DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

RTL Systems DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO XVI'S INTERNET ACCESS PRODUCT, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE TIME IN WHICH IT WILL TAKE THE CUSTOMER TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE INTERNET THROUGH THE XVI INTERNET PRODUCT. THE CUSTOMER IS HEREBY SPECIFICALLY ADVISED THAT HE/SHE MAY RECEIVE A BUSY SIGNAL WHEN ATTEMPTING TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE INTERNET USING XVI'S PRODUCT. XVI AND RTL Systems SHALL HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY WITH RESPECT TO XVI'S INTERNET PRODUCT FOR CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOOD WILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, LOSS PROFITS, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER DAMAGES OR LOSSES. CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT, BY ACCEPTING XVI'S SOFTWARE AND USING XVI'S INTERNET PRODUCT, THE CUSTOMER IS AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY HER TERMS OF THIS EXPRESSED DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Rights and Obligations of Customer: Customer shall not do any of the following, and must include the following provisions in its service agreements with its customer or authorized users:
   • restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Service and/or the Internet;
   • post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, profane, or otherwise objectionable information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national, or international law, including without limitation the U.S. export control laws and regulations;
   • post or transmit warez programs such as mail bombing software, cracks to unregistered software programs, cd key codes to registered programs, Software that is not considered public domain or freeware, or linking your site to other sites that contain the same material described before.
   • post or transmit any information or software which contains a virus, worm, cancelbot or other harmful component;
   • upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, distribute, or participate in the transfer or sale, or in any way exploit any information, software or other material obtained through the Service for Customer's own commercial purposes;
   • upload, post, publish, transmit, reproduce, or distribute in any way, information, software or other material obtained through the Service which is protected by copyright or other proprietary right or derivative works with respect thereto, without obtaining permission of the copyright owner or rightholder;
   • upload, post, publish, reproduce, transmit or distribute in any way any component of the Service itself or derivative works with respect thereto, as the Service is copyrighted as a collective work under U.S. copyright laws;
   • abuse or fraudulently use the Service in any way not specifically set forth above.
2. XVI shall not be responsible for the installation, operation, or maintenance of equipment or software not provided by XVI; nor shall XVI be responisble for the transmission or reception of information by equipment or software not provided by XVI.
   
   
3. XVI shall not be responsible if any changes in the Service cause equipment or hardware not provided by XVI to become obsolete, require modification or alteration, or otherwise affect performance of equipment or hardware not provided by XVI.
   
   
4. Customer understands that Customer or authorized users may access the Internet through the Service. Customer understands further that neither XVI nor any of its affiliates operates or controls the Internet in any way, and that all merchandise, information, and services o2ffered or made available or accessible on the internet are offered or made availiable by third parties who are not affiliated with XVI or its affiliates.
   
   
5. Customer understands further that the Internet contains unedited materials some of which are sexually explicit or may be offensive to some people. Customer and authorized users access such materials at Customer's own risk. XVI has no control over and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for such materials.
   
   
6. If Customer is dissatisfied with the Service or with any tems, conditions, rules, policies, guidelines, or practices of XVI in operating the Service, Customer's sole and exclusive remedy is to teminate this Agreement and discontinue using the service.
   
   
7. Failure to Comply with Agreement: XVI may deny Customer access to all or part of the Service, or may cut-off Customer's access or refuse to post or remove any information or materials proposed to be posted by Customer authorized users, if Customer or authorized users engage in any conduct or activities that XVI in its sole discretion believes violates any of the terms and conditions in this Agreement. In the case of denial or cut-off of access, XVI shall notify Customer and allow Customer twenty-four (24) hours from the time of such notification to remedy the violation. If at the end of this period, Customer has failed to remedy the violation and XVIis forced to deny Customer access to the Service because of such violation, neither Customer nor authorized users shall have any right (1) to access through XVI any materials stored on the Internet, (2) to obtain any credit(s) otherwise due to Customer, and such credit(s) will be forfeited, (3) to access third party services, merchandise, or information on the Internet through XVI, and XVIshall have no responsibility to notify any third-party providers of services, merchandise or information nor any responsibility for any consequences resulting from lack of notification.

Who makes the rules on the Internet?

Well, that's an interesting question - one of the odd things about the Internet is that there really isn't anyone "in charge". There ARE regulatory bodies that work on technical specifications, address registrations and the like, but for the most part the Internet and its users are actually self-policed, in terms of behavior and what is accepted or tolerated. You've probably heard the stories about people doing "inappropriate" things on the Internet, like sending unwanted junk-mail or Usenet postings (i.e. sales-type messages promoting the products or services of the sender). This is considered a major breach of Internet etiquette - people don't want their mailboxes or their disk space getting filled up with junk mail. And those who have been around the Internet for a while know that if newcomers to the 'Net start to use it as a "cheap" and intrusive way to send junk mail, the Internet as a whole will get so clogged with junk, there won't be any bandwidth or "room" for normal, acceptable activities. Oh yes, it will also get you expelled from XVI - if you want to market products and services on the Net, great! Ask us about our Web Page Services. But forget junk e-mailings or Usenet postings. The first and most important rule here at XVIis to practice basic Network Etiquette. It's pretty much the Golden Rule philosophy of do unto others . . . The Internet is a big place and information moves quickly. People who try to do "bad" or unwanted things might get away with it once, but those lawyers who posted junk all over Usenet probably wish they hadn't, unless they like having their personal beepers ring at 3:00 am every morning by some retaliatory techno-whiz-kid who figured turn-about was fair play and programmed an auto-dialer to call those guys in the wee hours of the morning after they pulled their stunt. Be aware, when posting to mail lists or News groups, that what you write will travel around the world and could be seen by potentially anyone. It will probably get archived somewhere as well and could potentially annoy some people you might later wish you hadn't annoyed. If you're not willing to stand behind what you write, then don't post or send it. (Also don't post anything that's nobody's business - e.g., personal telephone-, Social Security-, and credit card-numbers. Use common sense! Don't leave the door open for malicious users!) And remember that what you write goes to a WORLD audience, not just people who look and think like you. Try to be considerate of the readers in other parts of the Internet community who might take offense (intended or unintended) by stereotypes, clichés, etc. And also be aware that they might not have the same cultural references (media, slang, etc.) so try to be clear without being glib or condescending.

As far as rules for using XVI Internet Services, here's what we specifically ask:

The system here and its resources are designed to support our users in getting out on the Internet and all associated activities with finding and grabbing files, data, etc. It is NOT here as an open system for those who wish to avail themselves of a UNIX host for experimenting or for running processes or anything of that sort. Users who wish to poke around where they don't belong will be asked to cease and desist. They will not be asked a second time. The Internet is HUGE - save your exploring for "out there", not "in here". XVI Also reserves the right to change a users login name or password for any reason. Proper notification will be given to the user. Anyone who wants to harass or bully others either on this system or elsewhere on the Internet will have their access revoked. Period. XVI Internet Services will also have nothing to do with obscene or questionable material being housed on, or sent from, our server. There are many laws going into effect prohibiting the transference of such material, meaning that we are as liable as you are - with severe consequences - for said acts. You will immediately be removed from our system if you are found to be sending/posting pornographic, malicious, illegal, detrimental or harmful files. No explanation will be heard. Personal accounts are just that - which is to say, they are for one person. Sharing of accounts is not allowed. Dial-in lines are a precious resource and our subscription fees are based on one user per line, as well as the average utilization patterns of one person per account. You don't want anyone else looking at your e-mail anyway, do you? Normally we support the concept of sharing. We tell our kids that all the time. But not with accounts. Here we cling stubbornly to the concept of monogamy - one account, one user.

Exception to the Sharing Rule:

There's almost always an exception to every rule, and here's the one exception: if you wish to share you account with your husband or wife - or if you want to let the kids have access for something, that's okay. The family that surfs together... you've heard that, right? Just remember that if you go this route, you may want to allocate usage time judiciously to satisfy everyone's time requirements. Of course, you could always get someone you love their own account, right? We hope to keep things loose, friendly, open and comfortable for all. Help us to do that by abiding by the rules above. And if you're not sure if you should do something here, contact us first. We'll be happy to give you our opinion.