Terms of Service
These Terms Of Service And Acceptable Use Policies ("Terms and Policies") are an essential part of your relationship with iStep. By using your iStep account, you agree to all of the Terms and Policies set out in this document.
1. General Terms and Policies. iStep is a private company providing a commercial gateway to the Internet. iStep's equipment and facilities may be used to send electronic mail, conduct commercial transactions, access the World Wide Web, newsgroups and private networks, engage in on-line chat sessions, transfer files, enjoy audio and video programming, and otherwise participate in all legal aspects of the Internet (these uses are referred to in this document as "the Service"), subject to these Terms and Policies.
The Service is provided to authorized persons or organizations (referred to in this document as "Subscriber" or "you"). Any use of the service is subject to any restrictions listed below. By using the Service, you agree to be bound by all of theses Terms and Policies. If you do not agree to be bound by these Terms and Policies, you must cancel your account immediately and may not thereafter use or attempt to use the Service.
iStep grants you a non-exclusive right to access, use and display the Service on any computers or other electronic display devices of which you are a primary user. You may not assign, sub-license or transfer any rights or obligations of the Service without the express written consent of iStep.
2. Coverage. If you are an individual Subscriber, these Terms and Policies apply to all persons who gain access through your account. If you are a commercial Subscriber, these Terms and Policies apply to all your employees, agents and/or customers. In either instance, a violation of these Terms and Policies by anyone using your account will be treated as a violation by you.
3. Prices and Charges. iStep charges are as follows:
See iStep web site for specific fees for services.
Unsolicited Bulk E-mail ("spam") cleanup:
$200.00 + $5 per message sent + $10 per complaint received by iStep. --OR-- $150.00 per hour spent by iStep personnel
Charges are due within 30 days of the date on iStepÆs invoice. Payments received after that date will incur a late payment charge of 1.5% of the total amount past due.
Any checks returned by the issuing institution will be charged a processing fee of $35.00. Any billing refused or charged-back by your credit card company or issuing bank will result in a handling charge of $35.00. If you provide a credit card to iStep to pay for your services, you hereby agree to allow iStep to charge such card for any recurring fees, including current services as well as any future changes in services.
If you fail to pay for your account for 45 days after the date of the invoice, iStep may without further notice terminate your account. Termination does not remove your responsibility to pay all fees incurred up to the date that iStep terminates your account. If iStep incurs any fees or costs in collecting any past-due amounts, including costs of attorneys or a collection bureau, those fees and costs will be added to the amount you owe.
4. Term. The Service is provided to you based on the type of service you have signed up. Please see iStep web site for details. iStep must receive written notice of termination (which may be by first-class mail or by fax) from you at least 15 days prior to end of a month, or the Service will be provided and charged to you for the following month and so forth until proper notice is received. Upon receiving written notice of termination, iStep will issue a ticket number to you via e-mail to confirm we have received your notice. If you do not receive a ticket number within 15 days, please re-submit your request or call the iStep office. Your notice of termination will not be honored unless there is a ticket number to confirm that we have received your notice.
5. Grounds for Suspension and Termination. You agree to comply with these Terms and Policies, as well as the applicable rules, regulations and policies of any network, bulletin board, newsgroup, web site or Internet Service Provider accessed through the Service. Any violation of either these Terms and Policies or the other rules, regulations or policies noted above may serve as cause for iStep to suspend or terminate your account. You agree that iStep has the right, with or without notice, to suspend or terminate your account upon the first or subsequent occurrence of any of the following:
a.Using the Service in a way which constitutes violation of any applicable statute, law, court order, tariff, regulation, or treaty (including, but not limited to, intellectual property, communications, privacy, criminal and international law);
b.Using the Service in a manner intended to abuse or violate the privacy or property rights of others, including but not limited to sending of unsolicited bulk e-mail ("spamming"); this ground for suspension or termination is separate from and in addition to the fees which will result from such activity;
c.Using the Service in an attempt to break security, or so as to actually break security of any computer network (including the Service itself), or to access an account, message, or file which does not belong to you;
d.Using the Service in such a way as to forge or mis-represent headers, addresses, or other identification in electronic mail or USENET postings, or using any other method to disguise the sender's identity or location;
e.Excessively using the Service in such a way as to limit the bandwidth available to others, including, but not limited to, download traffic of two gigabytes or more per day for the SubscriberÆs web page or site, sending e-mail traffic in excess of 100 megabytes per day, or the use of ping, e-mail check, excessive IRC logging, or any automated program with the sole intent of creating a continuous connection;
f.Posting commercial messages to a USENET group where the posting is not approved by the specific USENET group in its charter;
g.Using the Service to operate server programs, including, but not limited to mail servers, IRC serves, game servers, ftp servers, Web servers, or streaming audio/video servers.
h.Using the Service to promote or solicit competing Internet services;
i.Using the Service for unauthorized relays through any third party systems;
j.Attempting, in any way, to interfere with or deny service to any user or any host on the Internet;
k.Using the Service for mail-bombing, which includes any instance where multiple messages are sent to a specific destination with the intent to render the recipient and/or the electronic system serving that recipient dysfunctional;
l.Using the Service to add or attempt to add addresses to any mailing list (yours or a third partyÆs) without the explicit positive consent of the addressee(s);
m.Using the Service to forward or post "chain letters" (multiple forwarding) of any type;
n.Attempting to cancel, supersede, or otherwise interfere with e-mail or USENET posts other than your own;
o.Engaging in harassment, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages;
p.Using the Service to engage in syn flood attacks, which are defined as overburdening a recipient computer system by sending a high volume of spurious data which effective impedes or totally disables functionality of the recipient system(s), or any other methods of denial-of-service attacks; or,
q.Furnishing false data on your sign-up form, contract, or online application, including providing fraudulent credit card or other payment information.
No bill credit will be given for a period of suspension. In the event of termination of your use of the Service under this section, iStep may at its sole discretion retain any or all amounts you have paid for use of the Service as liquidated damages for your actions.
6. Security. You agree not to access or attempt to access private areas of the Service. You agree to notify iStep as soon as you become aware of an unauthorized use of your account and/or any breach or attempted breach of security on the Service.
7. Intellectual Property. iStep does not undertake to examine or review messages, files, or other materials which are accessible through, pass through, or reside on the Service. In compliance with the Federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act, iStep has designated Legal Department as the individual to receive complaints about alleged copyright infringement taking place on iStep's facilities. To avail yourself of the protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, if you believe that your copyright(s) is being infringed by means of material hosted on iStep's facilities, you need to provide a signed notice in writing to the Legal Department, continuing a specific identification of the allegedly infringing material and the location(s) on iStep's facilities where the materials are to be found. Upon receipt of such written notice, iStep will expeditiously remove or block access to the allegedly infringing material, and provide notice to the person who had posted that material. If iStep receives a notification from that person indicating that the claim of infringement was based upon mistake or misidentification, iStep will send you a copy of that notification. Unless you notify iStep of appropriate court action to restrain the alleged infringement, the challenged material will then be restored or other wise made accessible again.
8. Liability. You agree that use of the Service is at your own risk. Except for information, products, or services clearly identified as being supplied by iStep, neither iStep nor any of its affiliates controls, provides, operates, or is in any way responsible for any information, products, or services accessible through the Service. iStep neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy of third-party material(s), and you agree that iStep is not responsible for any loss or damage caused by your use of, or reliance on, such material(s).
You understand and agree that you have sole responsibility for your posting of any information or material to any site or newsgroup on the Internet, including but not limited to postings to Web sites, whether residing on iStep's equipment or not, postings to newsgroups, and participation in any on-line chat sessions. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless iStep and its officers, directors, employees, and other customers and subscribers from and against any claims, losses, costs, liability, damages or expenses arising out of your postings.
You agree that, should you use the Service to send or receive voice communications, iStep is not acting as a telecommunications carrier or telephone company, that there is no representation made by iStep as to the suitability of the Service for such use, and that all risk of connection, transmission quality, and accuracy of communications is solely on you, and that iStep has no liability of any sort for the failure or lack of quality of such use of the Service.
You agree to be liable for any damages or loss of service which results in damages to iStep as a result of any spamming or other violations of Section 5 above. These damages include, but are not limited to, system shut downs, retaliatory attacks or data flooding, and loss of peering arrangements. You agree that iStep may pursue any such claims against you in District Court in San Francisco, California.
You agree that in no event will iStep have financial liability to you in excess of the dollar amount remaining on your current service period.
9. Warranty. ISTEP MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE SERVICE, OR ANY SOFTWARE OR OTHER MATERIAL AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU MAY HAVE TOLD ISTEP ABOUT YOUR INTENDED USE OF THE SERVICE. NO ORAL ADVICE OR INFORMATION GIVEN BY ISTEP OR ITS EMPLOYEES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR OTHERWISE ALTER THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.
THE SERVICE AND ANY SOFTWARE PROVIDED TO YOU BY ISTEP ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS; ISTEP DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THEY WILL BE ERROR-FREE AND/OR UNINTERRUPTED, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. ISTEP DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SECURITY OR BACK-UP OF ANY OF YOUR DATA WHICH MAY BE STORED ON THE SERVICE.10. Content. You understand and agree that information and access available through the Service may include controversial, sexually explicit, or other material that may be offensive to you or users for whom you are responsible. iStep has no responsibility for or control over such materials, and you take sole responsibility for using any available screening software or other methods of limiting access (specifically including the access of minors) to any material you may find objectionable.
11. Dial-up Connection. iStep may terminate a dial-up Subscriber's connection following 10 minutes of inactivity as determined by iStep in its sole discretion.
12. Privacy. iStep commits to follow the controlling Federal and state laws respecting Subscriber privacy and data access. iStep will not provide names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, or other personally identifiable information on any Subscriber to any third party without prior permission from that Subscriber, or as required under an appropriate court or administrative directive, including a facially valid subpoena, or as necessary to cooperate with law enforcement. iStep may provide aggregate data on Subscribers to third parties in the operation of iStep's business.
13. Disputes. You agree that any dispute between you and iStep arising out of your use of the Service on in any way based upon your subscription to and/or use of the Service which cannot be resolved between you and iStep will be submitted by the aggrieved party for binding arbitration under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association. Any demand for arbitration under this Section must be filed with the American Arbitration AssociationÆs office in San Francisco, California. The arbitration must be held in San Francisco, California, and the arbitrator must be a person with experience in online services operation.
14. Governing Law. These Terms and Policies are governed in all respects under the laws of the State of California.
15. Amendments. These Terms and Policies may be amended in any respect at any time by iStep upon the posting of the amended Terms and Policies on the iStep web site under the Policies section. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed consent to any such amended Terms and Policies. If you do not wish to continue to use the Service as a result of any such amended Terms and Policies, you may provide notice of your wish to terminate your use of the Service to the Billing Department, and any unused portion of fees you have paid for the Service will be returned to you within 30 days.