful, malicious, racist, defamatory, fraudulent, libelous, treasonous, excessively violent, promoting the use of violence, or otherwise harmful to others.

Spamming: Transmitting or facilitating unsolicited or illegal commercial or bulk email. Violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, or any other applicable law regulating e-mail services, constitutes a violation of this AUP. Examples of spamming include but are not limited to the following activities:

  • sending multiple unsolicited electronic mail messages or “mail bombing” to one or more recipients;
  • sending unsolicited commercial e-mail, or unsolicited electronic messages directed primarily at the advertising or promotion of products or services;
  • sending bulk electronic messages without identifying, within the message, a reasonable means of opting out from receiving additional messages from the sender;
  • sending electronic messages, files, or other transmissions that exceed contracted for capacity or that create potential for disruption of the EarthLink network by virtue of quantity, size, or otherwise;
  • using another site’s mail server to relay mail without express permission of that site;
  • using distribution lists containing addresses that include those who have opted out;
  • sending electronic messages that do not accurately identify the sender, the sender’s return address, the e-mail address of origin, or other information contained in the subject line or header.

Phishing: Attempting to impersonate any person, group or entity, engaging in sender address or network header falsification, or forging anyone else’s digital or manual signature.

Intellectual Property Infringement: Transmitting, publishing, submitting/receiving, uploading/downloading, using, copying or posting or otherwise reproducing, distributing or storing any content or material that infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary or intellectual property or privacy or publicity rights of EarthLink or any third party. EarthLink is registered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. EarthLink’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act Policy is located at earthlink.net/tcs.

Unauthorized Use of EarthLink’s Intellectual Property: Using any EarthLink trademark, trade name or other intellectual property in any way and in any media without EarthLink’s prior written authorization, or otherwise taking any action that improperly implies that EarthLink sponsors or is affiliated with you or your use of the EarthLink Services.

Collection of Personal Data without Consent: Collecting or attempting to collect personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent or under false pretenses.

Unauthorized Account Access: Accessing, attempting to access or assisting another in accessing through any means the accounts, including email or websites, of others without their knowledge or consent.

Unauthorized System or Network Access: Penetrating, attempting to penetrate, or assisting another in penetrating through any means EarthLink’s or another entity’s or person’s systems, networks, devices, or software; or circumventing, attempting to circumvent, or assisting another in circumventing EarthLink’s or another entity’s or person’s security measures. Examples of unauthorized system or network access in violation of this AUP include but are not limited to:

  • unauthorized monitoring, scanning or probing of any network or system or any other action aimed at the unauthorized interception of data or harvesting of e-mail addresses;
  • hacking, attacking, gaining access to, breaching, circumventing or testing the vulnerability of the user authentication or security of any host, network, server, personal computer, network access and control devices, software or data without express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
  • impersonating others or secretly or deceptively obtaining personal information of third parties (phishing, etc.);
  • using any program, file, script, command, or transmission of any message or content of any kind, designed to interfere with a terminal session, the access to or use of the Internet or any other means of communication;
  • distributing or using tools designed to compromise security (including but not limited to SNMP tools), including cracking tools, password guessing programs, packet sniffers, or network probing tools (except in the case of authorized legitimate network security operations); and
  • with respect to dial-up accounts, using any software or device designed to defeat system time-out limits or to allow Subscriber’s account to stay logged on while Subscriber is not actively using the Services or using such account for the purpose of operating a server of any type.

Using or Distributing Internet Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses or Other Destructive Activity that Compromise Security: Engaging in activities that disrupt or degrade the use of or interfere with the ability of other people to effectively use EarthLink’s network or any connected network system, service or equipment including using or distributing, among other things, Internet viruses, worms, Trojan Horse programs, password guessing programs, decoders, keystroke loggers, cracking tools, packet sniggers, flooding of a network, encryption circumvention devices, or unauthorized port scanning.

Denial of Service: Routing or relaying traffic between unknown third parties or as a source of denial of service attacks, or otherwise sending traffic to unknown third parties. You may not permit any network utilizing or accessing the EarthLink Services, whether through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that it gives a third party the capability to use your network in an illegal or inappropriate manner.

Long Connections and Multiple Logins: Using an EarthLink Service account for high volume or commercial use is prohibited. The EarthLink Services are intended for periodic, active residential and/or small business use. You may not use the EarthLink Services on a standby or inactive basis in order to maintain a connection. Pinging is expressly prohibited.

Network Probing: Any type of detective network activity, including, but not limited to, port scanning and pinging.

Terms of Use Violation: Violating the terms of use or policies of EarthLink or any third party from or through which EarthLink provides content, including newsgroup providers.

3. Reporting Violations of this Acceptable Use Policy

EarthLink requires anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP to direct the relevant information promptly to: [email protected]. We ask that anyone who believes the violation involves child pornography to direct the report to [email protected]. Please direct any questions about this AUP to [email protected].

If available, the following information should be provided in the report:

  • The IP address used to commit the alleged violation
  • The date and time of the alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT
  • Evidence of the alleged violation

Please note that if you are reporting an email, a copy of the email with full header information provides all of the above information.

4. How EarthLink Addresses Violations of this Acceptable Use Policy

Your failure to comply in full with this AUP may result in EarthLink taking any number of actions, from the issuance of a warning to a suspension or termination of your EarthLink Services or account(s). EarthLink may, but is not required to, monitor your compliance with the terms this AUP. You acknowledge that EarthLink has the right, but not the obligation, to pre-screen, refuse, or remove any content available from your use of the EarthLink Services, including, but not limited to, content that violates the law or the terms of this AUP.

If EarthLink receives a complaint or otherwise becomes aware of any possible violation of this AUP, EarthLink may, in its sole discretion, initiate an investigation. EarthLink reserves the right, however, to act immediately and without notice to suspend or terminate affected EarthLink Services in response to a court order or government notice that certain conduct must be stopped, or when EarthLink reasonably determines that your use of the Services may: (1) expose EarthLink to sanctions, prosecution, civil action or any other liability; (2) cause harm or to interfere with the integrity or normal operations of EarthLink’s network or networks with which EarthLink is interconnected; (3) interfere with another EarthLink customer’s use of the Services or the Internet; (4) violate any applicable law, rule, or regulation; or (5) otherwise present an imminent risk of harm to EarthLink or EarthLink customers. Upon termination of your Service or account, EarthLink is authorized to delete any files, programs, data, email or other messages associated with your account (and any secondary accounts).

If EarthLink believes that a violation of this AUP has occurred (regardless of whether it is unlawful), EarthLink may take any one or more of the following actions without notice to you:

  • Issue a written or verbal warning
  • Remove content
  • Suspend your EarthLink Services or account(s)
  • Terminate your EarthLink Services or account(s)
  • Remove, block or otherwise prevent access to websites
  • Bill you for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges
  • Bring or assist in legal action relating to such violations, including to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, caused by violations.

5. Revisions to this Acceptable Use Policy

EarthLink may revise, amend, or modify this AUP at any time by posting the revised version of this AUP on earthlink.net/tcs. The revised version will be effective on the date that it is posted as stated at the end of the revised version. Your continued use of the Services after the date of the revised version constitutes your acceptance of all of the revisions. If you do not agree to the revisions in the revised version, your sole and exclusive remedy will be to terminate your account and cease use of the EarthLink Services.

6. Miscellaneous

The failure of EarthLink to enforce this AUP will not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. If any section of this AUP is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining sections will remain in full force and effect. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold EarthLink and its officers, directors, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, suppliers, and vendors (collectively, the “EarthLink Parties,” and individually, an “EarthLink Party”) harmless from and against all third party claims, demands, suits, actions, judgments, losses, costs, damages including, but not limited to, direct, indirect and consequential damages, attorney’s fees and expenses that an EarthLink Party may sustain or incur by reason of your violation of this AUP and/or any applicable law or violation of this AUP or/or any applicable law by anyone else through your account. This AUP is governed by Georgia law without regard to conflict of law provisions.