Your signature on the Mid-South application or use of Mid-South services construes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions and Acceptable Use Policy (TACAUP) which supersede all previous representations, understandings or agreements and shall prevail notwithstanding any variance with terms and conditions of any order. Mid-South reserves the right to add, remove, alter or modify the TACAUP or to change pricing or services at any time without notice. If Mid-South changes the TACAUP our members have two options as their sole recourse. First; accept the TACAUP in its entirety and continue using and enjoying our service. Second; request a refund for any unused portion of their membership, as covered under the billing and settlement section of this document. The most current Terms and Conditions and Acceptable Use Policy is located on our Web page and can be identified by the revision number in the upper left hand corner. Please check our Web page for the most current version. If you have any questions regarding Mid-South’s TACAUP please e-mail use@mscc.net. Please do not call technical support regarding TACAUP questions.

Mid-South may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission of, or storage of material in violation of federal, state or local regulation is strictly prohibited. This includes, but not limited to material that is: copyrighted, judged to be threatening, compromises security or privacy, or is protected by trade secret. Mid-South reserves the right to remove or modify, at its discretion, any material in violation of these policies. You agree to comply with the rules and restrictions appropriate to other networks or services connected directly or indirectly to Mid-South. This includes, but is not limited to, the Acceptable Use Policies established for Usenet and the Internet as a whole. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Mid-South from any claims resulting from your conduct and/or use of the service causing damages you or another party. Mid-South reserves the right to refuse service to anyone, and to terminate an account at any time. To aid the employees of Mid-South in providing the best Internet access available and keep your service the best it can be, we have a set of rules known as the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). This policy applies to all of our members equally and covers topics such as account usage, as well as mail, news, and chat abuse.

Disclaimer of Liability:

Mid-South exercises no control whatsoever over the content of the information passing through its systems. Mid-South makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, for services provided. Mid-South disclaims any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Mid-South is not responsible for any damage suffered from the direct or indirect use of its services. This includes, but is not limited to: loss of information, expenses and loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, or service interruptions regardless of cause. Use of any information obtained via Mid-South is at your own risk. Mid-South specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through or from its services.

Payment:

Payment: Member shall pay, in accordance with the billing option selected by the member, any registration fee, connect time charges, and other charges incurred by member or designated users at the rates in effect for the billing period in which the charges were incurred. Members are aware, and do hereby authorize that accounts will automatically renew, on their anniversary date, and that the fees will automatically be withdrawn from your accounts with the billing option you selected (i.e.. Credit Card, ACH, direct bill, etc.). Member shall pay all applicable taxes relating to use of the service by member or its designated users. Member shall be responsible for any use of the services accessed through members or, it's designated users' passwords. Storage and connect surcharges, if any, are accrued for payment upon your next billing cycle and will automatically be billed with the billing option you selected (i.e.. Credit Card, ACH, direct bill, etc.). Billing notices will be sent via E-Mail to the member's dial-in email account on Mid-South. It is the responsibility of the member to check their email and to keep current billing address and phone number on file with Mid-South. Mid-South accepts cash, check; ACH, VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card. Questions regarding billing can be E-Mailed to billing@mscc.net.

It is the member's responsibility to remain current at all times. All members accounts automatically renew on their anniversary date with the payment method and billing cycle selected unless notification is given to Mid-South as outlined below. If you are paying by check or money order, it is the member's responsibility to get the payment to us on time, you will be sent a reminder with the amount due via e-mail so you must take responsibility for regularly reading your e-mail. Payment is due on the anniversary date and the account will be subject to deactivation if payment is not received in this office within 7 days of the anniversary date. Failure to pay charges in a timely manner may result in deletion of Member's account and all subsequent information contained therein. Mid-South reserves the right to terminate and delete all information contained in and about accounts, that are more than 15 days delinquent. There is a $20 reactivation fee for all terminated dialup accounts and a $200 reactivation fee for all other accounts; data removed from our servers CAN NOT be retrieved. If a member wishes to discontinue their account, or change their billing method, they must give written notice (by fax, email, or postal mail) before the anniversary date of the account or risk being charged for the next billing cycle. Mid-South can be contacted as outlined below:

Personal accounts feature dial-up access to the Mid-South host computers for home, entertainment or student use. All accounts include E-mail, Usenet news feed, and the World Wide Web. Modem speeds up to 56Kbps and ISDN speeds up to 128k are currently supported, with higher connect speeds available as technology permits. All software provided by Mid-South is governed by individual license agreements use of software constitutes your acceptance of the programs respective license agreement
 

Although we offer unlimited usage, members must disconnect and re-login after 4 hours of connection time. This is so all members may have equal access to our service. Failure to comply with this regulation may cause your account to be terminated.

• Members must log off every 4 hours. Although Mid-South has enough modems to accommodate traffic, there are times when the number of people online peaks. We do not wish for members to "camp out" on our modems, thus making the lines unavailable for other members, therefore we ask that members log off after 4 hours, at which time, they may immediately log back in. This policy is established for the benefit of all subscribers to make sure everyone has an equal chance of logging in.

   

• Mid-South understands that there are times when members find it necessary to stay logged on for more than 4 hours at a time however; if after 4 1/2 hours a member is still on-line Mid-South reserves the right to drop the members' connection.
  
   

Account Usage:

• Single Person Accounts. All Mid-South Basic and Standard modem accounts and 64K and 128K ISDN accounts are single member, non-commercial accounts only. This means that only the member, or a relative residing in the same household, should access the account and there should only be one concurrent login session at any given time

Domain Registrations:

     • Domain-Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP)
     • Domain-Name gTLD Registration Agreement
     • Domain-Name .BIZ Registration Agreement
     • Domain-Name .INFO Registration Agreement

 

Basic and Standard accounts are entitled to 10 megabytes (MB) of storage for email and other data, additional disk space can be purchased on request for as little as $5 per month. Members may use and purge disk space many times during the course of the day without charge, however; usage above the members allocated amounts can be charged at a rate of $1.00 per MB per day.
 

Communications surcharges, if applicable, are in addition to membership charges and will be billed on a monthly basis the following surcharges currently are in effect:

• 800 Direct Dial Access (United States only) any time $0.15 per minute. The 800 Direct Dial Access information can be found online at http://www.txcyber.com/hours/800.html

   

You are responsible for determining the legal status of any intellectual property you use or duplicate through our system. Some of the material available on networks is copyrighted, and some of it may have been distributed in violation of copyright laws. We cannot and do not review the information flowing through or stored on our system. You agree not to violate copyright laws by transferring copyrighted works through our system or by causing them to be transferred or stored without the permission of the copyright holder. Breaking this agreement will be grounds for account termination. This is as much to protect us from liability as it is to respect the laws of the U.S.A. We consider the exchange of information about security mechanisms to be protected speech. However, traffic in access codes, credit card numbers, or similar information is a crime that we take seriously. We expect you to respect the rights and privacy of all people and to use your account only for lawful purposes.

Because your electronic communications are private, we cannot be responsible for their contents. The Internet and Usenet are large communities, which generally regard censorship as worse than obscenity. Through our service, you will have access to and may at some time or another be exposed to materials that you find offensive. Such materials include sexually explicit text and (encoded) images, pro-religious and anti- religious debate, racial and other hate mongering—and worse.

Due to the adult nature of the materials available on the Internet, all minors MUST have a parent or guardian sign the Service Order Form. Lying about whether or not you are at least 18 years of age on the Service Order Form will be grounds for account dismissal.

You are responsible for all actions you take or cause to be taken in connection with your use of the service. As a condition of service, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Mid-South Corporation, its officers, employees, agents, and shareholders, for any cause of action out of your account with use or your use of the service.

Our 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee is available with all personal accounts. If you cancel your new account within thirty days of signup, you will be refunded your first month’s payment within four to six weeks. The activation fee is non-refundable.

Mid-South Corporation reserves the right to terminate or refuse service to anyone, at any time, for any reason. It is the member’s responsibility to keep abreast of our Acceptable Use Policy.

Mid-South's Acceptable Use Policy


Please also read the following addendums:
     • TERMS AND CONDITIONS ADDENDUM #1
     • ADVANCED DATA SERVICES (ADS) TERMS AND CONDITIONS
     • Mid-South'S SPAMMING & RELAYING POLICY STATEMENT
 

Net Etiquette and Abuse:

At Mid-South, we would like every person to have the best Internet experience possible; however, we do not wish it to be at other members’ expense. The Internet is a global computer network, which is comprised of people from diverse backgrounds. When communicating with people on the Internet, it is best to keep in mind that there is another person on the other end of the computer that you are communicating with. Please treat others with the same respect, as you would like to be treated. Following is a set of guidelines regarding the three most common forms of Internet communication: e-mail, Usenet, and Internet Relay Chat.
 

• Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message anything you would not put on a postcard (such as your credit card number).

   

• Respect the copyright on material that you reproduce. Almost every country has copyright laws. Mid-South Corporation cannot and does not review the information flowing through or stored on our system. When you become a Mid-South member, you are agreeing not to transfer or store copyrighted works on our system without the permission of the copyright holder.

   

• Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters are forbidden on the Internet. If you are found to be sending chain letters, your account status will come under consideration. Chain Letters/Pyramid Schemes. According to United States law, chain letters and pyramid schemes are illegal. If you are found to be posting these to news or sending them via e-mail, your account will be terminated. To read more about chain letters, you can view U.S. Postal Service information regarding them.

   

• The sender and the recipient (or their organizations) on the average, pay the cost of delivering an e-mail message about equally. This is unlike other media such as physical mail, telephone, TV, or radio. Sending someone mail may also cost them in other specific ways like network bandwidth, disk space or CPU usage. This is a fundamental economic reason why unsolicited e-mail advertising is unwelcome (and is forbidden in many contexts).

   

• Repeatedly sending anyone e-mail with the intent to harass or harm his or her account (i.e., "Spam" or "mail bombing") is strictly forbidden. Participating in such will be grounds for account termination.

   

• Content. Mid-South does not regulate the content of USENET newsgroups; therefore, Mid-South is not liable for their contents. Please do not contact the administrators regarding copyright issues, inflammatory posts, etc.

   

• Commercial Posts. Commercial posts are frowned upon in many newsgroups. If you are attempting to sell goods or services, please make sure you do so in the proper forums (*.forsale, business groups, etc.).

   

• Chain Letters/Pyramid Schemes. According to United States law, chain letters and pyramid schemes are illegal. If you are found to be posting these to news or sending them via e-mail, your account will be terminated. To read more about chain letters, you can view U.S. Postal Service information regarding them.

   

• Sending mass posts to multiple newsgroups, known as "spamming" is strictly forbidden.

   

Internet Relay Chat is a global network of chat servers, which offers people on the Internet the ability to converse in real-time, textual, chat. IRC is often viewed as a chaotic network, which is controlled by the IRC Server Administrators, Server Operators, and Channel Operators. The people who run the servers appoint server administrators and operators, and channel operators are the people who create the channel or any others who they appoint. Due to the open nature of IRC, it is not possible for Mid-South to monitor the content of speech. Be advised that much like USENET, you will encounter a diverse group of people from around the world on IRC; expect to be exposed to material that some may find offensive. Following is a set of guidelines to use when on IRC:

 

• Bots: Bots are automated processes, which run on IRC without a human interacting behind them. Although some bots may seem beneficial, most of the time, they take up space which a human could use, and use more bandwidth than a human. Bots are forbidden to run on Mid-South servers unless the IRC Administrators give prior permission. Bots may not be run on other servers, which do not allow them, or without permission of the server’s administrators. If a Mid-South member is reported to be running bots, they will be contacted regarding the status of their account.

   

   

• Channel Abuse: People who are found to be "hacking" channel ops, flooding channels with messages, or flooding other IRC users will not be tolerated. We wish for everybody to have an enjoyable experience on IRC, but we do not wish this to be at other’s expense.

   

   

• Harassment and other Antisocial Behavior: Although freedom of speech is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, Mid-South frowns upon those who act in an antisocial manner towards others. Antisocial members themselves and also give Mid-South a bad name. If the IRC Administrators are contacted about antisocial behavior, the status of the member’s account will fall under consideration. The Internet and IRC is a large enough forum so that everyone may participate without adversely affecting other people. Examples of antisocial behavior include, but are not limited to flooding other people with messages, nickname collision, use of abusive and/or lewd language, etc. If another person requests that you stop your actions, you should honor this request.

   

Computer security and privacy are complex issues. It is important to understand these points:

 

• You have a right to expect privacy of your files, especially of your electronic mail. It is our intention that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) applies to your account. However, there are limits to the technical means used to ensure privacy and security.

   

• Choose your password carefully and keep it secret. Your password is the ultimate key to all of the information in your account, including all of your mail and files!

   

• We will cooperate with law enforcement officials and with other system administrators in the legitimate investigation of suspicious activity. Intentional violations of the privacy of other people, whether on our system or at another site, will be grounds for immediate termination of your account and may lead to criminal prosecution or civil penalties.

   

• We will not intentionally disclose the contents of private files without the member’s permission or a court order.

   

• Electronic mail is sometimes misaddressed or misrouted and must sometimes be examined to debug mail software. System administration tasks may expose the contents of your files to our personnel.